October 30 2018
When we started ministry I felt excited but also kinda disappointed. Day after day walking to the care point to, loving on some kids, and then walking back home. Every team on our squad goes to a care point and does the same thing. But then our guys team got an amazing opportunity to go to a prison and minister to the men there. Every Monday they leave and spend the night at a really cool house and have loads of fun and minister to prisoners. Hearing the guys talk about their new Monday night ministry made me excited for them but also really envious. I got somewhat offended. All the girls teams were stuck with the kids all day and the boys got to go out on a new adventure (pretty crappy attitude right). My thoughts were based on the fact that women are always associated with watching the kids and making lunch. I felt like I was being held back from ministry related things because I am a woman. But then God revealed and opened my eyes into a different perspective through some weird/tough things.
While we’ve been in Swaziland, different things have happened to my squad mates. For example, on most weekend some of my squad mates get proposed to in the middle of a grocery store or in khumbi ride back to the compound, along with multiple grabs and nasty comments. Or how a primary school boy decides to slap a little girl who was “disrespecting” him. And I had to explain to him why it wasn’t okay to hit girls.
God really revealed to me how women are treated in Swaziland. A lot of women here have newborn babies along with 7 other kids plus a job. Then He showed me how grown men talk and look at Swazi women and me. And how the older high school boys ask why I’m not married, courted, or having babies yet. And how most of these women’s identities comes from how many babies they have or who they’re married to.
And this is where the sweet joy comes.
These women : my gogo, my shepherd, the preschool teacher, random women on the road I pass, the women in swazi church, the women I get to meet on home visits, the primary & middle & high school girls — they are my biggest ministry.
The guys on my squad will never understand how these women feel. And though ive only had a taste of what the women go through (thank Jesus), the guys won’t understand why I can’t go around certain boys at our care point because they’ll get the wrong idea. Or at the grocery store I get worried when I’m in an isle by myself because awkward rejecting a Swazi guy is super weird. The guys will never be put in these situations and Im thankful for that.
I believe us women on U squad aren’t just here to be best friends with the kids here but for these women as well. Showing them the respect Jesus gave women. Telling them how they are worth more than just the babies they raise and the men they marry. But how they are chosen daughters of the one true king. Loved, adored, worthy, unashamed, and beautiful. Because our Lord died for them as well. It’s praying over them, laughing with them, holding their beautiful babies, and asking about their lives. It’s making relationships. It’s safe to say Im not frustrated anymore when the boys leave because I will never understand the men in prison. We’re here for different Kingdom bringing reasons. And I love these Swazi women!!!
