AFRICA!!!
First, I’m so sorry I haven’t written a blog sooner than now. Please forgive me!
I want to give a recap of my experience in Africa and let you all know how I served in Swaziland, Namibia, and South Africa.
In September, we were in Nsoko, Swaziland working at an Adventures in Missions care point. We spent every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday walking about 5 miles round trip to a feeding care point. It was basically a singular school room with an additional cook structure outside. Anywhere from 60-150 kids came daily to be fed, what was probably the only hot or nutritious meal they would get that day. We got to help cook the food, serve the kids, play games, teach English, and just love on the kids each day. I really connected with the middle and high school girls. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I got to go to the other care points nearby and distribute deworming tablets to all of the kids. We were able to do all 10 care points in the time I was there. I also got to help out at the local clinic and use some of my nursing skills! Swazi life was simple and beautiful. My feet were always covered in red dirt. I spent lots of quality time with people on my squad. We cooked together, ate together, served together. It was a really wonderful month. The Lord taught me a lot about just being in His creation and how he took the time to create each cloud, star, mountain, etc and reiterated how intricate his design is. His timing is beautiful. That community is beautiful. Swazi life is beautiful.
Next, we went to Namibia. This was a route change for my team, as all the other teams went to Botswana like originally planned. My team was sent to the neighboring country of Namibia to serve as the first world race team with a ministry called HISA (Help Initiatives of Southern Africa). We lived in a cleared out storage room with mattresses on the ground and we shared our shower, bathroom, and kitchen with everyone that came to the center. It was a month of very early mornings and water that didn’t always work. We grew together a lot as a team that month. We taught English and Math classes to preschool as well as kids that had dropped out of school or could not afford school and were behind the grade that they should be in. I fell in love with the kids in my class! Other members on the team did a construction project and built an addition to their greenhouse! We put together a first aid kit for the center as well as gave a seminar on health topics for the teachers! It was honestly a tiring month; one that didn’t prove to be a favorite, but God still showed us how He was moving there and taught us a lot about choosing joy and staying present.
Lastly, MONTH 11….South Africa! This has proved to be one of my favorite months on the race! This ministry has exceeded all my expectations and has been truly wonderful!! We are living in a lower income area in Cape Town called Oceanview. We get to visit families in the community in the mornings and the afternoons are with the kids in the neighborhood. The main group of kids that our host has been ministering to for many years now consists of about 15 boys between the ages of 12-15 years old. There are girls that come and hang out too! We have gotten to know them and really fallen in love with each of them. I haven’t said goodbye yet, but I know it’s going to be an extremely hard one. We have let them cook dinner with us almost every night that we’ve been here. We’ve painted with them, made bracelets, played soccer, played rugby, played American football, talked, hung out, had water balloon fights, and all sorts of stuff. We have bible study with them every afternoon, and it has been such a blessing to be here with them. They are definitely a handful and may seem rough around the edges, but their hearts are so good. They mostly come from homes where their parents don’t pay them much attention at all, so it’s been a great honor to be here and get to help them with homework, teach them to paint and draw, and just be a good example to them. I’m definitely leaving part of my heart in Cape Town, South Africa!
Those are some updates and summaries of the past few months. We head back to America very very soon. I can’t believe this journey is almost over. It has truly changed my life and I am so thankful for this experience!
