This month we are in ZIMBABWE and our ministry is amazing. Challenging, and heartbreaking, but full of joy and laughter. We are working at a center that is mainly a crisis center for girls who have been sexually abused (1/3 girls are sexually abused before they turn 18 in Zimbabwe). The center also takes in other children who have experienced abuse, and currently houses 74 children. Sometimes while running around chasing a 3 year old, while simultaneously playing hide and seek with the 6 year old hiding in the tires, the gravity of the situation. I see the girl on the swing with my teammate who has trauma induced autism because of what she went through before she turned 3. I see the kid climbing the jungle gym who was left to die as an infant and miraculously lived passed the extreme level of dehydration he was found in. I see the baby laying on the blanket who is a product of her mom being sexually abused my many men in the village she lived in after her father passed away. All the while I run around making sure the kids are enjoying themselves at the center.
When we arrived at the center the kids were on winter break so we got to spend all day everyday with them. One day, the kids got to go to Water World! We went to make sure they didn’t drown, which was arguably the most stressful ministry I have had all year! At Water World there were two BIG slides, one that is built into the hill that takes one small turn and you can ride a single, or a double tube down. The other one is build up out of the hill and twists and turns and spins its way toward the small pool at the bottom. However, most of these kids actually couldn’t swim! Who knew? Once they got their swimming costumes put on some of the team would ride down the slide with the kids and lift them up at the end so they could ride the big slides but not drown.
The joy on their faces couldn’t be taken away for anything – except the half a second when they drop off the slide before the racer could get their footing, they sometimes had a hint of fear in their eyes then. They were so happy to be able to ride ride the big slides, to be at a water park (even if it was a little chilly since it’s the end of WINTER here). On this day, they got to be kids, their pasts didn’t matter. They weren’t living at a center without a mom and dad, they were a group of kids on a break from school enjoying the day at a water park. Every time they came down those slides they laughed and clapped and smiled from ear to ear so we could see their teeth from the other side of the pool. Then, without fail they would say “AGAIN” and look at whoever brought them down the slide, who inevitably had a line of at least four kids to take down the slide next.
