We planned for thirty. Sixty-one came.

When we opened the doors on the first morning, we had planned for thirty people. Sixty-one came.

They came on foot, most of them, some of them for two hours. A widow who had not spoken about her husband in eleven years. Three boys who arrived together and would not sit apart. A man who waited outside for most of the first session before coming in, and who told us at the end of the third day why he had hesitated.

Three days is longer than it sounds

Our counselling follows a roadmap over three days, and there is a reason it is not one. The first day is mostly listening. The second is where the hard parts usually come out. The third is where people start to look forward rather than back, and it is the day nobody wants to miss.

Every participant goes home with a Bible. For many of them it is the first one they have owned.

I came here carrying something I had carried for a long time. I am not going home with it.

What we learned

Transport was the thing we had underestimated. Several people told us afterwards that they had nearly not come because of the cost of getting there, and two had walked because they could not cover it. We now budget transport into every gift, which is why a single donation covers three days of counselling, a Bible, and the journey.