As we are preparing to leave for Swaziland, my heart and thoughts are often reflecting on my time there on a vision trip in 2009. I am so excited to go back, hoping to see many familiar faces; saddened by the reality that many of those faces (young and old) will be missing upon my return. Some of them may have moved, physically. More likely, however, the ones I look for and don’t find will have been taken due to starvation or the disease of AIDS. My heart aches just thinking of this…but dying and death are harsh truths in the community we are entering in to serve.
One of the faces I will be looking for is of a beautiful young girl, Nmcebo. We met on my second morning at the carepoint in Nsoko, and she was by my side for the rest of my time there. She was my “sisi”, my sister, my friend. We spent many moments, walking and talking. Nmcebo had dreams…she loved going to school…she hoped to be a nurse. She told me her ‘papa’ had died the previous year. Her mother worked hard cleaning houses to support the family. She told me that she loved Jesus and knew that He loves her even more than her parents did…”which is so much”.
One of the other women in our group, who had been to Swaziland several times before, had told me to ask one of the girls to give me a Siswati name. At the end of the week, I asked Nmcebo if she would give me the name. She smiled and said she would have to think it over. Later in the day, she came to me and wrapped her arms around me. “I have your name!” She looked up into my eyes and placed her warm hands on either side of my face and said: “Your Siswati name is Mbali. It means ‘flower’.” She went on to tell me that she chose that name for me because I was “tall” and “beautiful”. Tears ran down my face, wetting both my cheeks and her tender fingers. It touched me so deeply, that she would bless me with such a precious name. A name that my own mother had been calling me all of my life…in my own language: “a precious flower”. God put that name in Nmcebo’s heart and on her lips; a gift for me as I had to say good-bye to a little girl who I grew to love as my own. A little girl who surprised me on my last morning in Nsoko by hitching a ride to the guest house where our team was staying. We had one last hug and good-bye. I prayed over her, asking the Lord to keep her and bless her; protect her and sustain her. I told her I hoped to come back one day. She didn’t have words to respond to that…I’m sure she had heard that promise before.
I am so grateful that God is allowing me to return to Swaziland. That He is calling my family to join Him in His work there. I am eager to seek out her face. I want to introduce her to my own little girl. I will ask Nmcebo to give Claire her own Siswati name…once they have time to get acquainted and know one another like good friends. Sisters. Forever…Ngiyakutsandza Nmcebo!!
Nmcebo and her beautiful mama…
