In November my team was in Swaziland, living with 2 other teams in an AIM Care Point compound in Nsoko, a village about 2 hours away from a main city of Manzini. The month was spent working with AIM’s care point feeding and pre school programs. There were two missionary families from the states who were beginning their journeys into service along with us. The families and their children were awesome, and it was wonderful to get a touch of home as the holidays neared.
Ministry in November was different from most of what we had done in Asia. Rather than focus on teaching English and leading church services, the AIM care points focused mostly on feeding and providing a place for children affected by AIDS and poverty. Family structure in Asia, while affected by poverty and lack of education, was very different from family structure in Africa. Swaziland has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection in the world, and the middle generations of 25-40 year olds has been devastated by the disease. Many children are orphaned at a young age and picked up by the community. Swaziland government and culture is more accustomed to the local homesteads simply absorbing numbers of abandoned children rather than traditional adoption as the West views it. So while my team worked with kids again, it was still so different from what I had experienced in Nepal, Thailand, and Cambodia, where much of our ministry involved children with a more traditional home structure.
Kids in Swazi were different. They were like little teenagers almost. Many of the young girls cared for siblings as if they were the mothers, carrying toddler nieces or nephews or brother and sisters on their backs to the care point playground whenever school was not in session. Many of the younger boys imitated the men of the community, playing card games and using choice language with eachother. The care points throughout the Nsoko region provide one meal a day for up to 200 kids, 5-6 days a week. For a lot of the children, this meal would be the only one they receive all day. The days pickings usually consisted of rice and pinto beans, sometimes accompanied by a spinach-y looking mash of some sort. Pretty tasty (some of the Gogos (community matriarchs who cooked for the care points) wanted us to try their cooking) but also pretty boring day to day.
As Thanksgiving rolled around, out host families were excited to cook a feast for all 24 of us, along with the AIM Swazi staff, plus their families. We had almost 50 people at our thanksgiving dinner, and still had turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce to spare (the mashed potatoes were not as lucky). Which got me thinking about the kids. Earlier that month we had helped the care points in the area provide a Christmas party dinner for the communities, giving out hundreds of take-out containers of Thanksgiving-like meals to kids ranging from 3-17. But that was just one day. Maybe even just one meal for that whole day. In my house, thanksgiving lasts until the stuffing is all gone, which takes about 4-5 whole days.
God has truly privileged my life. Having 3 meals a day is such an incredible gift. As I finished up with apple pie and Oreo balls, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for all that God has given me. But guilt or shame is not what The Lord wants. What he wants is for me to give and serve. I’m the Rich Man in those gospel stories. And I am asked to sell my possessions and give to the poor. Not quite sure if I’ve gone that far yet. But this Race has shown me everyday just how possible that action can be, with His help. I’ve seen it, through host families and missionary families and even the kids we work with. People give everything for those around them. They love other people to the point of feeding them every day for years (AIM carepoints have been in operation for over 9 years in some areas). They love other people by providing opportunities and scholarships and grants. They love other people by giving time and money to churches and shelters and missions around the world. I can only hope that I can serve to my best ability these next 5 months.
