Monday at The Seed

Monday at the Seed

I don't have Internet right now, and the blog I wanted to post last night didn't upload so I can't remember what I've written.  If I am repeating myself I apologize in advance!

Sunday night we went to Dan and Kerry's for lunch, they are currently running The Seed and they are a wonderful couple.  Scott was manning the Braai again but this time he did chicken and fish.  Again it was scrumptious!  After we had eaten, people started bringing out instruments, a guitar, an African drum and the biggest recorder I have ever seen.  And we worshipped for 2 hours, song after song, in Zulu and in English.  What a fantastic evening.  I do love worship!

I have a new favorite song.  I heard it twice at church and Jeff knew it well and sang   It that night.  It's called 'Beautiful' by Phil Wickham I think.  Anyway, fantastic song and I've been singing it for days now!

Monday in devotional time, Pastor Stu requested prayer for my family at home since Cole and Grandma were sick for a week and Curtis is dealing with a lot on his own, and I started to cry.  Missing my family has been hitting me pretty hard these past couple of days.

That morning I was able to go on my first home visits without the Medical team.  I got to go out with Buli and Sue(a volunteer driver) was driving us.  Our first stop was to pick up a little girl named Wendy and take her to the clinic to have her dressings changed.

A couple of weeks ago they went to see her at her home and she was very, very sick.  She is HIV positive and she had TB in her whole body with a really bad abscess in her abdomen.  She lives with her two teenage brothers because both of her parents have died, she is 14 but looks like she is 7.  We have been praying for her everyday during devotions.  I was excited to finally meet her.  When she got into the bakkie (say Bucky) or pick up, she looked fabulous!  She was smiling and her eyes were bright and her color was good.  Her appointment at the clinic went well, her dressings were changed, and she was so brave and smiling through the whole thing!  I told her we were praying for her, and that she was a miracle!  She hasn't been able to go to school for a while but she talked about going back soon.  She even came to the after school program and played!

Our next visit was a little more sobering.  We were going to check in on a man who has been a client at The Seed for two years now.  His nickname is Kaisa after a football club he is a fan of.  He wasn't home when we got there so went to the neighbor's place.  In Zulu culture,it is expected that you will take care of your neighbors even more so than your family is expected to.  Anyway, we went into this little concrete square building and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.  We came into the living room where we sat on three newer couches, watching TV with surround sound.  There were lots of nice family pictures on the walls.  The Gogo (or grandmother) came and sat with us and we visited.  The young man who has taken the responsibility of helping Kaisa was there and told us Kaisa has not been taking his meds on time which is very discouraging.  It has the same effect as not taking antibiotics properly, in that the HIV will mutate to a drug resistant form.

When Kaisa got back and came in to see us, he did not look well.  He had just walked to the store to buy a little food and he looked completely wiped out.  His muscles are wasting away and he doesn't look well at all.  We prayed together, and Buli tried to explain again the importance of taking the meds on time.  We had to go to his place to look at his medical papers so we went across the yard to what I had thought was the shed and it was his place.  It is really just 5 large pieces of tin for walls and a roof with dirty cloth stuck in the holes to keep out the drafts.  There were no windows so it was very dark and dreary inside.  There were two single beds in there, one along each wall and that was as long as the walls were.  His few belongings were very tidy and the beds were made.  There were bits of fabric on the floor to cover the broken concrete pad.  I found out after that his girlfriend had left him 3 weeks earlier and took their 2 kids.  Both adults are HIV positive and the girl was fling her meds properly and doing fine, but he wasn't, so she left him.  I think he was emotionally hurting as much as he was physically ill.  I really felt for him.

The most interesting thing I learnt from this day was something Kerry had wanted us to notice from the first day.  This township is very much like a neighborhood in Canada.  There are problems and there are strengths.  There are many people who are choosing to stay in this community because it is where they grew up and their land and their families are there.  There is crime, but there is crime in all neighborhoods here.  If you have money and live in a 'nice' neighborhood, you surround yourself with concrete walls with razor wire all around.  There is a lock on every door on your property and they lock them all the time.  There are bars on EVERY window here.  We have three locks on our door plus a padlock and we are in the tourist area.  You may say it's not safe in that neighborhood after dark, but the locals in this neighborhood don't go out after dark either.

The best thing is when the people who are not as poor stay in the community and they are role models for others, they put money into the schools and the churches in their communities.  There are issues in every community, but we can't just see the problems and judge them that way, we need to see the strengths in the community and build on them.

It was a good day, and an honor to be in their homes and see a snapshot of their lives.  I will pray for Kaisa, that he finds a reason to keep taking his meds and hopefully he will put that hope in Jesus.