Community Stay in Oshoek

"Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?" James 2:5

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

This past weekend, I had the great privilege of being welcomed into the home of one of our kids. I had the opportunity to live with them for a weekend and become a part of their family. It was an immense privilege that I will never forget. I was welcomed into the home of Cebile* who is 19 and her sister Edzai* - 24- who suffers from epilepsy. Edzai has a three year old son Jeremia*. He is one of the cutest little boys that I have ever met in community. When we got to the girls house on the Friday evening it was cold. Oshoek (the community that we were staying ) is typically known for being one of the colder communities. I brought a scarf and a toque for my trip to England during the Hands at Work Christmas break, and never did I think that I would need it here in Africa, but I did. It was extremely cold. So Friday night we ate dinner with them and then were quick to go to sleep because we were absolutely exhausted after travelling all day. The next day we slept in until 9am which is late for community standards, but I sure wasn't complaining. We spent the first day just doing life with them. We did what they did. We painted their nails, played card games with them, helped them plant their garden of maize, chopped wood for the wood-burning fireplace, and just sat with them and talked with them. It was a long day and by the end of the day, I was once again tired and ready for bed.

The next day was church so we went with them, but before we left for church we got the opportunity to go and fetch water with Cebile*. The amount of water that she carries ( as well as the other women in the community) per day is insane. I couldn't carry the amount of water that they typically carry on my head so I carried the bucket of water - which weighed about 20 pounds I might add- in my left hand. The skirt that I had intended on wearing to church was covered with dirt and water by the time we got back to the home, so I had to church into another skirt. As I was walking back I realized how incredibly weak I really am. They do this every day and yet for me to carry it back for 10 minutes was a challenge. I admire Cebile* and Edzai* for the work that they do every single day in caring for their family. After we fetched the water, we went to church with Dan. However before we went to church we had to walk about 3 kms up hill in the hot weather to where Dan was waiting in the truck to take us to church. The church that we had the opportunity to go to was a typical African church aside from the fact that it was only an hour and a half. Typically churches in Africa can be anywhere from 2 hours to 5hours or some are even longer then that. The reason that the church service was so short was because there was a wedding going on in the community that several members of the church wanted to go to. I almost went to the wedding with the girls that I was staying with, but when they realised that we would have to walk all the way back to their house (which would be about a 3 hour walk) they quickly changed their minds, and so we didn't go to the wedding.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out with the family as well as some of the neighbour kids and friends of Cebile* and Edzai*. This family does have electricity in their house and they have a TV as well, which made their house a central place for the kids of the community to come and watch. It didn't matter what was playing, whether it was in Spanish, Pigeon English, or Siswati, they enjoyed it. The movies that they played are unlike anything that I have ever seen. The majority of the movies tended to feature abusive men - both physically, sexually, and emotionally- , violent men and women, and men and women that drink to the point of being heavily intoxicated. When men would abuse the women, the girls that were watching the shows would laugh and say that it was the women's fault. They would say that maybe if the women hadn't done that, then maybe she wouldn't have been abused. This broke my heart into pieces knowing that these girls are accepting of the abuse that they are given. It also broke my heart that little boys from the ages of 8 to 12 would come over and watch these shows. Most of the boys in the communities that we work in don't have the positive influence of male figures in their lives. As a result; the entertainment that they get from watching the TV is the only amount of influence they get growing up. They grow up learning that abusing women, being violent, drinking, and all these other things are okay. They don't have anyone to teach them differently, so they grow up wanting to be like the people that they see on the screen, and really who can blame them? Yes its not right the way people are treated, but without any proper influence and the only influence being the shows that they watch, how can we expect anything less? So with this, comes the continuation of this cycle. These boys and girls grow up thinking that this is acceptable and okay, and their kids grow up thinking the same thing, so the cycle is never stopped. This breaks my heart.

The girls and myself sat with the neighbours and watched TV for a good four hours. They didn't ever want to turn it off. I felt myself having to practise a lot of patience as I was sitting there. I wanted to do something with the girls. I wanted to talk with them, play games with them, and not just sit in front of the TV for hours on end. However, I had to consistently remind myself that it is not about me, its about them. If they are enjoying it, then why would I want to be the person to take that joy away. Even if we aren't talking or interacting a lot, we are still building relationships with them. Relationships that we may not even be able to see yet. Also on Sunday some of the kids from the local community came and hung out with us. They walked in and just sat on the bench opposite me. I was told that they had just wanted to come and look at the "mulongo" - white person that was staying with Cebile* and Edzai*. They didn't talk to me, but instead just stared at me. It feels a little different when there is more then one white person with you. Yet for my stay - unlike the other people from my team - , it was just me. Anita*, Innocent*, Precious*, and Forgive* were so adorable. At one point they were chasing me around the yard trying to catch me, and then they were putting on a dance show for me- which was beautiful I might add. Innocent* would come up to me and just throw her arms around me. She was so desperate for attention and love, and I hate to think of why that is. To think that she probably isn't getting loved at home, and could possibly be, being abused by her guardian. One of the other girls Precious* feel asleep on my lap as we were watching a show with the older girls. Her head just nestled on my shoulder, I felt so privileged that I could hold this child, that God says belongs to the kingdom of God.

At the end of our stay in the community, I was very sad to go, but yet my heart was full. It was full because of the relationships that I had made and the people that I had met, and it was full of understanding. It was full of a deeper understanding of Gods heart towards the poor, the broken and the oppressed. God also taught me a deeper understanding of James 2:5 in which is states "Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?" I had the privilege of spending the weekend with some of the people that belong to Gods heart. I spent three nights in their home, and got to walk through those four days of life with them. I was able to experience their life and become a part of their family. I have made relationships that I believe will last forever, and God has taught me things that I am still processing through now, a week after the stay. He teaches us things in ways that we don't always understand. We may not always understand the timing of when he shows himself, but when he does, the things that he has to teach us are so amazing. We just have to take the opportunity to still ourselves and listen to what he has to teach us and then that is when we can fully grow in Christ.

The pictures below are photos of where I stayed and who I stayed with. I love them <3