A month later, sharing about the ministry we took part in while in Swaziland is long overdue…
Because of the size of our team, we spent our time split at two different care points. There are 40 care points total a throughout Swaziland, caring for thousands of children. Many care points are preschools, but they also hold the role of being an after school program for primary and high school students, where they are provided with a meal and a lesson for some.
My team of six was assigned to the care point of Mahagneni. We took part in ministry there Tuesday through Friday. We’d start off with walking 5km, passing through a variety of cotton and sugar cane fields. It was a breathtaking view the entire time, and it was incredibly peaceful to take in all that was around us.
The preschoolers got out of class just as we got there, so we would spend a couple hours playing and loving on them until they would have lunch and go home. In that transition, older kids would begin to trickle in. As awesome as the little ones are, it was so amazing being able to connect with the older students on a more personal level. They spoke English better to a certain degree, but it was always a treat to hear how their day was and asking all the questions to each other.
This past week, the girls on my team were asked to speak to the girls about what a Godly woman looks like, and it was honestly one of my favourite things we’ve done. To hear the girls repeat things back that we had spoken to them let me see the fruit of our impact already. It was a great feeling.
Along with being with students and kids of all ages, Wednesday’s were for house visits. On this trip so far, I’ve felt pretty comfortable. Sure living conditions and kids sitting on you after peeing on their clothes are pretty interesting, it’s all been bearable for me. House visits though was where I definitely felt uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to visiting complete strangers in their homes, sitting in awkward silence. After a couple houses though, being more led by the Holy Spirit in what to say, things started growing on me a little more. It’s still not the easiest things for me, but I’m learning to be okay with the awkward silence and that it’s not awkward for them in their culture.
There were several times where I felt as if the impact I had was little to none when it came to playing with the kids, especially since my time here was temporary. The best thing I could do though was love the kids as best I could as Jesus would. He chose me to be here. Yesterday, we said our goodbyes, and it made me really savour our time there. We were stopped by so many kids along our walk, making sure we sent our farewells.
In the meantime now, we have made it safely to Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. It’s been a nonstop last few days, traveling and settling in, but I’m loving Jbay so far.
As much as I would love to share pictures from ministry with you all, internet hasn’t been my friend when it comes to uploading pictures for blogs hehe. Once I can figure it out though, expect some pictures to go along with the words 🙂
