South Africa 2008...Part 2

I have been trying to figure out what to write for Part 2. I read through my journal today in order to be reminded of everything I did for the 2 weeks that I was in South Africa without the team. Some of those details were just silly ones- how cold it was, what I ate, what time I got up, etc. Remember when you were little and had a "diary" and that's what you'd write about - what was for lunch and dinner that day? HA! I guess in another country we still do that so we are reminded that the food was in fact quite 'normal' then what some may think. I certainly do not do that in my journals today.

Moving on...on those pages were also great stories that I'd somewhat forgotten about. There are big moments from those 2 weeks that stick out to me and then there are the 'small ones' but still had great impact.

I stayed with two great people twice in my 2 weeks after the team left. Robin and Mike Nash are American missionaries that have formed their own organization, Two Tunics, in Port Shepstone and surrounding areas. Mike is a Doctor and spends some of his time at the care centre at Genesis. Robin's heart is for the children and the creches (pre-school/day care) there. They are following what God has planned for them and I feel very lucky to have spent time in their home getting to know them and worship God with them. They taught me more then they will ever know and I continue to lean on them for guidance and support.

One thing that Robin and I did together was go out on home based care visits. This was with an organization called Positive Ray. They have volunteer nurses that go and visit with patients living with AIDS in their own homes. We spent 2 days doing these visits, in two different areas. One was a very rural area near a clinic called the Assisi Clinic. At the first home, no one was home. The nurses and volunteers were worried about this because there are small children at the home. The door was locked and they grew worried of what they may find inside. One of the volunteers was able to climb through a window to open the door so we could figure out if they just weren't home, or if we'd find something much worse. It was for about 5 seconds as I watched him climb through that window that I grew very scared of what we might find. Soon he was opening the door from the inside and telling us that no one was inside. We made sure to look all around to be sure. So, we went to leave - we had Robin's car and a Positive Ray truck (they call it a "bakki" and I am not sure if I am spelling that right!). Soon they spotted the woman and children just up the dirt road we were driving on. The woman knew it was the day for the nurse to come and what I was told (after much talk in Zulu) was that she knew they would make her take "her" children (I believe they were actually her niece and nephews...but when everyone else dies, the oldest person around becomes the kids mother or father) to the clinic because they were so sick. One of the children had a really bad rash/growth on his hands. Below is the picture.

We had brought a bucket full of food for the people we would visit that day so they drove the woman down to her house to drop the bucket off and then they took the whole family (the woman and 3 kids) to the clinic so they could get proper care. We went on to visit with about 3 other families. One woman was in a wheel chair and could not walk at all so we loaded her into Robin's car and drove her to the clinic for her check up for that day.

The next day we went to Umkalumbe (again, I know I am spelling this wrong...), which is much closer into town and actually just across the street from Genesis. We visited several people there. One in particular stands out to me. It's when I felt the Holy Spirit the most I ever have...well, ever. We went to a woman's home, which is just a shack, even smaller then the one at the top of my blog. It was a very small room with just a chair, mat and small table. Not all of us could fit in there so I opted to stand outside. As I did look in, I saw a very thin, very sick woman eating what looked like porridge. A woman that had been there with her told us that this was the first time in several week that she was able to feed herself because she had been so weak. One of the nurses spoke in Zulu as she asked questions about how the last couple days had been, specifics about how she was feeling, etc. The volunteers from Positive Ray began to pray and sing with her. See below for the video. It was right after I stopped filming that the patient began to cry out to God to heal her and help her pain. The singing got louder, and so did crying out. Something came over me and I felt like I needed to walk away - it was becoming way to emotional for me. But God told me to stay put. So I closed my eyes and felt the Holy Spirit surround this place with all its glory and might. Oh what an awesome feeling. I went from feeling uncomfortable, to scared, to overwhelmed in the most awesome way all within about 2 minutes!
Ok- see the video:

As soon as the team and Robin walked out of the shack, Robin alerted me to look to the right. As I did, I saw a man but I also saw a small child. So I did the typical girl "awwww!" that we do when we see a cute little child. Robin then said "No, the man. He's a sangoma." OOOHHHH.
A sangoma is a "witch doctor" or as most in the Zulu culture know them as an herbal medicine 'healer'. You can tell who they are by what they wear - mostly red prints and some will have white stuff on their face, white beads in their hair, or white beads around their neck.
The Zulu people really do believe in sangomas so I do not wish to say anything offensive. This is just my perspective. My mind suddenly filled with thoughts of how I'd just completely felt the Holy Spirit's presense in this place and then 2 seconds later a sangoma walks out of the shack connected to the patients home. I spoke to the man and asked him if I could take his picture. Well, one of the Positive Ray volunteers translated for me. We also had the polaroid camera with us so I took 2 pictures to give to them to keep and the sangoma and the little boy LOVED seeing themselves. Up to this point, I thought only women were sangomas. I asked Amos, one of the volunteer's and the one further into the room singing in the video, and he told me that both women and men can be sangomas. Here is the picture of the sangoma:

We went to a few more homes that day and it was really great to pray with these people, bring them food, offer a little bit of hope, and hear their stories. These home based care visits really touched my heart and I continue to pray for the patients we saw as well as the volunteers of Positive Ray.

Ok- that's all I have for tonight. Looks like there will be a South Africa 2008 Part 3! :)
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.