I wake up at 6:00am as the sun is beginning to shine
through the mesh of my tent, was it the cool breeze that woke me or was it the
dampness of last night’s dew that snuck it’s way into my tent? Not caring, I attempt to decide, is today a
pants and long sleeve day, or shorts and tee shirt day…hmmm..oh wait…it
doesn’t matter. Be thankful you have a
choice, and throw some clothes on, Mark.
**sniff…sniff** yeah, this shirt is clean enough to wear again. I am not going to lie, hand washing clothes
is NOT my favorite chore (especially when I wait until I’m completely out of
things that smell good enough to wear one more time, and there’s no automatic
dryer around!) but some days it’s a necessity.
No matter what I put on, I have to remind myself once again that no
matter what I look like, I need to be more thankful for what I have…I am,
after all, deciding what to wear today when most people I see today don’t have
that choice. I go ahead and choose to
put on jeans and a tee shirt, and go for the gusto and put on the last long
sleeve tee shirt I can find in my backpack (the rest have disappeared…hmmmm).
The morning is cool, but the sun beating in promises to
warm the afternoon air as I wipe out my bowl and a semi-clean spoon for
breakfast. Cheap cereal and long life
milk, mmmmm!.another wonderful world race breakfast! Again, I need to regain perspective…I have
breakfast, and life is good again. I see
the rest of my team mates surface out of their tents, and small chat begins as
we all scarf down our bowls of real tasty breakfast (which 7 months ago I would
have never sunk my teeth into). A
discussion of the book of Romans, and off to do some sort of ministry for the
day. Unsure of what we’ll get into, we
take the best tools we have…ourselves.
We weave through the dirt trails that lead to the various
G-42 Care Points to eventually find a small building nicely decorated with a
brownish red bottom and a pale yellow top.
The smile of kids gleam as they realize that the fun white people have
shown up. The sun is warming up the day,
so I take off the long sleeve shirt I so needed an hour ago. The Care Point teacher is busy teaching the
children…it slightly brings me back to my teaching days not so long ago at Kannapolis Middle School. I peek inside, trying not to distract the
kids and pull the attention from Nellie (the teacher). As I glare in, I am sadly reminded that these
kids need Jesus, the fact still lingers that many of them will never see as
many years as I’ve been blessed with ( I am currently 28 1/2 years old…I felt
like a kid again putting that I’m 28 AND a half!).
The teacher is not only teaching the kids in their native
language, SiSwati, but she is going the extra mile and teaching them in
English. I listen as they recite the
months, the days, the numbers, the weather in both SiSwati as well as English. I realize that this teacher is a better
teacher with very little education than I was when I taught with a college
degree. I begin to rethink my world
again for the 3rd time today (probably more than the 3rd, but that’s all I’ve
explained in this blog). The teacher
allows the children to take a 10 minute break before they come in to learn
something about Jesus, maybe it’s a story, maybe it’s a song…today we are
doing a skit about the Good Samaritan from Luke and teaching them a lesson to
go with it…my role is to play the part of the bad guy who beats up Tammy, the
innocent girl. As I fake beat up Tammy,
a young child begins to cry, thinking I actually beat her up! It makes us all laugh.
Our time is finished off by playing with the kids and
helping the GoGo’s prepare a meal for the children. Whether it’s playing the real fun game of “kick
the ball back and forth” or simply holding the children and if so inspired
spinning them around, the kids enjoy the mere presence of someone who
cares. The thought often passes me, “holding
this child, will I get ringworm?” and it is without hesitation replaced with, “who
cares? there’s medication to fix that, there’s no medicine that can replace
love and hugs.” I have no idea what
their world is actually like…the feeling of coming to a Care Point where
people come and go all the time, accepting ANY form or feeling of love from
them as it may be the only hug they get that month. I can’t describe how grumpy I would be if
that was the only meal I got that day, yet the kids don’t seem grumpy at
all…in fact they seem rather satisfied with life. The GoGo informs them that lunch is ready,
the kids quickly jump in line, prepared for their meal today…their one meal
in many to most cases. No silverware
needed here, the kids sprinkle some water across their dirt caked hands (often
simply turning the dirt into mud) and dig into their meal for the day. I’m getting annoyed that a pesky fly keeps
landing on my head. There’s no bothering
them or chatter as the kids devour the plate of food placed in their
hands. After they are finished, they don’t
hesitate to clean up after themselves, cleaning their plates off in a bucket of
water…not caring that their hands and faces are still a mess, they hurry back
to play with us as they know that all too soon we to will leave their
lives…with nothing but a fleeing thought that someday we could meet up
again.
The cloud of dust rises behind the van as we leave the
Care Point in the afternoon. Heading
back to the safari campground we are staying at, I look forward to the
convenience of a warm shower and running water.
These things are now considered WONDERFUL in my world as all too often
on the World Race we find ourselves dumping buckets of ice cold water over our
heads to keep clean. Alright, we need to
start to think about dinner…we need to think about it fairly early as
whatever we cook needs to be cooked over an open fire. **argh** what a pain. Oh wait…I’m eating again…realign my
attitude and view on life yet again…I have food to eat. The team spends 1-3 hours a night preparing
dinner, depending on what we are eating.
As dinner cooks, I sit complaining that my long sleeve shirt is simply
too far away for me to get right now…complaining sarcastically until one of
my super nice team mates decides to get me my shirt simply to get me to shut
the heck up.
These giraffes were a 15 minute walk from where we are staying!
The night draws to a close, cold and worn out, I retire
back to my wonderful tent, my sleeping bag, and I turn off my flashlight to
save the batteries. I swear I can see my
breath…but it could simply be my imagination.
I reflect on my dayÉI remember the children, wondering what they are
doing right now, are they telling their parent(s) about their day? are they
saying bedtime prayers? are they warm? are they hungry? do they have parents?
I whisper or dare I say I whimper a quick prayer
(dwelling on it before bed causes me to now sleep so well) and move on to the
teachers…being a teacher once upon a time I dare to press into their
struggles. Is Nellie right now preparing
tomorrow’s lesson? is she hungry? is she lonely? is she cold? is she saying her
bedtime prayers? would I walk to the Care Point tomorrow if I was her? would I
do all that she does out of the goodness of my heart…without a penny of
compensation? why didn’t I do more for my students? couldn’t I have done better
with the picture perfect situation I was in at Kannapolis Middle School? why didn’t I do better?
Again, shoot out a quick prayer to make sure that God
looks after the teachers and the children…I can’t beat myself up over not
being as good of a teacher as I should have, maybe I’ll get a second chance
someday…but will I do it simply out of love and compassion for the children?
crap.
I drift off to sleep, secretly hoping that my dream that
night takes me to a different place, a place that one day I would have thought
was better than where I am right now.
But a short distance I hear a lion’s roar, reminding me that I am living
in Africa, 200 short feet from a lion’s home,
next to a lion who hasn’t eaten in nearly a week…who does this? is this really my life? is this year really half over? is it really flying by this fast? it seems like forever ago that I said goodbye
to family and friends, yet it seems like yesterday at the same time. Which place is better…the place I hope to
dream of, or the place I’m in right now?
