In Swaziland we worked with El Shaddai Ministries, www.elshaddaiswazi.org, at the El Shaddai Children’s Home. El Shaddai was founded by Charmaine about fifteen years ago to provide a home for abused, neglected, and orphaned children.
Charmaine is from South Africa and dedicated her life to God when she was a teenager. When He called her to Swaziland she had very young children, no home, no supporters, did not know the community, and could not speak the language. God called her to the top of a mountain in a remote area about an hour from Mbanbane, the capital of Swaziland. She lived in a camper trailer while the buildings that now comprise the Children’s Home were being built. There were times when God told her to give away the last parcel of food she had to a local family. Knowing she had children to feed she still obeyed and every time someone would arrive with provision. She never had to ask for support because God always provided. Then she was connected to Adventures in Missions and now World Race squads request to be sent to El Shaddai.
El Shaddai Ministries has several branches. In addition to the main ministry, the children’s home, there is a baby house for children aged 18 months to 7 years that is run by an American woman and a girl who grew up at El Shaddai. Just outside the gate of the children’s home is the Primary School. The primary school, Grades 1 – 7, is open to the local children and, though staffed by the department of education, is a Christian school with a Christian headmaster. The teenagers are homeschooled at the children’s home. I was placed in the primary school as an English tutor for the sixth grade class for an hour each morning. Then I worked in the small library they have at El Shaddai. Second month to work in a school and to catalog books!
Approximately 30 children aged 7-18 live at El Shaddai currently, and over years of working with the World Race, Charmaine has worked out a buddy system to match Racers and kids. She prayerfully considers our ministry bios to match us and to place us in ministry. On our first day the squad and children gathered in the Church eagerly waiting to hear who our buddies would be. I was matched with two 8 year old girls in Grade 2, Akeelah and Nokuphila.
Akeelah (ah KEE lah) is a bold, independent tomboy. She could be found playing goalie in the teen’s football games or sitting alone playing a jacks like game by herself. Akeelah’s love language is quality time, so when she spent about half of the day with me when our squad took the kids hiking my heart soared. Akeelah knows her mind and would often say “Nope” or “Yep” in a deep voice that I will not forget.
Nokuphila (no ku PEE lah) is a beautiful, fun girl. She has only been at El Shaddai a couple of years, and misses her mother. She avoided me at first and hid her laughter, but over time as she saw I was not going to just leave her she warmed to me. Because her love language is physical touch the day she returned my hug and leaned into me as we played cards my heart melted.
Both of the girls loved playing cards (they loved winning games and would cheat or tell me “You lying” or “You cheating” if I started winning) and typing on my computer. We danced together and listened to music. They learned the Overcome dance that my original team created back in Thailand and were so proud of themselves. When I could convince them to sit down, not easy with two very active girls who had different interests, we would read together and sometimes I could get them to read to me. These two stole my heart. Their smiles, hugs, and laughter made the early days of frustrated pursuit worth it. They accepted me, and I am sorry that we only had three weeks together.
(photo credit: Aly Badinger)
Another big development for Swaziland is that during our China debrief we went through big team changes. Our raised up squad leaders were announced and the four teams we have had since Thailand were reduced to three. My new team consists of Heather (team leader), Beth B., Callie, Kylene, Debbie, Hakyeong, and me. Debbie is the only one that I have been on a team with before, and I am super excited to be back with her. Ky and I have worked together as team treasurers and have a random connection, the woman I tutored for in Denver is Ky’s mom’s cousin. Our team is comprised of three nations. Beth is from the UK, Hakyeong is from South Korea, and the rest of us are from the USA. It has been fun to learn about other cultures, learn words and phrases, and discover how other cultures worship God.
We named ourselves Sweet Aroma because we are to live our lives as a sacrifice a sweet aroma to God and then claimed 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 as a team verse.
