(Through the eyes of my little 4-year-old bestie at my team’s ministry sight, Amathie)
It was just another Wednesday for my family. Every morning my brothers, sisters, and I grab out plates and some sticks (for the fire) and walk a couple miles to the nearest care point called “Ngunya”. Here I play all morning while my parents work at the homestead. I stay until the GoGo feeds me the only meal I will see all day then I start the long trek home. This is my routine. I may be 4 but I am independent, I have to make sure I leave everyday with my siblings (who are all under the age of 11) or I won’t eat. I play for hours on end by myself or with some friends who come after school gets out. I am always so exhausted but I am scared to fall asleep because I don’t want to be left behind and not make it home.
This Wednesday was different though. I was swinging on the playground when a big van pulls up with 6 tall white girls waving and smiling. I was so confused. I just sat there. What are they doing here? I am here everyday and I have never seen them before. They hug the GoGo and put their stuff in the class/choir room. Then they all walk out and start introducing themselves. I was so scared but I was interested. What did they want? Then the tallest one makes her way over to me with a huge smile and starts pushing me on the swing. At first it was a little weird because I didn’t know her but I liked having someone notice me. It was new.
I giggle a little and that made the giant American laugh as well and she asked my name. Little does she know that my family can pot afford school, so I never learned English. So I just stare at her. In awe and admiring how much attention she is giving me. I decided to soak up all the love and affection I could get because I didn’t know when the next time I would get this much would be. She picks me up and carries me to the shade.
After walking so far, playing all day, walking again, and working around the homestead till dark, I am beyond exhausted every day. I am normally very cautious and don’t trust strangers but something about her felt welcoming and warm and gentle. I catch myself dozing off in her arms. She smiled and gives me a kiss on the forehead. I haven’t experienced such tender affection in forever so my eyes perked open and I looked up. I love this tall white woman. I don’t know her name or why she is here but I love her.
I walked home and told my mom and siblings all about her. It was the best day ever! I didn’t know she would be back the next day but she was. My family came late and just in time for lunch, I looked up and much to my surprise, the same girl opened the classroom door and smiled at the sight of me. She waved and said “YAY! Hey babygirl!” My eyes grew wide. I was so surprised and happy to see her again! But I didn’t get to play with her because we left before she came back out. I was sad but maybe I’d see her the next day! Maybe she was gonna keep coming back.
I woke up super early the next morning and sat at my carepoint bench hoping she would show up. I was not disappointed. A big van pulls up with 6 tall white girls waving and smiling yet again. My heart started beating faster and when she stepped off the van I could no longer contain myself. I started giggling uncontrollably and bouncing in my chair. Then she stood in front of me, bent down and opened her arms. I ran into her arms in complete abandonment. This is now my American girl! None of my friends are allowed to sit in her lap or hold her hand because I don’t want to share this new friend. I don’t want her to love anyone else and forget about me. I don’t want to be lonely again.
Yesterday she took some pictures with me and we had so much fun. She learned my name from the GoGo and when I wasn’t expected it, she said my name. I couldn’t have been more happy. She knew my name. She saw me. She loved me too! That is all I ever wanted.
(This is just my interpretation of my little babygirl, Amathie. Like I said in the blog, she doesn’t speak any English and she barely talks in Siswati. A lot of this is just assumed from how the older children’s lives look and how she reacts.)
I hope you liked this post, thank you for reading!
P.S. I have pictures of her on my Instagram (I couldn’t upload them here due to bad WiFi) if you wanna see her!
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I am married now!!! (Updates from the field)
So there we are, at the local store (one of two within a twenty minute radius of our compound). This local store is called “SaveMor”. Gillian and I were standing outside waiting for the rest of our group to buy their food. First, we tried to pray for a man with one leg. We walked up and greeted him in Siswati but he ignored us and kept saying the same word over and over again. We found out that he was chanting “moneymoneymoneymoney” rapidly so we slowly backed away and started cracking up at the failure to evangelize that we both just partook in.
We weren’t discouraged though! We both prayed that God would have someone walk up to us. We stated that ANYONE who did, we would tell them about Jesus.
Sure enough, two men walked over. One spoke NO English. He just grabbed my hand and pointed at my camera and kind of yelled “SHOOT”, so I took a picture, he chuckled and walked away. Then the other man walked up (he had an alcohol bottle in a bag and a cigarette) and smiled at me. He grabbed my hand gently and said “I need a wife” and I chuckled and pointed to a (fashionable) ring on my left ring finger and said “sorry, I am already married.” He then looked at Gillian and said the same thing to which she replied the same way. Did that scare us off? NOT AT ALL. We proceeded to ask if he knew Jesus and if we could pray for him. He got super excited, threw his cigarette to the side and said yes. He grabbed my hand and Gillian’s, stacked them together and smiled. I thought he wanted to pray but he said “AH yes, three become one now!” We freaked out and started laughing because he just “married” the two of us. I wanted to get out of the situation so I prayed for him from a distance and ended with “And please help our new friend with his search for a real wife. Amen” and we skirted out of there to our group who watched the entire thing and were laughing. So I may have a husband in ESwatini now. Mom, if you are reading this, he says he loves Jesus so he is a good guy. (IM NOT REALLY MARRIED BTW,, at least, I hope not)
