With 1.1 million people, Swaziland has the highest per capita incidence of AIDS/HIV of any African country — 26 percent — that’s one in four. A generation of 30 – 40 year olds is almost gone, leaving thousands of orphaned children in its wake. On our AIM (Adventures in Missions) trip we met many children who were being raised by grandmothers or siblings because their parents were taken by this deadly disease.
These children come to the 36 Care Points AIM sponsors where over 6,000 Swazi children get their one meal per day. The food is prepared by GoGos (African term for grandmothers) who volunteer to cook a huge pot of the rice, vegetable mixture AIM provides. Before receiving their meal, the children line up and sing songs of praise to Jesus. They sing with such joy and gratefulness. Many of these Care Points are at schools and staffed by AIM missionaries and volunteers.
Our team of parents and World Racers sang with the kids, held them, encouraged them and loved them. However, we received more than we gave. As little ones sat on my lap stroking my ivory white skin, I thought of my full-bellied, well-taken-care-of grandchildren who have amazing parents and want for nothing. It seems unfair for my family to have so much and these families to have so little — my grandma’s heart breaks. For these Swazi children, it was simply about one-day-at-a-time survival.
Part of our ministry was homestead visits where we brought bags of rice, beans, corn and other food stuffs to families in tiny one-room concrete block homes. The poverty in Swaziland is overwhelming. With 37 percent unemployment, one in every thirteen people has a job. There are no government programs to aid starving families.
We had a chance to meet Sibomile, a single mother of six children and three grandchildren. She has no job but single-handedly plowed a plot of land behind her home and planted maize (corn) to feed her family. However, drought has left the corn stalks with shriveled, malnourished, unusable ears of corn. She is desperate. We brought her bags of dried food. She was so very grateful. Sibomile’s children and grandchildren also get a meal each day at the Care Point. I noticed several children receiving their food in containers with lids. I was told kids save some of their rice to share with others in their home who may not have any food.
Another of our team’s parents visited a 19-year old girl who was raising her five younger siblings alone, both parents had died. Through our home visits we saw enough despair and hopelessness to last a lifetime.
So, I ask myself, what can I do? In the book of James, verse 27, it says: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I’m not very materialistic by peer standards; however, I can do without much more than I do. I can live sacrificially. I can give more to orphans, widows and those in need. We look to governments to provide, but if everyone who calls themselves Christian were to follow this verse in James alone, think of the impact we could make on the world’s poor and vulnerable? I’m asking myself, do I need so many pairs of shoes? A Starbuck’s latte? An IPhone upgrade? Or could the money I earn be better spent as a reflection of my faith in a loving God to do as he’s asked of me: care for orphans and widows?
A quote from Mark Batterson’s book, Wild Goose Chase haunts me, “We need to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.” I don’t want to live ‘safely.’ I don’t want to worry about my 401K, or retirement plans or my comfort. Watching Kayla on the World Race has inspired me to be more, give more, care more, sacrifice more and mostly, to pray more. Lord, help me to take loving risks in Jesus’ name and to teach my children and grandchildren to be generous, loving and faithful to your call on their lives. Amen.
