World Impact

Project Reports

"His name is Mbendulu. I will never forget the day I met him. Our team had been doing home visitations in the community of Jemba in Swaziland. On this day, my group had hiked uphill for two hours before we finally came upon a homestead. The father there was almost blind and his wife told us that they were very poor. As i sat there, wishing there was something I could do, I remembered the two small apples in my pack. I pulled them out and handed them to the mage (SiSwati for mother).

The smile of appreciation that spread across her face is something I'll remember forever. It was all I could do to hold back tears on my silent walk back down the hill. Feelings of helplessness swept over my body and soul, and my heart cried out to Jesus asking him why. No answer came.

Later that day, when our group met up with the rest of the team, I quietly took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and found some shade in between the cars. It was not until i took the first bite that the tears were finally able to come. I put my head on my knee and wept, unable to eat anything more. I noticed a small boy watching me. This was Mbendulu. I waved him over to me, and he asked me why I was crying. Words would never explain what I was feeling. It was in that moment a tear rolled down my cheek. Mbendulu reached up and brushed away my tear with his finger and said, "Please stop crying. It will be ok." I sat there and couldn't help but think that, in that moment, God was brushing my tear away too. Then the clarity came. Through this boy, God was telling me that when i cry He cries with me, yet He is in complete control."

Kaitlin Nichols. 2007