Last
Friday I had the opportunity to meet one of the most amazing women of my
life. Mage Peggy is a lady who has been
taking in orphaned children for some years now. She has anywhere from 9-15 children at one time. Now she has 12 children, ranging from infant
to eighteen, who all have been abandoned by the death of their family
members. When I met Mage Peggy (mage is
“mother” in siSwati), she had the most joyful smile on her face. She is not at all young and she only has the
help of one person, but she was so grateful to have us come play with the
children and work on her garden. She
doesn’t have the money to feed all the kids, so a garden would enable her to
have fruits and vegetables at no cost to her. For dinner, she sends the children up the road to a care point where
they get millipop and red beans to eat (their main meal for the day). She has been struggling each day to be able
to provide just basics for these children, much less pay for their schools fees
and other things children need.
Well we arrived at her place and
there are three small, one room flats that all 15 people are living in. The children came running to us excited to
hang out with new people and color or play tag, or whatever we wanted to do
with them. They just swarmed to anyone
who paid attention to them. They were so
precious…very well behaved and thoroughly appreciated the effort we made to
come see them. While some of us played
with the children, some of us went to work on Mage Peggy’s new garden. We were picking up trash, tilling up the
land, pulling weeds, digging holes for fence posts, and many other things. However, in the middle of our work, a huge
rain storm came through and slowed down work for a bit; most of us when inside
to hang out with the children, while others stayed out in the rain trying to
get more work accomplished.
There are a few children I wanted to
mention in this blog. All the children
were so sweet and also very shy around us since we are white. There was one little girl who had not been
with Mage Peggy long, but she suffered greatly from malnutrition. She was four years old, but only the size of
a skinny, healthy one year old in America. It took so much in me so to cry when I heard
her story. I mean I feast every night
and over eat everyday, yet there are people out there who can’t afford feed
their children anything, not even a slice of bread. It sickens me most of the time because I want
to do something about it, but in reality, what can I do? How will changing my eating habits directly
effective starving children? It won’t
and that is the problem I struggle with every single day since I have been here
in Africa. Even though this girl was super tiny, she still had a huge heart. Once she warmed up to me, I would play silly
games with her (like throwing a crayon at her) and she would crack up. Her laughter filled my heart with so much joy
and happiness, it was unbelievable. God
definitely has great plans for her and will use her for his kingdom work.
Another girl I met is a bit older,
her name is Priscilla and she is 18 years old. She is in form 4 (which is equivalent to grade 11) and only has this
year and one more year of high school before she graduates. She has only been with Mage Peggy for two
months. Her brother died two months ago
and he was her only remaining family, so she has no where else to go. She is a hard worker and had been going to
all the high schools around to see if any of them had room for her. Once she found a school that has room for
her, she has to pay the school fees (for her they are E 4,200 > U.S.
$420.00), which cover books, tuition, uniform, and anything else the school
issues her. She was the sweetest girl
and just talking to her encouraged me to be a better person. There was something about her that drew me to
her and we just couldn’t stop talking. I
asked her if she wanted to come help us, and Swazi’s hate the rain, but she put
on a hat and came out and worked in the mud and rain with myself and some other
people. It was one of the most humbling
acts of service I have witnessed in a long time. She had such a dazzling spirit; I didn’t want
to leave her at all. I was burdened by
all her hard work to get into school and then depressed thinking about how an
orphaned girl, with no family or job, was going to get E4,200 to pay for this
year of school. But I have been praying
for her and hope to see her again while I am here to see how the Lord worked in
her life.
We ended up leaving early that day
since it was too nasty to work at all. We went back Monday to finish up the garden
for Mage Peggy. We got the fence up and
planted carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and some other things. The other half of the garden will be corn at
some point. It was a beautiful sight
seeing this barren piece of land turned into a flourishing new garden. Mage Peggy was so delighted with our help,
she couldn’t say “thank you” enough.
Just knowing how little most Swazi’s
have, it still breaks my heart knowing that there are people out there like
Mage Peggy who still care about the well-being of people other than
herself. She doesn’t have much to offer,
but what she does offer the children greatly need: love. She cares for these children like they were
her own. Her peace and happiness in
Christ shows with every word that she speaks and every action that she
takes. I was inspired by her and her
story…I hope you are too!
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come,
you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the
creation of the world. For I was hungry,
and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you
have me a drink. I was a stranger, and
you invited me into your home. I was
naked, and you have me clothing. I was
sick, and you cared for me. I was in
prison, and you visited me.’ Then there
righteous one will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed
you? Or thirsty and give you something
to drink? Or a stranger and show you
hospitality? Or naked and give you
clothing? When did we ever see you sick
or in prison and visit you?’ And the
King will say, ‘I
tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers
and sister, you were doing it to me!’”
Matthew 25:34-40
Are you feeding Jesus? Are you quenching his thirst? Are
you clothing him? Do you invite him into
your home and share the blessings he has given you? Do you see him in the hospital or jail and go
to visit him?
Are you one of the blessed??