Knowledge is real...

Who is Knowledge?

Is she a beautiful, bright eyed, articulate, 16 year old in the eleventh grade? Is she a an orphan who has lost her mother and her father to HIV/AIDS? Is she a child? Is she alone in the world? Is her only source of income renting out her government supplied 1 room brick house to two men for less than $10 a month? Has she been raped repeatedly over the course of two years by her step-father? Is she trapped?

The answer to all of these questions is YES.

Today I met Knowledge, and I will never forget her.

Who is Knowldege?

She is a child...a child without anyone to turn to. A child who lives in fear. A child who sleeps at her neighbors home for protection. A child who does not want to be alone.

Today was one of the most difficult, emotional days of my life. Knowledge's story is told time and time again in the "villages" of South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, and Ethiopia. I know that many will read this and will be saddened by thought of Knowledge and all those like her. I want you to know that to be saddened is not enough. It is time to effect change for children like Knowledge.

I walked into children's homes today and I saw and experienced pain and sadness unlike anything that most of us reading this will ever know. Children, as young as 13, who have lost their parents to a disease they don't understand, caring for siblings, who may die from the same disease that has taken their parents.

I typically don't cry, I tend to be non-emotional. Today I cried in every household that we visited. If you want to know where the heart of God is, I can you tell you, the heart of God is at Knowledge's home. He is in her community. This is where the Kingdom of God is. This is where He calls us to minister.

These are not light words. They're not intended to be. I want you to understand and feel the tension that exists. Today in the homes of children I felt trapped. I was over-whelmed. This is not make believe. This is non-fiction.

Knowledge is real.

-greg