Becoming Like Little Children

On Thursday we visited Khomelela, which is an Adventist Community Service project, operated by the church. The church was started by Papa and Mama Mawela, the couple that started the Nhlengelo project we talked about yesterday. The Khomelela project focuses on educating pre-school children and providing basic necessities for refugees who do not receive government support. The The common thread running through the ministry of the Mawelas is they remember the people that are easily forgotten.

Visiting that project produced similar feelings in terms of my admiration for the caregivers. They give of themselves (a lot of them for no money, the rest for a small stipend) and serve with such joy. I felt proud to be a Seventh-day Adventist today.

But I want to talk a bit about the orphans of Nhlengelo. We first met them on Wednesday when they came over to the center after school had let out. Some were older in high school, and they went all the way down in age to about six years old. They waited patiently in the yard while the preparations were made. It must be noted that this is the only meal they receive each day. Then when they were called to eat, without any prompting they organized themselves with the girls first and going from the youngest to the oldest.

They had developed the trust to know that the food was coming and didn't allow their obvious hunger to cause them to fight one another for food.

After they were finished eating, the demonstrated some of the lessons they had learned at Nhlengelo. They sang beautifully and performed a poignant skit on us welcoming Jesus when we serve the poor.

The highlight for me was when we were able to go out into the dusty yard and simply play with them. It's interesting how play can be a universal language. No one explained rules. We just started throwing a ball around and laughing with each other as a big group. At that point the most powerful thing that happened is there was no us and them. It was we. We played together.

Later on we all went in and danced. We taught each other dances and we laughed. I believe we brought them joy but I know they brought us joy. You see these children who have endured some of the most difficult circumstances, didn't let it cripple them. They talked about their dreams, and they have big dreams. Some wanted to be doctors, lawyers, pastors, social workers, accountants, engineers. And they are working toward it.

These children taught me that dancing is alright even when death has attacked and laughter is still the best medicine. Dwelling on problems won't fix them. Breathe, play, laugh, dance....become as little children.