A morning with the refugees

Today was another interesting and new experience. Five of us were at a local Anglican church at 6 AM this morning (that's midnight back home- I thought about making some calls home) to serve breakfast to about 75 refugees who have been displaced by the local xenaphobic attacks. It was a rewarding morning overall and we were able to serve the church well by sorting and organizing all the donation after we finished serving breakfast. In all we worked for about 4 hours there. Going into the morning I wan't sure what to expect. Working with refugees sounds a bit scary or even dangerous. Thankfully, we found the refugees to be the most polite, selfless, and agreeable people we've encoutered here. Most of them are from Congo. If you don't know much about the situation there, its awful to say the least. There is an awful war that has been going on for some time. All of these people fled Congo and even though many have had their lives threatened here in South Africa it is much safer for them here than is is there. Some of the stories were unbelievable. One lady in particualr said that her husband was taken one night when soldiers ransacked their home. She fled the next day with two children and has had no correspondence with him since. She has no idea if he is even alive and has raised their two children by herself, supporting them here in South Africa. They were recently threatened by some other residents in their flat and ahve been living in this church for a week now. The refugess have literally nothing, having fled their flats with only what they can carry and it doesn't appear that they can go home anytime soon. Hopefully we will get some more time with them next week.
In all this has been a great week- I've done something different everyday, but its all been good. It's hard to believe the trip is winding down. We have 4 more days of community work, the retreat with the UKZN students and then our debrief before we head home. Hope all back home are well. Please conitnue to pray that God would use us in all these places of incredible need.