He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.—Psalm 40:2
Abandoned Babies for Christ Ministry was started by Robyn and Gerry Richter more than a decade ago and is located in the mountain village of Bulembu in the northwest corner of Swaziland. HIV/AIDS has decimated the population of the country to less than 1 million, leaving tens of thousands of orphans behind, vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Taking in abandoned and unwanted children from all over the country, Robyn and Gerry are living out their calling and supporting the Bulembu vision of restoring a dying race of Swazi people through education and God’s love, raising up the leaders of the next generation.
Click the image below for the audio slideshow on ABC Ministry.
You need the Flash Player to view this audio slideshow about ABC Ministry in Bulembu, Swaziland, where their vision is to care for the orphans of the country, raising them to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Additional Audio Clips
The Power of Prayer
Robyn tells a story predating ABC, when she and others fed and clothed children in a squatter camp near their home.
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Gerry’s Story
Robyn shares her husband’s story and the cost of following Jesus.
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Thanks
Many thanks to Robyn and Gerry for allowing me into their extremely busy lives to take photos and record their stories. Thanks to the ABC staff for letting me get in their way. Thanks to my wife for her support and assistance in editing the audio and selecting the photos. Most of all, thanks be to God for supporting and sustaining the ABC Ministry.
In early December, the AR team traveled to Bulembu, Swaziland, for a week for the dual purpose of visiting a friend of Allan’s from seminary, Lee-Ann McFarlane, who runs a ministry there that provides early care and education to children ages 2-6, and to check out whether Bulembu could serve as another site to which to send AR interns in the future.
Bulembu is nestled in the highveld of the northwest corner of Swaziland, just over a tiny border crossing from South Africa. It is a beautiful place with a remarkable story—God’s fingerprints are everywhere there.
For decades since the 1930′s, Bulembu was a thriving mining town that produced much of the income sustaining the entire country’s economy. At its height, the town’s 10,000 residents had everything they needed: jobs in the chrysotile mines, homes, an abundance of food, education, ahead-of-the-curve health care facilities, recreation options. The year 2001, however, brought drastic change to the people of Bulembu when the mine shut down. With no prospects economic livelihood, the town was abandoned; it’s as if people just up and left with little notice. For instance, it was eerie to walk through one portion of the old hospital ward and see how x-ray slides were still hanging on x-ray machines as if just used or to hear about how, at the golf course club house, dinnerware was left on tables, drinks left half-finished…one definitely gets the sense that the place, most likely overnight, became a ghost town with few residents left, facing a bleak future.
A few years ago, a team of Christian entrepreneurs and social developers saw the potential of Bulembu and the spirit of its people and, when the town went up for auction after the closing of the mine, purchased the 7,000-acre town with the vision of restoring it, little by little. What one sees today when one visits Bulembu is a picture of God’s redemptive hand at work.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.—Isaiah 58:12
The entire town is a nonprofit, run by Bulembu Ministries Swaziland (BMS), and is infused with the vision of creating a totally self-sustaining community by 2020. For what purpose? More than two-thirds of Swazis living on less than $1 per day and national unemployment is at a staggering rate of 40%; but on top of this, HIVS/AIDS which has ravaged this tiny kingdom. In fact, Swaziland’s HIV/AIDS rate, at 43%, is the highest in the world. The HIV/AIDS problem has left an orphaned population of more than 80,000 children, predicted to grow to 120,000 by 2010. Swaziland is considered a fatherless country, with little male ownership of unwanted babies and a frightening lack of male leadership and positive role models. Taking a business-based approach, BMS has the vision to make Bulembu completely self-sustaining in order to care—physically, emotionally and spiritually—for Swaziland’s orphans. By 2020, this little town has the vision to care for at least 2,000 vulnerable girls and boys, taken in from all over the country, and to rear these children as the next godly leaders of Swaziland.
Today, although the mine remains inactive, the town is beginning to grow. The population has increased from just 100 people to more than 1,000, more than 500 jobs have been created, buildings occupied by local cows and birds are being renovated and occupied and several industries—including timber, honey, bottled water, an arts & crafts gift shop and the Bulembu Lodge—have been established to contribute to the vision of self-sustainability. BMS acts essentially as a umbrella ministry, overseeing the overall progress of the town’s mission, while other ministries, including Lee-Ann’s, work in cooperation to care for and ultimately rear the children of Bulembu.
While it took us a few days to get our heads wrapped around this very unique, totally unconventional place, I continue to ponder why I consider Bulembu a very special place. Death is necessary for rebirth. We see that all over the Scriptures and of course most poignantly in Christ’s death and resurrection and His gift to us of new life. In Bulembu, we saw for ourselves a picture of a town’s physical death, necessary for God to start from scratch rebuilding and reconstituting a place, wholly in His name. Bulembu is a place where the Lord’s work has full permission to reign, and to an outsider, this is clearly felt. For me and Nate, God’s mighty redemptive touch was most obviously seen in the lives of the children there (watch one story of a Bulembu ministry, Abandoned Babies for Christ). Additionally, the community there, though we’re aware it has not always been easy, is genuine; and the ways in which the missionaries and ministries work side-by-side as collaborators and not competitors is something for which to praise God. The people we met and spoke with were always candid with us that Bulembu is a work in progress and that they, admittedly, are figuring it out as they go, trusting God’s direction and provision. I am thankful for our week in Swaziland, enjoying the beauty of that country but most especially the beauty of God’s work unfolding, simply by His grace and by the obedience of followers of Jesus.
If you’re interested in learning more about Bulembu, we encourage you to visit the town’s website and, in particular, watch the town’s video.
I’ve had the sense for the past few weeks that my understanding of God’s kingdom is growing. Seeing and experiencing so many different things here has given me a greater sense of how big God is and how no matter how I may try to put God in a box, that box can never be big enough.
About a month or so ago we went to hear a man named Myles Monroe speak at a church in Pretoria. The place was packed with people of all colors, and he delivered a powerful message about the kingdom of God (or the kingdom of heaven). It was then that I began thinking about the part of the Lord’s Prayer that goes, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It blew my mind to think of the kingdom of God advancing throughout the earth, instead of being some far off place we go to when we die. I imagine it being a lot like the United Kingdom going around back in the day conquering lands and adding to their territory. But of course the King of the kingdom of God is a true King, not a ruthless tyrant. He is one that is worthy to wield so much power, dominion and authority; one who truly deserves worship and reverence and awe; one that leaves His subjects with no choice but to fall flat on our faces when in His presence. In other words, the kingdom of God is nothing like the U.K. or any other earthly kingdom. Instead of brute force and might, the kingdom spreads through this earth with love. And it’s not some kind of mystical or magic love; it’s real, tangible love spread by God’s ambassadors: Christians.
I’ve witnessed God’s kingdom coming on earth as we’ve gone out with the Powerhouse team to bring food to the poor each week. We visit a lot of sad situations. But each week those situations are improving and it’s nothing short of God’s doing. This last week we witnessed a lot of things that convinced me God is at work. For instance, we’ve been visiting a house where there’s a man with one leg, two or three gogos with various health issues and a slew of tenants that live behind the house that don’t know what to do and are often overwhelmed by the situation.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. —Jesus in Matthew 13:44
One of the gogos, Johanna, is blind. The first time we met her it was at the banquet for the disabled and elderly. She had to be carried in and helped around. We started visiting her and praying with her, and every week she’d report some kind of improvement. One week she was not only walking but dancing around and singing. Truly, despite ups and downs, God is working on her body. Then this past week, she reported to us that she can see! Her vision is still cloudy but she could tell Rebecca exactly what she was wearing and that she had white skin. It was a true miracle seeing the scales literally fall off her eyes, and I believe God will keep working in her body and her life until she can fully see…and He won’t stop there. There are many other issues related to ancestral worship, her past as a sangoma (a witch doctor) and other things that need prayer; but God will continue to work in her life, bringing His Kingdom and His will to this earth. What a privilege it is to be a part of that.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. —Jesus in Matthew 13:45-46
I just want to say that God is big. He’s bigger than any concept we can possibly imagine. Yet He loves every one of us individually so much that He knows the number of hairs on our head. He loves us all so much that He risked everything by becoming a tiny, helpless baby born into a world full of hostility toward Him. While on earth he spent His time healing people of their diseases, telling people about the kingdom of God and trying to prepare His disciples to take over after He was gone. I want to be a disciple, bringing His kingdom on earth. I want to believe in miracles. I want to let God be God. I want to let myself reflect His image, instead of making God into something that reflects my image. I want to know about this kingdom of God that Jesus speaks more of than any other subject during his public ministry.
As we visited the last house this past week, I prayed for a 23-year-old orphan named Colin and his grandmother. As I did, I could feel the love of God coming to that place. As God gave me the words to pray, I could sense His kingdom invading whatever darkness was there. I could almost hear the shackles of poverty rattling loose. When I finished praying, I could see the change on that young man’s face as tears welled up and he thanked us for coming to see them. As I walked back to the car, trying to keep myself together, I knew we had experienced a small piece of the kingdom of God.
If you’re still wanting more, Allan recently preached a great sermon at the Powerhouse on the kingdom of God—click the button below to listen.
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UPDATE (12/7/2008) – See the video of the graduation below where one of the students, Nelly Makhubela, gives a speech followed by singing and dancing.
The past three months of teaching the first web design course at the Powerhouse has flown by. I am very proud of the 11 students who graduate today and of the websites they created! It’s great to see how far they’ve progressed from the first class until now. Most had never even spent much time on the web, let alone designed a web page. Now they can all create web pages, including using CSS! I look forward to seeing how they use the skills they’ve acquired in the course.
Please check out the class website where all their sites are displayed. Some of them include their emails on their site, so feel free to send them a note of encouragement.
