This afternoon after children’s camp at Refilwe, I had the privilege of going to a squatter’s camp (which is a place where people that don’t have a place to live, congregate and build homes together). This particular squatter’s camp was called Joe Slovo (probably named after the founder).
We went to do something called ATL’s or Ask the Lord. Basically that means we pray and ask the Lord while we’re walking whom He wants us to minister too. As I was praying God layed on my heart a picture of a blue door with black writing on it. Eventually we came to that house and 2 women were standing in the door. After greetings and a bit of small talk we asked if either of them wanted prayer. One of the ladies said yes and pointed to her house across the way so we went to her house and they shared a little of their stories with us. They don’t have jobs (although they’d like to find work) and most days they spend sitting, eating and sleeping. The government gives them grant money which equals to a little less then $30 U.S. dollars a month. We spent time praying over her and her tiny house and after awhile I got to share the gospel a little bit with them. They seemed pretty receptive and we promised to send more people back to talk with them soon.
The houses are made of torn pieces of metal, tin, and wood. The inside has the bare minimum that a family can get by on.
The house we went in to consisted of one small room that held a small table and two mis-matched chairs, pieces of cloth covered the walls, there was a bed a few feet from the table and knick-knacks here in there.
Outside children run bare-foot through the trash and dirt to greet us. We’ve met most of them at camp and any we haven’t met are invited for tomorrow. We stood in the middle of the dirt path while the older men and women looked laughingly on and sang silly songs with even sillier dance movements. The children sing and dance along with us and it’s a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.
