Work

Alright, so I haven’t exactly done a good job of telling you guys about WHAT I’m actually doing here, so since I have a few minutes, I’ll start to try to catch up. And maybe eventually I’ll actually finish one or two other blogs I started and forgot about.

So, let’s start at the beginning of the work we’ve done. Last week on Monday was our first day of ministry. They call it relationship evangelism because, while it IS evangelism, it’s not based on us walking around the village smackin’ people with a bible (metaphorically of course), but rather just talking to people and getting to know them. And beings how much emphasis Basotho (Basotho not THE Basotho because “the” is actually included in the word just so ya know) people place on spiritual issues, naturally, as newfound friends, we talk about Jesus at some point- but even still, we talk only about what they are interested in and certainly don’t force any issues or topics: as evangelism should be in my opinion.
This past week we did relationship evangelism in Qwa Qwa Monday through Friday somewhere between breakfast and supper and we ate lunch at the church we partnered with. Overall, it was pretty fabulous. Got to meet some amazing people, learn a lot about their culture, get forced to sing and dance for a couple of them… Fun stuff like that. Granted, there certainly were awkward moments when we would walk up to a house, be like, “hey, we’re Americans learning about the culture in the area…” and then get invited in and sit in awkward silence. The reason being that Basotho people are very, VERY quiet people. We’d generally have to sit there and drill em with question after question till they warm up to us more. As a general rule, when we thought we were having an awkward moment of silence, they didn’t find it awkward at all. We were often told that Basotho people sometimes just sit near each other and don’t talk for several minutes and only break it for a few words then go back to silence. They’re generally content to just sit in your presence. However, I found that after they warm up to you, they’re far more talkative- just human nature I suppose. Anyways. So yes. I’ve learned even more-so to be generally content with silences and not feel so compelled to blurt out whatever comes to mind. Which reminds me, I should mention that Basotho people generally speak Sesotho. Although, the younger kids/teenagers can usually speak at least SOME english since they’re taught it in school now, but the older the people, the less english they speak. So naturally each team has a translator- and of course, ours was the best. Dimakatso rocks. She was an awesome translator/person. We loved her.

Now’s when I finally tell you directly about some peoples we talked to… Well, at first, we just we directed down a “street” (aka really rough, wide dirt path/two rough dirt paths that are about the same distance apart as tires on a car) and we kinda just were like, “hey look, a house. Let’s go knock on the door and see what happens.” So we did. Or rather Dimakatso did since we didn’t know what the proper etiquette was here… And apparently it’s to knock quietly, yet insistently until you either decide no one’s home, decide to open the door and announce yourself before just walking in, or get actually get a person at the door. The first time, we were all QUITE surprised when Dimakatso knocked a couple times, then just opened the door and led us in. That was one of those “We’re DEFINITELY not in the states anymore” moments. It’s normal to just walk into someone’s house like that in Qwa Qwa. So yes, that first house we awkwardly (for us, not her) talked to the daughter of a pastor who was probably bout 16… then I think she had to go to school or something so we left. And so started our awkward ministry in Qwa Qwa. After that, we went to a few other houses briefly before getting brushed off due to chores or some other engagement for that day aka washing clothes (by hand in a large plastic tub thing) or cleaning chickens or work or something of the sort. Eventually though, we came to Kelello’s house. She rocks. We talked to her for a good long while that first day and just, generally, got to know her. She likes to dance and sing, so that first day she made ALL of us sing for her. Individually. Awkward. But we got through it with a lot of laughing and a new, odd sense of connectivity amongst all of us. Amazing that God was like, “Hey, just for the fun of it, let’s make them all grow closer through awkward, bad singing.” Good times.
And so ends the first day.
After that day, we went back to Kelello’s a couple times and actually had some amazing discussions: though the best part was that all the topics were brought up as questions posed by Kelello; she WANTED to know. God really worked that day. We actually ended up talking only about the topics we were each knowledgeable/passionate about or were perhaps supernaturally wise on. Fabulous day. The great part was that after basically talking about everything she had questions about, her friend walked in. Her friend (who I can’t remember her name unfortunately… African names are difficult just to say ONCE, let alone be able to repeat later) was very adamant that we come to her house… so we conferred at lunch and were basically like, well we’re basically satisfied here, and we’ve spent a LOT of time here, so why not take the opportunity and move on for a little while? Naturally, it wasn’t really our idea, but God posing the next step to us. This friend of Kelello’s, as it turns out, went to one of Thrive Africa’s programs for teens so naturally we were all like WHOA, crazy. That’s the point where we KNEW we made the right decision. But then the lady basically told us that she was born again but she was having teenage issues, essentially. Well look at that, 5 teenagers come to talk to her and encourage her. So there you have it: the perfect day that couldn’t have gone any better because it was obviously set up by a higher power than our own.
Days after were essentially balanced by us finding new families to talk to and talking to Kelello and eventually her cousin Agnes. The fun part was actually renaming everyone. Each of us Americans got Sesotho names and we gave our Basotho friends American/English names. I don’t recall how to pronounce the Sesotho names, but mine meant “laughter,” Craig’s “talkative,” Abby’s “quiet,” Micaela’s “smiley,” and Arielle’s “tall.” The names we gave our Basotho friends were Dancer, Peace, and Joy to Kelello, Agnes, and Dimakatso respectively. Sadly, since Kelello left Friday for her parent’s(she lives at her grandparents’ there in Qwa Qwa for school) we had to say goodbye, but left her with a Polaroid picture of us all so hopefully she’s reminded of everything we talked about and the love we tried to show her that week.
Also, one afternoon that week, each group did a session of children’s ministry at the church. Basically it consisted of games, a skit, bible verse, bible teaching, singing, and more games. Yup, the details of it aren’t very exciting, but I got to play a bunch of soccer stuffs with some kids so I was PERFECTLY content.
I suppose it wouldn’t do justice to mention the kids but not their enthusiasm and some other quirks. When kids first see Americans, they’re sometimes a little frightened because of the issues of white vs. black because of the Apartheid period which ended in ’94, but when they realize you’re not an Africaaner, they immediately want to play with you or have you take a picture or SOMETHING. Also, they FLOCK as soon as you take out a camera. They’re SO photogenic though, so it’s fabulous. And ALSO, they do this thing where you basically both do a thumbs up, put em together, and snap both your thumbs and say “shop” aka “cool.” So sometimes when I see a kid staring at me, I just smile and do a thumbs up and they immediately go from staring and frowning to smiling and returning it. It’s fabulous because by doing so, they realize that not all whites are angry oppressors and the like. So by smiling and encouraging kids, I slowly break down the barriers of race. Good stuff.

Finally, our last afternoon in Qwa Qwa, we all went to the hospital. That was an interesting experience. I’m not sure I’m such a fan of walking up to someone in a hospital and asking them a few general questions then asking if I can pray for em… However, I DO enjoy when Charlene brings me balloons for balloon animals when I’m in the children’s ward and also passing a soccer ball around with sick and injured kids. Besides the awkwardness of the praying, also, it’s difficult to just walk around amongst such sickness and not be overwhelmed by it. So yes. In general though, a good experience.

There. That’s what I’ve been doing for those of you that wanted to know. At least what I did last week… Maybe I should catch up further, but currently I’m lying awkwardly in bed typing in the dark and it’s hurting my back and keeping up a person or two. So that’ll have to happen some other night.

May God bless you annoyingly.