Botswana has been unlike any other month that I have had so far. It has been one of the best months but also one of my hardest months. I thought it was going to be hard because we would be roughing it, but that was not really the cause of my struggle. We ended up renting two vehicles and driving from Johannesburg to Botswana. Our two drivers, Dave and Liz did a fantastic job getting us to and from Botswana safely. We spent this month with Team Spectacle. It was nice to be with another team for a change since we have been by ourselves for the past couple of months.
We began our month in Lobaste which is just across the border into Botswana. We stayed at Word of Africa’s mission school. It was next door to one of the most amazing families, the Walkers. This family is an American missionary family that has been in Botswana for 5 years now. They become our family during the week we were there. They have three teenage boys and one 4 year old girl. I have not felt that at home in someone’s house in a long time. They welcomed us, feed us, loved us, and encouraged us. I wish I could fully put into words how great out time was with the Walkers. I was sad when we had to leave them to go out into the bush. Spectacle and Bling ended up going to two different places in the bush so we were apart for about ten days. During our time in Lobaste we cleared a field to be used as a garden. We took down waist high grass and dug up trees. It was hard work but felt good doing it.
We spent 10 days in the village of Moralane. It is on the edge of the Kalahari desert. We stayed with Word of Africa missionary couple Khumbu and Sandra and their two boys. We stayed on their property and tented. We did have a toilet and shower, which was such a blessing. We did a variety of things during those ten days. This village is a really sad place. Alcoholism is very prominent here. Most adults begin drinking in the morning and continue all day and night. Many of the kids are neglected because of this. We would have services in the evenings in different parts of the village where each of us got to speak. We spent a lot of time playing with kids. Many of the kids would come everyday and hang out and play on the property and Khumbu encourages it. We played volley ball a ton and would act out bible stories to the kids. We got to really encourage Khumbu and Sandra. They are in a really tough location with little fruit from all their efforts. This family was really wonderful to work with and minister with. God taught us so much through them. They truly live by faith and know what it really means to have perseverance. They had taken in two girls from the village to live with them. They would take in more if they had the space. We learned how to cook on an open fire and how to use hot coals as a heater inside a house. It was quite cold in Botswana. We got introduced to a new food called fat cakes (that is the English name for it.) They are big balls of fried dough that you eat with soup. As you can imagine from the name they are not necessarily healthy for you but they did taste good.
We returned to Lobaste for two days before we headed to Jo’burg for debrief. We were excited to get a chance to spend two more days with the Walkers. Overall it was a great month for all of us. There will be a video blog coming, so stay tuned.
