Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to do devotion for our weekly staff meeting. As I started to think about what I could share, how I got to Swaziland kept coming up in my mind. When writing my notes for devotion, Jeremiah 29:11 kept coming to my mind also, “ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Although I had different plans for my life…mostly getting to Swaziland earlier, the Lord knew what He was doing. That week I kept hearing different stories of how the Lord has been at work and it was so amazing to hear!
One story I want to share with you! I share this story so you can see how the Lord is at work here in Swaziland and bringing people in communities together to help take care of each other! We were at one of our new carepoints doing a couple of home visits, with a family that wants to sponsor the carepoint. I love doing home visits because they always come at the right time for the families. It is a great way to get to know the families and pour into their lives. For this home visit, I knew it was a child-headed homestead, which a lot of times are the hardest home visits. As we start walking to the home with the kids, I started talking with the head cook from the carepoint just asking about these boys. She began to tell their story…their father passed away a few years ago and the mother got remarried and had to leave the boys behind. So here is a 16 year old taking care of himself and his 14 year old brother.
(I am leaving real names out, but you can call them Sipho and Sifiso)
They didn’t talk much, but when they did they talked very quietly and then would laugh! I started asking them about school and their favorite subjects; then I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Sipho said he wanted to be a police officer. Sifiso said he wanted to be a teacher. After he showed us something I realized why he wanted to be a teacher. As you can see in the picture below, he has taken a piece of metal and he writes his calendar of tests for 2 weeks at a time. He was so proud to show us! My favorite part of their story is that they have neighbors on both sides of them and they have helped take care of these boys like their own family! When they saw that they needed help, those 2 families stepped up and helped out! If you were to ask the families why they are helping these strangers, they will tell you that, “In Swaziland, there are no strangers.” They explained to me that it is called ‘Umbuntu’, which means ‘I am, because We are’. We live in communities, taking care of your neighbor! You share the little that you have.
So I leave you with this…what’s your story? What has the Lord done in your life that is worth telling someone? How is He at work in your life now? What are you doing to help someone in your community?
Until next time,
The Nxumalo’s 🙂
