Gifts

The relationships I've formed from being a part of the South Africa ministry have been an amazing gift. My relationship with my sponsor child, Sive, is one of those gifts. It was such a blessing to be able to go back and spend time with her again this past summer. I'm so grateful that our communication doesn't end when I leave South Africa. We're able to write letters to each other now, so we can continue to encourage each other and learn about what's going in each other's lives.

My relationships with my teammates are another blessing that have come out of these trips. Whether it be a listening ear, a hug, an encouraging text, or just laughing together, I know that I've made some true friends. The encouragement and love that they still bring to my life makes me incredibly thankful that we were called to serve in this ministry together.

My relationship with the South Africa ministry continues to grow as I serve on the leadership team at ROCKHARBOR. The responsibilities I hold on that team allow me to continue to serve the children in Sweet Home. Currently, this involves developing curriculum for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) camp that the new team will use when they go in January.

If you want to learn more about this ministry, I would invite you to look at two websites. The first is the ROCKHARBOR team blog: rockharborinsouthafrica.blogspot.com. On there, you'll be able to find information about what's happening with our current team that we're sending out, stories from past trips, and information about our community events. ROCKHARBOR isn't in this ministry alone. We partner with Bridges of Hope. Their website is: http://www.bridgesworldwide.org/. It is through them that we are able to go and serve at Bridges Academy and in the Sweet Home township. Their staff are the ones who continue to bless these communities in South Africa throughout the year. I really encourage you to check these websites out.

Finally, I would love to ask you to continue to pray for the people of South Africa. Pray for the teachers in Sweet Home. Pray for the children living in Sweet Home to find hope and light and love. Pray that the students at Bridges Academy would continue to grow not only in their studies, but also, in their faith. Pray that they would make wise decisions regarding their health and their friendships. Pray for the teachers and administrators at Bridges Academy as they prepare to add more students to the school in January and as they love and minister to all of these students. Most of all, please pray that healing would continue to take place throughout South Africa and that lives would be changed through the joy, hope, and love found in Christ alone.

Hope, Light, and Love

In the townships of South Africa, many children are having their education neglected for various reasons. For some, they're unable to get a copy of their birth certificate, which prevents them from enrolling in a township school. Another reason may be that they live with a parent or caregiver who is suffering from AIDS or alcoholism. Therefore, taking a child to school isn't seen as a high priority.

The Community Health Evangelist's (CHE's) in Sweet Home wanted to change all of this, so they started a school in 2010 for children aged 6-13. They started this school in a room without furniture, very few materials, and teachers who did not have any sort of formal education about how to teach. In addition, they started a creche (preschool) for infants through about the age of 5.

Last year, when I heard about these schools, I knew God was calling me to go and serve in South Africa. During the time I was there, I was blessed to provide trainings for the teachers and learn more about their heart to serve and bless their students. So, of course, I was excited to go back this summer and see what kind of growth had occurred over the past year at these schools.

Indeed, there was a lot of growth. Through the support of my church, ROCKHARBOR, there is a new building in Sweet Home for the creche. One of the teachers there, Lindiwe, whom I met last year, is now the principal of the school. Lindiwe shared with me that she is currently enrolled and taking classes at one of the university's for child development. It was great to hear about how God was continuing to bless these women as they endeavor to bring hope, light, and love to the children of Sweet Home.


The inside of the creche where the books I made last year were posted on the wall.



The creche principal, Lindiwe, with some of the students outside of the new school building.

Last year, I trained the teachers on the basics of child development and lesson planning. This year, with the help of my friends, Lailanie and Brent, we provided them with specific trainings about how to teach language and literacy as well as math skills from infancy to grade 6. The teachers were receptive to everything we had to say, and they were good sports when it came to participating in activities such as writing letters in shaving cream and playing "addition war" on the chalkboards. You can check out some of the pictures from our 2 trainings with the teachers below.

Just like last year, the CHE's energy and desire to teach these kids in a building where there isn't furniture and has very few materials encourages me and calls me into a deeper understanding of what it means to truly serve and bless children no matter where God has called you in life.

Worship and the Riots

If you followed the team's blog while we were in South Africa, you might remember reading about the riots taking place in the township on the second Monday we were there. Well, here's the other part of the story that you didn't read about on the blog.

The Friday before the riots, about 8 members of our team went with the Academy kids to a youth worship night in the local town of Stellenbosch. It was great to be out with the kids in the community and see them interact with other local youth. Overall, it was a great night, and the best part about it was the clarity I received. I was forced to stop working on the team's schedule. I wasn't being asked any questions by anyone. I didn't have to be "on" as a leader. I could simply sit and worship and rest.

God had some words for me that night. Words that I definitely needed to hear. I had been frustrated because it seemed like we kept hitting roadblocks with Vacation Bible School (VBS) during the first week. There weren't a lot of kids coming. There wasn't space for us. Our time was cut short. That night, I heard God say to me, "But you're already doing what I asked you to do. You're living out Mark 10:16. Why are you trying to do anything more?" That hit me hard. I realized that as much as I was trying to be open to what God was going to do at VBS, I was still forcing my agenda and my control onto that situation. The next thing I felt him say was that we weren't going to have VBS on Monday. That was really weird to me. I was trying to process this on the way home that night with one of my friends because it just seemed so strange to me. I questioned where this message was really coming from. Was I really supposed to cancel VBS on Monday?

I shared this with 2 of my co-leaders. We decided to wait and see how things played out on Monday. When Monday came and we were getting everything ready to go, I still had my doubts. It still felt like we weren't supposed to have VBS that day. So, I let the VBS team know that we were just going to play it by ear and see how things go while we're in Sweet Home.

We were about 20 minutes into our hour long drive to the township when Wade, who was driving us in that day, got a phone call from his wife letting us know about the riots. He pulled over into a gas station. (If you're worried about safety at this point, please know we're still out in the suburbs in wine country. This wasn't a sketchy gas station at all). Wade asked to talk to Nate, my co-leader, and I outside of the van. When Wade asked us what we wanted to do, I turned to Nate and just said, "Remember how I said I felt like we weren't supposed to do VBS today?" There was our confirmation about what we were going to do. We waited to hear back from the local leaders about what their recommendation was for us, but I already knew what the answer would be. Don't go into Sweet Home today.

So, we returned to the Academy. It ended up being the best thing. It was the first day of our HIV/AIDS curriculum with the students. That afternoon, the presentation was about the basics of this disease, how it's transmitted, the medication involved with it, and the stigma's attached to it. If we had gone into Sweet Home that day, we would have missed the presentation for that day.



The finale of the team's skit illustrating how HIV can be transmitted.

 During our time with our devotion's group that night, Rachel and I had a list of questions that we asked the girls about the curriculum from that afternoon. The answers they gave us spurred on deeper and more important questions about the disease. We really got to see how much they knew and how much they still didn't know. The girls also educated us about what the medication is like for people living with HIV. It was interesting to hear them talk about it, and the way they view people who have HIV versus TB in the township. Overall, they were supportive of people who are HIV positive, and they thought that people who had TB were worse off. They described for us what it was like to watch someone live with TB especially when they were close to dying from it. Wow. For me, those two diseases are so far removed from my world. To hear the girls talk about them like they were as common to them as the flu might be to us was fascinating. When Rachel and I left the girls' room that night, we both shared how thankful we were that we had been at the presentation that afternoon. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to answer a lot of the questions they had or been able to provide clarification about some of the things we discussed.

Thus, I'm thankful that the riots prevented us from going into Sweet Home that day. I'm thankful that I was one of the team members who went to the worship night, so I'd have the comfort and peace needed to make the decision not to go into Sweet Home that Monday. I recognize that each of those were steps leading up to that discussion with the girls that night. It was all part of a bigger plan that I couldn't see at the time, but now, fully acknowledge as a blessing from God.


My devotion's group (From top left): Rachel, Thandie, Mimitha, Sive, me, Asanda, Vuyiseka, and Zanele



Asemahle

When you're holding a child in Sweet Home, you're not thinking to yourself, "Gee, do they have HIV?" "I wonder if they just coughed a little TB in my face." You're thinking, "This is a child who wants to be held and loved." You're living out Mark 10:16, "And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them."

One day when we were in Sweet Home, I was holding a little girl named, Asemahle. She and I just kept looking and smiling each other. I could tell she was taking in all of features on my face as the kids in Sweet Home typically do. They're naturally curious about the way our skin looks or our eye color. The look of amazement I would get from kids when I would take my sunglasses off tended to be one of both shock and awe at the same time. It was like I unveiled a new toy to them or something.

Asemahle did the same thing. As she was taking in what my eyes looked like, I looked at her's. I noticed that they had a yellowish tinge to them. Thinking about where I was, I knew she probably had jaundice. Like I said before, you don't think, "This kid is sick. I shouldn't hold them." You think, "This kid is sick. I need to hold them."

It was then that Asemahle put her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms even tighter around me. She stayed like that for a long time. It was then that Mark 10:16 came to me. So, I listened to those words. As I held her, I gently rubbed her back and just prayed for her.

I didn't see Asemahle after that day, but spending a couple of hours with her that morning became one of the defining moments for me on this trip. It reminded me of what it means to be fully present with someone and how simple it can be to take on a posture of loving obedience.

With Asemahle in Sweet Home

Freckles

I really like my freckles. I do. I always have. I think they're quite unique, and I've enjoyed collecting them along the way as I've traveled to different parts in the world. They're kind of an unofficial souvenir and a piece of my life's story that I can look at each day. I have Czech freckles, Greek freckles, Costa Rican freckles, and now, South African freckles.

On our first day in Sweet Home, I started to talk to a girl named, Zimkhitha. She was about 9 years old and attended one of the township schools, so we could communicate in English (which is refreshing to find in the township). We spent most of our time together just chatting, laughing, and singing songs. She wrapped my arms around her, so that no one else could disrupt our one on one time.

At one point, she looked down at my arms. She made a disgusted face and said, "What are those?" At first, I had no idea what she was talking about it. Then, it dawned on me. She probably hasn't seen freckles before. I explained to her what they were and how I get them. She still turned her nose up at what I said because my freckles were apparently still really weird. I was going to comment further about how we're all unique and have different markings on our body when I noticed something. I looked at Zimkhitha's arm and saw two scars, both about 2-3 inches long that looked like they came from a knife.

I stopped. Questions flooded my mind. Is that what I think it is? How did she get those? Was it an accident or was it intentional? Who would do that to a child?

Suddenly, any sort of discussion about how unique we all are just didn't matter. Just like how the freckles on my arm are unique, so are the scars that she wears on her arm. They both tell a story. She didn't need me to remind her of that. It wasn't my place to drag up anything from her past. So, I let her make a face again about my freckles, and I continued to hug her and sing songs with her again.

I never thought that my freckles would be a reminder to me of the things I saw in South Africa. Now, when I take the time to stop and look at them, I see a new piece of my life's story, and it includes that day I spent with Zimkhitha. It's my new outward reminder to pray for the children in Sweet Home.

Talent Show

Sometimes it takes me a while to get up the courage to do things. The talent show at Bridges was definitely one of them especially since they held auditions for it this year. Somehow, it all came together. When I arrived at Bridges, I started to talk to Sive about what I wanted to do for the talent show. She was on board, but we knew we needed to have more people involved. So, we decided to invite the rest of our devotion's group including my co-leader from the ROCKHARBOR team, Rachel. (She's such a good sport!). The girls were fantastic. They learned the song, "Martyrs and Thieves" in less than a day. Their willingness to just go for it was such an encouragment to me. There was one part of the song where they hit the harmony so well. It made me smile every time we sang together.

I was definitely nervous to sing and play in front of everyone, but when Sive walked into the talent show wearing pretty much the same outfit I had on, I knew everything was as it should be.

God has a funny way of reminding me just how big His plan is for my life. I laugh when it comes through things that seem so inconsequential like an afternoon talent show. Even a year later, I still can't deny that God has built a connection between Sive and I. Yep, a purple shirt is all it took to remind me of this.

A couple of weeks after I returned home, I got a letter from one of the girls in my devotion's group. She told me that the girls are still singing that song together in their room, and they really enjoy it. To read something like that fills my heart with joy, and it reminds me how much the kids from Bridges Academy are able to bless me both when I'm there and when I'm thousands of miles away from them.