Home for a Month
To begin with, I am currently speechless. Since flying to Johannesburg, South Africa, staying overnight in a hostel, and then arriving at our team house in Swaziland, we all have been exposed to unimaginable experiences.
“So this is your home for the next 22 days.”, Xolani announced as our van entered the barricaded house. Dang, this home is much more modern than we were expecting. We still laugh about how training camp prepared us for living in such raw conditions; sleeping inside an unsanitary one-room hut located in a vast, rural field without electricity or running water. Ha! That is not the kind of living situation we are placed in, and we are sincerely grateful.
Time seems to go by so fast. One day we are traveling (by foot) to town and meeting the AIM staff based in Swaziland (they are phenomenal people), and the next day we’re visiting a Care Point to build relationships with the women and children or to work in the fields with rakes and a machete. I can still remember the first day we saw the kids at one of the Care Points. The exact moment we stepped off the van, we were greeted with small children smiling ear to ear and reaching their hands to touch ours. They were beautiful boys and girls in need of attention. One of the Swati girls had fallen asleep in my arms, which made my heart melt. I bent down to her tiny ear to whisper, “Kunjani?” (“How are you?”) and she suddenly perked up with her beautiful eyes and grinned. Those precious little eyes have captured my heart. It is no wonder why God loves His little ones so much.
The team I’m with is such an incredible blessing. We have grown so close in a matter of two weeks. It’s the foreign culture we’re immersed in and the Holy Spirit bringing us together. What truly displays the completeness of God’s plan, an aspect of this trip, is how the girls each bring something special to the group. I am certain God has lead us here to Africa for specific reasons in our own lives, but also in building each other up as sisters in Christ. Gosh, it is so rewarding when you surrender everything to let the Father guide you to greater things.
And this place is our home for a month.
