Nsoko, Swaziland, is a small town in one of the most desolate and impoverished places in Africa, with nearly an entire generation lost to AIDS. From May 7 to June 1, 17 George Fox University students lived and worked with Adventures in Mission Ministries, which runs a medical clinic in Nsoko and many neighborhood care points for AIDS orphans throughout the area.
Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS positive rate in the world, with well over 100,000 orphans, many living in child-headed households. The George Fox May Serve team members staffed nine orphan care points during their stay, giving the regular volunteers, usually older women in the neighborhoods, a much-needed break.
“We want to bless these regular volunteers,” said Andrea Crenshaw, university director of outreach and service, before the team left Newberg. Some team members brought nail polish and lotion along so they could give manicure parties for the volunteers, a way of caring for the hands that care for so many.
At the care points, team members serve food and play with the children. In the afternoons, the women on the team spend time with teenage girls, and the men work with a soccer ministry, assisted by co-leader Peter Luginbill, a George Fox alum who helped with soccer ministry in South Africa as a member of the ’09 May Serve team. Pre-med or nursing students help as needed at the medical clinic.
The students regularly met with Crenshaw during spring semester. They made tentative plans, but also prepared themselves to listen, learn, and change. “I believe all short-term teams should go into a trip with the mindset of what it means to be a learner and trust the work of the Holy Spirit,” says Crenshaw. “If this were to happen, I believe more lives would be enriched, moved and changed for the Kingdom, both on the giving and receiving end.”
As they prepared for their time in Swaziland, team members were encouraged by the 84 people who attended the May Serve alumni reunion during Homecoming in February. Special guests included volunteer coordinators who had worked with past teams in Brazil and the Philippines and Mr. Gezer Garcia, who was ministered to by the ’98 Serve team to Brazil and put his trust in Christ during their stay.
Since 1996, more than 300 students have traveled the world to participate in the May Serve program, traveling to Brazil, India, Nepal, Cuba, Jamaica, Romania, the Philippines, Malawi, Thailand and South Africa. To find out ways you can support future teams please contact Andrea Crenshaw or at 503.554.2323.
