I’m on the van leaving Swaziland right now & thought I should write a blog about leaving this sweet place & all the beautiful people. The last week we had here was a week I will hold close to my heart. Our shepherd was getting married on Saturday so we didn’t have a last week of ministry at our care point. My whole team got to say bye to the kids last week except for me & Elena (my current team leader) because I had raised up team leader training that day. So you could assume my sadness that came with that. But then we got blessed to go back to the care point on Thursday without our shepherd so Elena and I could say bye. That day was so good. Some of the kids were confused because my team already said their goodbyes & that made a few of them bitter & angry towards us but they quickly got over that after we explained that it is a blessing that we got to come back one more day. The little girl that I bonded with the most, Karabo, was so loving that day. She ran up to me and we just sat there squeezing each other. You would think you can’t make relationships w people because of the language barrier but that is so far from the truth. Then later on my good friend Beauty heard that I was there and she came to say goodbye. She is older & we can have conversations. Beauty will always be my sister. When it was time to leave we hugged multiple times and we drove off in the van waving goodbye and looking at each other until we couldn’t see each other anymore. I was sad but not sad enough to cry because there was so many wonderful things ahead, like our shepherd, Cebile’s, wedding & Thanksgiving!
On Saturday we woke up early to go to Cebiles wedding and caught a kumbi. We got there at 8:30 in perfect timing because it was supposed to start at 9. Then 3 hours later people started showing up and it started at about 11:30. There was dancing, singing, confusing things that we will never understand, extreme African heat, sweating intensely, and getting to see all our dear friends we’ve made along the way. At 3 the wedding ended & we finally got to say bye to Celible. She was stressed, like any newly wed would be, so our hugs goodbye were quick. As we walked away flashes of all our memories I had w her were running through my head. Like all the times she would tease me about everything. The times when she would lay on me out of no where. The times she was always in such a hurry for no reason. The times she would be translating for us and after the person would talk for 10 minutes all she would say is “they said, thank you”. The times when she would tell Cece (my teammate) and I that we were “chaos-ing”. Just all the goofiness in the little things she did every day to make me laugh. On our ride home this day my eyes teared up for her & even writing this I get emotional. We spent lots of time with Cebile. We all had the most unique but beautiful relationship with her. I love and will miss that wild woman to death.
We got home around 4 & Thanksgiving dinner was waiting for us! All the other shepherds were there & our ministry hosts & it was just a big party and a great way to end our time in Swaziland. Saying that I will miss all my new brothers and sisters that we had to leave here is an understatement. My heart breaks a little knowing the next time I will probably see them will be in heaven. But what a wonderful reunion that will be.
Awakening by Amanda Lindsey Cook
Much Love, KC
