Swaziland is the country where people die faster than anywhere else in the world – shockingly, the average Swazi doesn’t ever see 30 years of age. In the middle of it lives Pastor Walter. I first met Pastor Walter three years ago during a large outreach in Swaziland. He was the one pastor who, realizing that something had to be done about his country’s horrific HIV/AIDS problem, stepped up and helped out.
Living in a two room house with his family of six, Walter was troubled by all the pain that he saw going on around him. He knew that there were about 600 children that were going hungry in the area surrounding his church and he knew many would starve as their parents died from AIDS. He had preached about James 1:27 (true religion is to help widows and orphans in their distress), but then God said to him, “What are you going to do about it?”
Walter began organizing the last remaining pillar of society – the grandmothers. “Let’s feed our children,” he told them. They purchased eight large black kettles and began to boil a pot of corn meal mash every day for the kids. He did all this without any white man helping him to organize it and without any outside source of funds.
Yesterday when we talked, his vision had expanded. “I think God wants us to put in place a school, an orphanage, and some projects to support it – a chicken farm and a piggery.”
I was excited – the first day in Africa, I’d felt God speaking to me about helping with a school. Half the Swazi kids can’t go to school because they don’t have the money to pay their school fees. School teachers are respected and can be a great source of godly counsel in a society where the family has completely broken down. It’s a great idea.
I thought, “There’s a man I know who would be perfect for the job of starting this school – I worked with him three years ago.” On the spur of the moment, Pastor Walter and I drove to visit him. He is currently an assistant principal at a nearby school. We had a great meeting. We dreamed together about what it would be like to start a school that raised up young leaders who had in their hearts and minds the keys to saving their nation.
So many meetings like that end in nothing. The good news about Pastor Walter is that he is a man of action. This dream of his has a fighting chance.
I pray that God continues to use such people as Pastor Walter to raise up the young people of the future.
Hooray! Thank you Scott and everybody else who worked on setting up this blog. I’ve been looking for a way to support Pastor Walter and his family of six ever since I read about him on the AIM site. Then my 16 year old daughter had the privilege of meeting him this summer on the ambassador trip to Swaziland.
I believe there are many others out there who will also support him. They just need to know about him and his simple faith. Not all of us can go to Swaziland but we can all spread the word about Pastor Walter and others like him. Just think could be accomplished if we just sent this link to a few friends who might be interested or if we pernsonally told a few people, people we know have a heart for the poor.
Pastor Walter is being Jesus with skin on! I feel very privileged to be able to support him financially and in prayer!