Oshoek day 2-washing Grandpa's feet

After a really gruelling day of visits yesterday, I felt weary and heavy-hearted as we drove again to Oshoek to visit yet more families looking after young children in desperate situations. A small group of us headed out into the community again- if you can call a scattered collection of huts with no services, resources, communication or connection a community....how do the amazing careworkers do this every day without losing hope themselves?

Rocky, Roseanne, Joe and I stopped first at MaP's. She had previously been supported by a care-worker whom she was really close to- but they had died and she had been so ill she also nearly died. She has no work or hope of work and so she has no food. This is not a case of finding something from the freezer when you can't get fresh-this is a case of having no food, meaning literally no food in the house... During the time of her illness, MaP's 4 girls just upped and left, leaving her with no support and a younger sibling to care for. These communities are just full of these desperate stories of broken families, desperate bids for a better life and a fragility of existence so easily stretched to breaking point. We sang songs and prayed with her telling her how special she was to be caring for the child and how we valued what she did against the odds. Her favourite song was 'It is well...'- so ironic and yet bringing a spark of hope in a dark place...

At the second home the Gogo and Tata ( Grandad) were sat in a very dark smoky rondavel. It was a warm but dark, dirty place where carbon from the fire literally hung in cobwebs off the ceiling. There was no electric light or water  and the  smoke from the fire was so thick we took it in turns to go outside to breathe-not surprisingly, this lovely old man has lung problems...and is on medication for a blood infection. The ageing pair find it really hard to care for a young child there and worry as Tata's legs seem to be getting worse- with the second one  starting to feel numb. There is no clinic in the community  but they access help from  a few roads away.

As they get more ill and less mobile it will become increasingly difficult to help the child get back after school, and it's a tough, scary walk back if done alone. How vulnerable the kids are here and it's so hard to help them do homework or provide food for them in such a place.
In this seemingly hopeless fragile home we shared God's love telling of Tata being held in the palms of God's hands...how God keeps our tears in a bottle and seats the poor in high places in his upside down kingdom.

We washed Tata's feet by candle light, massaging warmth, care and affection into them, blessing the couple with prayer and Scripture seeing eyes light up as Tata told of his own belief - in my eyes -against the odds. Pray for these guys...we surely have no idea how difficult it must be to hang onto such tiny threads of hope- pray that somehow the ongoing visits will keep hope alive...