This past week at the center we finished projects and really got to know the staff and a few of the kids very well. On Monday we got to go to Claire's house after we were done in the afternoon and she made us dinner and we played card games with Zwe and Nhlaka and ate far too much carrot cake. On Tuesday we got to lead a spiritual discussion group for a few of the older youth which was intense. The spiritual issues and things going on here are pretty out of my league. We talked about ancestor worship which is a huge issue in the Mpophomeni community. Even some of the churches here practice it- kind of a combination gospel, ancestor worship religion. So we discussed the influence of ancestor worship in the community and in these kids' lives and had a really deep discussion about the sovereignty of God. The reality of suffering for the gospel stuck me as we were talking to these high school guys. If they don't practice ancestor worship and traditional religion with their families (what little family they still have- they all have either one or no parents) they are kicked out and ostracized. These young boys are facing the cost of discipleship that Jesus talks about in Luke 14 and their decision to chose to be followers of Christ in the face of that floors me. It also brought up a discussion in our team about "ancestor worship" for American Christians. We discussed what idol we are putting our faith in and why we aren't suffering for the gospel like so many of our brothers and sisters around the globe, which I think are questions we need to be seriously examining in our own lives if we call ourselves followers of Christ.
On Wednesday afternoon we got to do home visits with our child care workers. I had done home visits the week before with to visit AIDS patients but this was a whole different ball game. We were visiting the houses of the kids from the center and knowing the children and then knowing their home situation was enlightening and heart breaking. The family center ministers to some of the poorest of Mpophomeni and the first house we went to was a mud hut smaller then my room at home. We met Tokello's father and we read a passage for him and he talked with the childcare workers for a while. We met Tokello the first day we got to the center and he was having a bad day- he kept hitting other kids and crying and Claire told us that he has rough nights at home and comes in hurting sometimes and doesn't know how to handle it. And being in his home, and meeting his father who is trying to raise 3 kids by himself and who is unemployed, things started to make sense. That whole day as I met more families of children that I knew, I started realizing how important the center is. No one we visited was employed, and the biggest and nicest house was 2 small rooms made out of cinder blocks. Without the family center these kids would not eat, they might not go to school, and they would not know Jesus and have the hope that comes from knowing Him. And they are a community organization! They are not running because we were there, they just let us join in. The people in charge of the center saw a need a filled it, and that picture of loving one's neighbor gives me hope, not only for Mpophomeni but for everywhere else there is hurting.
On Thursday, our last day at the center, we spent the morning driving around and praying over churches in Mpophomeni. Our team realized about half way through our time at Mpophomeni that the issues in the center and in the lives of the people working there weren't exclusive to the center. They were community issues which needed community wide solutions, and with the magnitude of the problems and the end of our time there coming quickly we knew that we just needed to pray, so that's what we did. We visited 6 or 7 churches and laid hands on them and prayed. We prayed over churches that are doing well and are biblically rooted and we prayed over churches that are claiming to exalt Christ but are worshiping ancestral spirits or other idols. It was incredibly powerful and while we won't see the fruit of that labor, I know something is being stirred mightily in Mpophomeni and I can't wait to see the community turn back to its maker.
That afternoon we had a naming ceremony with the staff of the family center. They gave me (another) Zulu name: Thandazile, which means one who prays, which I love. God has taught me so much about prayer in my time at Mpophomeni and I love that they recognized my desire to know God through prayer and gave me a name that reflects that :). After everyone got their name we talked about our time there and what we treasured about it and what we would miss which was pretty emotional but such a blessing. After our time with the staff we had a great party and John Wallace, the president of APU, who happened to be in town showed up and we played with bubbles and said goodbye to everyone.
Friday we gave group presentations about what we did at our service sites and it was great to hear what everyone else's been doing. God's been doing some great things through the people on this group and it was so great to be involved in it by hearing about it. After the presentations our Zulu class pretended to study- it's been such a long week we're weren't terrible motivated but we had our final this morning and it went pretty well. And I only need to get 5% to get an A in the class, so I'm not too worried. It's great to be done with class and now that people are packing it's setting in that we are leaving tomorrow. I have loved being here and it's been an incredible experience but I am also excited for this next stage exploring Cape Town!
This next week we'll be on the road and probably won't have internet, but I'll catch everyone up when we get to Cape Town.
Group Shot
The 1st home we visited on Wednesday
Thembi, my childcare worker giving me my Zulu name!
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