to take or not to take

Let me preface this post with the fact that my family is as blue collar as it gets. My father is a general contractor and my mother is a receptionist. They worked extremely hard to give us kids everything they never had and more. They also taught us the value of hard work at a very young age. My first job was cleaning toilets where my mother worked. I payed my way through college and made sure I got my money's worth.

So never in a million years did I imagine that I would be living in Africa with my own housekeeper. This is Christiana (gotta love the expression on CW's face):

She is my angel. At first I scoffed at the idea "help"...thought it was way too pretentious. Then I learned that you have to clean everyday here to keep the bugs and dust away. I like to clean, but not that much. I also realized that this poor girl would have to move and find a new job if we did not take her (she was previously our neighbors' steward). Now I can't imagine life without her. She has become part of our family. CW actually burst into tears yesterday when she went home for the day.

So here I am at a crossroads, trying to decide if we should take her to South Africa with us. She has brought it up several times and has practically begged me to go. I am really struggling with this. Here I have the opportunity to change someone's life...how could we not take her?? I cannot imagine being stuck in a place like this with no way out. No opportunity to change your life if you so desire. People don't realize how good they have it in America. No matter how bad the economy gets, we still all have the basic American dream: that we can be whatever we want to be if we work hard. Opportunities like that do not exist here. The rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

Yes, she would still be our housekeeper in South Africa. But at least she would have the opportunity to see what a real, functioning economy looks like. To breathe in fresh, diesel-free air. To see what other opportunities are out there for her. Heck, to even get on a plane for the first time and see a place other than her village or Abuja. I would be begging to go too if I were her.