The God Who Sees Me

Emma Baxter
Dec 30, 2020
5 min read

"She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: 'You are the God who sees me,' for she said,"I have now seen the One who sees me." Genesis 16 NIV

Hello Dear Friends

It is so long since I last wrote and now it's almost New Year! What a challenging and desperate 2020 it has been for so many and yet we can testify to God being with us every day in so many ways. 2021 has the freshness of new beginnings for me, as South Africa has opened its international borders and I will be moving to Zambia mid January. It was always the plan but the pandemic put it on hold for this year. I am excited to have the opportunity to experience another African country and to join a new team in Zambia.

Highlights for me of the last few months include a week long trip to the Kingdom of Estwatini that was possible again with the open borders. I needed a negative COVID test but otherwise the border crossing was straightforward. It was a great privilege to work with the small team there who had so faithfully kept supporting all the children at the Care Points without the usual assistance from other volunteers because of closed borders. I was deeply moved to see the love that results in clear and committed action to ensure no child is lost.

Naomi is 12 years old and has lost both parents to AIDS and is HIV positive which she contracted from her mother. She was living with her father's family who didn't want her and did not take care to see she took her medication for HIV. The neglect and negative talk around her made her to want to take her own life. Fortunately, her youth and experience caused her to fail but it was clear that something had to be done. There was no hope for her with this family and it would not be long before she was coopted into their small drug trade of growing and suppling marijuana. Naomi lives on the border with Mozambique and the drug trade is the means by which many poor families survive. Praise God that Naomi has an aunt on her mother's side who the Hands at Work team was able to support to make the decision to bring Naomi to her home. This is a deeply humbling act because Naomi's aunt is herself a poor woman with five of her own children she can barely support because there is so little employment in the area. Naomi is very happy in her new home and closer to care from the Hands at Work team. She is also back on her medication and will now have the best chance for better health. The generosity of very poor people to the vulnerable is very challenging, as how ready are we to open up our homes and take full responsibility for a child in need.

Every month Hands at Work teaches from a Bible story that is shared across the world in our international offices and all our African countries with Hands volunteers, Care Workers and children. I am privileged to be part of the team that puts the stories together and our current story is from Genesis 16 and celebrates the story of Hagar and the worth of the African girl. The God Who Sees Me continues to see vulnerable girls and reaches into their desperate plight and despair. I have attached the Hagar Bible story if you want to take the opportunity to read and pray for the African girl who is so easily vulnerable to abuse, neglect, exploitation, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, abandonment and domestic violence. Only God's love can provide real hope.

Four other little girls, that God sees through the faithfulness of his people, received new Christmas clothes to their wonder and delight. Thank you to my church who offered a gift for children for Christmas. New clothes is a Christmas tradition and for very poor families this can be impossible. The photo below of the four little girls in new dresses tells the story of a loving woman in her 80s taking care of two great grandchildren whose parent's have died or abandoned them and two other little girls who were abandoned by her neighbour. The eldest girl was worried about how they would receive some new clothes and her great grandmother said God would provide and so he did. The littlest one is desperately pining for her mother and seeks out lots of comfort.

We are very grateful to all our Care Workers, the local women who volunteer to cook and care for all the children at every Care Point. Our small groups ran Care Worker appreciation days that visiting teams would usually do if they had been able to come to Africa this year. My group surprised Care Workers at the Care Point with lunch, gifts and a foot washing and nail painting pamper session. The ladies were so overjoyed that they burst into singing praises to God all afternoon. See the video below as they wave their painted nails in thanks and happiness. It was such a joy to let them know God sees them, as do we and that they are a tremendous blessing to us.

On a very different note; I am happy to now be driving a manual car. Thank you for the people who prayed I would learn this. Freedom and independence at last! It has been very difficult not to be able to drive but we are back on the road!

Please pray for...

the African girl who desperately needs to know that God sees her and will meet her in her need. Pray she learns her worth from Jesus and not her circumstances that would make her feel devalued. Pray she will make decisions in the hope of escaping that would not make her situation worse but rather put her on the path to healing and abundant life that Jesus has won for her.
South Africa that is experiencing a tremendous increase in COVID cases with a new strain of the virus that is even more contagious. We have returned to lockdown level 3 and need people to be resolved not to gather and abide by the stricter rules again. Pray that the Government has great wisdom for the decisions and management that needs to be enacted. Pray medical facilities would not be overwhelmed and frontline workers protected.
the vulnerable communities we work in across Africa to remain largely COVID free. We praise God for this continuing mercy and protection.
tropical storm Chalane that is threatening Mozambique and Zimbabwe and may cross to other nations. Only last year Mozambique was particularly damaged by cyclone Idai. As always it is the poorest people in the most vulnerable areas with the least housing that are the worse affected. Pray the cyclone dissipates with little destruction in its wake.
my preparations for Zambia, that my work permit comes through, the borders remain open to South Africa and I pass a COVID negative test.

Thank you and God bless you for your continued support and prayers. Love, Emma