Kriek:

I am spending some time with a team at a carepoint and was reminded yesterday why we do what we do and why we are still here in Swaziland. Call it a wake up call, call it a reality check.

I was watching the carepoint shepherd do attendance when a teenage girl came up to talk to her …. She was crying because there is no food at home for her and her 2 sisters and the meal they get at the carepoint is the only food they get. It is just them at the homestead. It broke my heart. I immediately send a staff member with her to the little store to go buy them some bread and maize meal. We will definitely be going to their home this week for a visit.

Later I saw this little guy (picture below) standing to the side, sucking his thumb, watching the other kids while they got their food. I walked over and asked him his age. ‘Seven’. Seven and still sucking his thumb …. made me wonder what makes a seven year old still suck his thumb. What has he seen and experienced in his seven years of life? I also asked why he wasn’t getting his food / eating. His reply …. ‘I don’t have a plate’. No problem. I quickly organized for him to get some food.

When it was time to go on a home visit … surprise surprise …. Who gets into my car? This little guy (my new friend ... his name is Blessing) and his slightly older sister (maybe 11). We take off, drive for a few kilometers, make a few turns, and then we stop at their homestead. A little one-room block building and a cooking structure, and ‘gogo’ sitting outside cleaning some marula nuts. It’s just the 2 kids and their grandmother (gogo). Nobody knows who or where their father is, and their mom passed away a while ago. Gogo can hardly walk, but she is cleaning nuts to sell so she can buy some food for her and the kids. The little girl cooks for them (if there is food) and both the kids are responsible for getting water from the river every day. For them, most of the time, the food they get at the carepoint is also the only meal they get for the day.

We introduced ourselves to gogo, asked a few questions and shared some Scriptures. Gogo couldn’t stopped saying ‘Hallelujah!’ throughout the visit. We prayed for them, and then gave them the food gift we brought for them. We said our goodbyes, got in the car and left.

Once again my heart was broken and my ‘Good News’ theology was a little shaken. How do I help these kids and what is it God wants me to do?

Swaziland is FULL of speedbumps. If you have ever been here, you will know exactly what I am talking about. If there is a road, there is a speedbump. Why so many speedbumps? Because people speed. And a speedbump forces you to slow down …. well, it forces MOST people to slow down. I feel like I hit a speedbump yesterday …. It is forcing me to slow down. To rethink a few things.

I am beyond thankful for the way the ministry has grown and for the amazing things we have been part of. The way kids’ lives have been changed. For amazing staff. For Ngesikhatsi (grief counseling / emotional awareness course), for Sisekelo Setfu (our discipleship curriculum), for our carepoint choir, for sports ministry, for our Swaziland Leadership Academy.

But I was reminded today that for some of the carepoint kids the food at the carepoint is still the only meal that they will get. And that hasn’t changed in 10 years.