I am just beginning my 2nd week of being away from Iris Ministries’ Orphanage in Mbonisweni, South Africa. I wanted to let all of you back home, or in other 3rd world countries, meet the children who stole a little piece of my heart. I also wanted to show you all a little bit of what my team and I have been doing in Mbonisweni and share my heart with you.
Surprise (left) has many personalities. First, he is sweet and is bringing you flowers and hugging you. Second, he is adventurous and will climb to the top of the mango tree to get himself a “mangosa”. Third, he is rebellious and has some remaining anger from losing his Mother.
Bongani (right)is a house parent’s child and he is just the cutest. He is so photogenic, and loves to cuddle! I would get so many hugs from this boy, for no reason! That’s why I love him so!
Steven (left), as you can see, is totally adorable! He is going through a clingy stage because of his fear of abandonment, since losing his family. He is a lot of fun!
Fortunate (right)! How I miss this girl! She would spring up to me screaming “SISSY, SISSY!”She loves to be held and swung around, which I will gladly do at her request. At the beginning of our stay there, she was shy about being touched, which is a total 180 degree turn. I would kiss her on the cheek, and she would kiss me on my cheek and say she loves me. God definitleyg drew me to her for a reason.
Pedro(left)! This boy’s mood swings are hilarious. He will be in love with you one minute and then mad at you the next. He had a crush on Jenny and would ask for her to come outside hundreds of times a day, no exaggeration! He came to the orphanage from Mozambique, because he was trafficked into South Africa illegally, and spoke only Shon-gon. Thankfully Africans can pick up languages quickly!
Fortunate (right)is another house parents’ child. She has a future in children’s ministry, which is totally evident in her heart for the other children she lives with. Her laugh is amazing, and her smile is beautiful, even though her teeth are always full of peanut butter! She always wanted us to do the same swinging games to her as we did with the little kids, even though she is 9 years old.
Welcome (left)is my new boyfriend. I will write about him later in this blog, because there is so much to say!
Thandeka (right)! She is the oldest of 3, and she is always watching over her little brothers. She is shy, and has a crush on Garrett, and will surprise you by her behaviors. When she is comfortable with you, beware because she will bite you in places that don’t see daylight…which I guess is a kid here, because after she started, all the other girls started. It was okay though, because she loves us and we love her. She is so one in a kind.
Buhlia (left)is such a funny little girl. She is the youngest of 4, and is the only girl. Her brothers look out for her, which is cute to see. She has the loudest voice i probably ever heard. Whenever she speaks, you look around to see where that voice actually came from because there is NO WAY that voice came from that little girl! She has so much attitude, and spunk! And if she is mad at you, she will make it known! But her angry face is so funny that you won’t even care that she is upset with you!
Senzo (right)is a character. He is so loving. He will run up to you and kiss your whole arm and hand over and over again. He will call you “mangosa” even though he knows you are not a mango, and in fact, a human! He is very dramatic, also. On one occasion, when I was coloring outside with him, he started crying over 12 times within 5 minutes all for different things. He wants attention so badly. But don’t worry, his crying fits don’t phase you after the first couple weeks. But, when he is really mad, he makes these sounds that would imply he is about to throw up. But, don’t worry, he never does!
Nkosimphile (left) is 14, but he looks like he is 10, so you forget to not treat him like all the other little kids. He is the oldest of 4 kids, all of whom lost their family, so he is some sort of a Father. He is more mature than you would expect of him. He always wants to take pictures with cameras, and you can’t go outside of the house with Welcome without him coming to love on him. He is great with Welcome, and Welcome absolutely adores him.
Nokwanda (right) is 11 and has such an attitude. I would love to describe her to you, but there is no way I could give her justice. She loves trying to braid my hair, but I usually chicken out because it hurts too badly. She tried to teach me to do Siswati dancing, which I failed miserably at. I couldn’t even follow what directions her feet were going in the first step! It was so embarrassing. She loves dressing up and feeling pretty, too!
Nelson (left) is either 16, 17, or 19. No one really knows, and it is an ongoing investigation. He speaks Portugese and Shon-Gon and is from Maputu, Mozambique, and thankfully he picked up Siswati so quickly after getting to the orphanage. He enjoys drawing and just being helpful. He gets bored being stuck at the orphanage with all the little kids, so he was relieved when we came and we had guys actually somewhat close to his age! He tried to learn English so we could talk to him, which didn’t work out so well. And he likes to workout…or run around the field for a full hour without stopping.
Syabonga (right)! He always smells like a farm because his diaper doesn’t get changed as often as it should. He loves to give you flowers…lots of flowers. He will go pick flowers out of the plants and gardens and waddle back to give to you. When he falls, he doesn’t cry, unlike all the other kids. He has the biggest smile, and the most precious laugh.
Wilele is an old soul, at just 6 years old. Her best friend is one of the 11 year olds, is always caring for her baby sister and carrying her on her back when her sister is old enough to walk. She often looks like she is sad, but she is just so serious. It is such a beautiful thing when something breaks through her I-have-to-be-grown-up wall and lets her be a kid again. I love watching the transition from her face in the picture above to her being like all the other 6 year olds here.
This picture was taken on our first day at the orphanage. All the boys picked us flowers and made them into a little “bouquet.” It was precious and really showed a glimpse of what we would be experience for the next month.
This picture was taken at the feeding center up in Back Door, after all the kids were fed. The little boy in the gray shirt and I were having a “jumping party” and all the other kids joined in to jump. I was pulling a younger girl in to jump with us, that’s why I am not in the air! He was so full of life.
This picture was taken at the feeding center as well. We were singing a song and doing some crazy hand motions along with the kids. This day, which happened to be my 19th Birthday and the Christmas message, we had over 400 children, teens, and adults in the audience and in the food line. Maybe now you can understand now how having 2 riots here would be possible!
A lot of you asked how my Christmas was…well, this is just a glimpse of my Christmas morning. We brought all the children we were living with at the orphanage, all the kids at the overflow house (house where the kids live in with other house parents until we get more houses at the orphanage), and the Sithole family together into the Kosa’s garage for a Christmas ceremony where we sang to Jesus for his Birthday and were reminded of what Christmas really is, and all the kids received presents and stockings!
First day of school! All the kids look so nice! All the kids who are old enough for school, with the exception of Nelson and Pedro, are pictured here. Mama Dubei and Nomsa (the houseparents) are pictured as well.
My last day at the orphanage! I needed a picture with Nomsa (standing next to me) because I had to love her so much, and she came to love me too! Nelson, Bongani, Senzo, and our guard were here to say goodbye too!
This picture really doesn’t have any sentimental value to me, I just wanted to add it here because this was the night I cleared my whole plate! In Siswati culture, the meals are huge, because they don’t eat as many meals a day as we do in America. At church when they feed us, you can’t even tell I touched my plate by the time I get full! But this time I finished my pop, or porriage, which is one of my favorite meals that I will cook when I come back to America, and my sausage!
This picture was taken on Christmas Eve at the candle light Christmas Eve service. This church is amazing and my team and I are going to try to continue coming back to this church while we are in Nelspruit. We meet under a tent, all several hundred of us, on a dirt floor, for over 3 hours every sunday. On this night, they called us up on stage to sing. Problem was, we hadn’t prepared anything! So, we quickly found a song that we all knew and sang it. Things were going great until someone asked, “Now sing something reggae!” Hahahha, oh boy!
This is Welcome, my little lover boy! He is aproximatley 16 months old and is staying at the Baby House at the orphanage with our friends Frank and Cindy. I’ve spent hours with this precious one every day since we arrived at the orphanage last month. On day 2, our bond was made. We just clicked! He wanted me all the time, and usually no one else. We had some sort of special bond, I don’t know what to call it other than love that Jesus gave me for him. His story is so unfortunate. Right now he is suffering from AIDS, TB, and is recovering from being malnutritioned as an infant. When I first arrived at the village, he could hardly stand up…and his standing up is just you holding him up, and he couldn’t do that. When I left, he was standing up by holding only one of my fingers! He used to hate walking, and would cry if you made him walk. Now it is the opposite. He cries because he wants to walk! It’s such a transformation. Welcome is a warrior. I don’t know how he goes through all these ailments the way he does. He is making amazing progress. He has gained so much weight since being here, and his medicine is doing wonders! He hardly ever vomits his medicine, and I had the honor of wearing one of the only incidents of his vomit on my T-shirt. He has the most precious, dorky, toothy smile that makes me grin just thinking about. He does have abandonment issues, as most orphans do. If we are playing on the floor and I stand up to put my sandals on so I can take him outside, he cries because he thinks I am going to leave him. He fears being alone so badly. Please be praying for a miracle on his behalf, that Jesus would heal him. His Mother died, and his Father tried to kill him by not feeding him, which included no HIV treatment. Because of that, his HIV is irreversible. The missionaries at the orphanage along with myself continue to pray for his supernatural healing by the Father. Please join us in that!
While serving at the orphanage, a lot of major things happened in my life and, most importantly, in my heart. The number one thing that has really shaken me is that the Lord showed me where He wants my heart to be. That calling is to orphan ministry with the Siswati people. It is a missionary joke, it seems, that all we want to do is hold babies…but for me that is literally all I want to do. I am able to show Christ’s love to them that way. Here is an example of that: At the Christmas Eve service, when the candles were lit and handed out, Wilele came running and crying to the last bench under the tent/church. I ran to her, and sat in that row with her and cradled her until she stopped crying. I am guessing she burnt herself on the candle. As I held her, I interceded for her and asked God to let me be just like Jesus for her. Later on, I started to feel water drop on my feet. This wasn’t right, because there was no water here. I looked down and it turns out that the burning candle wax was dripping onto my foot. I felt no pain. The Lord took that pain from me so I could be Jesus for Wilele.
The Lord has really met me while I’ve been doing orphan ministry. While I am with these kids, I feel the same joy that I felt when I met the Lord for the very first time. It’s such an intense love that I know is not all my own, it is a gift that God has showered on me for the sole purpose of giving it away. Before leaving the Betor House for the orphanage God shared with me that this was going to be a place that I would want to stay and would come back to. It was so difficult for me to leave, but I know that God can and will use me here, and will continue to teach me while I am away from the orphans. I am seeing Him teach me already. I feel so blessed that God has spoken to me what He wants from me, and what He wants me to do with my life. I am only 19, and yet I know that He desires for me to be a long term missionary in the South Africa/Swaziland area and be working with the Siswati people, but more specifically be working with the orphans. And I am seeing the Lord shape my heart for AIDS victims as well. Every single child that I feel strongly drawn to I find out later are HIV positive. There have been 2 children that I felt strongly drawn to, and I found out later that both of them have HIV. While visiting a church just minutes from the Swaziland border, i fell in love with a group of girls. While playing with them, I learned that the little girl I couldn’t keep my eye off of during the church service had HIV. I don’t yet know why God is giving me this passion, but I plan to use it for His glory. It’s like God gave me a whole bunch of puzzle pieces, and I’m trying to put this puzzle together, but too many puzzle pieces are missing. What I need to do is wait for God to present the remaining pieces to me. That is a difficult thing to do, but I am learning to trust everything to God’s perfect planning. He will reveal His plans to me when He is ready, and that will be when I am ready. I shouldn’t force anything, because if it is God’s will, why would there be any force on my part necessary? God will open the doors necessary, and He doesn’t need me trying to break them down myself.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
He’s the one who will keep you on track.
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
He’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
-Proverbs 3:5-7
Cait, the smiles on your childern tell the entire story. Entering their lifes has given them a new meaning of “Unconditional Love”. You have so much to give and I am sure they are giving you a certain “Love” that you have never experienced. Your life has now been enriched by “THEIR” unconditional love towards you!!!
DAD
Wow, this was awesome, I’ve been reading some of your teammates blogs as well and it sounds like your time in ZA was unbelievable. Who would have thought your heart could stretch that big? 🙂 In the midst of the joy, I hear the pain, the realities of life over there. We’ll be praying for your special little ones over there. God’s a big God. Let’s watch Him move.
See you in a couple weeks.
Jimmy
hey cait cait, lovely blog. Gosh I love those kids. I was thinking back to that night just before your birthday and all the freedom that came. What a night, huh? God is faithful to call us to more and more of that same freedom. Know that that’s exactly what I’m praying for you. Love you Cait!
love the pictures and i love the individual stories for each precious child. i am so happy for you and proud of you and what you are doing to be Jesus for these little ones.
Wow, Cait. This was amazing to read. After looking through all of your beautiful pictures and reading about these precious little children, my heart is so full. I am so proud of what you are doing for Jesus and all of these lonely children. You are truly awesome!
Cait you are an absoultly amazing girl and i feel so honored to know you. I am so glad that GOd is working in your life and changing you. I really miss you and cant wait till you come back, but I am really glad God put you there. I so glad you are connecting with the orphans and really helping them. I love you so much and will keep you in my prayers.
Believe it or not Aunt Gina became speachless after reading this last blog. Wow!! I am so impressed with so many things. You are amazing & so blessed with what you have given to these beautiful children. And the best part is what they and god has given back to you. Cait, all your pictures show something very special that you have been blessed with. I reread your blogs several times and go through every emotion. You have shown me how to feel so happy for you and smile while I shed tears at the same time. I love you and am very proud of you.
Love
Aunt Gina
cait evangelista,reading this completely amazed me and made me wish i could be there with you! im so incredibly proud of you and what you’ve been doing. through this post it shows how much you have grown and that you have learned so much. it also shows how great your love is for God and for all the children at the orphanage. i think going to africa was an awesome decision, and even though i miss you, im so glad you saw this opportunity and took it. im also so happy to hear that you have found your passion in life. And even though you havent figured out everything yet and your still putting the “puzzle pieces” together,you know where you’re headed,where God wants you to go, and who he wants you to be and you’re living that! thats soo cool!
i love you,miss you,and am praying for you
love,
alexdrummer
I loved all your stories about the kids! 🙂 Great pictures too 🙂 Cait, you make me so happy! What you said at the end, all that about God’s planning, and opening doors, that is the key. Always remember that 🙂 ily
So when I was reading about Welcome I started crying. And I am in English Class. I had to go to the bathroom to cool off. I will definiatly be praying for him. And all of the other kids there. I thought the wax thing was super cool too! I am kinda sad that you said you’re gonne be a long time missionary there… But I know it’s what God wants you to do. So it is okay. I love you so much. And you come home in ninty five days:]