A Day in the Life of a Children’s Cup Missionary

A Day in the Life of a Children’s Cup Missionary

One Day’s Hour-By-Hour Blog          Date 26-May-06     By Teresa Rehmeyer

7am     I woke up to a beautiful crisp, cold, windy morning.  I prayed for a little while, then I got up.  It is so cold in the house that getting dressed is a very quick procedure.  I layered my clothes, knowing that it is usually colder in the house than it is outside in the sun.

8am     Robin and I went for a walk.  Walking around here is certainly different than it is in Louisiana.  There are many hills, which make for a good workout.  The wind was brisk, but the sun was shining bright.  We soon were shedding layers as we warmed up in the sunshine.

9am     We went back to my house to have breakfast.  The electricity was off because of the wind.  It has been going off and on all morning.  We ate yogurt and granola, when the electricity came back on we had a cup of coffee.

10am     Pat came by to pick up tents for camping this evening.  He and Roger were going to take some of the kids from the CarePoints on a camping trip this evening out Pine Valley Road, which is a beautiful area with big rock hills.  After he and Robin left, I cleaned up a little, then showered and dressed.  I got clothes together for Joelle to stay with a friend after school.

11am     I went to the bank to get money to buy groceries and to pay my house girl and gardener.  This is the last Friday of the month, payday.  I thought, I’ll try to go to Shop Rite quickly to pick up a few groceries, since I am out of milk and a few other items.  I ran in and gathered my items quickly and then went to get in line.  I even found a short one!  Then I remembered that I had parked on the top level of the parking garage!  Daran and Kristen were waiting for me at the office to go to Manzini!  So I quickly got my cart to the elevator, and went up to the top and unloaded my groceries.  I was tempted to leave the cart there, but my conscious got the best of me.  I took the cart back down the elevator and back to the store.  Now, I could finally leave!  How do I get out of this place!  I circled around several times before I figured out how to get to the exit.  Then, once I got down to the bottom, there was a long line (que) of traffic waiting to exit.  Daran called, “where are you?”  I finally got to the exit to pay for my parking, I gave the guy a track with the payment.  He then asked me if I could arrange a Bible for him.  I was caught by surprise, but I said that I would check on that for him.  I will have to go back another day and find him to give him a Bible, maybe I will have an opportunity to witness to him!

Noon     I dropped off Joelle’s clothes to her friend’s house and then went home to unload groceries and pay employees.  

1pm     I finally arrived at the office.  Daran had gone to take Beano to the clinic to meet Sharon, because their car had a problem.  So I checked email, sent a quick email to my sister and mom and then started loading up the medical supplies to get ready for the medical clinic in Manzini.  When Daran got back, he, Kristen and I left for Manzini.

2pm     We arrived at Makholweni first.  As soon as we got out of the car, we are surrounded by little ones.  Kristen and I started greeting them and giving them hugs.  Daran had to pay the Children’s Cup employees at the site for Ben.  So while he was taking care of that, Kristen was listening to the Bible club and the workers started asking me for medicines.  Once I opened the back of the car, there was a line forming.  Ladies that cook, men that have been building, were all lining up to get antibiotics, cough medicine, panadol (Tylenol), eye drops, sinus meds, etc.  With winter coming, everyone has a cough or cold.  I had an unplanned mini clinic for the workers at Makholweni.  They deserved special treatment, since they have been working hard for the past few weeks to get this CarePoint finished for yesterdays grand opening.  We then gave gogo Motsa a bunch of yellow roses on behalf of Children’s Cup for her hard work and dedication to this CarePoint, and for making the grand opening a success.  She was so excited, she jumped around with joy, hugging all of us.  She is the lady that has been allowing us to use her house and yard  to feed the children, have medical clinics, store food and supplies, and have Bible clubs, until the new care point was built.  Daran also gave all of the workers a special thanks again for all of their hard work.  We left money for them to buy cold drinks to go with their left over food from the grand opening.  Everyone seemed pleased.  I also had to check with one of our Bible club leaders about his little cousin who we just got started on ARV’s (drugs to treat AIDS).  He and another younger cousin are responsible for making sure he gets his meds twice daily at the same time each day.  He said that is was going well.  The counselor at the clinic wanted me to teach the gogo of the child about the meds as well.  The gogo has been too sick to come to the clinic to learn about the drugs, and since the child is a double orphan, the only ones to take care of him are his cousins who are 17 and 19 approximately.  Now that the gogo is better, she needs to be taught about the drugs as well, since the child actually lives with her.  She was not available today, so we planned to come back on Monday to see gogo.

3pm     We finally arrive at Moneni, where I am supposed to do the medical clinic for the kids.  They are starting to feed them and others are still arriving.  Phindile and Treasure organized the kids and interpreted for us.  We saw many bloated bellies, full of parasites.  We gave worm pills to all of the kids, and recorded weights names and ages.  We treated coughs, upper respiratory infections, sores, and ringworm.

4pm      We loaded the medicines back into the car and left Moneni at about 4:30 and headed back up to Mbabane.

5pm     We arrived at the Children’s Cup office, unloaded medicines, checked email, then headed for home.

6pm     I arrived at home, cooked supper for the kids, talked to them about their day, and talked to Candice (our link student from Waterford) about the grand opening of the CarePoint yesterday.  I told her about how the kids from the CarePoint did a drama about the scripture in John where Jesus said, “I was naked and you clothed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was hungry and you fed me.”  In the drama they thanked Children’s Cup for being Jesus to them. It was very sweet!  I also told her that I met one of the princesses from the previous King, and how I gave her the scissors on a plate to cut the ribbon for the opening of the care point.  That was a great honor for me.  I asked her if I could take a picture with her, and she was very nice and said that I could.

7pm     We took the kids to youth group at Mbabane Chapel.  Daran and I went and had supper alone and discussed building relationships at the care points and the importance of spending time there.  The time that he was able to spend at the Makholweni CarePoint this last week working to help them finish building and getting ready for the opening was a great time to build relationships with the volunteers and community.

8pm     Daran and I were still having dinner and date.

9pm     We went to pick up the kids at Mbabane Chapel.  The kids told us about the series they are watching and how good it was and that they would like to go back next time.  We went home, brought in wood for a fire and all sat down in front of the fire to relax.  The wind was getting stronger and it was getting colder outside and inside, except for in front of the fire.  We observed a wild fire on one of the distant hills, probably caused from lack of rain and increase in wind.

10pm      Everyone is falling asleep in front of the fire.  I worked on writing my blog and read from my devotion book as I sat in front of the fire, listening to the wind howl outside and Daran snore, lying on the floor beside me.  

11pm     Gabby was studying in the next room, Danielle was asleep on the sofa in front of the fire, and Nathan was reading a book, Joelle is at a friends.  Thank you Lord for a good day, warm fire, family, and friends.  Amen

Link to Susan’s Blog for her hour-by-hour account of a day in the life of a Children’s Cup missionary http://susanrodgers.blogspot.com/