Mei is a single woman. She still lives with her parents and younger brother. She has watched many of her siblings and friends get married around her. Her family and community continually ask her when she too will get married. It is considered shameful and sinful in her culture to not be married by age 30, and with her 29th birthday just around the corner, she is feeling the pressure increasing.
Mei is a hard worker and enjoys her work. If she gets married, her role will be expected to change to full-time wife and mother. She enjoys the freedoms she has now as a single woman, especially the freedoms of time and finances, but she knows she must give those up soon, if she is to retain her social status in her community. She doesn’t have any suitors and may soon be forced toward an arranged marriage, but will the man be as committed to their family as she hopes?
Ramadan is her busiest month of the year at work, yet she fasts faithfully from sunup to sundown, determined not to let her work be impacted. She looks forward to Ramadan each year, as it is one of the two major annual festivals that mark the calendar and bring the whole community together. It is a time that she gathers with friends and family members to celebrate, buying new clothing and making memories to mark the year by. She wonders how long until all her friends are married and are too busy celebrating with their own families to meet up for the evening festivities that accompany this month.
Pray
- Pray that Mei would find the love her soul longs for in Christ.
- Pray that single Muslim women would be given dreams and visions of the One who loves them and can give them a true family where they are known and accepted for eternity.
**All names have been changed and the picture is not of the storyteller in order to protect the identities of those who have shared their stories and lives with us over the years.