I’ve been following my son’s team in Swaziland. One of my partners in ministry there is Jumbo Gerber. He and his wife Carike are heroes, bringing hope to a thousand orphans every day. He has great organizational skills and cares deeply, but sometimes to look at him, you’d never know. To love the world’s dying orphans, we need people like Carike who are animated and nurturing. And we need guys like Jumbo who can organize the flow of resources. Don’t ever think you’re not needed or couldn’t make a difference in this world. Check out Jumbo’s blog:
I,
Jumbo, am a pretty slow processor when it comes to feelings and
emotions. Gary always wants to know, “Why do you never look excited?” I
always say, “Bro, I just don’t show it”.
Yesterday
the Black family and I went down to Nsoko for some meetings. As always
I try to get meetings done as soon as possible. We went out to the
site where G42 is planning to build their first Children’s Village to
determine where the community center must be built. I am very excited
on the one side about this project (although I am not showing it), but
on the other hand I am questioning myself if we are not moving too
fast; what if we won’t be able to follow up on our promises?
But then I
am always reminded about what Seth Barnes says: “The kids are dying now – we have to jump in now and do what we can now and trust the Lord.” So, I guess that is what we are doing down there in Nsoko. We are jumping in and trusting the Lord.
After
our site visit we went to check in on the World Racers and then I saw
Emily Black with the smallest little baby boy I have ever seen.
Immediately I could see that the baby was under weight and
malnourished. He looked like a little toy. I asked the team what
happened and why they have the baby. Emily told me the mother is on her
last and will be dying soon because of AIDS. They contacted the
community leaders and they were looking after the baby until the baby
will be taken by the police or someone from the community. I just said
‘okay’ and left the baby with the team.
We
had lunch, we drove home and then it hit me. What is going to happen to
this precious child? Who is going to take care of him? If the police
takes him they can either put him in an abandoned baby center or in a
hospital. If someone from the community takes him, what will happen to
him then? This is most likely the poorest community in Swaziland! So
who knows!
Then
an even harder truth hit me: This is going to happen more and more and
Swaziland is not ready! The church is not ready! Babies like this boy
are going to become just another bad thing in a country where bad
things happen.
“Please Lord, may nobody ever be desensitized so much that this will be fine. Lord we need wisdom and courage to take this problem head on. Please help and use us.”
It
is becoming worse. Swazi’s are people with well build bodies, but these
days you just cannot help to see the amount of people walking around
looking like skeletons. This disease is killing this nation. A lot of
people are going to die in the next few years. But we cannot be caught
up in this hopelessness. We have to make a conscious decision when it
becomes too much; we always have to believe that GOD has a plan for
this nation. The only thing that gives me hope every day when I am
surrounded by this desperation is to take a moment and to be reminded
of the character of the GOD. We serve the ALMIGHTY GOD.
“Lord, this is a mess, but I have to believe that you will show us the way – I know you will. Amen.”
To read more about what we’re doing for this boy and how we connect young people to needs like this, check out this blog.
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