So…we are already almost at the end of our first week of ministry in Madagascar, and I look forward to sharing that with you soon. But first I want to share with you more of what happened in Botswana and the people there who touched my heart.
To give you a clear picture, I need to go back, way back, to debrief in Durban at the end of January. So, as you might now I am on a team called Warriors of Peace. A team of amazing women, a team that was originally made up of 7, but is now a team of 5.
Unfortunately (for us) one of our teammates, Angelina, was unable to launch with us as she was unable to meet her financial deadlines. But as always, the Lord is faithful and His timing is always perfect and Angelina will be a part of WR Fusion in January next year, a squad of racers from all around the world. After being on the field for Month 1, in Cape Town we were blessed to have squad debrief in Durban. Debrief is a time where the squad is able to come together at the end of a month (or more) of ministry, to rest, relax, fellowship, worship and grow together. Sadly, on the morning after we arrived, one of our teammates, Serena, shared with us that she felt called to go back home to America. This was a big and surprising blow to us, and we were initially filled with so much hurt, questions and a myriad of other emotions. As a team we travelled with Serena to the airport and said goodbye to her. It was so hard to lose a member of our family. But we believe that God has a purpose and a plan for each of us and we love our sister and keep her in our prayers.
So, entering month 2 with just the 5 of us was an adjustment – and it was a tough and challenging month – for us as a team and for many of us on a personal level. Our hosts at ADORE little children, were a duo of two passionate and big hearted women; Mama Paula who is Australian and Aunty Maggie who is a Motswana. They have been working together for about 5 years and they have huge visions for Ngarange – including building houses for orphaned children, building a hospital and a community centre for youth and women to learn different trades and skills.
We spent the month feeding children, teaching preschoolers and I also taught at the primary school, doing home assessments of some children in the community, bible studies, a women’s retreat and organizing a day of games and fellowship for all the children. We also did activities in the afternoon where we learnt to do traditional reeding (we reeded our own shower), painted the front of the kindergarten, organised a cargo container of donations from Australia, did a cardmaking workshop with some local ladies and learnt to make bread.
On our off days we were able to do fun things and explore a bit more. On our first adventure day we crossed the border into Namibia and went on a game drive, it was the middle of the day, but we were still blessed to see a number of animals. And on our second adventure day we visited a camp owned by friends of our hosts and went on a mokoro (dug out canoe) ride in the middle of the Okavango Delta. It was wonderful.
All in all, Botswana was a blessed month. We had two of our squad leaders join us for the last few days and they brought joy and a new perspective with them – they partnered with us, had fun with us and became a part of our team. They are all a real blessing to our squad.
