As we assemble team members and make plans for a trip to our Ludlati Carepoint in Swaziland in September 2010, I have enjoyed reading a blog from a team that visited their Swazi-Carepoint recently. They worked hard for a week with the children from their Carepoint called Mpholi. They put on a VBS, sang songs, played games, gave hugs, shared snacks, washed feet, gave shoes, gave special provisions, and visited homes. Typically, a person who meets the kids and their families (if they have one), develops a love and understanding that is deeper than stories and pictures they share - even though the stories and pictures are quite moving to the heart. The latest post from one team member moves my heart as he shares his deep thoughts and expressions of compassion for the children and people in Swaziland. To me it sounds like a cry out to ANYONE who claims Jesus as Savior to remember the great gift He freely gave to us, and please remember to help those suffering and in distress. God’s word to us in James 1:27 seems particularly applicable to the post shared by dmicah.
James 1:27 - 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.
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Imagine If…
by dmicah
link to this blog post: http://micahpattisall.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/imagine-if/
As many of you are aware, the Salem Chapel Swazi team is home. I am processing some of my thoughts from the trip and I want to share some food for thought. I want you to turn off the TV, radio, Pandora, Itunes or any distraction for just a few moments. I want you to unload your brain for a short time. I am asking you to just use your imagination as I throw out some scenarios from Swazi. These were just from a week of our experiences. The needs are deeper than these, but this should start you down the path. Needless to say things are a lot different in Swaziland than in America.
Imagine dropping off two little girls 5 and 7 years old at their home. No one is home. The house is locked. It is getting dark. This happened at one of our team’s home visits. After VBS, we would split into two teams of three and visit homes of our sponsor kids. We would give extra supplies for the home and try to get to know the family, whomever that might be since it usually was not a parent. On this particular occasion the other team had to leave two young girls with no supervision at their home and hope they would be ok.
Imagine sending your 4 year old with their two 4 year old friends walking along a busy two lane road, mind you without shoes, to a Carepoint. These little ones would walk a mile or more with no supervision to get a meal. This happens every day in Swaziland.
Imagine sending your 9 year-old daughter with her 18 month old sibling strapped to her back on the same one or two mile journey to get a meal. Happens every day in Swaziland. Don’t believe me? I have pictures. At least three came to our Carepoint. I choked back tears on more than one occasion as I saw an older sibling unwrap their baby brother/sister and split their bowl of rice with the little one. The next time you have trouble deciding which restaurant to go to, stop a minute and thank God for your blessed life, and pray for the kids at Mpholi.
Imagine knowing that your child will never be educated beyond the 2nd grade because you can’t afford the whopping $100 per year to pay for tuition, since you only earn $1 per day. Government stops free education beyond the 2nd grade. And 953,000 people are fighting for about 100,000 jobs.
Imagine for a minute your kid having one outfit. Literally one set of clothes. And second-hand charitable gift clothes at that. I watched children show up to the Carepoint every day in the same ill-fitting clothes, some without shoes or undergarments.
Imagine knowing that your life expectancy is roughly 31-33 years.
Imagine living with the fact that almost ½ of your friends will die young because of disease. 45% of Swazis have HIV or full blown AIDS.
Hard to imagine isn’t it?
As I’ve mentioned before in this series on Swaziland, I am not attempting to lay a guilt trip. I am just throwing out some information that has rocked me. If you give it serious thought, it should open your eyes to a world around you. Hopefully you will be able to draw from the deep well of Christ’s love. He didn’t look at his world and think, “Well they did this to themselves. If they just wouldn’t sin, they wouldn’t have these problems. They are just so far away. I have plenty of things to do here. They just need some education.” Jesus did the opposite. He sacrificed, gave up his own will, left his own comfort zone and experienced our world in order to lead us to a new life. Keep that in mind when thinking through the challenges in Swazi.
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Thank you dmicah for posting your thoughts and experience in a public forum. I appreciate the challenge and reminder your words are to me. In light of today’s post and the previous series of posts Jim has shared on KTM about thankfulness, I offer a prayer of thankfulness, encouragement and intercession for Swaziland. Please share in this prayer and add to it in the comments!
Lord God, Creator and Father, Thank you for giving us relationship with you through your gift of salvation. I want to humbly receive your gift of life by giving up mine to you daily. I want to humbly receive all Your provisions as a steward without ownership. Help me to remember to obey your commands to love You first and my neighbor as myself. Thank You for each of Your children who currently gives love, hope, prayer, money and time to help the least of these. May more abundance You provide to me and all your children be released and used as You will. I press on to these high goals in love and compassion with Your help to share in the discomfort - the suffering shared with us by Jesus. Please use your body - use me - to pray and watch over each child in Swaziland and all the people who face death all day long. Defeat the source of their fears, send them peace, give them hope, send them love. Help the full time Swazi-workers, myself and others collectively to do these things one person at a time. Save my life and each one of their lives eternally. Amen.
