Hat Heidi Baker once said that “… ministry is simply about loving the person in front of you” and God placed “T” right in front of us when we arrived at Sparrow Village. There are close to 300 children living at Sparrow but we noticed T immediately. He was the boy who never seemed to smile and rarely talked. When T did speak you found yourself putting your ear so close to his mouth that you could feel his breath on your ear lobe.
T was the quietest child we had ever met, but it wasn’t shyness that caused T to be so quiet; he was just plain sad.Every kid at Sparrow Village has a story, after all it is an orphanage and AIDS Hospice, but T’s story topped many of them. T’s Mom died of AIDS when T was very young, so his Dad took over raising him and his siblings. Just 6 months later T’s Dad was taken by this disease as well as an aunt who took over the family responsibilities at his Dad’s death.
So much loss in such a short time left the children bewildered, not knowing where to go for help. An older sister tried to take over as head of the family but it was too much for her and she ran away, abandoning her siblings.
T’s not sure how he came to Sparrow but he knows he came at a young age and we suspect that the sadness came with him. And now God placed him right in our path. So we did what we know God has called us to do, to place abandoned and injured animals and abandoned children together.
T joins us every Saturday morning for the short drive to CLAW (Community Led Animal Welfare ) where the animal shelter is invaded by children from the surrounding townships as well as those who join us from the orphanage. We teach math, English and science and then we all play, pet, hug and care for the abandoned and injured dogs and cats that live there.
Last Saturday we stopped to get a hot chocolate after spending a rather cold day outside at CLAW with the animals and township children. We sat around the table in the burger joint listening to our orphanage kids talking about the day. Carolyn and I looked at each other and smiled as T told his story and had everyone laughing so hard they couldn’t drink their hot chocolate.
WE when got back to the orphanage we said good-bye to the children and T allowed me to do something he hadn’t done before; he allowed me to hug him good-bye.
Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.”
(Children from the orphanage cooking & serving lunch to those from the townships)
Thank you so much for not abandoning the children of South Africa; for joining us in God’s South African harvest field. God has placed children from the streets, the townships and the orphanages into our lives and we have been so blessed as we watch the power of God’s love healing their lives. When we stand in church on Sundays, we are swept away at the sincerity of the love songs these children sing to Jesus. They know beyond a doubt that all that they are, is a gift from Jesus
In Christ’s Love,
Linda and Carolyn