Month 5-Swaziland
Last month my team and i were in swaziland. we worked with care points. Care points are somewhere kids can come for basic needs mainly food. Some of the kids dont have food until they get to care points. Some of the kids go to school then come to the care point, others that don’t have money for school just come. A lot of the kids have only one parent and or none. Many of the kids live with a grandparent or another family members. The aids rate is around 50% its mind blowing. That meant that every other kid i held or every other person that passed me on the street has it. One of the saddest things about it is that to treat or slow the virus down is a somewhat easy and a cheap pill, but to many can’t get to a doctor. Some of the missionaries we worked with have to take people from the villages and drive them to town so they could get their pills. They have basically started a shuttle service. The people in swaziland were super nice, some of the nicest people i have ever been around. It truly breaks my heart to see a country with so much potential dying off. if you want to learn more check theses blogs out. These are some long term missionaries
http://theclyburns.myadventures.org/?tuid=7573071
http://themcadams.myadventures.org/?tuid=7573071
Month 6-Mozambique
This month my team and i are in Maputo, Mozambique. We are working with an organization called Masana working to get kids off the street. Most of the kids have homes. maybe not the best ones but life on streets can be an easy outlet. There is more money then most have ever seen mainly from begging and stealing. The way it was kind of told to me is that its kind of like jail. You have the younger kids kind of following someone older to watch out for them. One of the saddest things is the older or stronger ones call the younger weaker ones their girl friends. they don’t consider it homosexual, they are just uneducated. They see that as a need or something they want. If they need food the steel it, if they want alcohol they beg for the money to buy it, they see someone as just another object. Basically what americans do to be honest. Monday though thursday the boys come to Masana from 7 to 2. The get breakfast then have some teaching and they can bathe and wash their clothes. The boys have lunch then go back to the streets. They never tell the boys “go home”, they never force the boys to go home. If one wants to go home they bring them to their house and give them structure so transition back home won’t be so hard. They do some discipleship and have them do chores. there are 4 boys that are staying at masana right now. they are a lot of fun. After they get home they go do home visits to make sure they are doing ok so they don’t go back to the streets. The fact of the matter is that they are kids who are in search of Gods love.
The fist day we were here it was National Kids Day we took the kids to a ceremony and the first lady spoke. One of the kids named Joao or Monster who is 13. One of the leaders told me his story. Joao is king of the streets he is tough enough, strong enough and he is young enough to get what he wants. He is build like a linebacker and he is 13. At the ceremony he fell asleep in my lap. Just like a little kid, just like someone who was longing for a father, someone who needed rest.
Another example was when we were walking to play some soccer with the boys and along the way we passed some of the boys that come to the house on the side of the road. Some were digging though trash but one of them Pai was playing in the sand with a little broken dump truck, packing the sand in the back. Even now I can remember doing the same thing. one of the differences between us is that I had parents that called me in when it was time for dinner and told me to take a bath. The other night one of the boys came to the house because he had been stabbed in the neck. This is not a walk in the park for anyone. The organization here is young people who are just loving on the kids and trying to show Christ. The awesome thing is that they are doing it and they are changing these boys lives. This is one of my favorite months and its awesome to come along side a ministry that is making a difference and loving on people.
I am $2600 away from being fully funded and cant thank everyone enough. I need to have all my money or know who is giving me monthly support by the end of this month. I still need everyones help every little bit helps. Thanks!
