I LOVE AFRICA! Ministry has been so much fun and it has been such a honor to get to play with little kids and share the gospel with the people we get to meet. Just for context, my team is working at a carepoint far out into the bush and the people have been so incredible to all of us.
We have a shepherd at our carepoint who grew up at the carepoint and is now caring for the communtiy and leading people to the Lord. His name is Angelo and he is so funny. He’s a rapper, loves music, and he will usually sing for us or teach us a song that he wrote. It’s actually so much fun. We have around fifty to sixty kids at the care point during the day, all from toddlers to high schoolers, and ALL of them know Angelo’s songs. You will hear kids randomly singing his songs throughout the day and it’s so fun.
A lot of the little kids I have met come from very impoverished families. Usually kids will come with the same clothes everyday, because that is the only pair of clothes they have. Some will have big rips or holes in their clothes, just because they have worn them for so long. Many of the kids live with their grandparents or with older siblings, because their parents have passed or they are at work all day to provide for them. In other situations, they will have to take care of their 5 month old baby sibling and bring them to the care point because no one else can or will. A lot of the kids are in school, yet many are struggling to get the money to afford a unifrom to go to school. Some kids have to work to provide for their younger siblings so that they can survive, so they give up their dreams so they can take care of their family. At the care point, we have go-go’s, who are ladies that cook food and serve a meal once a day, five days a week for anyone that comes. It will be the main meal that kids eat for the day, and in some situations, that is the only meal they will get that day.
Even though these situations seem very bleak, everyone that I have met at the carepoint is filled with so much life and joy. So much joy and happiness in situations that you would not expact. There are little kids that have practically nothing, yet when we start singing songs and playing games like “banana” or “my teddy bear”, their faces light up and they start jumping up and down and singing at the top of their lungs. Some of the kids are so excited when they see our van pull into the carepoint, that they start jumping, waving, and screaming our names. Then for the rest of the day they will be all over us. Sometimes you will get four or five kids on you at one time while you go down the slide and probably a few more following right behind. All of them laughing and running back up to do it again. They all will try to teach you saswati, their language at some point, and you get to teach them some english at the same time. They usually giggle when you try speaking in saswati because it’s super hard to learn. Some of the sweetest moments have been when I’ve been able to hold some of the babies. We get to our carepoint around lunch so those little ones are ready for a nap. So usually they will find one of us and we’ll pick them up and they will fall asleep on us. They are honestly so tired, they just want someone to hold them and for them to know that they are safe. It’s such a privalage to get to be with them. They’re all so cute and are just show the joy of the Lord so authenticly! I want to hold each one so tight and just give them every moment I have with them.
I hope that I will find joy in every situation, small or big. That I won’t let the diffculties of the world weigh me down, but that I will look to find the good and find the Lord working in every situation.
These kids are such good examples to me, and I hope to take that “joy in every situation” to where ever I go in life!
– Lauren
