So I know it's been wayyy overdue, but here's my first blog since I've left on the race. Sorry for being so lazy with this.
Anyways, I'm in my third country right now, South Africa. We are working at POPUP ministries in Pretoria. Everythings going great. But what I really want to write about is a story from last month, in Swaziland.
So our first day in ministry children came running out from the playground, grabbing each and everyone of our hands, climbing on us, kicking, punching, and screaming at us for attention. We probably had six or seven kids on each of us at a time. The aggressiveness of these children was overwhelming to all of us to say the least. After about fifteen min. of being human jungle gyms, the teacher called the kids over to pray. We swept out the classroom of all the ants and helped organize their desks while they went through all of there prayers that they had memorized in english. Then the kids came into class and most of them were screaming at me "Rambo! teacha! sit hear!" (Apparently another guy, named Rambo, who looked like me used to work there) I spent most of the morning trying to avoid the most aggresive ones, although they would always make there way around your neck. When they had gone back out to recess we started asking the teacher, Cindy, questions about the kids and where they come from. She explained that the preschool was free for the kids in the area and the area happened to be one of the poorest in Manzini. Most of the kids come from homes where they are verbally, physically, and/or sexually abused. She also talked about how a few of the kids, who were much older than the rest, hadn't been enrolled in the next grade level by their parents. Cindy saw how they weren't in school and convinced the parents to at least enroll them in her class, sometimes for the third or fourth time.
This little guy is Mfaunkona. On day one he was by far the most aggressive child there. My heart broke for him as soon as I heard Cindy explain his situation. He was eight years old and had been in the same preschool class for about four years. He was bigger and stronger than all of the other children, but he was still maturing with four and five year olds.
After hearing all of this he became my little buddy. He was always by my side or on my shoulders. I would always sit with him in class and ask him how he was doing. It didn't take long to see the difference in the way he acted and the way he treated his friends and fellow classmates. He was by no means perfect, but just getting the love and attention that he needed was making a difference in his life. Seeing the change in Mfaunkon's life in just one month made me realize the importance of relationships with people your own age and the love from your mother and father. So I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to my mom, Rachelle Zink. You have always been there for me when I needed it the most and I thank you for that. Love you. I also want to say thank you to my dad, Todd Dundore. You've always been a safe place for me to say anything and without judgment. Thank you and I love you.
Thank you to everyone who is praying for, and supporting me. I really can't thank you enough. My nest deadline is coming up on April 1st. I need $2179 for this deadline and a total of $6678 to be fully funded. I'm super excited to see God fill this need. Thanks again for all of your support. Love you all.
