An On Going Reflection

 I do not believe that this is what Africa is good for, but I do believe that this is true…..

“Africa may yet prove to be the spiritual conservatory of the world …When the civilised nations in consequence of their wonderful material development, shall have had their spiritual susceptibilities blunted through the agency of a captivating and absorbing materialism, it may be that they have to resort to Africa to recover some of the simple elements of faith.”

In Africa, they are consumed by reality, they have more things to worry about than material development. Children’s mothers are dying on the side of the road, stew is being made for 80 children, a 2 year old has just been raped, a village of 5,000 people are infected with HIV/AIDS. It’s tragic, but the people who belong there have planted both feet in the harsh world of Africa, they are present in their tragedies and fierce in their fights. They are busy sustaining the life around them, and it may be wrong, but I can’t think of anything more beautiful.

These are the missionaries, Hein and his wife Helene that guided us through Africa, serving and protecting us. I can honestly say that they are the two most inspiring followers that I have ever met in my life, they have truly dedicated their lives to serving God. Out of everyone we crossed paths with on our trip they are the most indescribable, so I'll just leave my description of them at this; if you ever meet them, you have been blessed.

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This is Hein and Helene's son Dan, he was such a gem to have on the trip with us. What a kid!

Two married missionaries named Hein and Helene led our team, they were connected to a church led by a women named Impau. Impau was an exceptionally amazing woman considering how prominent male superiority is in South Africa, and the accomplishments of her churches ministry. Her church ministered to a community of 80 severely abused children living in an orphanage being run by a women named Catherine and her staff of 4 other people, as well as a Namibian refugee camp with a population of over 5,000 people 99% of which being HIV positive, all living in tin homes. The church also runs an HIV/AIDS hospice called the Mortele Sunrise Hospice. Through Hein and Helene’s relationship with Impau our team was able to be apart of her ministry to all three of these communities.

Out of our entire team there was only one person on it that had an idea of what Africa was going to be like, whom the people were, what their songs sounded like, and what their love for one another looked like. I think it was a shock to us all when the “wild” land, and animals of Africa weren’t what put us into states of wonder and amazement, but rather it was the people who did it, and the truth of just how present God was in their lives.

The facts about the communities always found a way of unfolding before us; 99% of them are infected with aids, over half of the children in this community are wandering orphans who have lost their parents to disease, all the children at that orphanage have been brutally abused, one in particular was raped twice as a two year old. Every time we left one of these communities I would spend the rest of the night asking myself how these people who have suffered so much, could be so alive? It was horrifying, and after you found out what they lived with, you looked at the joy within them and the light and hope that they held in their eyes and your jaw drops in awe. I used to think in a place like Africa if you weren’t with God, then you were alone, completely and utterly alone. But after almost 3 weeks of being there, it dawned one me, we are never alone, and nothing will ever separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35). The true personality of Jesus shines through the darkness of Africa. 

He is playful

He has made everything beautiful in it’s time

He is strong, and will give us strength

Impau with the children of the refugee camp

His love is manifested in us

In the Namibian refugee camp, out in Vingerskraal there are more than 5,000 people residing in tin shacks, 99% of which are carrying HIV/AIDS. The tin shacks are a result of black Namibians who were evicted from white territory.  In the early 90’s a war between black Namibians and black South Africans was fought in the service of the apartheid. In 1994 the war ended and the Namibian people gained their independence from South Africa. However, many of the Namibians were left there, and the government has placed them in Vingerskraal. The existence of the town is one piece of evidence that Africa is still trapped in the past of the apartheid.  To get to the town, or out of the town there is a six or so mile road that is terribly bumpy and almost impossible to reach the end, separating the people from anything beyond. As we drove down it, there were cars trying to leave, but not getting very far before they broke down.

This place was my favorite community to visit. There were colors in the leaves, plants, flowers, tree trunks, and earth that I had never seen before. Despite their sicknesses the children there play so freely, love each other so purely, and live so hopefully, and the parents demonstrate such an intense bliss to the simplicity of being alive.  The sinister South African government may have self-'righteously ordained these people as forgotten, condemning them to waste away under their tin homes in their sicknesses and “worthlessness,” but you must believe me when I say that these people are not that. Their identity is in being a child of a loving God that will never abandon them, and it is very evident that God has nourished their land and their spirits with his presence, and he has not forsaken them and he never will.

This is Betruce, he was such a special child to me in my time in Africa. I knew he was very sick, he just wanted to play but he was so tired so I carried him around on my shoulders and in my arms amongst the other children while we visited his home. The day he smiled I think my heart broke a little bit, and it still aches every time I see this picture or think of him trying to keep up with the other children. 

Beginning of their road

UNMENTIONED WORK WITH THE TEAM

A lot of time spent working on the farm. 

Painting at the Moretele Sunrise Hospice (HIV/AIDS hospice)

 

Playing Soccer with the locals at the church!

This is a picture of their church from the outside. They may have been materialistically poor, but the hope and the life present once we got inside, and got to know the people was so rich. The love for God that the community at this church had was undeniable, and their hope for a future for their church was chilling and inspiring. They talked of making the church global, and if there was anything I believed, it was that they could do it, and God would lead them to do it. 

Here are some pictures of the people and the inside of the church

Ria and Triumph trying to teach us their local songs, so that we could sing them to the church the following Sunday. I got to know these two better than anyone else at the church, they killed me, hilarious and beautiful people. 

Dancing!

More dancing!

Kelsey and I with the beautiful Nicki! (I was showing her Mumford and Sons on my ipod)

So much Life!

Impau Dancing!

More Dancing!