Wednesday - South Africa Update

Before Jennifer and I got married, her sister gave birth to her second child, Ellen. I remember going to the hospital with Jennifer and holding Ellen. It was as if Ellen was a foreign object. I had no idea what I was doing. Everyone in the room looked at me and laughed. I knew before I walked in the hospital door that I had no chance at appearing normal around a baby. I knew nothing about them. The bottom line was: I had to take one for the team.

 

Experiencing new things is very much a risk when it comes to comfort as well as success. There is always a chance we could fail and fail miserably. As a Christian, this is the moment when faith has to intercede logic and fear. It's the moment where hope trumps all and love wins. It's when we decide to go with what we know is right despite how we look and if we fail....well...we take one for the team. It's really an easy concept if you step away from the trees and look at the forest. The BIG picture is that if we win the small battles of every day life with love, we draw the world one step closer to a love that is a drowning, over powering and pursuing hope that one day.."every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." That is not a dream. That is a fact. And the way we live and act is a reflection of where you draw your line in the sand. The hopelessness that is often generated when we can't see a difference being made, may be a roadblock in your ministry but it is not and can not be a wall that is impassable. Servant-hood will mean that you will be faced with more days where you don't see a difference than days where you do see a difference. Max Lucado warned us of this when he said,  “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd." Never. Lose. Hope. Love without ceasing. 

 

We began the day doing the small things. We went from door to door and met with families concerning tuberculosis. TB is becoming a problem in South Africa. There are four major symptoms of TB: coughing, fever, sweating at night and weight loss. We find out if anyone in the family has had at least two of these problems recently and then we take down basic information such as name, address, contact number, medical folder number, etc. Finally we ask how many children under 5 live in the home. Unfortunately, children of that age do not show symptoms of TB and if they are exposed to the sickness they must be taken to a hospital to be properly diagnosed. We also shared with them ways to prevent the spread of TB before we left. 


While one would think that the people of Red Hill would shy away from Westerners walking around their community, one would be surprised. The door to door fear  we know is a product of American culture and the constant call of capitalism that appears everywhere we turn. Red Hill invited us in their homes and we began to build some relationships with the locals. It was a great way to begin the day, even though it felt like we barley scrapped the surface. We turned in our information to Living Hope and they will follow up with the people we visited to insure that proper care is available for them if in fact some of them have TB. I have a very good feeling we came across several people who have TB and our efforts will yield health for a group of people who desperately need it. 






We finished the day with Kid's Camp. Our typical kids camp begins with songs, dances and skits. We follow that up with a craft and end by playing and giving them a meal to take home. In many cases that is the first and only time they will eat that day. Again, our students were fantastic and the pictures on Facebook can communicate better than my writing. These people are so hungry for someone to love them and our group has a lot of love to give. I think about Mary Elise playing in that glass, rock, and metal filled sandlot with no one looking for her and it's almost too much for me to take. Being a father adds another dimension to an already powerful experience.