Yesterday I spend a few hours with our Swazi discipleship team at one of the care points. It was amazing to see the interaction between the team and the children; and the relationships that were formed. I could see that they were excited to see the team again. And I could see that a relationship of trust was formed. The attitudes and behaviors of the children have changed so much.
The children came with pride to show the team their new school uniforms, their new back packs and the work they did at school for the day. (Fall school break just ended and the children went back to school this week.) The team looked at everything, made encouraging comments, played with them, laughed with them and just loved them. Some of the girls even started cutting and cleaning the nails of the children.
I feel like the team is stepping into a parental role for the little ones and they are friends to the older children. Many children have no parents; some died because of AIDS, but some was just abandoned, thrown away. Some still has their parents, but the parents are struggling to be good parents.
And now the team is stepping in! It is amazing to see. They love the children, they provide some consistency, they are teaching them about hygiene, they show interest in them.
A few weeks ago the team celebrated their 1 year ‘anniversary' of working at the care points. They were really excited about the celebration. They had a moment of silence, they spent some time in prayer thanking God for His provision and goodness throughout the year and then they ate Kentucky Fried Chicken!
We thank God daily for this awesome team. Please pray for them as they are teaching and loving the little ones.