So I thought I would tell you about some more of the kids I visit (again I'm changing names). These two boys are cousins. There's Matt who is 5 or 6 and Paul who is 3.
I'll start with Paul. He is a very fortunate young man. He has both a mum and a dad who still live together. He also has a very cute baby sister and a greatgrandma who loves him. They all live in a complex of 3 one-room mud huts, along with another cousin, greatgrandpa when he's home (he works away) and Matt.
When I first met Paul he was quite frightened of me. But over the last few months I've taken him to church with me every week, played with him at Mapheo and visited him at home, so he's finally warmed up to me. He will not gladly come up to me for a hug, and when I pick him up he flings his little arms around my neck and clings on until I make him put his feet back on the ground.
The main problem in Paul's young life is poverty. This family are living in such a desperate situation. They have no water or electricity. The very small piece of land they live on isn't suitable for growing anything. The 2 men of the house are constantly searching for work and often only manage to find work that takes them away from home. At the moment the only income for all 8 of them is two small goverment child grants. Often when we visit, Paul's mum isn't there as she's out searching for wood and wild food, sometimes taking her baby with her. On the occassions that we've been there and she hasn't taken the baby, she is crying constantly, I assume from hunger. This week when we visited there didn't appear to be any food in the house. Paul is consequently tiny, he looks more like a 2 year old than nearly 4. They can't afford to send Paul to nursery, and there are absolutely no toys at home, which means he's unlikely to be ready to start school in a couple of years. Life in this home is about as tough as it gets.
Another major issue in this family is their belief in ancestral worship. Paul has strings of beads around his stomach and neck which are part of ancestral worship rituals. They do not realise it, but this kind of activity is so damaging. They are opening themselves and their children up to all sorts of spiritual problems.
Matt is not as fortunate as Paul. He has a mum and dad who are both living. But his dad takes no responsibility for him, still living with his own mother. His mum lives in a tiny shack up the hill from the rest of the family. She shares the shack with her boyfriend who has been high every time we have seen him, openly smoking joints in front of us. He does work, but I assume that most of his pay goes on drugs, and he gives some to Matt's mum for food. Since I've known Matt he's been passed backwards and forwards between these two homes.
A few months ago I got a call at 8pm asking me to come to the township as someone from church had spotted Matt wandering around. They had taken him home and discovered that when he got back from school at around 2pm his mum hadn't been home and the house was locked up. He played for a while but when it started to get dark he buried his school books in his yard so they wouldn't be stolen then wandered around looking for his mum. I immediately went to get him. Thankfully as I was about to take him home with me for the night his mum turned up.
Matt's mum has a tough life. She has no parents. She has no ID so struggles to find work. But she's also made some unwise decisions. This means that with all that's going on in her life, Matt doesn't seem to be a priority. She started working a few weeks ago, so sent Matt back to live down the hill with Paul. It's hard to see such a young child being passed around with no stability. He still goes and sleeps at his mums at the weekend sometimes. I wonder how long it will be before he starts to react to the situation. At the moment he's always smiling.
Matt was going to the church school. Sadly a couple of months ago his mum wasn't able to pay up her school fee debts and so he was asked to leave. We're hoping to get him into a different school for next year, but he was quite far behind in class so it will be tough to get him upto the standard he needs to be. Again he has no toys, and no real adult interaction except at Mapheo and church, so his development is behind.
Matt also comes to church with me every week. And every week he delights everyone with his crazy kid dancing at the front of church. He's even been put on the stage to demonstrate it before now! He loves to sit on my lap, and he will wrap his little legs around mine while grinning up at me. A few months ago there was no kids church so he and Paul had to sit with me through the whole service. Matt very quietly and cutely entertained himself (and many others) by draping my hair over his head to see what it would be like to have 'white hair'. The game lasted a good half hour. Needless to say my hair looked interesting afterwards!
Please pray for this family. None of them know Jesus. They are hopeless in their situation. Please pray for opportunities to share the gospel, for continued building of relationships. Pray for an end to ancestral worship. Please pray particularly for these boys, that they would grow up knowing that we love them, and more importantly that Jesus loves them unfailingly, unconditionally, steadfastly. That He has good plans for their lives. That in Jesus there is a hope and a future for them. Pray that they would come to know the beautiful person of Jesus for themselves, that they would follow Him all their lives even through the trials of poverty.
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