If you could see me on the day we started this non-profit, you’d probably laugh. I was so full of naive ideas and—if I’m being honest—a little bit of pride. I looked around at the challenges facing children in South Africa and thought, “This will be easy to fix!”
Well, fast forward a few years, and I’ve learned that running an NPC is actually the fine art of finding solutions where there are no answers and making the best of some very hard realities.
My life has basically become a permanent cycle of “The Big Ask.” I ask people for help, I ask for money, and then I invite you to a function where I’ll definitely be asking you for more money! It’s not always easy to pick up that phone for the hundredth time to ask for a favor or a sponsorship, especially when you’re doing it all for free.
Sometimes it feels like this work takes everything—your sleep, your mood, your time, and every last drop of your energy. And then comes the hard part: the look of disappointment from others when you finally have to say “no” to a baby in need because you simply can’t do it all. People forget that behind the NPC title, I’m still a mother, a wife, a sister, and a friend.
I’ve seen the dark sides. I’ve been in public hospitals where toilet paper is used as a “prop” at the bathtub, even for the sickest kids. I’ve watched children be held back from their families because someone at court just didn’t feel like showing up, and I’ve seen funds meant for protection go toward luxury hotel rooms & sports cars instead.
But here is the point: if I weren’t doing this, I wouldn’t have spent so much time on my knees. I wouldn’t know what it feels like to be completely dependent on a loving, majestic God. I get to sit on the frontline and watch miracles happen every day. I get to meet people and employees who see the worst of the world but choose to be the Light anyway.
We are just vessels, instruments in His hands. He sees it all, He knows it all, and He holds this whole messy, beautiful world—and every child in it—right in His hands. That’s what makes me excited for tomorrow.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the Name of Lord!
