“My heart
beats for places I’ve never seen… I just want to run after the Gospel. Give up
everything I have to truly gain my life.” -WW
Those words were sent to me in an email several weeks ago,
and I think I’m starting to understand a little bit of what they mean. The
message was from an incredible friend of mine who is called to a life of
international missions but is currently still living in the States. She is one
of those amazing people who has never failed to impress me with her passion for
life. Each time I leave a conversation (or finish reading an email from her) I
am challenged to live my own life with new resolve. Everyone needs friends like
her.
If you’re incredibly lucky, you might understand just a
little of the longing that was expressed by those words: the desire to do and
to be something greater; the certainty that you were made for more than the way
that you have been living. Well, before 13 months ago the existence of the
entire country of Swaziland was actually unknown to me. Before two weeks ago El
Shaddaiorphanage was also a place unseen by me and completely unknown to me.
However I can tell you now,even in my previous ignorance,this small mission hidden in the hills of Mbabane is a place for which
my heart has indeed been beating for years. I wish I could better explain
how I know that to be true, but the knowledge is strangely inexpressible. But I
can tell you that the life and love that flow through this orphanage have
stirred my soul and after only 2 weeks I am already mentally calculating and
planning my first return trip to this beautiful place.
Welcome sign!
This is what
the view looks like from my bedroom window… every morning. I guess God was
feeling lazy the day He made this landscape because it’s obviously pretty
lousy.
James 1:27 (the heartbeat of this ministry)
El Shaddai is an orphanage that was started in the year 2000 with just 6 kids, 1 camper and no
funding, yet the pioneers possessed an
unwavering faith in God’s plan and provision. Their key verse has been
James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion
before our God and Father is this:to look after orphans and widows in their
distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”(fyi: I’ve never liked
the word RELIGION, but when you look at what religion is supposed to be
according to this verse, I think it sounds pretty great!) This is the kind of
place that really does what they say they want to do. They have been faithful
in their calling toward God, and He has (of course) been faithful to them. Now,
11 years later, the campus is just bursting with life! They have:
- 2 dorms for the 40 primary school age children and a separate house for the 13
babies and toddlers as well as 4 buildings built specifically to house volunteers and a church that serves the orphanage staff as well as the majority of the community each weekend - the only school in Swaziland that is FREE of charge to attend (started in 2004
– it now educates over 80 children from both the orphanage and the surrounding
community in grades 1 through 7)
- banana and avocado trees as well as various vegetable gardens that are planted
by El Shaddai but are tended to and harvested by over 40 local families
(without these gardens most of these families would have no means to plant or
harvest any food)
- pigs, chickens, (scary) geese and goats
Swaziland is a country with seemingly endless needs. The
government is both corrupt and bankrupt, and the citizens of this kingdom are
deeply affected by the AIDS epidemic. Currently,
every two out of three people living in Swaziland are HIV positive. According to projections, if the death toll
simply continues at its current rate the country will no longer exist by 2030.
The majority of children living at El Shaddai were orphaned because their
parents died of AIDS and they were left living either alone or with elderly
grandparents. The middle generation here is dying out at an alarming rate and
unfortunately there is very little being done in most areas to encourage
lifestyle alteration in hopes of bringing up a people who are free of disease
and poverty. El Shaddai is aremarkable exception
to those statistics. Only 2 of the over 80 children that have come through
this haven have been HIV positive. The overseer of El Shaddai also has a strong
passion for education (being a retired teacher herself) and is adamant that
even if any of her children don’t make good enough grades to study at a
collegiate level, they will be sent to trade school to learn a skill of their
choice and become productive members of society.
playground
these kids LOOOOOVE taking pictures 🙂 praise the Lord my camera hasn’t been dropped yet!
Rach and Ayunda
The needs here are many, but the blessings abound in equal
measure. We’re doing a lot of manual labor and miscellaneous moving and fixing
projects this month, as well as tutoring, teaching and preaching. One of our
goals is to complete the building of solar air and water heaters (that we’re
making out of solar panels and burnt tin cans that we fished out of the garbage
pit) before we leave. We’re all genuinely excited to just bless them here in
any way possible!
digging a 9’x9’x9′ hole for sewage
fixing toilets
searching for recyclable cans in the trash pit
chicken coop demolition
staining and sealing doors at the school
I honestly don’t know who reads this blog (and if you actually
made it to the end of this INCREDIBLY long one, you seriously deserve a reward…
sorry I don’t have anything for you!) I don’t know who you are, where you live,
what you do, what you think about God, if you even know me or how you came
across this entry filled with my jumbled thoughts. But whoever you are I want
you to know that I’m not in Africa because I’m a great person. I’m not even
here because I’m a good person. I’m really not either of those things. I’m not
on this trip just because I love traveling and helping people (although yes,
I’m a big fan of both!) I’m here because
I am a person who has accepted the LOVE of someone who loves me with an
unchanging, unconditional, relentless and beautiful love. Since
understanding His love for me I knew that all I wanted to do in my life is show
that love to other people so that their lives could also be changed. James 1:27
is just a part of that. Every day I see men and women here who have committed
themselves to living lives that are so selfless I can’t even begin to
comprehend their hearts. But they are just those who want to be like Jesus, so
they give of themselves every day with joy and gladness. People do crazy things when they’re in love.
Soooooo that’s what’s happening with me right now. Glad you
stuck around to read about it! I probably won’t have Internet again until the
end of the month, so please know that I love you all, we’re doing really well and I can’t wait to send more stories and pictures of these AMAZING people your
way!
Oh, and I promise I’ll make my next blog shorter : )
Peace&Love
Brianna
