I debated on whether or not to post this blog. Not because I didn’t think it was important, but because I thought I should only share certain kinds of stories. Stories with happy endings, not ones that might make readers feel uncomfortable or sad. But then I realized that this particular story, though uncomfortable for me to experience first hand, was a total wake up call and learning experience.
On this particular day, 3 members of my team went to the care point as usual, while the other 4 of us had meetings with leadership (myself included). It was only a few hours into their 7 hour day and two children had soiled their clothes. A few of my teammates asked if there was a place and supplies to clean the children. They were told no, the children stayed in those clothes until they walked home at 4 pm…it was only noon at this point. Feeling helpless my teammates had no choice but to ignore it and continue with their day.
That evening, as a team, we shared our frustrations with one another. Why aren’t we doing more? What is our purpose for coming every day? How can we even help? My first instinct was to buy diapers and wipes for the care point. Seemed like a quick fix for a relatively easy problem. Until Jarren, one of my teammates, pointed out that those supplies would only last until they ran out. Suddenly I was just as frustrated as everyone else. She was right. I wanted a quick fix…a band-aid to cover up something I didn’t want to see.
Two days later, our first day back since that day, I also was able to see and feel what the other girls on my team felt. I noticed a little boy crying and an older child scolding him. When the little boy was sent away from the group of children I saw that he was covered in his own feces and in tears. He was 2 years old. My first instinct was to find something to clean him up with but God told me to go and Pick him up.
“But I don’t want to be covered in that too.”
Then God said to me “Neither do those kids that’s why they turned him away. Go and pick him up.”
So, I went to him and picked him up, knowing I would also have feces on me.
I held him and wiped his tears until he stopped crying. And When he calmed down I set him next to me. I asked Teagan to bring me baby wipes from our backpack. The children who wanted nothing to do with him gathered around and watched silently. I hadn’t intended it to be a teachable moment, but it became one. Since I don’t speak SiSwati, all I could do was demonstrate what I wanted to do for this child. I began cleaning up the little boy as best as I could. Next, I took a wipe to my own jacket. As I did this, a little girl came over to me, took my wipe from my hand, and cleaned the rest of my jacket.
Then it clicked. Two things I learned:
1. “Love is not a noun it is a verb. Love does.” – Bob Goff
I had good intentions in wanting to purchase diapers for the children but what I didn’t realize at the time was that what I was searching for was a band-aid solution. I wasn’t trying to heal the wound, I just wanted to cover it up. It made me sad, frustrated, and discouraged but really if you think about it, diapers were not going to solve the underlying problem. That little boy didn’t care about a diaper, he had never had one before. What he wanted was someone to love him in the midst of his “mess”. Jesus cared more about investing in people with his love, not his money. Search for people to invest your love in.
2. “Go and do the same.” -Luke 10:37
I envisioned a dark room full of people holding unlit candles and God hands me a match. So I light my candle and the persons standing next to me and then they begin to light others and so on.
In the same way, that little girl watched as God told me to love and then extended love back in the same way. She took the flame, lit her candle, and passed it on. Offer your light to others.
