What would you do if you were told you had 5 minutes to get out of your dorm room and grab your belongings before the police would come in and were allowed to do whatever they needed to go to get you out?
That’s what occurred late last week at the college campus we had been doing ministry at after a series of strikes. From my understanding, the financial aid that the government had promised to the students was not allocated to all the students. Some students had received their allowance, while others had not. This created a lot of tension at the beginning of the week, when upset students marched through campus chanting songs to bring awareness to the injustice. This allowance is what most students use to pay their rent and food, without it, a lot of them do not know how to make it by. By Wednesday, while we were on campus evangelizing, things were starting to get more intense. We approached some of our friends that we met the day before and asked what was going on. They stated that the students that were striking broke into the student union where rioted in and stole food, money, and books. Pop machines were tipped over and the place was vandalized. Students continued to walk through campus, a lot of classes cancelled at this point, so students not part of the strikes sat by watching. News from the US Embassy stated that students were reported throwing rocks at cars right outside the campus, burning flags, and tipping over the statue zebras that are on the intersection in front of campus. At around 3, we were told we should probably leave campus because more strikes were in the making.
The next day, we got word that they had closed the campus indefinitely, or at least until this whole situation was sorted out, which who knows how long that will be. We heard that students were being kicked out of their rooms with no warning at all, and police were beating some students. While we sat around waiting to hear what we would be doing instead, we prayed for the students on campus. Rumors of international students heading home and students left with no place to stay. Our pastor went to go check out the local civic center, which had opened up for some students to stay at. When he came back he stated that we had an excellent ministry opportunity and that we would be going over to bring some food to the students.
We went to the grocery store, where we bought some sandwich items, beans, juice, and toilet paper. When arriving at the civic center, we were greeted with loud cheers from the university students. Looking around, I saw students with little to nothing with them, as they sat on their phones or in conversation in small circles. We approached the students and started conversations about how this was affecting them.
“We were given 5 minutes to get out of the dorms, they told us to take our stuff and leave. People were gathering as much as they could and running out before the police came in.”
“It’s just not fair that we aren’t getting the money that was promised to us. We have no money. We cannot pay rent, we cannot buy food.”
“Yeah I was shot in the leg with one of those rubber bullets when I was running away. It hurt real bad.”
“It’s only fair that we rise up against the government if they aren’t going to give us our money.”
“We haven’t been fed since yesterday. 450 people are staying in this building, we just slept on the floor last night.”
As this battle is occurring, it is important to remember that “this struggle is not of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Since arriving in Botswana, there has been a lot of spiritual warfare within this country. Disunity within the people here, dissention and opposition against our team, and within the government. Disunity is exactly what the devil wants. He wants a divided people, opposition, oppression, injustice, and rage. He longs for people to break, to continue dividing further, and to fall prey to the oppression. We’ve seen this so heavily just in our week of being here.
Satan does not want us here. The Kingdom of Heaven is here, the Spirit is moving in mighty ways, and the devil is trying everything in his power to stop that. I say, bring it on! We already have the victory, just try us! We have the power of the LIVING GOD within us, nothing can stop us. We have the authority to cast out demons, heal the sick, and bring restoration to a people who have been in bondage for too long. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is IN US! Satan tries to literally “shut down” what our entire scheduled ministry was supposed to be this month, but that is not stopping us from further proclaiming God’s goodness among a broken people. To join in unity with students that are unjustly treated, we only further display God’s love in difficult circumstances. To say, “I’m with you in this. I want to fight for you, and pray for you. I want to love you like Jesus does”, is exactly what furthers Kingdom here on Earth. We live in a broken and evil world that is disunified, but that only shows the deeper need for Kingdom on Earth now. Heaven on earth now. So, we will stand, unified, proclaiming peace, justice, and mercy over this world, making agreements with Heaven in everything we do. We cannot be stopped!
