Ministry in South African began by a quick orientation with Zehandi Ministries and what to expect from this experience. Johan and Marie Mathee and their new staff members gave us the different ministries that we would partner along the way. There was three different places that we would help support in their ministry in addition to work at the ministry base that was to be completed.
One of the ministries we partnered with was Alta du Toit, which is a hostel or residential facility for adults with mental disabilities. This was the coolest place! The residents lived in the hostel area and then at 8am they showed up to work in the shop. There were three different capacity levels in which these lovely people would get to work. The one that we got to partake in was for the higher functioning adults. In his area they did several assembly line jobs. One of which was to assemble the small pieces that are a part of the sprinkler system. Another big job was to assemble goodie bags for a big race, like “Race for the Cure®.” They would grab a bag and walk to every station that had the different components for this bag. I learned so much from them in this area… They took their job very seriously and did it to the best of their ability every time; every piece of paper or bottle of lotion counted and was important.
Another place that we partnered with was Shiloh Kitchen… This facility prepared meals for schools and other organizations. They cooked it and prepackaged it so that it would feed many. On my particular day to go help, I had a very hard time with it. I am not one that likes to cook or be in the kitchen for long and cutting raw meat away from fat makes me nauseous, but Aileen and Joleen the two angels that worked there had the most joyful and loving attitudes. Something I learned from them was to Focus on Jesus and not on the circumstances in which you happen to be in.
Ubuntu was one of my favorite and most prized hours in South Africa. This was a half-way house for babies. In South Africa it takes about 90 days to fully adopt a child. The birth mother has 30 days from the moment that she gives up the child to change her mind. Then there is another 30 days for the social worker to find a home for the child in their own tribe. During this process they begin the paperwork for a permanent placement and then the last 30 days are usually the time it takes for the paperwork to be finalized. These babies were in this process. They all had been “claimed” but none were officially adopted. I got to go twice to hold, change, love, and kiss all 8 babies that they had there at that time. I took this responsibility very personally. I made sure that every baby got lots and lots of kisses and that all the negative emotions that could possibly come from being abandoned by your mother would be cancelled by loving words and declarations that are in God’s word. Since both my shifts were for over 12 hours, I felt like God had given me the OK to speak life over them. I was especially fond of one particular baby. He made my heart melt and he fell asleep on my chest both days. I felt so much love for him that I told the Lord, if his paperwork does not go through, I would take him. I will call him Jay for his protection. He was only 10 days old and he was a colicky baby. Even when it was 3am and Jay was crying because his belly ached, I still loved him and I held him until it went away. I know God has big plans for Jay and I know that he is very loved!
The squatter camp was a Zehandi original ministry and we went there at least one time per week. There were a couple of different things that we could do there. One occurred on Thursdays and that was the women’s Group. I only got to go once, but I thought it was incredible that we could get to share life skills with the ladies that lived in such poverty. Their homes were made of tin, cardboard and other scraps of material, and many of them had several children. My heart ached for a few of them because I know that they did not know any better. One of the ladies was an older woman whom was called “Oma” which means grandmother. She was a classy lady with kind eyes, but don’t let that fool you… She was feisty! We just shared a few stories that would help them in their homes that day, but it opened up a world to me that I had not experienced before. Even as a “social worker” back home, the level of poverty here seems greater. We also got to play with the kids. They were dirty and shoeless and their clothes were tattered, but they were so delighted to have someone to play with them and twirl with them. They stole my heart. The little ivory smiles with spongy heads and ebony skin tones just melted me. Such precious little ones that trusted us. They would run to us and throw themselves on us and hug us. We spent the most time with those lil ones. There were a few teens and my heart broke for them as I watched them drink away the day or smoke a joint. Drug and alcohol abuse is very common in the squatter camp as is domestic violence. This made me so sad for them but it just broke my heart for the lil guys even more. They do not know any different, but for an hour a week, they get to experience kind arms and loving hearts.
One of my particular projects was to help with the donations that Zehandi received and catalog and organize them. This reminded me of my job back home, so I did it with joy in my heart because I knew that it was something I was good at.
An unofficial ministry that Marina and I adopted was going to Bamboo, the local restaurant. We went for internet and a coffee, but it became a ministry. We brought joy and friendly faces to the wait staff and became good buddies with them. We had our favorite servers, SLOW (Winslow) and FAST (Winston). They were twins and did not mind tricking the people by switching servers in the middle of an order. They loved talking to us and serving us and we loved talking to them. One day when Marina and I did not have a way to get to the mall, the manager sent Fast to take us to the Combi (taxi) station in her car. They were incredible people there and all of the staff came to share a goodbye on our last day.
