Encouragement!

May 21, 2012

Dumalang, my wonderful friends!   I missed writing this week - I have been sick with a minor stomach virus, as well as living with the ringworm I also picked up, and we’ve had no internet since last Sunday, so it has been an interesting week!  We have also had a few power-outs every now and then. Yes, oh my, the ordinary hazards of daily living!  But I have also been able to do a lot of extensive research for my ethnography when I felt well enough to interview people from the town of Tlokweng.

Well, here’s some news -  Last Thursday I went again to visit the 32 years old lady who has lost both her arms and legs, so that I could work with her some more. It was cool - because she was very happy to see me as I was to see her!   She had really improved in her eating abilities, and the nurses told me that she has been trying to do as much for herself as she can, especially when it comes to feeding herself!  She herself told me how much of an encouragement I have been to her (praise God for that!), and how that has made her want to work harder at doing everything she could.  During lunch she showed me how she was able to pick up her own spoon and fork to feed herself. She did amazingly well, and I was so proud of her because of her refusal to give up! That day I taught her how to brush her teeth (without the toothpaste that is. I’ll bring that next week and show her how to get it onto the brush) as well as how to hold a chicken leg, and pour a can of coke into a cup. The chicken leg she struggled with, and kept dropping it, because her stump is still weak, so holding things isn’t very easy for her, but she slowly improved the more effort she made.  I loved watching her try, and laughing at herself when she messed up, rather than getting discouraged and giving up. The coke can was more of an effort for her, and she had to hold the can with both of her stumps, which was hard for her.  She kept trying but got too nervous when she tried to pour it into the cup, because she was afraid she would spill it all over her bedside table.  She had such a positive attitude about the whole experience and wants to push herself harder and harder. A few days later her therapist called me and told me how much she has improved, and that she (the therapist) wanted to sit in on our next session and watch how I work with her so that she could get ideas on how to help others with similar problems. Isn’t that great? To be used by God for one of his children is a great privilege. I am so glad for this chance.

 As I help her improve in her abilities I do feel the Lord’s presence in the midst of all of it. When I’m with her, or teaching the Bible stories with the children at St. Peters or doing Bible and art lessons with those at Cheshire, or witnessing to other people in my conversations,  I sense God’s most powerful work playing in me  - almost dancing for joy! - And I see again why my heart is drawn to missions.  This is really what I love doing – showing Jesus to everyone all the time in every way here.  I am NOT looking forward to returning to the states!

Speaking of ministry, I’m now getting together with some of the disabled students in the different schools to organize not one, but TWO disabled-student art shows for two different weekends in a row. Maurice, the original manager at Spar, moved on to become the manager at a larger grocery store at Airport Junction, and an Indian man by the name of DP became the new manager at Spar.  As time went by, the idea was sort of dropped. But once I met Komohelo’s mother (I have mentioned her before in the previous blogs) who is working at a school for the disabled, I told her my idea about an art show for the students.  I told her that I wanted to try to give them a chance as I had been given, to share their talents with others outside their school and family. They rarely have that opportunity. Through this, I’d hope that they would be recognized as competent people who can contribute to society. I so want them to get positive feedback and to see that their lives count – for God – and for others. The purpose of this was to affirm to them and to the audience that God has created all persons, in his image and for his glory. It is my desire, and I hope eventually others’ desire, that people look at us and our work - whatever it is - and realize that our disability does not define who we are. God does. Jesus Christ defines us.  I want us all to see each other as God’s creations, creations of God who makes us creative as well.

She agreed with this, so right now we are meeting with the school board about who will be presenting their art in the two shows!  After she and I talked, I got back in contact with Maurice and DP and they were both excited to open their stores for this - and so we now have dates when each show will take place; the first is on 26^th of May at Superspar in Gaborone, and the other will be the 2nd of June at Airport Junction. So as you can see, there is a lot to be done in a short amount of time, so I really do ask your prayers for these upcoming weeks as well as the artists and everyone else who is putting them together! I KNOW how much work goes into hanging a show – even a small one for students!  Pray that God will be glorified in these children’s’ art – and in the response they get when they show it – they will be very vulnerable – showing their heart to strangers like that – but they are eager to do it. Pray for them.  God will use them in some amazing way – I am sure of that!

Pray that we will all be faithful to anything that God asks of us – or invites of us. It is the way of gladness!

Sala Sentle!

               Minda

The Patience

May 6, 2012

Dumalang, my dearest friends!

          Last Friday opened up a very new and meaningful experience for me that I really don’t think I have ever expected before!  Dr. Gureja, the Indian doctor at the Princess Marina Hospital whom I have mentioned a few blogs back, asked me to come in and speak to 2 of his patients. Neither of the patience any have arms or legs and Dr. Gureja wanted me to talk to them and try to encourage them.  Well, of course I went, gladly!

          The first was an 8 year old girl named Realeoga who came with her mother and father from Lobatse.  She was a very bubbly, happy little girl who could write on her own, feed herself, and hold a cell phone as well as dial numbers.  What is cool is that she is IN SCHOOL! Her parents do not keep her hidden at all!  What she has a real issue is with the school. She has a hard time keeping up with the writing assignments in school and then she ends up with bad marks because she doesn’t get things done on time. They, that is her parents, wanted to know if I had any suggestions about what could be done in order to help her improve and fix this problem. I was excited about this because this was exactly the sort of issues I had in school as well. I totally understand how she feels.  I told them to look into getting a transcriber for her so that way she could simply dictate into the machine what she wanted written down. I also suggested that while the other kids are out playing outside she could be doing some of the writing before the other kids get back into class. This way she could already being doing her work ahead of time. They liked the idea of getting her some sort of transcriber because they said that the coursework is not difficult for her and she knows the answers too many things it’s just that she struggles to keep up. I will try to help her locate one – and so will the disability office here.  I also was very pleased to know that she loved doing art and she has a fun time painting and drawing. So I told her that I will be working with others to put on an art show  with disabled persons in early June, and I offered her to join me there, and even to show some of her work - which both she and her parents would like very much. She loved watching me take pictures of her so I took several various shots of her in various poses. Realeoga told me herself that she has lots of friends, both at school and at church. I am so happy she is part of a Christian family and that the church accepts her!  She delights in being outdoors and being with people. I especially loved watching her with her father.  It really reminded me of when I first met my own father in India when I was reunited with my original family in the spring of 2008 – He, too, was so very kind and gracious. Fathers and their daughters – a special bond!

Then the second patient was a lady, about 32 years old, mother of 3 - who just lost both her arms and legs due to a disease she contracted in the summer of 2009. She has nothing now below her knees and her arms are exactly like mine. She could not feed herself nor could she write. She was just helpless because no one knew how to help her.  When Dr. Gureja told me this, I told myself that that was going to change - starting right now!  It was about 4 in the afternoon and the patients were receiving their meals, so we had hers brought into the room where she and I were meeting. I demonstrated how I ate by scooping the food up with my spoon or fork between my arm and chin and then raising the spoon up to my mouth by placing my arm on the end of the spoon handle. She watched with great fascination and was very excited to try and do the same thing.

It was amazing how quickly she picked it up and although  she struggled a bit in the in the beginning she eventually did it and she never spilled it- not once. She was SO proud of herself as were Esther and I! She then wanted to know how to write, so I showed her how I did it by putting the pen between my arm and chin. She was a little embarrassed to try, because she was so afraid of messing up but I told her that it was going to take a lot of practice so “do not be afraid.”   She eventually got the hang of it and she was so happy and she kept saying "Ke itumetse"  "Ke itumetse"!! What made me so happy was how the Lord really used me to help her and encourage her as well as Realeoga. God is just astonishing to me!

Dr. Gureja saw all that she could do for herself and was happy too!  I told him that I'd like to help her learn more – and to do more – and to discover how valuable she is to God right now – to help her see that this is NOT the end, and NOT HER FAULT.  I want to help mentor her during the rest of my time here...that is when I can get to the hospital to visit - to which Dr Gureja  replied,  "Absolutely!"

I was also really impressed with Esther and the many ways she helped in terms of translation, having a pen and pencil at hand, and always sitting there ready and available. She never tried to take over or try to control the conversations, or undermined me in anyway. I'm getting to appreciate her more and more. It was indeed a very good and encouraging day for all of us.

Please pray for me as I begin taking more serious time now to do thorough research (interviews) into the Batlokwa tribe since I’m working on my ethnography about them – the major tribe, the “real” Setswana speakers!  This is very exciting now that I have been here for several months and have sense of what to expect, a sense of what to listen for. I love Botswana.

 Love you all. Sala Sentle!

Minda

"I want to see.”

May 3, 2012

Dumalang, my dearest friends! I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the excitement of spring. I cannot seem to grasp the fact that this we are already in May!  I was talking to Sandy about this earlier this morning and she said that time just goes really fast when you’re in another country.  She also said that I have been so busy, that time is actually trying to catch up with me!  As time goes on I think this is becoming even truer.

On Thursday morning last week I began my theologizing project at Cheshire, the disabled community center. I’m working with physically disabled children ages 6-12, with the teachers involved, of course. We started off by reading the story of creation, how everything was made in by God, and how Adam and Eve were created in God’s image - and that all creation was good. I really talked to the kids about people being created in God’s Image. And I asked them what they thought that this meant.   It was interesting, and shows what a good place Cheshire really is, because two different children were immediately responsive. They both said, in different ways, that in God’s eyes each of us is beautiful. This really helped get the others to pipe up in the discussion, and soon they were all saying that God loves each of us and that we are just fine the way we are – disabled or not.  Even the adults were really getting into the whole Bible thing and encouraging the kids. The children wanted me to read the story over and over, and they got really into the idea that God accepts them as they are, and has made them in his image. So having “normal” healthy bodies and perfect minds is NOT what we mean by the image of God!  This matters so much here.  To be made like God, able to love and to be loved, to be creative even in small ways as God is – this is what they were hungry to hear.  Even the adults have not considered this in this context before – that the Bible speaks for them and to them – even about this most deep insecurity: being “different.”

 After we finished with the story I had the children draw their story of God’s creation of themselves. I asked them to put themselves in the midst of the whole creation, in the way they themselves picture God creating them!  The self-portrait that they chose to draw was, of course, based on their own experience and understanding of how God created them in his image – that he knew them before they were born. Some beautiful pictures emerged, too!  It was so much fun watching them trying to be as creative as they could be, seeing themselves being created!  And I was very pleased to see how excited they were about doing this. Each child drew something very unique, and they were excited as well as proud to have done something creative on their own.  I was proud of them too, because I saw how much this reassurance from God meant to them, and how eager they were to express it. After our Bible session was over it was time for the kids to do their P.E. activities. It was so encouraging to me to watch them play happily and freely, with a new and conscious joy that they are made in God image – somehow LIKE God!  That they are NOT “junk” or made “wrong” – that they are made for God, by God, for joy!

The night before I began my project at Cheshire, I really took the time to pray to the Father about what He wanted me to teach these kids, and what he needed me to engrave in their tender little hearts. I understood that it was the fact that he created the world out of his LOVE – that he loved them and wanted them to trust Him. By doing this project I’m seeing that encouraging the disabled as well as the non-disabled adults who also participated, about God’s unending love is so vitally important.  Even the Christian adults who were there heard it in a new way, I think, and found it kind of exciting to hear the Bible their way, as a story – to imagine God seeing them before they were born and choosing to create THEM!  God is showing me that doing this sort of thing is what I love doing, and I am realizing that helping people to see the love of God, to trust Jesus, to see that the Bible is FOR them, not against them, is my true calling.  Encouraging unbelievers to trust God who loves them, and encouraging believers to trust him more, is all joy! And helping parents and teachers to see the children with new Bible-eyes is best of all!

          Another exciting thing is that I’m back to teaching the 3 and 4 year olds at St. Peter’s and right now I’m working with the story about the blind man, Bartimaeus, who received his sight from Jesus. This is one of my favorite stories from the Gospel of Mark because it is all about the blind man’s persistence and determination. God waited for him to push forward.  He wanted to see Bartimaeus willing to cry out for Jesus no matter what. Bartimaeus was just a blind nobody, who was annoying the heck out of all those around him because he would not stop calling after Jesus. The crowd got upset because I think in their minds they were embarrassed and could not see why Jesus would bother with someone like that! Bartimaeus, however, ignored the crowds’ multiple attempts to shut him up and kept calling out to Jesus to have mercy on him. He knew what he wanted, and he was not going to let anyone distract him or get in the way of what his heart desired. He persisted through the disapproving crowd…  Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  When Jesus called the others to bring Bartimaeus, and asked Bartimaeus what he wanted - to which   the blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Bartimaeus knew that only Jesus could heal him, but this is also cool, the way Jesus RESPONDED…. Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Bartimaeus was persistent in the face of the judgmental crowd.  I want to be this persistent too – and I want the children to be persistent in their faith and their courage – in their childish desire for Jesus – as they grow up -  no matter what the obstacles are - and there are MANY obstacles in their lives.  I want this story to encourage them – and their teachers and caregivers. God will answer us when we ask Him to help us. God will give us what we ask if we ask like that! We don’t really need new physical eyes, or arms and legs, but, for example,  I DO need to see Jesus, even though I have good eyes, and I DO need to “walk” more faithfully  - even though I do not need new legs!   There is much for us to see. It is not only physical blindness that hurts us, after all. Most of us need to trust Jesus to help us see. We think we see Jesus better than we do. We think we see the love of God, but really, we hardly see anything yet! We need the Holy Spirit to set us free to SEE.  We are blind in ways we do not even guess. 

          Well, my dear friends, its midnight and I am suffering from a bad cold, congestion and a sore throat. A fall cold in May! It’s getting cold now, can you believe it?!  So I’m off to bed now - and I promise another longer blog full of more adventures with God in Botswana soon.

Love to all! Minda