A true African adventure...

Ok family and friends... settle in for a real African adventure. It is Thursday evening, and I am sitting safe and sound in the Stewarts' house. The children are sleeping on pallets in the living room, and I am watching them as Craig and Liesl have gone out to dinner. I will warn you, this will be long.. but exciting (at least towards the end). I spent my Wednesday shopping in a mall called cavendish and spending some time reading in cafes. I know what you're thinking. What are you doig roaming through a mall when you are in the most beautiful place on earth?!! I understand... but it was quite a rainy day, and the Stewarts were busy getting the kids off for their first day of school, so it seemed the best place for me to go and spend some time alone. I enjoyed the day. Wednesday night, Elizabeth Clack, the social worker who I met in Tennessee, picked me up for dinner. We had a lovely meal at a pizza place, then went driving downtown to see the Christmas lights in the streets. Elizabeth is amazing! As we were walking to the restaurant, we approached a homeless woman sitting by the road. Elizabeth was well-acquainted with this woman and gave her some money while asking her how she was doing. Elizabeth has made it her life's work to tend the forgotten and helpless people of her world. We ended up back at her flat where I poured out my heart about my struggles this year and the way in which God used her to speak to me and love me back to Him. We talked and prayed, and I felt God very near as we spoke to Him. 

(I have been thinking a lot about prayer and community. Prayer is such a huge part of the community here. Someone told that people confess their sins to one another and pray together asking God to point out their sin, so that then they, as a community, can pray for healing and repentance and forgiveness. She spoke of the deep intimacy this sharing develops among the believers. This openness leaves no room for shame or pride as people know each other's sins and are able to share their struggles and come alongside one another in prayer and repentance.) 

Ok.. back from the sidetrack...I slept over at Elizabeth's house and awoke early this morning to go to the Warehouse with her. The Warehouse is the Christian relief organization Craig and Elizabeth started that works to enable local churches meet the needs of the community. Many people were at the Warehouse, and we split into groups to pray. Two young British people, and Australian young woman, and a few other people were in my group with Elizabeth. We all prayed for different needs among us, and God led someone to read from Romans 8 speaking that we are more than conquerers in Christ. They also read from Isaiah saying that there is no need to fear and that the Lord upholds us with His righteous right hand. We packed up some supplies and drove off to the townships.

Our first stop was Fikalela (horrendous spelling), a home for children 0-8 years old who have HIV/Aids or come from at-risk circumstances. I spoke to the sole nurse responsible for the 35+ kids with enormous medical needs. She administers antiretrovirals, which have an extremely demanding and specific schedule, to the infected children, and tends to the others' needs as well. She spoke of the many children they lost in 2002 when they first started the home and lacked the necessary drugs and resources. She wept. She carries such a burden and responsibility for those lost little children. I have felt burdened for her all day and plan to spend some time praying for Jean. What a heavy weight to carry in one's heart and what important work she does. When we saw the children, they flocked to us and wouldn't let us go. We spent some time playing with the children, and it was joyful and heart-breaking. I could see the tell-tale sores on some of their little bodies and the flies swarmed round their snotty noses as they laughed and basked in our attention. It was very hard to leave.

We next drove to Bakamulela (I again mutilated the name), a home for children of all ages where Elton John had visited the previous Monday. Alongside the home sat a respite care home for adult Aids patients who had been released from the hospital, but were too weak to return hoe or had no one to care for them. I asked a lot of questions and stood in awe of the nurse who administered their medications and assessed each patient daily. We were then going to pray around a preschool where people had been harassing the teachers, but we stopped to say hello to some children Elizabeth knew as she saw them outside their house on the street...

There were five of us in the car with the front two windows rolled down. Elizabeth was talking to an 8-year old boy out of the right side of the car. As she was talking, I noticed a young man in his 20\s notice us, and I felt uneasy, but dismissed it as a newcomers paranoia. We were, after all, in an extremely poor area with shacks all around, but Elizabeth had worked in the area of 18 years without incident. A minute later, a man approached Elizabeth's window laughing. I thought Elizabeth knew him. He took the keys out of the ignition, and reached back to grab the camera from the girl sitting to my right. I instinctively brushed away his hand, not realizing what was going on. Elizabeth said "don't fight." I looked around and realized three men had surrounded us... the one on the right and two on the left. IOne man grabbed Elizabeth's bag from the car, and she sternly scolded him saying, "You will give me back my bag!" the man took the purse from her bag and threw the back back inside with the look of a boy who had been caught by his school teacher. Meanwhile, the third man had reached through the front window and unlocked the back door. The girl to my left locked it back, but the man unlocked it again and opened the door. I had my camera bag around my neck and he reached for it. I was extremely fast and confusing and I think my hands just went to the bag. He leaned in and held a very, very large knife or machete close to my arm and said, "I will stick you." I think I said, "Elizabeth" as I struggled to get the bag off my neck quickly. She said, "You will not stick anyone" and "give it to him." I game him the bag. As everything was happening, Elizabeth was saying, "we are Christians, I am a social worker" in a very righteously indignant tone... she was authoritative and amazing! The young men then just walked casually away knowing that no one would come after them. Elizabeth shouted, "I would have give you money," and "God will punish you." One man shouted back, "we are hungry." Elizabeth said the man at her door had opened his jacket and pointed to his gun when he first approached her. This all happened directly in front of a high school at 2pm in broad daylight as the children we had been talking to looked on. Not one of us has a scratch on us... but this is daily life in the townships. We could leave, but over a million people have to stay and live there.

We went to the police station and spent hours waiting while Elizabeth filled out a report. The family who lived in the house where we had stopped was associated with the Warehouse, and Elizabeth knew them quite well. They came to be with us at the police station. After a few hours, we all prayed together and decided to drop the charges. There was concern that the children, who witnessed everything, would be questioned and asked to identify suspects, and even possibly be harassed by the criminals. They stole my camera bag containing my new Nikon camera and lens as well as my canon digital camera. Though I asked about safety before taking them with me, I feel foolish for bringing them into this poor community. I am not, however, grieving their loss as I knew that was a possibility in bringing them here. Their loss is also nothing compared to the fact that no one was harmed. I am very shaken up, and honestly think I just need to cry. I have been around people all day and am sure I'll break down when I call my mom to tell her. I really felt that the man was quite ready to stab me, and I believed for a moment that that knife was going to go through my arm or my chest. The Warehouse people were quick to come be with us, and we all felt the peace God gave us through their prayers before they even told us they have been praying for us. I felt God tell me that there was never even a chance that any harm would have come to me or those with me.. He was sovereign at every moment. He also told me those cameras were His property anyway. I am still processing what I'm feeling, but God is ever-present and ever-pursuing me. We remembered the verses God had given us this morning in Isaiah and Romans, and Elizabeth said that the reminder of being more than conquerers had prepared her to react in the bold manner she did. The Stewarts are looking after me, and I'm alright. I'll post this long entry next time I can get on-line. Thanks to those who have been praying for me and for my protection. Please join me in praying that God will use this event for His glory and that He would redeem for His purposes a situation that Satan intended for evil. :)