"Her name is Goodness"

I was told. This was a newcomer to our knitting group at the library. 

There were already three other people there when I arrived yesterday afternoon. The others were early and they had already made her welcome. 

She had come along, as so many do, just to get a little bit of help. One of the others was already helping her so I smiled and said "hello" and all the other things we try to say to make people feel welcome.

"I can only stay a very little while," she told us but we assured her that this was fine. It was what happened sometimes. 

As she left we expressed regret and encouraged her to come back next time. She looked relieved and genuinely pleased. 

Yes, she was almost certainly a refugee from somewhere in Africa. She did not volunteer any information. We did not ask. We just wanted to make sure she felt welcome. 

After she had gone one of those remaining commented on her name. I agreed it was unusual in this country but it was possibly quite common where she likely came from. I told them how, when I was at university on the other side of the world, I had come across a girl called "Love". She came from Zambia and she had sisters called Faith, Hope, Charity, Mercy and Peace. The two brothers I met were simply Matthew and John. Their father was a Methodist minister and the church was putting all of them through further education in order for them to return to serve their country in various ways. 

Love's plan was to go teaching. (She eventually became the head of a school.)  London was an almost overwhelming experience for her. One afternoon early on she came into a meeting I was running and asked, "How is it that so many of the bus conductors know my name?" (They had conductors then.)

The rest of us were startled for a moment and then realised that when she asked for her ticket the conductor was probably saying something like "Here you are love."

We explained and she looked very disappointed for a moment. Then she laughed and said, "I knew I could never be that important!" We all laughed of course.

But later I thought, "No, you are important - as important as anyone else and perhaps more so because you will be educating the young."

I wonder what Goodness plans to do. Is she a student of some sort too? Will she educate the young? The very fact that she wants to learn to knit and came looking for help suggests to me that she is already setting an example to her peers - and to the rest of us. I hope she comes back.