Five Rand
When I think of the year 1982 I know it as the year I was born, but here in Namibia it represented the birth of hope, at the price of $0.50 USD. For 5 Rand a person could purchase and build on a plot of land. Since that time, however, Five Rand has expanded and squatters occupy the land. Families make Five Rand of Okahandja, Namibia their home. When the government tries to get involved, they cause riots and the government backs off.
I first learned of this community when my team and I unloaded our bags in Windhoek, Namibia with absolutely no agenda outside of His. One of my teammates took his seat next to a woman who later gave him the name of a well known mega church pastor. Pastor Ron and God must have had real short talk that went something like, “Tend to my sheep,” cuz tend he did. We were taken to his church and later driven to the middle of the desert where we found our oasis. A farm/ranch owned by Joan and Deter, soon became our home away from home. We were their eager students and a few of us awoke early the next morning to visit their heart only 3 miles down the road.
I didn’t have any expectations but to see God at work, and I was not disappointed. Sure, from the road Five Rand was littered with garbage and meat could be seen hanging from trees, with a backdrop of what appeared to be ovens playing the role of homes. But, we made a detour to the front where Pastor John was leading a team of children in a cleanup project. God was at work!
After loving on the littles and taking note of the malnutrition in their eyes, but the joy in their smiles, we had dropped off the food asked of us, and we loaded up to visit a nearby school in Five Rand.
An up close and personal look at poverty, is what I got. But Jesus was there. His name written in black letters on bright orange book bags found inside a room the size of my bedroom, serving to educate children from 5 months to 5 years old. Loving teachers equipped and sent by my friend Joan, to tend to His sheep at Five Rand.
Before leaving Okahandja, I sat at Joan’s feet as her eager student, desiring both to share her story, but also bring awareness to those of you at home on the conditions and vision for Five Rand. After prayer walking the original area of Five Rand, God placed a burden on she and her husband, so they started the Five Rand Ministry. God called her to EQUIP and SEND by example. Joan has equipped teachers in 63 schools across the nation, and here we were sent by AIM, but first by God to pave the way for future racers to have a constant presence on this soil.
Namibia has the highest discrepancy between the poor and the wealthy IN THE WORLD, and those facts were staring me in the face. The children in my arms, were so tiny and hungry. Underwear and diapers both expensive to buy and requiring resources out of reach to make. Not all children had access to either. Some eyes were crusty and noses runny. Clothes carried filth, and remnants of the yesterdays following today. But God was at work!
The population of Five Rand has now reached 8,000. No running water to be found on the land. Along with ways to recycle the plastic strewn about the ground, they are in need of a well (s). Work is hard to find and grown adults lose their motivation with the weight of hunger and the fact that there is usually one breadwinner for 9 hungry bellies in each home. We were privileged to have a woman from Five Rand working where we slept, and she told me stories of working the gardens and how she was not paid well, but now stood in a place where God has allowed her to find peace in the midst of anything that comes her way. She fears nothing and seeks her Father in everything, because He told her to. And He told you to. He told you that you need only ask and trust Him because He cares for you. I asked many things, and found myself here in the desert, meeting with Hope face to face. Many like this little, do will not have dreams even at the age of 18, but God is at work!
A large percentage of the people suffer from AIDS and TB, and to make matters worse, alcohol is cheaper than food, resulting in the abuse of alcohol. Sexual abuse is also common for women and children. Any crime that happens in Five Rand is known by the entire community and is handled one way or another without the need for onlookers to intervene.
Children play with dolls crafted from sticks and play games with stones making a hole in the sand. Sticks much like those used for the dolls are also used to facilitate the necessity of a toilet and wash basin, only plastic is also necessary. There are in fact, no official toilet facilities.
Joan and Deter have a dream that every little child will come to know Jesus, poverty and crime will drop and Five Rand will be a thriving community of believers. Within Five Rand there are already 5 schools from her vision to EQUIP and SEND along with one government school. She continues to be obedient to the burden God has placed on her heart for His people, actively developing a way to grow spinach with packets giving the people of Five Rand in Okahandja, Namibia not only a way to grown their own food, but also a way to not waste their bath water.
Hope lives in the desert! That’s the good news! My prayer for you is that like Joan and Deter, you will allow God to place a burden on your heart for His people, and choose to be more than hearers of the word. I have been inspired as I admire these two, and their obedience and sensitivity to the Spirit. Because God placed them in my path, I for the first time in my life, told God that I want to be married someday, because I believe there are ways He will be glorified inside of my marriage that will never and could never be realized through me as a single woman. It took 33 years for me to not just desire marriage because I desire marriage, but for the ways He desires it FOR me to glorify Himself. Please remember let God stir something in you for the people of Five Rand, as He is accomplishing His purposes, and He gave you the voice to not just say, “Thanks for sharing”, but instead,”I’m In! Make me a part of this!”
