The Boy Who Went To A Restaurant
One night a few of us were talking in a circle outside, and two Swazi guys were with us. They were about the same age as us. After some small talk, music, and dancing they asked us a question. “Do you guys have restaurants in America?” We of course responded with “yes,” kinda thinking in our heads that was a silly question. But he went on, with a big smile on his face, about one time when he was a little boy, his mother took him to a restaurant. He talked with such happiness, as if it was yesterday, and as if we were the first people he had told the story to. He tried to explain in his broken English that in that moment he was the most full he has ever been in his life. He didn’t know how to explain with words the feeling of being full. He explained how he had to ask his mother how to say that he couldn’t eat more. His mother told the waitress to bring more food instead of stopping. When more food came, he said he ran away because he didn’t know what else to do. That’s where his story ended. Can you think of the last time that you were so full that you didn’t even know how to express the feeling?
Finding Water For Mosi (mo-z)
One day I was hanging out in my hammock, and a little boy named Mosi came and joined me. We hung there for a while and drew a little in a journal. He started taking about something very firmly, and eventually we figured out he was thirsty. Another girl and I went to try and figure out were he lived to get him water. The first house we walked by was the AIM clinic, and we passed a man, waved and said hello in Siswati. After about 30 min of walking around to try and find this little dudes house, his mouth was foaming white on the edges, and he just looked so tired. We joked around saying I bet that first house we passed was his. We walked back to the AIM base and as we approached the first house we passed we asked the man if he new where Mosi lived. Only to find out that the guy we were talking to was in fact his dad, and he thought we were just taking him on a walk. Mosi was the little dude that everyone new. And from then on Mosi was the silly little boy that captured everyone’s hearts. From sitting on everyone’s laps, to playing on tires for 45 min, and rescuing his shoe off the roof, Mosi will be remembered. He has a mom and dad that love and protect him, and he is one of few little boys in that community that have two parents. I hope as he grows up he can continue stealing people’s hearts, but for Christ.
Standing In The Storm
I love thunder and lighting storms. Fun Fact: The second leading killer in Swaziland after HIV & AIDS, is death by lighting. One night I fell asleep to a crazy wind storm. Going outside meant you would be pelted by dirt. It was so energizing for me. Falling asleep was no problem, it felt like home. I woke up around 2:30am to a different noice, one I hadn’t really heard in a while. RAIN! I started smiling in my bed because I felt so comforted by all that was going on outside. For me, my breath gets taken away by storms like that. They energize me because I know the same God that can make such powerful storms, is the same God that gives peaceful mornings. He takes my breath away in the storms, and gives me even more breath when the storm calms down. I love seeing God in both nature and weather, because even down here in Swaziland, you can find home in the storms.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 29:1
The Best Ministry Is Outside Of Ministry
The majority of kids that we see in Nsoko, Swaziland are more independent than the average kids you know in your community. At the age of 1 1/2 they take care of themselves, walking to wear they need to go, and elsewhere. So for kids that are maybe 13 they are seen as more of adults, and sometimes we forget about them. A leader and I went for a walk one day to some train tracks and we came across kids who just wanted to walk with us. We went to meet their family and I saw they had an ‘older’ sister. I began to try and have conversations with her. I don’t remember her name, but she was a sincere older sister who looked after her four younger siblings. I began playing a hand game with her, and the smiles that were brought to her face through such a simple game made me see her innocence and childlike playfulness. She was the one that often played with her siblings, but there was a different smile on her face when she was the one getting the attention. The last day we were in Nsoko a few of us went on the walk again and no kids were at the home, but their Gogo (grandma) was. They had baby pigs, so one of my team members asked if we could hold them. At first, you could tell by the look on her face she thought we were kinda crazy and didn’t really know why we would want to do that. But I think once she saw how much we were laughing she started to enjoy herself as well. She took some pictures with us, and the simple joy that we wanted to show her, ended up being shown to us through her open heart (even when she was a little skeptical at first).
Trash?
The morning we left Nsoko, we took all of our trash to the burn pile. A small crater in the ground that we could light on fire when it was filled. One section was burning while I walked up to put a bag in. There were about 6 boys and an elderly woman walking around in the trash with huge smiles on their faces, grabbling all they could as fast as they could. Tearing open every bag and sifting through it all. Seeing this, we stopped lighting it on fire, and continued pilling the trash and leaving it be for them to look through. There was nothing we could do in that moment except stand and watch, and even that felt uncomfortable to do. But the trash we threw away, they found a use for.
Feeso (fee-so)
He is 20 years old, lives with his mothers (Dodo) and grandmother (Natalie), has younger siblings that attend school, wears bright yellow shoes, wonders aimlessly all day, plays with a t.v. remote as his entertainment, and loves watching the train go by in the distance. Feeso has epilepsy. He can’t talk very much, is unable to survive on his own, and he has the most caring people in his life. Feeso is so blessed. His mom is the most welcoming, loving, and caring person. She has incredible patience, along with his grandma. He has episodes every night, and for the past 20 years, his family has never left his side during those nights. They have medicine for Feeso, but some things aren’t able to be masked by medication. His family has shown me how it really looks to love a family member, even in their living conditions. This young man has been loved and looked after by a family who is given so much strength from God. Praying for this family and these two amazing woman was incredible because we could see so much strength in them that could only come from God. Our prayer for them was that they could really recognize that for themselves and embrace it even more. They have no dad in the picture, and we could see the brokenness that was there because of that, but that didn’t take away from the way they loved their family and us.
