We started our day with saying our Goodbyes at Cure hospital. It was already our last day in the facility. We shared devotionals in the morning and made a round through the different departments. We share the general opinion of the staff that our stay was way too short. We thank everybody for their kindness and support. We were blessed to work with such incredible and godly people.
Our next stop was the Feeding Program started by Julie Mendonsa and Esther. Together with Esther she identified 36 children that walk 1 hour daily to school without breakfast and lunch because the family was not able to provide. For a couple years God has used the Mendonsa's and a group from The Village to provide food for those families twice a week.
We met Esther at the school around noon and she started to give out the food which included bags of beans, maize and cabbage. The kids would patiently wait until their number got called out to grab their bags and wait again. We were all surprised by the outstanding good behavior of the children. They would not fight over the food or try to take more than they are allowed to. Elaine saw a little girl picking up all the leaves of the cabbage after all the food was separated and thought for a moment that she was cleaning up, but the girl put the leaves in her bag with the rest of her food to take home. The need is big.
We gave the kids little bags with crayons, bookmarks, coloring-pages and markers as small gifts. Daniel and DJ in the meanwhile started playing “Wildebeast” with the other kids on the school campus. Both guys would stand still and wait until all the kids had gathered around them and then would start chasing after them. The children and everybody else had a blast.
Our following mission was visiting the IDP Camp. We arrived in the camp through a road that divides the camp in the middle. The picture we saw was of children and adults scattered among tents to the left and right. These tents were covered in dust and dirt with holes or partially ripped. One of the first thoughts that was said out loud was that no one of us could imagine how to live here. We were even more amazed by what God had done in the peoples hearts and how He had worked in this place. In great wisdom, they have managed to install a government system in the camp that includes a health department, security, educational system and a judicial system.
We started out by handing candy to the kids. It took only minutes to gather them around us and only another minute and it started raining! Finally! We have been praying for rain in the last couple days over and over and here it was! The Lord is good! We found cover in a nearby tent which is used for schooling and community activities. We kept playing with the children, entertaining them with pipe-cleaners and loving on them until the rain stopped and we were able to go back outside.
Paul and Pastor Peter had the opportunity to share the gospel with the adults while we would play, sing, jump, run or just simply hold and love on the kids. When asked if we had brought them anything, Paul answered that we did not bring any food. But we had brought encouragement and a word from God. The camp elder responded by saying that bread could be eaten and then forgotten, but a word from God would stay.
Before we left we were able to arrange that the camp will be provided with some Bibles, which was their request. The camp started a spontaneous praise and worship ceremony after receiving this news. As we left the camp, we listened to the drums and the people worshiping our GOD and King. How awesome that they were praising HIS mighty work in place so full of poverty.
Things to Pray For:
Please pray for the people that are still struggling with what they experienced in the post-election violence, that are tortured by memories at night that makes them cry and scream out in desperation. Please pray for continued wisdom and provision in the IDP-Camps and strength through Gods mighty hand. Please pray that the families in the feeding program would continue to be provided for and that they will eventually have the ability to provide for themselves.
-Hannah
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