Introducing Sabe village - part one

We’re getting more and more involved with the CRIB kids. The pastor couple from England, Dave and Sheena, are allowing us to walk along side them with doing a weekly Monday evening Bible study for all the CRIB kids age 11 and up. We started this 3 weeks ago. The first week Dave and Sheena asked if I would  do a call to salvation. Three people responded and caused the angels in heaven to rejoice!!!  “… I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Lk 15:10b
We prayed over them and they where baptized by the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord, He is so good!! Every week so far we’ve had a deep moving of the Spirit. God is really working in these kids, but not surprisingly, the enemy knows he’s losing ground and is doing “overtime” to try and destroy what Jesus has and is doing. Things have happened among a handful of kids that make this very evident. Please pray for the blood of Jesus to cover the compound and every person that steps foot on it. Please pray for Dave and Sheena, Isaac, Colton and myself as  we seek to minister to them and love them with the love of Jesus Christ.
You know, they know Bible stories and most of them say they are Christians, but once they step out of Dave and Sheena’s living room and life happens…
So every Monday at 4:00 we trek over to the Pailthorpe’s, who live in the CRIB compound. We spend a lot of time praying for the evening, discussing the lesson, etc., followed by tea. (People here,  including us, have “tea” and not supper. Basically what this means is that lunch and supper are just reversed here - the main, hot meal is at 1:00 - 1:30, and “tea” is a lighter evening meal.) After this we get the space ready for 32 people and at 7:00 we begin.
On Saturday mornings, also starting 3 weeks ago, we go over as well and just play active games. This is “family time” for the kids. The aim is to teach  them to play together as a team, without fighting, without screaming at each other, just good clean fun. Keep in mind, when you put almost 50 kids in a fenced space without parental love, guidance, teaching and discipline, things can’t be without challenges.
We are planning on starting an  art time as well. Oh, and we’re on a rotating schedule to supervise groups of kids when they go swimming at Chrissie’s. I think that’s all for the structured time we spend there.
There’s a guy who dropped out of high school and ran away from CRIB in late winter that was a very bad influence on the rest of the kids. He lived with some buddies and on the street till about a month ago. At this time his buddies kicked him out, which left him solely on the street. He came back to Chrissie’s, being at wit’s end. The CRIB kids didn’t want him back, so he is living at Chrissie’s with the guard/house worker. To occupy his time and to hopefully teach him some things, he is spending Mon. - Fri. with Isaac. This can be very challenging for Isaac, as he has to watch him at all times. Please pray for Isaac in this regard, and pray for this guy.
We finally got to see the “real” Burundi today. With our busy schedule, we had not yet seen Honda and Libby’s village till this morning. With today being a national holiday commemorating the death of a past president, which meant no school, we finally had the opportunity.
You know the saying: “what you don’t know won’t hurt you.”?  Well, Honda and Libby had told us lots about the village and showed us a video they made, but nothing prepares you for seeing and smelling and living what we experienced today.
This tiny “village” of 1700 people is hidden behind a massive, high- fenced UN compound that stretches on for probably a few miles. Honda was introduced to this village in November of last year by a mentally challenged guy that they partially support. Almost nobody knows about this village; the government has chosen to turn a blind eye to the absolute poverty conditions almost without fail. In April of this year they had a huge flood, where many, many of the stick/mud huts collapsed in the approximately one meter plus  flood waters. The huts, which are the size of a small bedroom, house families of up to 13 children plus the parent.  They are 1-2 meters apart; there is no furniture; the roof consists of mostly garbage they’ve strategically placed to serve as a roof; they have one meal a day consisting of bugali ( basically nutritionally void, root of a common plant made into flour mixed with water), and maybe a bit of beans, but some days there isn’t even this. Some days there is nothing. The flood was a blessing in that now they at least have a sewage system, a holding tank for the sewage, which they collect in a bag and deposit into the tank which is located at the entrance of the village. Mothers deliver their babies on the bare ground, as this is their bed. The wealthier may have a straw mat to sleep on, but even with just a normal rainfall, the water comes into the hut and that mat doesn’t do much good anyway. The villagers’ entire wardrobe is that which they wear, day in and day out. A majority of the clothing is rags really, and worse, held together by dirt and filth, especially the childrens‘. Even though a child is wearing a skirt doesn’t mean it’s a girl, but that’s the only piece of clothing available. Diapers consist of a bit of material covered with a plastic bag.
People die of aids; alcoholism is a problem; the hooch, which is made from bananas, blinds the consumer with time. Education is non-existent - there is no school. Of the 1700 people, about 900 are children.
I need to go now, I will continue with this next time I blog. However, I want to add that for the last months I’ve prayed that the Father would make my heart hurt over the things that hurt His heart; my heart hurts.
Rosel