Hello!
As I begin to write this blog we have ten days left in South Africa, I have no idea how and I can’t even begin to understand leaving. Even as I am writing this Cathy Keys is in the bunk bed above and we are reminiscing on life, torn with leaving this place and all that is here which is now a regular conversation in team life and one that is becoming an ever closer reality.
As I reflect on our African adventure and look back on this journey I think I now realise it has been a call to live out of my comfort; to step beyond and into a place where only God can carry us through. We’ve been so pushed beyond what normal life is- living in a two bedroom Phoenix house as our little six, bungee jumping, or even teaching “zumba” at holiday club! God is in the areas that don’t rely on us, where we step out of the boat and focus on Him- going through challenges, being at Brookdale reading with teenagers, working in Amaoti One with uncooperative teachers or in a crèche without any sort of system.
Stepping out of myself has allowed God to truly break my heart for the community of Amaoti- a place so lacking and in need but also brimming with life and hope. Poverty is no longer a distant picture full of nameless people but it is where we live and who we serve. It’s a boy who was found unloved and uncared for as a vulnerable baby wrapped in newspaper, living in a home where the family only “keep” him because of an orphan grant- a case so regular when the desire of money beats family and love. It’s the friendship I have with that child who has eyes so full of joy and innocence but are also so lost in neglect. And that is only one vague story of the many people we have met and love. These are the people who we serve, people that are broken and alone and the people that break me as we say goodbyes...this is what poverty is.
I have struggled a lot with the division in South African society- take a 15 minute drive out of Amaoti and arrive in Durban North- a place of overwhelming affluence with people blissfully unaware of what life is for the people of Amaoti, their wider community. It’s a divide that can never be justified, it’s the difference between children only getting the food LI provide at aftercare and the existence of Wakaberry (a frozen yoghurt shop) being everywhere. As much as I still struggle with it, if not more than ever, I feel it is a another way that I have needed to be out of comfort; to be uncomfortable with the poverty, division and brutality of life. I want it to mould my decisions and to move me to speak up for these beautiful people. It gives me a passion to see God’s Kingdom here, and to see glimpses of this deepens this passion- seeing God’s power through prayer when we went on a prayer walk in Amaoti, 900 children attending the LI holiday club and also seeing our team form strong bonds with the people we work alongside and who we serve.
I feel like my heart has been stolen by Amaoti and its people and so to not tell their story is an injustice to them. They are a community with horrible contrasts- a place of poverty, broken families and violence but also a place filled with hope, joy in celebrating life and a real sense of community. At the weekend we had a goodbye braai in Amaoti with the LI staff filled with African dancing, loud music and laughter. It tears me apart that we have to leave these amazing people who we work and serve with but it has made me feel truly blessed that we have journeyed and shared life with them.
What I have realised over this trip is that it is a real blessing to be placed out of comfort, to live in a place seeing the Kingdom being revealed and seeing God working in the greatest of ways. It really is going to be hard to leave this amazing place and return to Northern Ireland life but I am excited for what is still to come!
Lots of love,
Emma xoxoxooxoxoxox
Emma, you have succeeded in making me cry. You girls have had such an amazing experience and I pray for all of you as you prepare for home, keep your hearts burning for the children of Amaoti. And take that passion into whatever you do next. Look forward to meeting you sometime! Lynda x
ReplyDeleteAs I read your blog I can see how your heart both breaks and burns with anger at the inequality, and hopelessness of the people in Amioti. The bible tells a story of a man who saw a similar divide. You probably know it…
ReplyDeleteOnce there was a man who lived by a divide. On the one side, where he lived, there was a place of overwhelming affluence, where the choicest fruit and finest wine was there just for the taking. It was warm, well watered, and temperate. Money was no object and anything the people wanted was provided for.
On the other side of the divide the people scraped out a living in abject poverty. They were hungry and thirsty, tired and worn down. They argued with each other and however hard they worked all they did was blown away like dust in a hot, dry wind.
The man saw across the divide and his heart was filled with pity for the people on the other side. He was angry that they were tired, hungry and thirsty when there was water, food and rest just a stone’s throw away. He was sad that the people squabbled amongst themselves, that they were dressed in rags and that they had no hope so he decided to do something about it. He took off his expensive clothes, put on rags and crossed the divide.
Dressed in his rags he looked just like one of the poor people. He lived like one of the poor people. He worked, got hungry and tired like the poor people. His friends were poor people, and he chose not to access to his own wealth. At any time he could have gone to a cashpoint, but he chose not to. At any point he could have made a call, and had someone come and pick him up, but he chose not to. He could have crossed back over the divide, but he chose not to.
For thirty three years he lived and worked and then, died on the poor side of the divide.
When we see a great divide in wealth in our world we are right to be angry about the injustice. We are right to rage against a system that allows and perpetuates poverty on a global, national, and individual scale. We must get involved in politics, charity and personal action, but we must never forget which side of the divide we are on.
It is easy for us, sitting on leather armchairs by flat screen computers to recognise we have been given many material advantages, but we are born on the poor side of the divide. We live and breathe a life that is destined for an end in dust. We fight and squabble, and all our work is burned up in just a few short years. However hard we try to improve ourselves our best efforts are like filthy rags and our finest work is like chaff in the wind and yet we are so focused on climbing to the top of the dung heap we live on we don’t even notice how poor we are. We don’t even see the other side of the divide.
But one man has crossed that divide.
He came from the rich side. The crumbs from under his table outweigh our finest feast. He had a million million servants and yet he chose to give it all up for us.
What a waste that sacrifice would be if I didn’t thank Him! What a terrible insult to the giver of the greatest gift of all if I squander the new life he gives me by continuing to live like I am not set free!
I am angry… but I am more grateful.
I am energised into action… but it is more important that I rest, leaning on him.
Take home the image of Amioti 1 burned into your mind. Never let the sight of the orphan’s desperate eyes leave your memory, don’t let your oncoming age, success and compromises distract you from a life dedicated to helping the poor… but remember more so that we are not judged by the things we do but by who we trust in.
Now, to Him who has proved over and over again in the last six months that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. By His power that has been at work every day that Emma, Pippa, Kez, Catherine, Abi and Hannah have woken up in South Africa… to Him be glory. To Him be thanks. To Him be praise and honour and respect, dedication, loyalty and service, now, for the remaining few days , on the plane, as you touch down back in Heathrow and for the rest of your lives.
Amen.