The past 10 days we have been in rural Swaziland. There was nothing where we were other than homesteads and animals – it really was rural. We joined team LEGO (june) and team SALT (jan). They were finishing up their
ministry projects that had been taking place for the past month.
The first day, I went to one of the carepoints. A carepoint is a place where orphans and local children come in the morning. The Go-gos (super mothers/grandmothers to all) work at the carepoints. They teach the children and feed them a meal for lunch. The day I went, the Go-gos were not there because they were at a teacher training that the other 2 teams had put together. The children were full of energy. They were dirty and their clothes were tattered and worn. Some were sick.
It was a particularly hard morning for me. I was not feeling well. The poverty and injustice in this place was different from what I had experienced in the previous weeks. It cut deeper for some reason. The children were the ones you think of as African children. And honestly, I did not have a lot of energy. I did not feel like loving them that morning. I did not want their dirtiness to touch me or for their snot to be wiped on my clothes. I did not want to engage with them, perhaps for fear of being broken and feeling their pain. I resisted for a time, but it didn’t last.
This one boy in particular caught my attention (i don’t have his picture). He had viscous, yellow mucus oozing out of both of his ears. To be true, it disgusted me. The flies were buzzing around and landing on his ears. I didn’t want to look at it. I was frustrated with myself for feeling this way. Brady told me that the boy’s ear had been infected for the past month. Apparently he had visited the clinic, but he was still not better. It was very painful for him and he cried a lot. The hurt broke through to me. I got over the germs, the grossness, and the dirt. I wiped the mucus from his ears and nose. I picked him up to ease his tears. He fell asleep on my chest.
As he drifted off, the tears came. I cried out to God. I pleaded with Him for healing. I was upset with God. These children have
nothing, absolutely
nothing, why do they have to suffer with these illnesses, diseases, and pain too? I do not understand. I know God is big and that He has the power to heal. Why would God not answer my prayers and heal this child? I do not know. Thankfully God can see the bigger picture and that He heals in His time. My prayers are needed and heard, but God is ultimately sovereign. As I left, I thanked God that He was staying with the child. God always sees and cares for His children.
