Right now there is a boy named Siyabonga staying at our house (this is the boy I’ve blogged about before and posted a picture.) He and two other boys came over on Friday, from my care point and stayed until Sunday. I brought them to church this Sunday and to return them to their families. Something I’ve been very concerned about for the past several weeks is Siyabonga’s grandmother beating him. About a month ago while I was holding him I noticed a bunch of scars on his back and even some on his stomach and chest. I asked Thulie, the woman I help teach about them and she said it’s from his grandmother beating him. Siyagbonga was “adopted” from a town about twenty minutes away from Manzini when he was younger. When I say adopted I mean he was more or less just given to her to take care of because his biological parents weren’t capable to taking care of him before and culturally Swazis always take in other children where there is a need and no legal action is needed if they don’t leave the country, which never really happens because most Swazis are very poor. Anyhow Thulie also told me that this adopted grandmother’s only interest with taking him in was that his father sometimes comes around and gives money for Siyabonga. And other than that she doesn’t really care about him, I was also told that she drinks a lot and gets angry when she’s drunk. When he came over on Friday and I was going to give him a bath he showed me a new wound on his leg and told me that she had beat him the day before. So when I was bringing him home today there was no one at his homestead and he also started to cry really hard, all day he’d been saying that he didn’t want to go home to his grandmother because he’s scared of her. So as I was asking him questions through a translator, trying to decide what to do, and silently praying about the situation, both the two Swazi women I was with and I decided it would be best if he came with me that night. And I just couldn’t leave him there not knowing what would happen to him that night. As I rode home I was really overwhelmed and confused for a number of reasons. 1. I didn’t want to be mistaken or even fooled about the situation. As in he may be crying and saying that just so I would take him back to my house, because the way I live is much better than the way he lives, why wouldn’t he want to come back? I just want my concern to be real and legitiment.
2. I have to leave him at his homestead sometime, I’m leaving the country on May 9th. I don’t want to make him even more attatched to me and my friends which would only make it harder for him to return home.
3. I’ve had three little 4 and 5 year olds over all weekend, I’m tired. I have plans tomorrow… if I bring him home again I’ll have to worry about him all day. And I’ll never get time to myself.
As I’m thinking each of these thoughts over and over, just being overwhelmed and trying to hide my tears on public transportation I heard very clearly the Lord speaking to me… Bailey, don’t worry about any of that. Don’t let any of those thoughts stop you from doing what I tell you. If you do, that’s not being moved to compassion. Being moved to compassion is giving of yourself sacraficially, not just giving. Doing whatever it takes to serve Me and My children that I love so much, and therefore, that you love so much.
Please pray for this situation. Pray that God would give me wisdom and guide me in what to do. Pray that doors would open up and we would be able to put Siyabonga with another family that will take care of him and love him. Ask that He would be in total control of this situation. That He would give me peace of mind and help me make the right decisions for this young boy.
