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Sontu's Story

READ WITH CAUTION-THIS IS A GRAPHIC STORY BUT ONE THAT MUST BE TOLD!
Journal Entry-April 4, 2006
Greetings -

There are so many stories to tell, but there is one that is fresh on my mind. Yesterday, during the business of the day, a local Care Worker who works here, at MCDC approached me and was deeply concerned about a family that she routinely visits. She said, "Rebe, I'm worried about a family who MCDC provides food parcels for. They are hungry and have nothing in their home and they don't receive their next food parcel until next week. They are suffering. Can you give me R50 to take to this family?" I told Mama Sarah that I would be back this afternoon and I would come and speak with her more about it when I return.

Later that day, I went to ask Sarah more details about the situation and then we jumped in the car and I went to pick up a large bag of vegetables from a local man named Sammy. We began driving to one of the most impoverished townships in the area, Mountain View, which is just a stones throw away from our house. The roads are jagged and we dodge huge ravines that carve through the road. We make it to the top of the hill and Mama Sarah directs me down a path that's not even a road. We park and then have to walk the rest of the way to the 3X5 meter shack. I had already spoken with Sarah about one of the women who lives there that is HIV positive. As we approach, we say "ko-ko" the traditional way of knocking when the door is open. I greet the 3 ladies outside the shack and the 3 small children that are sitting in the dirt while Mama Sarah has already gone in the tiny tin shack. I hand the vegetables to one of the ladies outside. Mama Sarah comes out saying, "This is bad, this is very bad and it was not like this last month and Saturday when I was here I did not look in at the patient." I cautiously begin to enter and as I do I smell the stench of death, the mosquitoes are buzzing in my ears and the gnats have infested the small area. This was something I had never smelt before. The curtain is pulled back and there lies a woman who is withered up like a leaf that has fallen from a dying tree. Her name is Sontu and she is 24 years old. Her bones are exposed and she is curled into a fetal position. Her naked fragility is like a toothpick tossed onto a bed of filth. The disease in her body was eating her skin away as though the skin had turned itself inside out. Her entire backside was exposed and it appeared as one continuous sore that was infected and oozing puss and blood. There were maggots and worms that had inhabited her bed and taken residence in the depths of her sores. Her body had no substance, no fat and the skin was eroding and looked as if it was pulling away from the bone. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and her face was a skeleton of mostly cheek bone, her teeth protruded outward from the rest of her sunken face. I saw the bones of her rib cage slowly moving up and down, she struggled to breathe as if she wanted it to be her last. Sontu has full blown AIDS and her body, though it was still alive, was already in the decomposing process.

I knew nothing but prayer in that moment and began praying aloud to Jesus. The mother who was standing over the body with a wet, filthy rag and a bucket of bloody and diseased filled water began to wail and weep. It was as though her wailing had begun inside her soul long before she poured it out of herself that evening. I didn't know that I was about to encounter such a dire situation.

Prayer ended and I made some phone calls to health care workers that Volunteer at MCDC. A Volunteer that works with the most critical HIV/AIDS patients came to see the case. He told me that Sontu had been at the hospital last month and that they had sent her home to die. We prayed again and we asked the ladies outside to get the children away from the shack because there was much suffering taking place inside. Sontu's son, who is 6, was watching as his mother's body suffered, knowing that he might also have AIDS. After assessing the situation the Volunteer determined that there was no way her body could be lifted to put a diaper on her because it would be too traumatic in the last minutes of her life. He proceeded to ask me to fetch a cup of water and we spooned drips of water into the cracks of her teeth. You could see her lips pucker for a quench of that cool, life-giving liquid.

We left that evening knowing they would sit there in that hot, dark shack with no food, no light and suffer themselves through the night. The Medical Volunteer gave them money for paraffin so they could make fire, but I would be surprised if they spent that money on paraffin when they are starving.

Early the next morning, the Medical Volunteer brought a Missionary Doctor to the shack where Sontu was still lying and the same situation was still in motion. The Doctor brought two Morphine tablets and they managed to get them down her throat. She died yesterday and as I write this her body still lies on the same bed. Social Welfare is working out the arrangements for Sontu's body. It is a sad, terrible and seemingly hopeless situation and the mother and children are sitting outside waiting for the body to be picked up.

The Lord stood me there on that particular day and reminded me that He is in every dark crevice of the World, making His Light known in the face of Death and Evil...

This is an everyday situation in South Africa and people are dying all around us...all the time.

Blessings to you in Christ Jesus.....

Jetro's Story

Being the caretaker of the Theological College has enabled me to meet pastors and future pastors from various backgrounds and denominations. Jetro Ngobeni is a student/pastor at MTC, and throughout this year he and I have grown closer together. In Galatians 5, Paul describes the fruit of the spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I can honestly say that Jetro displays these fruits on a daily basis. Despite being born into a family of Sangomas (witch doctors), and a culture of ancestor worship, he has become a strong Christian leader in his community. This year Jetro has planted a church in his village, which is 7 kilometers from the college. The congregation has grown steadily, and there are now so many in attendance that the meeting hall is overflowing (his house). He also works part time at one of the care centers that MCDC has established, counseling and mentoring orphans and vulnerable children. His presence at that centre has been a blessing to both the children and the staff. He also finds time to be a loving husband and father to his family. No matter what problems each day brings his way (and in this community even commuting 7 kilometers is a challenge), there is always a smile on his face and TRUE joy in his heart... The joy that only someone with the grace of the Living God can possess.

Liona's Story

On February 17, 2006 a woman by the name of Liona stumbled into our humble home assuming that she was stepping into MCDC's Offices. She had just walked from the Hospital which is down the road about 1/2 kilometer into our open front door. She was weeping and talking and I was in the middle of a phone call. I heard her say "I'm suffering and I don't know how I will go on in this life." I had already hung up the phone. Looking at her, I noticed how tall she was, her face was frightened, full of tears, her hat hung down over her tired face and that day she seemed hysterical. I sat down with her and began to listen to her story of pain, rejection, abuse, fear and abandonment. She shared with me that she was ill and this scared her; she continued to tell me that she was in a relationship with a man who was abusing her, resulting in her depression and unstable emotions. These factors were leading her down a destructive path quickly. After listening to her story, we proceeded together in prayer. Following prayer I directed her to the appropriate people who were able to help her plug into a support group where she could talk more about the problems she was facing. Since that day, I have watched the Lord provide for Liona in hundreds of ways. The Lord made it possible for her to receive a job at MCDC, which gave her an income, a place to live on her own (which is extremely rare for African women) and the opportunity to get out of the abusive relationship. She now has saved enough money to have her own shack and piece of land ($130). One month after Liona and I met she accepted Christ into her heart and has now been baptized and is attending the Church at MCDC’s Vezubuhle Child Care Center where the Gospel goes forth. Her life has been changed by God and my own faith increases as she seeks after Jesus, the One who has paid the price for all our sin. We are all family in Christ, and I ask that you all remember her name in your prayers.

The Mpeke Family Story

Ms. Mpeke walked into our home searching for a job because she needed an income for her family. Soon after, we agreed to employ her around our home and this was the beginning of a special relationship with a unique woman. Ms. Mpeke left her husband in 1994 because it was an abusive relationship to the family. After moving to this area she found herself struggling to keep her family alive. They had been living with Ms. Mpeke's mother who was unable to care for them properly because she lacked for her own basic needs. They had to move out and found themselves living on the dry, dirt roads of the villages, making their way from one shack to another, searching for food, with the hope that they might soon find a better way. God's sovereignty sent the Mpeke Family a missionary couple who began to help them find food and shelter and by the grace of God Ms. Mpeke was offered a part-time job helping the missionary couple at their home and was able to make enough money to pay the R60 ($9) rent each month. Since that time, they have connected with MCDC and both girls attend the MCDC Child Care Center located in their village. Ms. Mpeke has accepted Christ into her heart and makes every effort to raise her children under God's care and instruction. Pinky Mpeke is 16 years old and dreams of being a doctor. Dolly Mpeke is 15 years old, has the most unbelievable voice and has a song in her heart wherever she goes. Lucky Mpeke is 19 and has finished Grade 12 with good grades and hopes to attend University. Lawrence Mpeke is the oldest and continues to look for work in the area. Ms. Mpeke's husband has since passed away. Last year, while we were working among the community, Bryan and I were able to identify a donor from the U.S. who was willing to fund the building of a new home for them. They now are living together in their 2-bedroom home with a kitchen, sitting area and wash room. Their faces are bright with smiles and they are grateful for the assistance they have received and the love of Christ they have experienced from the relationships they have made through these difficult years.

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