Sawubona! (This means hello in Siswati!) Since we have officially been in Africa for 5 whole days now, I thought I would write a blog and update everyone on how my trip is going. We arrived in Swaziland on Monday evening and drove to the building that we will all call home for the next two months. There is a small living area, kitchen, and three very small bedrooms. There are 23 of us living in our home with 2 small port a pottys that smell like elephant poop and one bathroom that we use for cold bucket showers. We wash our clothes and dishes in wash buckets outside and hang the clothes on a line. All of these things are generally considered luxuries to most of the Swazi people. Our team feels so grateful that God would provide all of these things for us while we are here!
We started ministry a couple of days ago. Our group is divided into different ministries and I was chosen to do administration. My group of 5 will be going to different carepoints throughout the city to love and care for the children there while helping them write letters to send to their sponsors. There are 5 different carepoints in the Manzini area that we will be going to. The children that come to the carepoints are not necessarily orphans but their parents don’t have all the means to feed and care for them. Some children walk with no shoes from miles away just to get their one meal for the day. A couple of kids who had to be only four or five years old carried their younger siblings on their backs the whole way there. These kids were forced to grow up so fast in so many ways. In other ways though, they were still just children who only wanted to play and be kids. They didn’t have much but played with pieces of paper, plastic, empty water bottles, and trash.
They are so full of love, happiness, and gratefulness. When we first arrived, they ran to us with open arms, begging to be held. They were mesmerized by our long hair, white skin, and phones that could take their pictures and videos. When I felt the immense amount of love that these kids had for us, people they had never seen, I couldn’t help but think of the never ending love that God pours out on all of us as His beautiful children. I quickly felt bad that I wanted my hair to look nicer and my feet to be cleaner. Most of these kids walked around everywhere with no shoes and filthy clothes. In America, we are so consumed with always being clean and perfect looking that we forget what’s really important. So often we forget what it’s like to have the ignorance of a small child who doesn’t even know where their next meal will come from. They essentially trust that God will provide all that they need. We get so caught up in the rush of life that we forget that God will never leave or forsake us.
My prayer is that I would become more like these children who are so mature yet so loving and happy with the life that they are living. I have never heard them complain but instead they are always thankful for what they have. I long for the innocence paired with happiness that these kids have. I know that while interacting with these children for the next two months, God is going to use my situation to change my view of the world, and my entire life.
-Love, Allison
