All it takes is one.
One choice to follow Jesus.
One decision to respond to his call.
One person to spark change in the world.
I’ve seen the power of one. And I’ve
see it in “Auntie GuGu.”
I’ve never met anyone like GuGu
before in my entire life. She is a middle-aged
woman full of joy and passionate love for Christ and His precious
children. I’ve only met her once and she
was spilling over with the Holy Spirit!
Four of my team members and I met GuGu after we worked at the school one
Tuesday (GuGu is in charge of a Swaziland Christian Conference that is coming
up at the end of July, so she has been so busy with that that she has not been
to the school while we have been there).
We only talked with her for a little over an hour but we learned so much
from her. She talked about her life and
how God has worked and provided for her in miraculous ways. She told us about how she first started the
school four or five years ago Originally, GuGu did not want to start a school,
but started a Bible club for the children in the “squatter camp.” She sat down with over one hundred children,
ages 2-15, one day and wanted to talk to them about sex before marriage. “If you are still a virgin, please raise your
hand,” she told the kids. No one raised
there hand. She figured they didn’t
understand so she asked again, “If you have not had sex before, please raise your
hand.” Still no hands went up. She still didn’t understand so she asked the
children if they understood and they said yes.
GuGu’s heart broke for them and she started crying. She asked the children more questions about
it and they told her that there was a place many of them went to have sex,
where beds and dividers were made out of plastic bags from the nearby garbage
dump. Shocked by all of this, she asked
the kids when they had time to do this, before or after school…they told her
they didn’t go to school because they could not afford it. She asked them if they went to school, would
they stop having sex and they told her they would. GuGu went home that ONE day, and made ONE
decision to start a school for this children.
Now four/five years later, we have seen the impact of this ONE woman on
the lives of these precious children. Many
of the kids have been able to move on to real schools. Now there are 14 children and about half of
them are from the original group that she started the school with.
with GuGu and hearing her story brought me to tears. It was an emotional moment for me; I started
crying (especially when she prayed for us at the end), and I didn’t really know
why. I just feel so pulled to come back
and start a school like that. I love those kids in that school so much. They have such difficult lives—lives we can’t
even imagine living. Tanele, a 13 year
old girl I work with, is a bubble of joy and smiles when you first meet
her. She is always singing and gives me
the biggest hugs and smiles. But her
life will tell you otherwise. During
break one day at school, some of my team members heard screams/crying and
rushed outside to see what was going on.
Tanele was getting beat by a young man (supposedly her older
brother). I did not see her getting beat
like my other team members did, but I saw her with her hands on her head,
balling, and running away from the man.
It was a sickening experience—a reality that we did not want to
acknowledge. Tanele is the one girl that
I have connected most with, so my heart broke for her. The saddest part was that when I talked to
her later about it, she said it happens a lot…and nothing can be done about
it.
in…all these kids come from backgrounds and sufferings that we cannot
comprehend, yet they come to school every morning with a smile on their face
and excitement to learn. Ask any one of
these children and they LOVE school, unlike the attitudes in the U.S. They desire so much to learn and are
dedicated to their education. I wish I
could explain more, but it’s hard to put these experiences into words. I am so blessed to be able to work with these
kids and learn from them as well as teach them.
The most exciting part about teaching in that school is that it’s not
just English we teach; we teach about Jesus and are trying to figure out ways
to help them connect to Christ on a deeper level. When we asked GuGu what more we can do with
the kids to reach them, she said the best thing we can do is pray. She said we can teach them all we want, but
at the end of the day, they go back to their environment/homes that are many
times reeking of alcohol, and full of seemingly hopeless situations. GuGu told us to pray for the “stone that will
sink in.” That we must seek God for
guidance on how to touch the children’s lives so that they can overcome and
truly live their lives for Christ and not fall into the temptations of the lives
they see at home. (For example…a few
years ago GuGu asked the children one day what they wanted to do when they grew
up…one boy told her he wanted to get a wife so he could beat her, because that’s
what he saw every day at home.)
It is a sickening reality, but I am so excited to see how
God is going to use us in that school and in those children’s lives. I love them so much already. Next week we are planning to wash the
children’s raw, dirt-soiled feet. We
want to read the Bible story about Jesus washing in disciples’ feet and then we
are going to get on our hands and knees to wash the shoeless childrens’ feet to
display our love and service for them. I
am so excited for this because I’m sure they have NEVER had anyone wash their
feet and pray for them like we are going to do.
So, you could definitely be praying that it goes well and God touches
their hearts. Wow, (sigh), I could go on
and on about those kids at that school, but I’ll wrap this up. I dream one day of coming back here to start
my own school for children who can’t afford it.
I dream of giving these orphans and children a place where they can go
to be loved and to learn about God’s true love.
The greatest thing about this vision is that one of my team members,
Kate Matthews, has the same one! We have
talked about starting a school or place to reach prostitutes, etc. There are so many dreams and ideas and visions,
so we will see where God takes us. I am
just so encouraged because through GuGu, I have learned that all it takes is
ONE.
Thank
you so much, again, for your prayers and support! I love you!
Here are specific things you can lift up:
-pray for the GuGu’s school and the children there: pray for
their protection and softening of hearts
-pray for our team that God will give us the “stone that
will sink in”
-pray for the teachers at the school (Thembi and Thuli) that
they may be renewed and strengthened and rewarded for their sacrifice of
volunteering at this school
-pray for our team: that we may be free of homesickness and
that we may finish this summer giving absolutely everything we have
-praise for our team and how amazing they all are! I am so blessed by these people that I get to work with.
I have learned what 1 Peter 1:22 really means…through the annoyances,
frustrations, competition, envy, difficulties, etc…of living with 20 other people, I love
them deeply from the heart. And love
covers over all wrongs.
