The life expectancy in Africa is 56 years old. People live with HIV, die with HIV and suffer through it. People live with nothing, wake up with suffering and walk through life constantly looking for hope. Children starve. Children have no education. Teens are married off for a money trade. Women are an object. Men have no other option, work isn’t available. Life here is worse than what you think, you always here Africa is the worst; Africa is the poorest in the world. But to Africans, this is life. This is there world, they live this reality daily.
I have been living in Mwanza, Tanzania, Africa for a month now. I arrived in Kenya and stayed there for about a week. We loaded up in an old bus to travel to Tanzania. We were told it would take us 16 hours to arrive at out ministry sight. It took us 26 hours! It was hot and humid during the day and freezing at night. After the long and interesting introduction to Tanzania we arrive to Mwanza, home of Lake Victoria- the largest Lake in Africa.
The language barrier is thick. The food is different, very different. Traditions and culture leave us with a blank stare at times. Women’s rights simply don’t exist. Staying out after dark is not an option. Things have been stolen from us, literally. Sickness has been a regular around here. Sleeping is a gift. Meals are…… no comment, they just are. We have a soundtrack as we walk down the street; men whistling/making hissing noise, they sometimes touch our hair, local men try to hold our hands. Walking through crowds is stressful (especially after the incident in India). The children point and say “Mzungu” which means white person and the toddlers just say “Zungu” –white!
I sleep in a tent. My nightly routine consists of; team feedback, fighting deadly mosquito’s, bucket shower, then bug spray, then rush inside my tent so no mosquito’s sneak in. Clean my tent out and It’s on! I fight the mosquitos INSIDE my tent. Don’t know what God was thinking when he created these things!
Ministry this month consisted of; evangelizing in the mornings, preaching in the afternoons. Children’s church on Saturday, and a four hour Sunday service that included conga lines, loud worship, Swahili harmonizing, African dancing and children sitting all over me playing with my hair. Evangelizing was no joke! We traveled to nearby Scuma villages, most people would say they were either Christians, Muslims, Roman Catholic or nothing at all. The “Christians” call themselves that because they have heard of Jesus as the savior, they don’t necessarily have a relationship with Jesus. We have prayed for healing, salvation, liberation, and so much more! We have seen the fruits of said prayer manifest in different ways. We have seen men and women even children decide to live for Jesus Christ.
I preached at a small outdoors Scuma Village church, where the Holy Spirit was floating in the air so thick that no one could contain the feeling. Tears flowed down my face, feeling secure that the Spirit was there and He was not holding anything back from us. The presence of the Lord raged over us like a flood. I have danced in the presence of the Lord until sweat and tears overwhelmed me. I have held African babies in my arms that reminded me of hope and life. I have shaken the hand of a 96 year old scuma tribe woman that made me realize that life,is short. I have felt my heart break many times and at the same time been mended together by Gods love. I have introduced atheist, Rastafarians, Muslims, to the LOVE of Jesus Christ. I have walked on sand barefoot, felt the sun on my face, heard sounds of waves crashing on the shore and palm trees sway in the wind. I rode on the back of a motorcycle with the wind slapping my face into a permanent smile. I have seen lions, giraffe, zebras, monkeys, elephants and seen the sunrise in the Serengeti. This is my life…..
