There are approximately 153 million children who live as orphans; that does not include millions of ‘social orphans’ who live in institutions or on the streets. These were just some of the statistics we heard at the Secret Church event we attended last Friday night. Secret Church is a six hour event where thousands of Christians gather to study the Word and identify with our persecuted brothers and sisters. Personally I think it is incredible that even though the Western mindset (that says that it should be okay for everyone to believe what they want) is being pushed in todays culture, people avoid the fact that thousands of Christians are being tortured and killed horrifically just for what they believe. Maybe because they think it is somehow not relevant to them or maybe just because it is an uncomfortable thought. Christ, culture and a call to action. I found myself leaving feeling completely different and passionate about controversial topics…
“Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they are not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.”
Hearing David Platt talk about orphan care was one of those times where you can’t explain what you’re experiencing until you hear the way someone else has so eloquently put it, but with every word they say you find yourself wondering if they can read your mind. I can’t describe how true those words are for me now. Included in the 153 million children living as orphans are 41 precious children living at Tabitha Ministries who have filled my heart, taught me to love like I never knew I could and who brighten every day with their smiles.
‘We care for orphans not because we are rescuers, but because we are the rescued.’
Those 41 children don’t always make it easy for me. But that’s how we keep going when those orphans aren’t the cute picture we imagined, when they are crazy hard to love and those days when you feel like you can’t make a difference.
I think I will still be chewing over some of the things we heard for months to come but I can honestly say it was one of the most rewarding and challenging things to be a part of.
I had never been to a circus before Thursday. It’s the type of thing that reminds me of those moments in movies. The same as carnivals. With the rides and the lights and the stalls with bad-for-you-but-delicious foods. And the atmosphere where everyone seems to be laughing with their friends. So when I found out the circus was coming to town and we were going to take the kids I was more excited than them!
I suppose it could be one of those situations where the reality of the experience is a disappointment compared to the expectations. But I can honestly say that I had the best time, and so did the kids judging by how loud their laughter was at the clowns and how dramatic their gasps were at the acrobatics. There was a tightrope and a motorcycle riding round a metal ball and the trapeze and animals that did tricks (camels and goats and dogs) and equestrian acrobatics and juggling and there were snow cones and candy floss. The kids massive smiles with their lollipops and them going up to dance in the ring at the end made me so happy.
There is a Royal Show annually here every year. There is no royalty now South Africa is not part of the Commonwealth anymore but I guess they don’t wanna drop the title of the show because they must like the heritage. We felt we had to experience the Royal Show in South Africa though…I feel like we Brits owe it to the Queen or something?! We got to see a sheep being sheared and evil looking white rabbits with red eyes and funny looking birds which could be dusters cause they have feathers as feet. We managed to scavenge all the available testers at the food stalls. We also got the legit carnival type experience – we screamed and sang loudly on rides and ate corndogs (first time I have tried this American invention and it’s better than a hotdog in my book). There are so many little moments here where I start to understand the saying ‘makes the heart happy’ because I feel so light and free inside, and genuinely content. However cheesy that sounds now I’ve written it down.
The other evening I spent half an hour on the trampoline with Siya and Futhi. That short time spent jumping and laughing until we couldn’t breathe was so precious. It is a rare occasion that we are able to spend quality time with just one or two of the kids, but when we get them it is amazing to be able to have more significant conversations and really get to know who the kids are. We also got to take the toddlers out of the Tabitha gates as we got a donation specifically to take them on an outing. Taking them on the play-park and giving them Happy Meals was awesome – we found out that some of them were too scared to even go down the slide, that most of them didn’t like burgers, and I never even knew it was possible to suck the tomato ketchup off a chip so many times without it disintegrating!
I love how there is always something new going on here, that there is so much we can be involved in – it is totally me, always having something to fill my time up with. Our latest excitement has been starting up a Bible Club for the kids in Sweetwaters who were bored while Thomas runs the Bible study for the teenagers. This all started with the sprout of an idea, and we expected the first week to just be a max of 5 kids who knew about it from their older brothers and sisters. What we hadn’t experienced was how quickly word spreads in the community. That first week we had 36 kids show up which totally blew preparations out of the water (we had brought 10 lollipops thinking that would be way too many…awkward). Now we will see how much it multiplies in the next few weeks.
We have had a team of 11 pretty incredible Texans here for 10 days. We were so blessed by everything they did while they were here; whether it was putting locks on the toilet doors (so we actually get some privacy), helping us out with Toddler school in the morning so we could have a bit of a rest, or bringing education resources for the school and training us up in how best to teach and progress the kids. It never fails to amaze me how people can come with servant hearts and put everything into supporting and making a difference to both kids and staff. I really am grateful for how much I took away from their stay, let alone what an impact they made on all the children.
So just incase you wanted another example of how I was mentioning ‘African Time’ a couple of posts ago, we went to Durban yesterday to go and watch South Africa vs Gambia in soccer which was supposed to kick off at 3pm. We had a great pub lunch in an Irish (just for Molly) pub and were ready for the action, only to reach the stadium to find that the game had been postponed four hours because the officials weren’t there yet. Where else would that be okay? Actually though it was a nice afternoon just spending time together, walking to the beach and getting ice-cream (just fyi in my opinion ice-cream always makes any situation better). We cheered for the Bafana Bafana’s and although it was a disappointing 0-0 score and no thrills game I had a great day. Just goes to show that sometimes sticking to plans isn’t the be all and end all!
