kruger

Something New

Well lately I feet like I have been deeply challenged.  Things that we have seen and gone through have really rocked my boat.  But even in all that, we see incredible things and  I know that God is watching over us. 

I just returned to South Africa recently after my first trip to Zimbabwe.  Let me tell you that Zimbabwe is incredible.  A beautiful country with amazing and warm people.  I have some good friends from Zim, especially my brother Saul, and if you could meet them you would see the warm heart that propels the country through difficult times.

I got a snapshot of Zim, through meeting the people and spending time in their homes.  They invited me in with open arms and shared their stories with me.  One of these stories I would love to share with you.

The community I would like to focus on is called Sakubva which is a part of Mutare.  The community was built years ago for railway and mine workers.  It was a place where fathers and husbands would live as they worked and they were separated from their families.  If  you were a worker your wife and children were not allowed to stay with you there and it was strictly enforced.  The houses were tiny as they were meant for men to stay alone, so one building was split up into 4 or 5 separated living spaces and they were tiny.
Today, these places are no longer for workers but for families.  So in one small place they have now crammed 4 or 5 families.  To walk there it seems unimaginable that so many people could fit in such a pathetic and small place.

I walked this community with a lady named Priscilla.  She is maybe 5 feet tall, but commands the respect of a giant when she makes her way through the dirt roads of Sakubva.  Priscilla is the coordinator for her community project that looks after orphaned and vulnerable children as well as patients.  She led the way as we went to visit some of the people that she looks after in their homes.  It is one of these people that I want to share with you, a young boy named Richard.  Richard lives in a house with his mother, and if you are reading this from Canada, let me tell you their house is probably the size of your bathroom.  As I walked in the tiny house, I saw Richard and his mother.  The first thing that hits you when you see these too is how sick they are.  Richard's Mom sat on a bucket on her chair because she hadn't been able to go to the bathroom for a week and she was completely emaciated.  Then my eyes turned to Richard.  They tell me he is 13 years old, but looks like a 9 year old child.  I look at him he is so skinny and I can see that he is dying.  His breathing sounds like every breath is so painful and difficult.  I try to find the strength to even imagine, if I would have the will to live when every breath I took was like being stabbed in the chest.  They tell us he has full blown AIDS and a serious heart condition.  I look at him and wonder what chance he has.  We sit and talk with Richard, I find out that he was in even worse shape in March when he was hospitalised.  He was kicked out of school because he was too sick.  I ask him what games he likes to play, and he tells me he has never been able to play games.  The kids at school would run away from him and make fun of him because he was sick.  My heart breaks, but I don't want to cry in front of him.  I tell him that we are friends and that I pray one day I will be back to visit him. Then I hand him and his Mom both an orange and they clap and smile like I have just handed them a stack of money. 
I look over to the ground and I see Priscilla sitting there with a smile.  She visits these people EVERYDAY.  Incredible.  When you or I have a sick relative we visit them once and say, "OK well that's done".  Richard is not family to Priscilla, not by blood anyway, but she has adopted him into her life.  She is committed to care for those that the world does not see.  I look at Priscilla and I see all that is good in the world.  She is how I know that my faith is real.  I believe that God is working through her to save lives, and sometimes to be a loving face for people like Richard to see as they slip away.  I would challenge anybody to come to Sakubva and walk into the homes, and not see that.

I don't need to make up these stories.  These are the incredible people that I meet.  Their stories give courage to us all. 
There is always hope.  Please, the people that we look up to should not have the biggest house and the and the best job title, it should be people like Priscilla.  Which one of us has the strength to do what she does and see what she sees everyday.  I continue to be deeply challenged and encouraged at the same time.

We love you guys, and you are always in our thoughts.

~T

life

I have realized that Ty and I have been terrible at actually giving everyone an update just on "life" here. I guess the longer you are in a place the more days just pass you by and then you end up 6 months down the road with so much to say but with no idea how to say it all. In any case let me try to give you a bit of a snapshot.



In one word, life is BUSY. I never thought that I would come to Africa and be busier than I have ever been in my life. I am constantly trying to balance the different roles that I am playing...all while learning to keep my cool when things become overwhelming (some days not an easy feat). For both Tyler and I, we spend many hours communicating over email to many people over the world who are planning trips to visit Hands here in South Africa. I am not exaggerating when I say that hundreds of emails go out every week arranging schedules, planning itineraries and answering questions from people from the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and the USA. Then when teams are on the ground here (which is now until September...we have over 11 teams visiting SA alone in 3 short months) we are busy hosting them in the community, debriefing with them and helping them to understand and make sense of what they are seeing and experiencing. The last team that was here was actually from Puerto Rico and they were such a fantastic group to spend time with (I couldn’t get enough of dancing salsa with them and we even had a night where we all got together and salsa’ed into the night!!). The joy and excitement that radiated off of them was infectious and despite some of them speaking little to no English (never mind Siswati) they were amazing at building relationships with our care workers and children. I even was able to host them in Swaziland (that is where the photo below was taken) one of the most beautiful place I have ever been. The views are indescibable...especially this time of year - when the grasses are golden and the sky so blue - the colors just take my breath away. The team actually spend an entire moth here so I was able to get to know some of the team members quite well and am hoping that some return to Africa again.

 

In addition to this Ty and I both support service centers (myself in SA - Bushbuckridge and Tyler in Swaziland and Zimbabwe, where he is currently). This means that we work very closely with local men and woman who are supporting anywhere from 3-5 community based organizations (CBOs). These CBO's are made of local people who volunteer their time and their lives to look after the most vulnerable children in their communities.. What Tyler and I do is help to provide project support and mentorship to our service centers as they help communities care holistically (mind, body, soul) for their children. It is a bit hard to describe as there are so many ways which we work with our service centers. From planning schedules for teams, to helping implement feeding programs, to teaching to write proposals for donors and then reporting on them, to helping them guide their CBOs to have healthy leadership and equip their care workers with skills to care for children who are deeply wounded from loss, abuse and other symptoms of poverty...and the list goes on.

 

Truthfully, when I really think about it, I know that I could never make it through some days without God, Tyler and a strong community of people around me. There are just so many things to consider with each email written, with each word said and with each action. Its been a real shift for me considering that I grew up in a world that puts so little emphasis on relationships in work situations and so much on "getting the job done". Maybe it doesn't make sense, but it is just so different here. Not only because it is Africa, but also because I am committed to an organization that has a foundation based on relationship and discipleship of others. That said, the longer I am here the more comfortable I am in my roles and am thus able to invest in others.  It’s actually amazing to look and see how much I have been learning to trust, to let go, to share burdens, to mentor and to be mentored...and I can say that I wouldn't trade these difficult experiences for anything.    -a

Friday fotos - Swaziland