When Christi Badowski, retired first-grade teacher and librarian, wakes up each morning, she prepares to live the day filled with activities that honor Christ.
“My spiritual gift is serving. Anytime something comes up about serving, I’m drawn to it. It’s just something I want to do. I want to help other people. I think that’s why God put me here…to serve and to help other people. I want to do whatever I can to make other people’s lives better.”
In addition to volunteer service in the Mobility Worldwide of East AL & West GA workshop, where she is a member of the cart packing team, Christi invests her time in the lives of the youth of Epworth Church, feeds the homeless patrons of SafeHouse Ministries, and serves in a myriad of servant roles.
I asked Christi why she committed to go to Kenya to serve alongside of Partners for Care distributing Mobility Carts. “We were working at the shop on Saturday packing carts. Someone mentioned that you were going, and I just thought, you know, what a great opportunity to go and see the people who receive the carts.”
“I read the newsletters every time they come out. The stories are just so wonderful about people who can now get water for themselves, can now run a business for themselves, or can now go to school. All those stories are so impactful, something that really made a difference in somebody’s life.”
Christi sees the mission of Mobility Worldwide as special. “We’re changing somebody’s life! It’s not giving them one meal…and then the next meal. It’s a real change. It’s not temporary. It’s not a band-aid. It’s not a handout. This is something that can really change their family and their personal life.”
In preparation for the Kenya trip, Christi re-read “When Helping Hurts” and “Toxic Charity.” These books “made me rethink everything I ever do about helping. So many things that I’ve done have not been the correct way to help, because people don’t have their dignity, you’re hurting their self-esteem, and you’re not making a change. We need to do things where they can have their dignity.”
Mobility Carts can really make a difference in the lives of the leg disabled. Christi says, “It’s got to change their entire outlook on life to be at eye level with people and not on the ground. They can see God’s love. Through all of those things and through helping them out, they’re going to see, maybe, God in that different light and be more accepting of that as wow!…these people really did something to change my life.
I asked Christi what questions would you like to ask recipients who are receiving a Mobility Cart? She replied, “how does it make you feel to receive the gift of mobility? How did it change your life? I would want to talk with them about God’s love and how this gift is an expression of His love.”
Christi hopes to return from Kenya with memories of the many life-changing events that she expects to witness. “I’ll get to see people who received a cart and who began the first step of a changed life. People who didn’t have self-esteem, who didn’t feel worthy, and maybe didn’t feel loved, now they are going to feel that they are part of their community. That’s what I’m hoping.”
Christi believes that at Mobility Worldwide, there is a role for everyone willing to participate.
“There is a place for you to work at MW. Because if you aren’t physically able, but you want to come alongside us and support us financially, you can do that. If you have a servant’s heart, and you want to do something with your hands, there are lots of different jobs. You don’t have to be strong, we have a job for everybody.”
“Mobility Worldwide is a great organization that doesn’t just give a handout and doesn’t do a band-aid fix. It changes lives for the better so that people can take care of themselves.”
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