Two separate worlds – very different from each other.
One world is lavish and has anything you could ever think of. This world contains order and structure. It beholds endless amounts of food and comfort; although small worries induce stress at times, the most basic needs like a shelter and place to lay your head at night are always provided for. This world is fast paced and everyone is on a schedule. In this world you must meet multiple standards to surpass the approval of others. Time is wasted swiftly with ignorance.
The other world?
The other world is one where you’ll see dirty clothes & people sleeping under hot tin roofs on cement floors. This world has small amounts of running water. In this world nothing is taken for granted. This world is slow paced and life moves about with what intentions you want to make of the day. The food is served in small portions so everyone can eat. This world is somewhere one can sit and watch the earth turn not thinking a minute of the time is being wasted.
The first world is my home life in the States and the second is my life on the field internationally as a missionary.
At home I take things for granted. My worries are small compared to many other people in the world. I’m always provided for and if I’m not living according to my own schedule I’m following someone else’s.
On the field, life doesn’t come as easy and it’s certainly far from comfortable. I sleep in strange places that tweak my back in ways a 23-year-old shouldn’t feel for another 15+ years. Food is also strange, and sometimes comes in small portions based on the budget we have. The day moves relatively slowly, but doesn’t lack purpose. Walking by a neighbor’s house and seeing that they are home means coming in, having a seat, asking about their day and talking for two or more hours simply because you’re friends. There is no pressure to run to the ‘next’ thing in this world. Realizing people have time to watch the world turn brings a smirk to my face.
I had my two worlds collide on the race.
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Month 7 – All Women’s Month – eSwatini (Swaziland), Africa
We are split into three teams working at different care points in the community.
My team walks three miles each morning from our guest house to Mahangeni care point on a dirt road.
Each day we feed over 100+ children ages 1-22.
It was our first day at the site and my teammate and I asked if we could help cook. Our go-go (grandmother that cooks) asked us to fill a bucket from the well. We walked down the short path where we pump water until the bucket is full. Upon returning she had a cardboard box under the thatched hut. She said we could open and empty the contents inside into another bucket. As I peeled the tape back I realized I had not paid any attention to the outside of the box and its markings.
I opened the side flaps and grabbed a blue and white transparent bag of some sort of rice mixture. I quickly ripped the seal to pour the grains into a bucket. It took about three bags before I glanced at one long enough to realize what we were about to cook.
I read on the label that this nonprofit sponsors some children’s only meal each day.
Wait.. I know this organization.
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In college I enjoyed being involved in extra curriculers, in fact, ever since I was young I liked to be involved in the community. This stems from my enjoyment of volunteering/helping others.
During my second year of college, word had gotten to me about a volunteer opportunity coming to our college. They come to the Fargo-Moorhead area almost every year, but host in various locations.
Hundreds of people come to measure out different rice and soy supplements, then package them in air tight, press sealed bags, and strategically place and tape in boxes. All of this is to feed many hungry children.
I was all in of course!
My roommate and I signed in that morning and got our free volunteer t-shirt along with instructions and assembly line placements.
For about 3 hours we measured out ingredients and packaged this food. At the end of the day the leaders of the event sat us in the gymnasium seats and told us about the children around the world we were feeding.
We were told that for many children, this would be their only meal per day; others were orphans and had no other option what so ever.
Although it was heartwarming, I’ve heard the speech a thousand times – I was happy to have helped, but all I could think about was going to Qdoba for dinner with my roommate afterward.
The organization came back and I volunteered again. I hadn’t given another thought to those two days of volunteering.
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It was there at the top on the label- FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN.
I paused before I ripped the seal. I knew the organization. I volunteered for this organization.
Two weeks later, I now know many names and faces that eat the meals that helping hands packages. It wasn’t simply a mindless good deed I was apart of. I was helping feed Ladelewa, Samuel, Nikosikhona, Owen and Priscilla.
It was a sobering moment- one that makes this small, seemingly insignificant realization of mine worth all the miles it took me to get here.
1 box -> 20 bags per day = my missionary world
1 day -> 2,000+ boxes per day = my home world
Sometimes you volunteer because you want to help and are a generally good person, yet you still question, does this ever reach the hungry kids they’re talking about?
Horrible thoughts… but true.
I had to come across the world to watch these two worlds collide. Sacrificing a day of sleeping in and watching Netflix meant providing a meal for an orphan.
It stunned me that first day at ministry. Almost every day when we bring out the box, it hits me all over again.
Some days we run out of food and the high school kids go with little to eat.
Can you imagine 16-22 year old boys eating less than an 8 year old? Sometimes that single box just isn’t enough.
It’s a difficult concept to grasp that such a small sacrifice from my comfortable lifestyle contributes to the survival of another human.
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It has been cool to watch worlds collide and watch how another human can make such an impact without knowing another or how it will/could change their world.
To me personally:
This story is a wake up call – to recognize more needs to be done.
This story is a reminder – your small sacrifice can actually make a BIG difference.
This story is a grateful thanks – from all the children with full hearts and big smiles as they say thank you, to me and anyone else that contributes to feeding them daily.
One day I hope to reread this story and be reminded to intentionally continue to seek opportunities to help… you just never know what it can do.
You don’t have to wait for the world to change – you can start where you are with what you have.
Much love and many blessings,
Rachel
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*Spark Notes of My Last Three Months*
We spent debrief in Malawi at the start of December getting new teams. My new team consists of Jessie B, Lakota, Dylan, Clayton, Anthony and myself. The new team moved to Lilongwe, Malawi shortly after to work with widows and children. We did sessions sharing the word with the widows and the church while also attending to sports ministry. The team stayed in a our host’s house with his wife and two daughters.
After celebrating New Year’s Eve with the entire squad and saying our farewells to our alumni squad leaders we moved to Livingstone, Zambia. Here we stayed in a volunteer house where we shared living quarters with Zambians, Brazilians, French and the Swiss! What an adventure! Our ministry included community evangelism, daily sports ministry with the community kids and working at a school in the morning teaching math and English. One of the best relationship building months I’ve had with a local community. Oh how I miss our sweet friend Maggie and her frita’s!
Another debrief at the end of January had us parting ways with our beloved men into gender month. Due to political unrest in Zimbabwe all the men hiked to live in the mountains of Lesotho and us women all traveled across country to the AiM base in eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland). We work at care points around the area feeding children, teaching preschool, helping high schoolers with homework after school and simply loving on them. We all live in a guest house and have plenty of movie nights.
At the end of the month I will set off for my last leg of the race to spend four months in Asia! I will arrive in Cambodia around the first of March.
Thanks for the continued support and prayers, I cannot wait to see what God continues to do in these last months on the field.
All the love.
