Shocking!

While Bryan and I were driving home from Jo-burg, I decided to help him do a little brainstorming about some topics he could use for his high school and middle school chapel presentations. I was thinking it may be a good idea just to help the kids put themselves in someone else's shoes. Such as thinking about their morning, where they slept, where they got their water, and how they got to school, etc and then compare that to Elijah's friend, Luky. So we asked Luky if we could take a few pictures of him and of his house. I knew he did not have much but the pictures Bryan brought back were just shocking.



Luky has to walk to the community well pump and get enough water for himself and his nephew, as well as his neighbor whom is his sister, her husband and her daughter. He goes once a day to fill 4 containers and then wheels them back home.



This is a picture of Luky's home. There are no windows, but once you see inside you realize that there is no need for windows. There is a lot of light shining through all the holes in his walls.



He sleeps on a blanket on the dirt floor and he uses a wheelbarrow for a closet to keep his few articles of clothes. He has no bathroom or running water indoors and uses an outhouse and has to borrow a wash basin that he carries from his sister's house. They have no money for heat so he never has a warm bath and his house gets freezing cold in the winter.



He has a nice garden area where he can grow some vegetables. His sister is out of work and his brother-in-law is struggling to find work so they live with very little money.

I am so glad that God has laid him on my heart and that we are able to provide him a little work each week as he really needs it. He lives in a tin shack with his younger cousin. He is 13 years old with no parents to care for him. His sister is busy with her 2 kids and is unable to do much for him and they often have disagreements. But, Luky has an easy smile and a gentle spirit. He is kind, honest and good and he has hope that God can give him a good life. The pictures I thought were just to help with a little presentation left me with much to think about as these are not just pictures of some poor kid growing up in Africa, these are pictures of my friend Luky whom I spend a lot of time talking to and sharing my soccer ball with each week.