The more I am in Africa the more I am convinced that I am African. I love mostly everything about the culture, the people and the land. Maybe it is because I didn’t grow up here. I find myself enthralled with stories of those that have grown up here. I would rather be surrounded by my black African friends than my American friends in Uni. This week I sat and the Lord broke my heart many times. Hearing story upon story of girls being forced into sexual encounters when they were just young girls and of the broken families dealing with alcoholic fathers all hit quite close to home for me. In America we are told to go and find help. Seek out ways to remove yourself from these abusive situations. But here their cries are muffled. For most this week was the first time they had spoken about the stuff they have dealt with or are continuing to deal with.
Lord, how do I minister to these girls in what seems like a hopeless situation? Why am I in Somerset? What purpose have I served in being here? Honestly I come in for a week, these kids pour their hearts out to us and on each letter there is the same plea, “Help me please.” What I am to do with this? I’m not staying in this town and I feel as though I just scratched the surface. Now I sit in the kombie on my way back to Jeffreys Bay watching the whales swim in the ocean. I guess I find it hard to go in and preach the message of hope and abstinence when I know that I’m not the one that has to live in this situation. I get to return to my home by the ocean, and after that I get to return to my “normal life” in America.
As many of us on the team sat and discussed these questions each night, we had to remind ourselves that everything came in alignment for us to be in Somerset and the enemy is trying his hardest to keep us distracted. He wants us to believe the lies that we are wasting our time and that everything we are doing is in vain. But I know that situations I have experienced in my past can be used to minister to those going through similar situations. It’s just been hard to get the courage needed to take the first step in speaking truth into the lives of these young girls.
