Fatima. Philip. Mumis. Esmund. DonRay. Sokras. Andrea. Mano. Bradley.
These are the names of just a few of the people that my YWAM DTS team got to minister to in South Africa over the last two months. Each of these names has a face, a story, a soul. Some of these names are newly written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Somehow, God touched each of these lives as we did our ministry in Muizenberg and Worcester. I would love to write down every one of their stories for you, but then it would take you three years to finish reading this post. Instead, I’m going to tell you just a little bit about how we got to minister to six of the seven injustices (we weren’t able to work with the injustice of clean water because it wasn’t a major problem where we were).
Poverty
This injustice affects people in every country in the world. In South Africa, I saw people living on the streets or in shacks made of corrugated tin, plywood, and tarps. One young couple that I met on the street was Sebastian and Stacy. They were probably in their early to mid twenties and were living on the mountainside, homeless. That evening when me and three of my teammates ran into them, we got to pray for Stacy’s young son, who was in the hospital, and we led Sebastian through a prayer for salvation. We weren’t able to build them a home or pay for medical bills, but when they walked away, they were so much richer than when we had met them.
Inequality
Inequality can be an injustice between races, genders, or even different sides of the street, as was the case in a tiny township of about 150 people outside of Muizenberg. There were two rows of shacks with a sand dune in between. According to the community leaders, the two sides of that sand dune don’t like each other, to the point of getting in fights and actually hurting each other. A group of my teammates spent a week doing a vacation Bible school on top of the sand dune for kids on both sides. Two little boys called Yugi and Bo Brady, from different sides of the dune, refused to play soccer together and were causing quite the commotion. After the YWAMers talked to each of them about loving their neighbor and treating others like they would want to be treated, they made up and played together!
Health and Hygiene
This one is a major cause of death among people living in poverty. Many people just don’t know how important it is to take care of their bodies, or how simply washing your hands can cut sickness in a community in half, or how wearing shoes can avoid bacteria and parasites. I was blessed to be able to join with the two RNs on the team to teach about washing hands and wearing shoes in three vastly different settings.
Hunger
One little boy in my group for vacation Bible school coughed up a tapeworm during the session. This is common in communities where the family cannot afford much food and the kids end up eating bread most of the time, which encourages the growth of the parasites. This problem can be corrected by eating a more fresh diet with more fruits and vegetables. We were given the opportunity to plant three different gardens where communities can grow food to keep them healthy! The very first one that we planted was already having the lettuce cut and eaten, and the turnips were the size of softballs, by the time we left South Africa!
Human Trafficking
This is the one that has been hitting the headlines recently. It doesn’t always look like we think it looks, though. We got the chance to pray over the highway where many women work, talk to some ladies who had recently gotten out of it, and work with women at ministry that gives them the opportunity to earn a living afterwards. We also prayed for the Pimps and the Johns, not to be forgotten as children of God.
Children at Risk
This one was my personal favorite to work with. By working with kids who are a risk of falling into injustice later in life (often because they are exposed to it now), you can literally save their lives. We led vacation Bible schools where many kids accepted Christ. We fed kids in townships who might not get a full meal anywhere else. We taught teenagers how to avoid getting themselves tricked into Human Trafficking. And we got to go into public schools to preach the Gospel. The very last bit of ministry we did in South Africa was an assembly, followed by praying with the kids, where 26 tenth graders accepted Christ and many more expressed interest in changing their lifestyles.
To sum up this trip, I would say it was extraordinarily successful. These are just a few brief stories from my experience, but there are many more. I thank God that He brought me down this path before the World Race, because I believe it not only changed my view of missions, but it prepared me to go into the Race with open eyes, open heart, and open hands, ready to step out and end injustice, one Bo Brady at a time.
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Now that I am home until the end of June (for the most part), I am wide open to raise money in any way that I can. If you would like to hire me for housecleaning, gardening (in the spring, of course), dog or house or baby sitting, or anything at all, please feel free to contact me! I look forward to sharing more experiences with you and seeing God work in many more ways! God Bless!
