Some days I am almost oblivious to the fact that I live in Africa, other days I am brutally aware. Today I am the latter.I hadn't had the opportunity to go to the valley delivering food for a while so I decided that I would go today, I am so glad that I did.
South Africa is such a beautiful country, it is easy to forget the hardships and struggles that her people face every day. To go to the valley and visit the different orphans and their extended families is life changing for me. Every time I go God speaks to my heart and reminds me of why He bought me to this country. It is so easy to get bogged down with the negatives of living this life and I often forget that His plan is so intricate and detailed and so perfect for my life.
This is Sta . She is 4 years old and lost her parents to AIDS. She does not talk. No matter how hard we try she will not talk to anyone, she can talk but has chosen not to. Her grandmother said that when her mother passed away last year Sta stopped talking. Today I had a break through with her. I was sitting outside her house with her Grandfather and brother and she came and sat a few feet away from me. I watched her out of the corner of my eye while I chatted with her grandfather. As we were talking I could see that she was intrigued by the words that were coming out of my mouth and then even more amazed that her grandfather was also talking back to me in the strange language. As she was listening to us she was also moving closer to me. After about 10 minutes of me sitting talking she climbed onto my lap and snuggled into me. This has never happened before and it bought tears to my eyes. This little girl needs a mummy so bad. She stayed cuddled on my lap the rest of our visit.
One of our teenage girls lives here with her aunt and Grandmother (Gogo). Today we were on our way to her house when we saw her walking along the road with 3 men. She is 14 years old. We pulled over on the quad bikes and told her that we were coming to visit her. She told us that she will be home in half an hour. As she walked off the 3 men followed her. You know I really believe that God gives us discernment and at this moment I had a really bad feeling about those guys. But she seemed to know them and was not scared of them, in fact she seemed quite comfortable to be with them. So I didn't say anything to her I just sat on the back of the quad bike and prayed, when we reached the next child's house we got off the quad bikes and I told Mart about how I felt about those guys, he felt the same and so did Nomsi (our staff member). So when we arrived at her house to deliver her food and teach her the life skills lesson Nomsi and I took the opportunity to talk with her aunt and Gogo. They were horrified that she was with these guys and were sure that the girl did not know the men. So then Nomsi talked with the girl. It turns out that infact she did not know the men!! She had had her cell phone confiscated in class and the teacher told her that if she wanted it back then she had to take an adult to the school with her. As she didn't want to get into trouble with Auntie and Gogo she had asked these guys off the street if they would go with her to the school which was a mile walk away. South Africa is the rape capital of the world and this girl thinks that is ok to do something like this, CRAZY!! We told her the dangers of what she had done and she understood what we were trying to get at. I really pray that she thinks next time and if there is a next time I will act on what I believe God is prompting to to do.
On a lighter note.....I believe that God likes to treat His kids with little things that He knows we will love. It's like a little personal gift, a way of telling me that He knows me and He loves me. Today this Luna moth was my gift! I LOVE animals and creatures of all kinds but beautiful delicate ones are my fav! Last time He gave me a gift like this it was a stunning purple humming bird the size of my thumb, this time is was this beautiful Luna moth. She was sitting on the wall of the last house that we visited, the Gogo here thought I was crazy getting all excited about this silly old moth. Out of sympathy for my lunacy she blessed my with a bucket full of chillies!! Not sure what to do with all my chillies, maybe a nice chili jam or relish.......anyone have any good recipes??
