So far our month in Pretoria, South Africa has been amazing. My team is working with an organization called Beam Africa and all of us are living together in a beautiful house with beds and showers and toilets. What a gift after 2 months without such comforts. For ministry my team splits up in the mornings. Some go and teach at a literacy school and some help with administrative and maintenance chores around the property. Then in the afternoons we all meet up at the Pleasant Valley care centre in the township of Mamelodi. Here we spend a few hours a day playing with the kids and helping the staff to get them all fed and present a daily discipleship lesson. The kids at the centre are so lovely. High 5s were the thing to do in Lesotho, playing with hair was the thing to do in Swaziland, but here in South Africa the kids really seem to love their hugs. So cool. I’m just loving this month so far.
During one of our first days of ministry we were playing a game with the kids. Essentially we all hold hands and repeat the words “tomato sauce” while whoever is in the front of the line drags the chain of people in and out of the building and around obstacles (Yes, games here seem pretty random most of the time). All was going well until a child a few links in front of me got dragged face first into the steel gate latch. He immediately broke from the chain of children and in shock put his hands to his split open forehead. The blood came quick.
Pause and flash back to August 2007. Not sure how many of you know this, but I spent two weeks in South Africa on a mission trip 9 years ago. Many neat things happened in those two weeks and I have quite a few fond memories, but I have always had one specific bad memory from that trip. Some team mates and I were out playing soccer with some kids when one little boy got nailed in the face with the soccer ball. In a similar fashion, the boy stopped running and in shock put his hands to his face. Blood poured from his nose and He screamed out in pain and fear at the sight of the blood. I froze. We all froze. HIV rates are astounding in Africa. One drop of infected blood entering a person’s system could bring with it a disease that ends lives on a daily basis here. That blood was not something that I wanted anything to do with. Luckily the child’s screams attracted my best friend Brenda who ran to the child’s aid. “Bren, he’s bleeding!” I said. “Em! He’s just a kid!!” She replied. I never forgot that moment, and I doubt I ever will… What a dilemma. I felt terrible.
Resume scene at “tomato sauce” incident. Blood poured down the little boys face and he staggered away from the crowd of kids who seemed to have not noticed what just happened. No way was I gonna freeze this time. I split from the chain and ran over and scooped him up just as he started to cry. Blood covered his face and both of little his hands, and as I held him I could feel his panic. He grabbed me, held his face, looked at his bloody hands and grabbed my arms. I called over the centre coordinator who quickly found a medical kit and led me into the back room, out of sight. She put on some gloves and began administering first aid. For the next 10 minutes I sat there with the boy on my lap, holding him tight and comforting him through his now fading sobs. I rocked him back and forth as his blood soaked hands rested in mine and he leaned back against my chest and calmed down. By the end of it there was blood all over my arms and hands. But you know what, in that terrible moment, a vulnerable and innocent little kid had a chest to lean on and a safe place to hide.
I will never know that kid’s HIV status, nor do I care. By the grace of God I had no cuts or broken skin on my hands that day and the chance of infection was extremely low. But even if there was a chance of infection, I’d do it again. Jesus never left suffering people because he feared for His own health. In fact people brought the sick to Him and He met them with a healing touch. From the blind, to lepers, to a woman with chronic bleeding, He never held back His hand.
Before leaving for the race I had eczema on my hands for about 7 years. They were often dry and itchy with cracked and broken skin. I knew this would hold me back on the mission field, and I knew that God had big things coming for me. So one day when I was driving down island on my way to training camp, I prayed for healing like I have never prayed before. I prayed for the blood of Jesus to cover my own hands. Jesus says that His blood washes away all iniquity and I put my faith in that. I declared the blood of Jesus over myself over and over and over again for about an hour that day. And you know what, from that day on my eczema cleared up and it hasn’t returned. There are bigger things going on in this life than just my health, safety and comfort. My life is not my own, it was bought at a price. And the one to whom it belongs may sustain it or end it whenever and however He likes. In the mean time, I am grateful that He gave me the chance to redeem my fearful and selfish actions from 9 years ago. Every day is a new choice, and today I will trust Him. I will follow Him, and wherever I am led I will respond to the commission to go and love as He first loved me.
Thanks for reading. Love to you all 🙂
