“Those who do not weep, do not see.” -Les Miserables
There are some things in Swaziland I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing. A few weeks ago a few of us on our team went for a walk. Across from the general store is a saloon/salon (tell me how that works…). As we were walking up to the general store we saw a group of men who were obviously drunk and were making a scene. As we were standing there looking at the men outside of the saloon, out walks Thaban. Keep in mind that Thaban is five years old and has two younger siblings. To see this sweet little boy with his giant smile walk around in the midst of these men broke my heart. Last week we went to stay with the Novas group in an orphan village called Nsoko. Seeing the kids in Nsoko is always kind of hard to swallow. There is one child in particular who sticks out in my mind. He is ten years old and is literally skin and bones. My guess is that he has HIV. When he speaks he sounds like a 30 year old. There is so much sadness in this little boy’s voice and in his eyes that it is incredibly hard for me to even look at him. Also in Nsoko we met a little baby who was being cared for by a five year old and two girls who looked to be about ten years old. I do not know if the baby has a mother or not, but to see such young children taking care of her just didn’t sit right with me. One night during worship this week at our homestead we heard drums and singing coming from somewhere in the distance. The next day we found out that the drums were coming from a funeral. Evidently a little orphan girl was at the carepoint that I spend most of my time at during a storm that had occured earlier that week. Somehow she had fallen into a ditch and drowned in the water that was there. I do not know the name of the girl but to know that there was no one to look after her, protect her, and keep her safe is a terrible thing to face.
These are just a few of the stories of things that I have seen in Swaziland in the first month that we have been here. Because we have been so busy, it has been all too easy to shove these images and stories in the back of my mind and not think about them. I fear that if I dwell on these things for too long it will soon become overwhelming. However, these stories are real. Even if I don’t think about them, they happen everyday to children all around this country. To be honest, I don’t really know what I am to do with these stories. I believe that God has allowed me to see and hear these things because he is showing me something. There is something that he is trying to teach me everyday that I am here in Swaziland, and he is using situations like these to perhaps teach me some of the hardest lessons that I will learn while I am here. I must believe that God allows everything to happen according to his purpose and grace. Through all of this I am reminded of 2nd Corinthians 1:3-7:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
Praise be to God who comforts his children during their suffering. Praise be him who is the father to the fatherless, the hope to the hopeless, the healer to the sick, and the strength to the weak.
