Message of Hope

When Kitty de Ruyter was eight years old and living in the Dutch East Indies during World War II, she and her formally well-to-do family were incarcerated in a Japanese prison camp. One day her nanny, Baboe Kit, sneaked up to the barbed-wire fence and slipped Kitty’s rag doll in to her through the wire, instructing her to always keep it with her and take good care of it. As she did so, Baboe Kit was spotted by a sentry and shot in the back, sacrificing her life to bring her young charge some small item of comfort.

Kitty and some of her family were eventually freed and, virtually penniless now, made their way back to Holland to scratch out a very meager life. One day she noticed that the doll, which she had kept with her all through the years, was beginning to fall apart. As she attempted to repair it, out fell the biggest and best of what had been the family’s jewels, representing a major portion of their wealth. Her mother had given them to Baboe Kit as the family as being led away to the concentration camp, as payment for the many years of service she had rendered. Rather than spend the wealth on herself, she had sewed them into the doll in hopes thatsomeday they would discover them and be able to re-establish themselves financially. 

Her selfless act resulted in a completely changed life for people she loved, even though she was now no longer one among them.

Our PEF participants are in the process of preparing a treasure for loved ones they likely will never see. Their educations and related socio-economic paradigm shifts will have impact for generations. As well, their abilities to lead in church callings and in their communities can affect their children, grandchildren and beyond. Let us watch over them and shepherd them through this pivotal time so that they will not miss out on any potential that is theirs.

Source: LDS.org            Pef             Facebook