Choice

Every day we have so many choices. We probably don’t even realize many of the things we do in our days are choices because we have become so accustomed to them.

The choice to open a fridge and find food inside.

The choice to turn on a tap and have water flow out.

The choice to cover ourselves with a blanket at night.

For nearly all of us, these do not seem like choices. They seem like our rights.

But for so many families across Africa, these things are not a right or a choice. 

The choice to find food is not a choice because there is no food. And no money to afford food. 

The choice to have water every day is not a choice because the wells, rivers and boreholes have all run dry. 

The choice to have a blanket was always a luxury but now completely out of sight because the only income source has been taken away.

What makes me write all this? It is a crisis that is currently devastating people’s lives across Southern Africa. The drought crisis. It has made a few headlines overseas and only a few more in Africa itself, but across many of the communities we are working, it is all families can think about. Why is that? The drought. We are not seeing and feeling the full effect of crops that have failed and water sources that have completely dried up. This means that for many families, their only source of water has disappeared and their only source of food (and therefore small income these families did have) has also now disappeared. 

Recently, I had the privilege of visiting our local office in an area called Oshoek (another part of South Africa, about 3 hours away). My primary reason for this visit was to train our new bookkeeper. From this office, the team support 5 Communities. One of these communities is called Sthobela and I was able to visit this community and go on some home visits. 

We visited Moses and his mother. On the day we visited, Moses was not in school. When the Care Workers asked why, the mother said that she saw other kids were not at school so she assumed it was not a school day. This struck me and reminded me that so much information in our communities is communicated by word of mouth and it is just taken as truth. It was not a public holiday or a non-school day so Moses should have been at school. It is one of the many cultural things that our Care Workers have to encounter on a daily basis. Later in the home visit, one of the Care Workers asked if we could do anything to help the family. They asked if we could collect firewood for them. Two Care Workers, Devon (a Canadian volunteer) and myself got up to follow Moses to a nearby forest. We brought empty sacks to carry the wood in. As we followed Moses, it made me think that he knows the way to the forest, which isn’t unusual. But when we collected the wood and started carrying it back, it then hit me that Moses does this every few days to collect wood for his family. The sacks were very heavy, far too heavy for a 7 year old to be carrying and yet he does it because there is no choice for Moses. If he doesn’t get firewood, there will be no way for his family to keep warm or to boil what little likely contaminated water they had, making it safer to drink. At the end of our time together, we prayed for this family for God’s provision to continue for them but especially for the Care Workers to continue visiting this family and especially to ensure Moses keeps attending school. We encouraged Moses to work hard at his studies as it can open so many doors for him when he grows up. It is families like Moses’ that are being hit by the drought crisis. The only water that is available is right at the bottom of the mountains. Moses’ family lives part way up a mountain. So it is easy enough to get down to the water with the bucket but hauling it back up the mountain again is difficult, and it is if there is even water available. 

What can you do about the drought crisis? First of all, please share it with others you know. Friends, family, work colleagues. We need to get the word out there that many children and families across Africa will not survive if we do not respond. Secondly pray. God can make all things possible! Pray for unseasonable rain, pray that we know how to react well to needs we meet in our communities and pray for God to comfort those who we haven’t yet reached. Thirdly, please give. We want to be able to reach beyond what we are currently doing by helping even more kids and families for this drought season. But to do that we need extra funding. Consider how you can help get food and water to those who have no choice. 

If you want more about the drought crisis and how we are responding visit our website or send Morgan and I an email.

Morgan’s mum recent shared a heart-breaking story of her experience in Malawi and how it is affecting our children. Please take some time to read it. 

- T

Going on a Lion Hunt