As I walked down the dirt road passing houses built from tin with broken windows and a wooden door secured with a pad lock, I see familiar faces running to greet me, arms opened wide. It is the children from camp. This is Joe Slovo, a squatter camp; many of these children reside in.
I felt honored as the people greeted me and offered me a crate to sit on. They don’t have much, but will offer what they have.
This I have seen even at camp. Yesterday was one of the coldest days on record here and many of the children didn’t have protective clothing against the wind. I found a pair of gloves in the recreation supplies and offered them to a little girl shivering who was wearing a skirt with her legs exposed to the high winds. She graciously took them, but immediately gave one to another little girl also suffering from the cold. These children don’t have much, but are willing to share with those around them what they do have.
I am reminded of how much abundance I have and how little I truly share with those around me. I am reminded of the widow in the bible who gave abundantly based on her resources. Knowing this, I ask myself would I give one of my gloves up if I only had 2 and was shivering? My instinct is to say yes, but fortunately I have never had to test this.
Unfortunately this is a test these children face daily.
As we walked around we were able to meet several people and prayed with them. We met some children at the watering pump, where each one fills several large buckets of water for cooking, washing, cleaning, etc and must carry them (often times on their heads) back to their homes. We were able to help carry water and meet a tangible need for some. As we returned with the water, we were invited in Eunice’s shop and we
prayed protection over her shop for thieves, blessings for her business as she struggles to provide food for her family, healing over her eyes and legs, for her son, Origin, to find some boys his age to be true friends and be good role models, and for his education and scholarships for him to attend a university and break the generational poverty.
After prayer we visited Joe, one of our campers, whose biggest concern was shoes to walk to school with, especially during these winter months. He was borrowing his brother’s shoes but must return them when they both go to school. We
prayed for God to send the person He has appointed with these shoes to Joe. Next we visited Moses, also one of our campers, and
prayed healing over his eyes. Moses is 12 and an amazingly gifted golfer. He wins money playing in tournaments with just one golf club. Recently Moses was blessed from a previous missionary who was here a year ago and provided him with a complete set of his very own golf clubs. Moses desperately wants to be a professional golfer and has the ability, but is suffering from cataracts at this young age. He is fearful he will loose his eyesight completely and his dream will be crushed. Praise God Moses accepted Jesus two days ago at camp. We prayed healing over his eyes and for God to raise him up to be the leader we see in him. We believe golf is an avenue in which the Lord will use him to bring many to know Christ.
As we finished praying over Moses, we noticed the sun was beginning to go down and our short time was coming to an end. We said our goodbyes and told the kids we would see them at camp tomorrow. We are
praying for a restful night of sleep for them, as many received little to no sleep in the bitter cold last night (one death was recorded in Johannesburg due to the cold last night). The children were tired, desperate for naps, irritable and short tempered as they were weary today at camp. We know this is an attack from Satan to distract these kids. We are not standing for it and are
praying against these attacks. Thank you to each of you who are also partnering with us in
prayer. We feel your prayers and they are making a difference here.
Praise: The Lord answered yours and our prayers and provided warm, dry weather today for camp. We were actually able to shed layers today 🙂 Also, a God encounter occurred at Joe Slovo yesterday. One of the groups ministering at Joe Slovo met a lady who had hats and gloves she wanted to disperse to the children but was unsure how to do so without creating a riot or disturbance. She gave two bags full that she had to our group and brought more over this morning. Thank you Jesus for providing warm clothes for these children! It is awesome to see how God provides. Also, thank you Mark for taking and sharing these great photos of Joe Slovo.
As we are ministering to these children during camp and at their homes, I am reminded of Mark 10:14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Many people have written these children here at Joe Slovo off, but God is raising them up to be the next generation of leaders and influential men and women of God. I am honored to be a part of this great awakening here in this land.
