SMILES AND BROKEN HEARTS
This is Thabiso. He's the little boy in Swaziland who I asked you to pray for a couple of days ago.
He lives in the Timbutini community which is where Anna's mission team lived and ministered one summer and where I've been blessed enough to attend church twice. Many of our Swaziland friends either live in the Timbutini community, go to church there, or have family members that live in that area. Many people here in America have spent time loving on the kids of Timbutini and some are actively involved as sponsors.
He's just one little boy. A little boy hit by a car and now fighting for his life while lying in a Swaziland hospital in a comatose state.
But he's also more than that. He's greatly loved by his family, his friends, and people all the way around the world who have stepped out of their comfort zone and allowed God to break their hearts for the vulnerable children of this hurting nation.
Today, many hearts are breaking. This isn't the first time a child from this community has been hurt. Tragically, sorrow is a constant companion in a community where HIV/AIDS runs amok, broken homes are too common, and orphans are raising orphans in homesteads absent of adults.
But despite the frequent funerals and extreme hardships, a child fighting death is still a child facing death. For the mother who can only see her child just a few minutes a day as he lies on a hospital bed out of reach of her arms, the grief is just as heart-rending.
Please join with me and the hundreds, possibly even thousands, who are praying for Thabiso's miraculous recovery. Pray that one day his family and friends will bask in the joy of his smiles. And pray that people will continue to open their hearts to love these children, minister to these children, give to these children, despite the inevitable heart ache that comes from loving children living in a very hard and hurting place. Pray that somehow through this situation, some lasting good will come out of it. Pray that this situation and the grief that is involved will not be for naught.
I don't understand why tragedies like this occur, but I do know that God is still God and He has promised to be with us and to somehow make sense of it in the end.
This is Thabiso. He's the little boy in Swaziland who I asked you to pray for a couple of days ago.
He lives in the Timbutini community which is where Anna's mission team lived and ministered one summer and where I've been blessed enough to attend church twice. Many of our Swaziland friends either live in the Timbutini community, go to church there, or have family members that live in that area. Many people here in America have spent time loving on the kids of Timbutini and some are actively involved as sponsors.
He's just one little boy. A little boy hit by a car and now fighting for his life while lying in a Swaziland hospital in a comatose state.
But he's also more than that. He's greatly loved by his family, his friends, and people all the way around the world who have stepped out of their comfort zone and allowed God to break their hearts for the vulnerable children of this hurting nation.
Today, many hearts are breaking. This isn't the first time a child from this community has been hurt. Tragically, sorrow is a constant companion in a community where HIV/AIDS runs amok, broken homes are too common, and orphans are raising orphans in homesteads absent of adults.
But despite the frequent funerals and extreme hardships, a child fighting death is still a child facing death. For the mother who can only see her child just a few minutes a day as he lies on a hospital bed out of reach of her arms, the grief is just as heart-rending.
Please join with me and the hundreds, possibly even thousands, who are praying for Thabiso's miraculous recovery. Pray that one day his family and friends will bask in the joy of his smiles. And pray that people will continue to open their hearts to love these children, minister to these children, give to these children, despite the inevitable heart ache that comes from loving children living in a very hard and hurting place. Pray that somehow through this situation, some lasting good will come out of it. Pray that this situation and the grief that is involved will not be for naught.
I don't understand why tragedies like this occur, but I do know that God is still God and He has promised to be with us and to somehow make sense of it in the end.
"If through a broken heart
God can bring His purposes to pass in the world,
then thank Him for breaking your heart."
--- Oswald Chamber, MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
God can bring His purposes to pass in the world,
then thank Him for breaking your heart."
--- Oswald Chamber, MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
4 comments:
Hi. I just ran across your blog looking for homeschooling in Swaziland. My family is moving there in May and I will be homeschooling my 3 children age 7, 6, and 3. Where will you be living when you move there? We will be in Manzini. Blessings to you and your family.
Hi Rachael!
So glad you found me. Do you already know some of the other homeschool families in Manzini? I'll be glad to help connect you if you'd like.
We will be living in Big Bend but know a lot Manzini missionaries and hsers as well as others in Mbabane. I'm sure we'll be going to Manzini often.
If you are on fb, please look me up. I'm Elysa Mac there. I'd love to get to know you better and stay in touch. I'm hoping that once we move there, we can organize some activities with other homeschoolers as we're used to a very active homeschool community in our area of Mississippi complete with spelling bees, science fairs, field trips, and even senior proms.
I don't know anyone that homeschools in Swaziland. Are the people you know mostly Americans or are there other African families as well? I don't know how common hschool is there.
Hmmmm....let me think about your question. Off the top of my head, all the ones that come to mind are Americans. It is very common among the missionaries there. There are homeschoolers among South Africans. I am friends with a lady whose family lived there and homeschooled for years but they moved to Canada a few years ago when violent crime in that country started becoming a very real issue. I also talked to a Baptist missionary about homeschooling while visiting her in South Africa in January and she said there were other homeschoolers in her city.
If you are on fb, I'd be glad to connect you with some of the homeschool families I know in Swaziland.
Are y'all going over as missionaries, with an NGO, or as private business people?
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