The Website of Miah and Michelle Collins

Two weekends ago, I participated in a weekend that J-life uses every year to get the students to think about the reality that many Africans live in everyday. The weekend started by surprising the J-lifers as they thought we were about to go running, and they came out to where we meet to run. Then, Tara proceeded to tell them that they weren’t running, and that they were going to go through a reality weekend. They weren’t permitted to change, grab any pillows, shoes (if they weren’t wearing any), or anything else. They had to stay just as they were. Then they had to turn their cell phones off and leave them in their dorms. Next, we (I decided to go through this with them) each got given a number and after we chose a number, we were told what that number meant. Each number grouped you into a category of people that are very common in South Africa. We had, the rich, the middle class, the farmers, the street kids, HIV infected, the illegal immigrants, and the illiterate unwed mothers. I was an illiterate unwed mother along with 4 other girls. I made a baby out dirt and a plastic bag, and I had to carry it with me the whole weekend. Now, the J-lifers are told that this thing can go on for however long, maybe a week, maybe longer, depending on their attitudes. This is not true, but I think it was essential to get them into the mindset of surviving in the situation. We were given a paper telling us a little bit about our roles. As illitterate unwed mothers, we couldn’t have a Bible, we each got $1 to survive on for each day (the illegal immigrants and the street kids got nothing).
We could treat the street kids and illegals however we wanted. After this, we were given as a group a couple packets of soup mix, and corn flour to make our dinner over the campfire. We had to go and get water from the “bush camp” which was about 2kilometers away, and we had access to one toilet for about 20 girls. No showers. No toothbrushes. We all had to sleep together in the loft where we shared a small foam mattress for every 3 girls. The next morning, we were woken up at 6am and told we had to go to the store in Balfour. Each of us spent 20 cents (in Rand) for the taxi to get to the store. The catch was that in order to get to the “taxi pickup”, we had to walk to the tar road which is about 10 kilometres away. So we walked with our 8 lb babies for about 2.5 hours. The HIV infected group had one person who was supposed to be really sick, and they had to make a stretcher for her out of sticks and rope and carry her the whole way.

Now, this would never have been accepted with American Youth. Walking this far, making them do without showers, and not letting them know when it will end would almost be a law suit waiting to happen. But I am so grateful that I got to go through this here, and that God let me experience this with girls who are so amazing and resourceful.

So, once we got to the market, we pooled our money together and bought the food for the next two days: 3 loaves of bread, peanut butter, jam, 4 cans of baked beans, and 2 packets of soup mix. This was for 5 girls for 6 meals. Although some people might think that this amount is very little for those many meals, we were actually pretty well off. We have peanut butter and jam sandwiches for 2 meals and then soup and beans for dinner. As you can imagine, all of the groups gave a little bit of money to the street kids and illegals to buy some food for the next couple days. One guy, who was from the town we were in, begged off of people he knew for the illegals and got them some hotdogs for free. That was an incredible act of generosity, because this wasn’t even his group that he was begging for.

Most of the rest of the day we spent discussing the statistics of African children and diseases and other set backs that make it almost impossible for Africans to get ahead in life. So, after two and a half days of this, what did I learn? I learned that tiredness and laziness are a common disease among the poor, and it becomes a continuous cycle.  I learned that it’s really not that bad to live without the incredible luxuries of potato chips, chocolates, and soda, in order for some amazing people who are fleeing for their lives and trying to find work to have a tiny bit to eat for the day. Seriously, it’s not that hard. Did I mention how easy and simple that is?

The last meeting was what really hit me. Many people were sharing their testimonies from the weekend and telling people what they had learned. The biggest thing that affected me was that there were 4 guys who told everyone that what we lived through that weekend was what they lived through every day of their lives as children. Wow. Imagine going through something like this, hearing all these pampered rich people complain that they’re hungry or want to shower so bad, and at the same time reliving some of the reality that you went through when you were little! I still have so much to learn about dependency on the Lord and on humility of Jesus. Jesus probably lived on less than $1 a day. And He is the God of the entire Universe in flesh! K, I don’t need to drive this lesson in any more, I know that this is something that you really have to experience because stories, the millions of stories that we here, never give us that same passion or understanding.

I am continuing to respect and learn from these J-lifers and gain wisdom and insight into the South African culture and the struggles and needs of people in this country, both spiritually and physically. I am grateful for this experience and I ask you to pray with me and for me that God will use this experience in my life and never let me forget it.