Place of Refuge
More on the battered women’s shelter in Swaziland as promised. This home is the first of its kind in Swaziland. I could not believe this….the first and only home established to take care of women who are physically and sexually abused in a country that has thousands of women hurting everyday. It was sad, but I am thankful for this home which has just opened (only a month old). Glenda is the visionary who started the home, which is called Elusitweni Help Center (place of refuge). This is a home where women who have been abused can come, go through counseling, learn homemaking-survival skills like how to build a trench garden, and also learn some vocational skills. Right now they are working on bringing someone in to teach the women to sew and make soap. Hopefully they can sell the products to help make the home self-sustainable. They need more help and actually asked if I would be interested in coming back to stay and minister to the women! This is exactly the kind of thing I could see myself doing…but it will need a lot of prayer to see if that is what the Lord wants or not.
Swaziland now has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the whole world (somewhere between 35-47%). Some people predict that Swaziland will be the first country to go instinct because of the alarming rate people are dying off. That makes for a country full of orphans and well, problems. Like many countries in the world, women in Swaziland aren’t treated very great. Many are abused and used. One of the girls at Elusitweni is only 13 years-old (I will call her Naomi). Naomi was sexually abused by her father as a young girl. Somehow he was caught and put in jail. Naomi’s family then kicked her out of the house and blamed her for him being in jail. She had to live on the streets and prostitute herself in order to survive. She has one baby boy and she is pregnant again. Naomi has been at the home for 1 month and she has many behavioral problems and walls that need to be broken down. She is only 13 years-old. Another woman (who I will call Sarah) will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. You know those people that come into your life very briefly but leave an impression on your heart that never goes away…….that is Sarah. She was beautiful, abused by her family and only been at the home for a week. I told her she had a beautiful smile and I watched Sarah smile and then turn her face from me and fight back tears. In that moment I saw all the pain she has ever experienced. It was such a powerful connection for me that I, at the same time felt all the pain and struggle I have ever experienced in my life in a single moment. I wanted to weep. I too had to fight back tears because I realized that this could have been the first time in Sarah’s life she had ever heard someone call her beautiful.
This is why I want to work with hurting, broken women. Women who don’t know they are beautiful and haven’t discovered their worth in Christ. Once I discovered that God hears me, that He heals and that He delights in me, my whole life was turned upside down. God loves Naomi and Sarah so much and He wants to heal them. God says “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you.” (2 Kings 20:5) Will you pray with me to ask our Father for healing for these women? He wants to touch their hearts and use their stories for His glory.
Swaziland now has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the whole world (somewhere between 35-47%). Some people predict that Swaziland will be the first country to go instinct because of the alarming rate people are dying off. That makes for a country full of orphans and well, problems. Like many countries in the world, women in Swaziland aren’t treated very great. Many are abused and used. One of the girls at Elusitweni is only 13 years-old (I will call her Naomi). Naomi was sexually abused by her father as a young girl. Somehow he was caught and put in jail. Naomi’s family then kicked her out of the house and blamed her for him being in jail. She had to live on the streets and prostitute herself in order to survive. She has one baby boy and she is pregnant again. Naomi has been at the home for 1 month and she has many behavioral problems and walls that need to be broken down. She is only 13 years-old. Another woman (who I will call Sarah) will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. You know those people that come into your life very briefly but leave an impression on your heart that never goes away…….that is Sarah. She was beautiful, abused by her family and only been at the home for a week. I told her she had a beautiful smile and I watched Sarah smile and then turn her face from me and fight back tears. In that moment I saw all the pain she has ever experienced. It was such a powerful connection for me that I, at the same time felt all the pain and struggle I have ever experienced in my life in a single moment. I wanted to weep. I too had to fight back tears because I realized that this could have been the first time in Sarah’s life she had ever heard someone call her beautiful.
This is why I want to work with hurting, broken women. Women who don’t know they are beautiful and haven’t discovered their worth in Christ. Once I discovered that God hears me, that He heals and that He delights in me, my whole life was turned upside down. God loves Naomi and Sarah so much and He wants to heal them. God says “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you.” (2 Kings 20:5) Will you pray with me to ask our Father for healing for these women? He wants to touch their hearts and use their stories for His glory.
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