A little bit of Heaven

South Africa ...... 

Where do I start.......

Let me start with a little piece heaven. On Thursday we were able to "see" Johannesburg. We got an awesome tour from a missionary who has lived here 6 years and knows his around. I will try to explain the day the best I can.

The high light of the day for me was visiting an orphanage. Now it is not a typical one by my estimation. It is in a residential neighbourhood.  Nomonde is the lady who runs it, and she runs it out of her 5 bedroom home.  There are in between 15 - 20 orphans half of which are HIV + The home was very comparable to a typical North American home. (except for the razor wire, gate, bars and eight foot high stone wall with razor wire on top typical for almost all South African homes)

All these children have been abandoned, rescued, and some saved from death. There parents didn't want them because either they had HIV or they couldn't take care of them. One baby was the only survivor of a house fire.

One of the stories of the little girls broke my heart. Ryfile was 8 months old when she can to Nomonde's home. She was brought to the orphanage because she was gang raped. Her mother and her were sleeping on the street when this happened. She is now 1.5 years old but still cannot talk and walk. She has had 2 surgeries and one more to come to fix the problems caused by the rape. ( As some of you may know rumors are being spread around here that if you have AIDS and HIV having sex with a virgin will cure you, sadistic and evil right? ) We were able to hold her and pray for her. I have never in all my life been so tore up by a story like this. 

Meeting a Nomonde, spending time with her, and hearing her story was incredible. She was a nurse at a hospital and would keep seeing these tragic stories. So as soon as she could retire to do something about what she was seeing she did. She spends her retirement on the orphans and what ever funds she can get from the community. At present there is no government funding. Oh I forgot to mention. I think she has adopted some of the children as her own and she her own blood children. All live with her. I was blown away. 

This was/is  a little piece of Heaven. I leave you hopefully disturbed as I am.

Peter