Lost in Faith

I’ve always had a heart for poor women and children, so when Shoal Creek started meeting last year to talk about HIV/AIDS and how we could help in that area, I knew I wanted to be a part of that. And when we started planning a trip to the Transkei in South Africa to help the orphans in the village of Bhukwini, I was immediately ready to sign up and go.

I’m normally an optimist about life in general, but when Roy came back from Bhukwini in January and told us that the problem there was so much bigger than helping HIV/AIDS orphans, my optimism went out the window. He gave us a chart saying we needed to volunteer to be the expert in one of several areas—agriculture, water, economic development, health, sanitation, education, and establishing a reproducing church. I kept looking at each of those areas and thinking there was no way I could do any of those, and I noticed that other members of the team weren’t exactly jumping at the chance to head up one of the areas, either. It seemed way too overwhelming for those of us who were interested in helping out in some way. However, over time it was amazing how people came forward who knew a little bit about one of those areas and so they agreed to do further research, including people not going on the trip. By the time we left on October 24, we had a group of 29 people who were eager to go and do something to help. And God brought together an amazing group of additional people who joined us in South Africa and who had a huge heart for the people of Bhukwini, people like Rufus Luttig, Bible students Magwa and Archie, a local preacher named Tellius, and of course Mama Gladys and the four kids she brought with her from Oceans of Mercy. There was also a pastor named Mike from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who hopes to move to South Africa with his family and bring training opportunities to the people in the Transkei. I was just totally blown away by how all these people came together with one purpose, to bring hope to the people of Bhukwini. God was truly working there.

On the 2nd day of our visit to Bhukwini, I had a minor role in helping with the kids’ program. Kids were everywhere, and we were out in the middle of a field trying to help them stamp an animal stamp onto a poster and write their name underneath, then listen to the lesson on how much God loves them. As a few kids at a time were doing the craft, the other kids kept scooting in closer and closer so they could see what was going on. The interpreter asked the kids to stay back, but they still kept coming closer. My job was to put a sticker on the forehead of each kid who had finished the craft so we would know who had completed it. It started out as one kid at a time, then 5 kids, then 10 kids, then 20 kids, and so on until I was completely surrounded with kids everywhere wanting one little sticker on their forehead. I don’t know where all the kids came from, but there were lots of them, and they kept crowding in front of each other to make sure they got a sticker. Later that day I told someone that I didn’t get much joy out of helping with the kids that day because of the chaos in giving out the stickers. As soon as I said it I realized that I had made a really foolish statement, because the reason for coming on this trip was not to bring me joy, but to give hope to the people of Bhukwini. The next day God brought that point home even more when we visited the kids at their school and many of them still had their sticker on their foreheads. That one sticker was very precious to them because they had so little.

I’m praying that we did bring hope to the people of Bhukwini and that many other Shoal Creekers are able to travel there and continue to bring hope into their dreary world.

Sandy Damico