Bhuti Vusi

The other day I was walking through the community with some volunteers. Now this isn’t a regular activity I get to participate in, but I was hosting another team of missionary students. We had to get through a wire fence so one of the care workers lifted one of the wires so I could bend down and get through. As I bent down and my upper body paralleled the ground, I saw a Cobra quickly pass directly under me. And in this position I froze. The care workers squealed a little bit, but mostly laughed at my frozen response. I survived a Cobra.

On a sad note, Vusi passed away. Now if you haven’t been keeping up with my blogs, please refer to Drowning in a Sea of Yellow. The care workers said Vusi had passed away the night we prayed for him. It’s interesting how similar this situation is to one that burned me deep: Gloria. The circumstances were very similar. The only difference is how we responded to the need. When I met Gloria, I sensed God wanted to just give her peace and rest and so I sat and held her hand for a very long time and then prayed for peace and rest. She died that night. When I first walked into Vusi’s room, I sensed the end of his life nearing. In that moment, I felt strongly to sit on his bedside and hold his hand and tell him he’s beautiful and God loves him and God sees him even within his pain. But I just sat back as a group of people prayed intensely for healing. It’s hard to not feel like I failed him in that moment. God clearly had a purpose for Vusi then. Perhaps God wanted him to die with dignity while being loved. We, as stupid Christians, completely misinterpreted God’s will in that moment and, in our emotion-filled initiative to manifest God’s power, as his son and wife watched us, we prayed and thanked God for healing.

The Mess of African Politics.

Here is some interesting reading for those who love the mess of politics.

George just got back from Goma, DRC. Eish, that place is
unbelievable. Not sure if you've been following what's been
happening. They officially declared the war there over and to
celebrate their 50th anniversary of independence they closed down all
the refugee camps. It was so heavy on my heart the whole time he was away. I couldn't stop thinking about it and praying for it. It just feels so big to me.
That place is so broken and so dark.. it just weighs so heavy on me.
Read about it on the Hands website and be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the Hands page to read more about it on New York Times:
http://www.handsatwork.org/newsroom/2010/9/2/in-a-war-ravaged-region-drc.html

South Africa is also a disaster. The whole country has been on strike
for... well since I've been here anyway. Hospitals are calling family
members to tell them to fetch the patients (even ones in critical
condition), students have been out of school (and as a teacher you can
understand my frustration because before World Cup, they went on
strike for a week, and then they were let out for 6 weeks during
World Cup, and now they've been on strike for over a month), and
passionate people who don't want to see their own suffer are being
seriously threatened. ANyway, if you're interested you should read
about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/world/africa/07safrica.html?_r=1

On a different note I forgot to mention in the earlier blog, I went to a real soccer game with Todd and Katie. South Africa vs. Niger. It was fun. The Vuvuzelas were absolutely obnoxious. But I randomly found ear plugs in my bag which was a huge lifesaver. Those things will drive someone mad, literally.

Anyway, read up!

Drowning in a Sea of Yellow

Firstly, I just have to say that today I met the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. I was in Clau Clau hosting a group of missions students who were interested in doing an outreach with Hands. We went into the community expecting to do home visits and found ourselves drowning in a sea of yellow (yellow Zuma shirts that is). Zuma was coming to visit. Since everyone in the community was there, there was no point of doing home visits. We sat and waited for Zuma. Three hours later, Zuma showed up. He stood on the stage and began his speech. Five minutes into his speech, he noticed the 3 of us white people in the crowd and asked us if we understood. We told him we didn't and he arranged for someone to sit with us and interpret. When the lady sat with us, he told her to summarize so as she summarized, everyone waited and stared at us (including Mr. President). After she finished, I gave Zuma a thumbs up and shouted "Siyabonga (thank you)". Everyone in the crowd laughed (including Mr. President). The above picture is me wearing one of the shirts.

After seeing Zuma, we squeezed in two home visits. The first one was the home of a young man and his young wife. This man, Vusi, had been sick for 7 months and is clearly in his last leg of life... couldn't talk, could barely move... We went in and prayed for him.. the missionary students took the lead and there were tongues being spoken and Jesus' name screamed and crying for healing... and my whole body was full of goosebumps and tears were welling in my eyes. I'm not sure if it's because it was powerful, or if there was pain in my spirit. I didn't feel very comfortable with the situation. I just couldn't imagine how praying for healing would be appropriate. I wanted everyone to leave and I just wanted to sit on his bedside and hold his hand and tell him how beautiful he is and how Jesus loves him and sees him and that he need not fear what is to come. And I wanted to do the same for his wife.

Basically my days now have been filled with the new volunteers that came a week ago. I'm helping out quite a bit with orientation, but will get extremely busy soon as most of the volunteers will start being placed short term in South Africa to get their feet wet. My role is basically to oversee their involvement and mentor and teach them as they go along, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they'll need to be effective in the community. It's really quite neat and I'm excited about it. It's very much up my alley. This year is going to be a good year, I can just sense it. God is already challenging me big time and teaching me a lot. He's really calling me to step up and set a higher standard for myself.

Anyway, love you all! Please e-mail or text or call me.

KD