A little more perspective for y’all on our ministry here in eSwatini!!!
Our squad here in Nsoko consists of 5 girls teams with about 5-7 girls on each, and 1 team of 5 guys. As the guys do ranging ministry through labor and developing relationships at the prison, us girls groups are each assigned to a care point. These care points have a playground and a classroom, standing as a safe haven for children of the community to get a hot meal, which for most it’s their only meal 5 days a week. At my team’s assigned care point, “Mamba 1” our Shepard, Situhlele, pours his heart and energy into loving these children by teaching and watching over them, as well as helping us so that we can better aid and love these children as well.
We make our way to ministry in a white van down a bumpy and beautifully scenic road. When we arrive, we get a warm greeting from the care point’s “gogo”, one of the 5 grandmothers in the community who weekly devote their time to cooking for the kids. We have developed sweet relationships with them simply through conversation, understanding their lives, and always making sure we lend a helping hand. Whether it be gathering fire wood, washing the children’s hands, passing out the food, and sometimes holding the crying baby on their back, we do the little things as much as we can, as they give so much and have for so long before our time in partnership.
The sweetest hello happens at the turn of the corner of the blue classroom building where we find little arms and smiling faces reaching up for hugs, holds, and spins. One of the most important things we are to do in this ministry is love, and these kiddos make it so easy. Even on days with strong African winds blowing dirt in your eyes between every blink, days the intense sun drains a good amount of your energy, and days of dealing with behavior more difficult than most, the loving stands easy when you’re up close looking into deep smiling eyes that are happy to see you there.
Most of the younger kids do not speak english to the extent of the ones in primary school and so on (understandably so), but we teach each other words back and forth, day by day. Something that surprised me with that is that silence due to language barrier is never an issue. Laughter, dancing, songs, handshakes, writing, chasing, tickling and funny faces fill any space that speaking doesn’t always reach, and when it is quiet it is the moment a baby falls asleep on your chest, and that’s a sweet silence. The playground hosts lively noises as such along with cardboard surfing down slides, monkey bar assists, and the game of tag they call “touch”. On the side, we have 7 large tires that we stack, jump from one to another, or use as soccer goals. The dirt is for more than just walking on too, as we play hopscotch, draw and write, and upon request of one sweet boy it serves as a place where he and I sit drawing and working math problems for fun.
Connecting with the kids is unlike anything else. In all honesty before we started, I was concerned about what we are really doing here, if we are helping, hurting or doing nothing through a ministry that seems too simple to make that big of an impact. I was told plainly that doubt of the sort does not matter, and that is true. We are tending to seeds that God has planted before we arrived, and we are planting more seeds as we go. It is not up to us if we get to see the fruit of the works in the three months that we are here, it is simply up to us to take part in the privilege of being a vessel for the Lord. The Lord loves these people without us, provides for them without us, cares about them without us, and has a purpose for them without us. He doesn’t need us to do this, but again, it is a sweet sweet privilege to be a vessel and grow as we witness growth in these kids, or have faith that there will be that growth. Nothing we do here falls void, no love we give isn’t received, and no sharing of Truth falls on deaf ears. What we do here does matter. The math in the dirt, the monkey bar assist, the spin after spin after spin of child after child after child, it all matters and serve a purpose in His plan, and we are in a sense lucky that it is just as simple as that.
BUT that’s not all. Isn’t that something?
The care point my team and I are at is attended by kids close by in Nsoko. Situhlele knows this community like the back of his hand, as he grew up here. My team gets the privilege to go alongside him throughout this neighborhood and build relationships in these beautiful, intentional, and warm interactions we call house visits. For house visits, we go to where we feel led by the Lord, or to where Sithulele wants to that day, and simply talk to people. For some, we are the faces to the names that their kids share with them when they get home from the care point. Others, we see at the grocery store or at church, and this is a way for us to know them deeper. There are also visits with sweet gogos with big hearts, yearning to share their stories and their homes in exchange for warm conversation and collaborative singing. Every house visit is different in terms of what conversation looks like, some involving music, reading of scripture, getting water for people’s homes from the well, and all involving prayer. We are welcomed in surprisingly every time, and I say that because people are more open, inviting, and intentional here than I’d expect coming from a life of agenda, business, and the excuses of better things to do. The curiosity and understanding between two different sides of the world sitting in one room is something so cool to be a part of, especially when us two come together and relate through God.
I am so very thankful to have the opportunity to be a part of such a ministry so intimate and intentional, allowing us to be a part of the community we get to serve and being loved by those we get to love. I am so thankful I was called to do this, and provided with the resources and support to fulfill that calling. If you were someone who helped me make it this far, or if you were even someone who made it this far into the read, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you.
With love,
Olivia
