Whirlwind Week

Cave Adventures

11 days is the longest I have left you my faithful readers in the dark.  Art finals, service sites, sickness, and relationships have swamped my schedule.  First I must tell you about how wonderful my camping trip last weekend was.  From the get go we were already trailing from the schedule and it only escalated as we continued.  We drove into a real South African protest against the government in general, begging for improved housing and water conditions.  Rather than picket in front of the government, they find it effective to stop the flow of traffic, so I would say about 400 or more people were chanting and dancing down the road with signs and shouts at their own pace, with 10 police cars trailing behind.  We were fortunate to get stuck behind this mess with no options of going around, so what did we do: we joined! We took formation directly in the rear of the crowd, gathering many stares from onlookers and friendly high-fives from participants.  Careful not to get too close, we observed real life history in the making! What an experience! Other diversions from our destination included mating cows on the road, two separate hitchhikers, wrong directions, and crazy cones. 

God was preparing our way, because when we arrived late afternoon the only cave available for renting was 4 hours walking distance, but just as we were exiting the building a woman offered her closer cave to us.  I (having my mother in me) packed entirely too much and felt extremely weighed down on our 3 hour intense uphill hike.  However, I loved being in God’s beautiful creation and among the deep green grass covered slopes, it felt like we may just be the only 12 inhabitants on the earth.  We slept in a giant cuddle puddle in Wonder cave and in the morning played in our own private waterfall/mini swimming hole.  It was such an enjoyable time with our small group and we really were able to build close relationships and have wonderful talks about how God is shattering our old perceptions and shaping us more toward his will. 

Bonginkosi at a close

I must inform you that God was faithful in giving me hope at my service site, but sadly we are leaving Bonginkosi to begin at a place called Walk in the Light tomorrow.  With fresh motivation we entered the Preschool on Tuesday, hopeful that our songs, crafts, and giant hugs would give hope to the kids.  I have never felt so much love in my life than when I walked into their breakfast Tuesday morning and was immediately engulfed by a 25-kid bear hug that nearly knocked me off my feet.  I began recognizing faces and wishing I had 8 hands so they didn’t have to fight over who held reign over my two hands and sometimes elbow.  In those 4 days, well actually 3 because I came down sick on Wednesday, I was a human jungle gym that spouted songs and games to keep them active constantly.  Our worst moment was when we arrived one morning and the Gogo (grandma) gardener who doesn’t speak English motioned for us to follow her to a dark room on the end.  We found about 60 kids in the dark with no teacher and were left to manage them.  We quickly scrambled to sing as many of the action packed Sunday school songs we had learned when we were 4 and all but forgotten since then.  I have learned so much in my experiences there, but the thing that saddens me is that they believe since we are white we have all the answers and know how to better take care of the kids than them.

The one thing that gave me the most hope was the parent meetings. To our utter amazement 40 parents showed up to our first meeting, willing to participate and find ways to better educate their children.  They listed things that united and divided them as a community and were truly able to see that they were a community that could take action together.  And praise the Lord for one of the parents stepping up to translate for us as our translator was absent.  The second meeting was also a success, raising the issue of bullying and addressing the need of more tools to teach their children English at home.  The parents were willing to listen to us and one parent said to me “Its so wonderful to see people loving our children.”

While we did have some great successes and the children have stolen my heart, our director felt it was right for us to change service sites and leave Bonginkosi behind.  The main reason was that Zodwa, the principal was not equipped to give us enough direction because she was swamped with 96 kids.  However, I did learn many lessons from my time there.  I learned that the ministry of presence speaks loudly and I was blessed to be able to share in the mundane activities of the preschool teachers, encouraging them if only for a few days.  I learned that service is not always tangible and often the results of our work may never be visible to us, but God’s hand is in it none the less.  As one of my team members put it, we witnessed the “real” Africa, in that we can see that so much need exists, but they don’t know how to ask for help because they are stuck helplessly in the mud.  God is teaching me many more things and I am sure he will continue to give me life lessons as I go to work with the teen agers and broken families in the township of Hanniville, gardening, putting on a youth group, working with gogos, and exploring the community that faces the hardship of HIV.  Please be in prayer for my team as we join the 19 students who have been working here for two weeks already.  Also I need prayers that my body will heal quickly and I will not be burdened with sickness this week!