As I’m leaning against a wall outside, I’m sitting on a brick, my butt going quite numb from sitting for so long. My skirt and my shirt are beyond dirty from the orange-red dust common in Swaziland and all the kids trying to climb on me. I try and shift my weight a little–thankful that the little one sleeping in my arms is dead asleep–he does not wake up easily.
That is a snap shot into my ministry this month. This month is called half-squad month because half of us are in Nsoko and the other half in Manzini. All of us are partnering with AIM (the organization the World Race is through). AIM’s base here does what is called “care-points.” They are designated places for kids of a certain area to learn about Jesus and to be fed. This month my team is at one of these care-points.
We go Tuesday-Friday and we simply love on kids. We always have littles with us in the morning and then around 1-3 pm the older kids come from school. However, sometimes there are older kids who are around if they don’t go to school (for instance, if they don’t have a birth certificate), they are simply playing hookie, or they don’t have a clean uniform, etc. So there are always kids around. We always have 2-3 small, precious little ones that fall asleep on us throughout the day. At first we were a bit surprised at how many of the littles were so sleepy (I even had an older girl who was 9 that fell asleep on me), but we think there are different factors. We think poor nutrition, the fact that they are little, and the amount of walking the older kids do, plus probably rough lives at home.
A lot of them are barefoot. Their clothes are often very dirty and some have holes in them–including the butt of the pants. Many of them are currently snotty-nosed, too, because they are sick with colds. Our shepherd of this care-point told us that about 80% of children in Swaziland are abused and we have even noticed some different signs of it.
However, they are so sweet and they just wrap their arms around us and want love. Some of them are a bit rascally too, but even them are so sweet and we realize some of their home lives are really rough. So what does it look like to love them? We push them on swings, let them sleep on us, fix some of their holey clothes, hold their hands and give them hugs, learn their names, and get to know the older kids. We also walk to our ministry site which is an hour walk (roughly 3 or 4 miles) and then normally we get to ride back, but on the way there we often pray for the kids and other things as a team–we walk on the same road these kids walk on. These Swazi kids are so tough too. Not only do they walk long distances to school and back home, a lot of the older children take care of their little siblings. It is amazing. It’s also cool because they have given me a Saswati name: Nothendo-which means love and I love them so much. These children have stolen my heart.
*Additional thoughts: Also, we are quickly ending month 10 and soon we will be entering our final month on the Race. It blows my mind we are ending so soon and I definitely have mixed feelings. Part of me is SO excited to go home and see those I love at home, but part of me will miss the ministry that I have gotten to do and my squad whom I have done life with for the past 11 months.*
