At around lunch time whilst
chatting to a friend at The Gables in Ezulwini, a rather panicked, and crazed looking guy came up to us and started
telling us how he forgot his bag on a kombi, and that this bag was his life,
blah blah blah. He was just so distraught, but at the same time his story did
sound a bit surreal. My friend Thabiso eagerly offered MY help, since I had a
car and was going in the same direction. The plan was to chase down this white
kombi (yes there are a few thousand white kombis in Swaziland) and try to get
his bag back. Since my help was
volunteered, I had to go along. As we walked to the car, my friend Thabiso
changed his mind as he wasn’t sure about this random guy, who looked a bit
scruffy to say the least. He decided that he should come along to make sure
that this guy’s story checked out.
In my mind I was like “Oh Boy”
there goes the rest of my day, my fuel, and my time. I also have pressing problems;
I got issues that need my attention. Despite my reservations, as well as my
annoyance at having my time and car commandeered, I decided to help. We set out
from The Gables in Ezuwini towards the direction of Mbabane. Thabiso decided to
interrogate this guy, and his story was just a bit shady, and inconsistent. I
thought to myself that this guy had just scored a free ride back to Mbabane. On
our 14km drive to Mbabane we waved down 4 white kombis, each time the guy
frantically jumped out of the car to try and find out if it was the correct
kombi. On all four stops we were unsuccessful in finding this mystery bag. It
became clear that we would need to do a search of white kombis at the Mbabane
bus rank, and who knew how long this would take. Being the realist I began telling
my new friend that though it was possible we would locate his bag (if there
really was one), he should also prepare himself for the alternative happening. He
then started telling me that his ticket back to the US was in that bag, his
passport, cash, as well as a laptop which held 8 months worth of research that
he had been conducting in 14 different African countries, the reason why he was
in Swaziland as his last stop. For the first time since this fiasco started I
started to feel for the guy. I secretly prayed that we would find the elusive
white kombi and this guy’s stuff. After
about a 20min search, Thabiso and our new friend (who later introduced himself
as David) were able to find the kombi, AND the bag.
It was such a relief, I was
genuinely happy, and forgot my initial misgivings. As we returned to The Gables
in Ezulwini, (yes David was still with us) I remembered my little prayer
earlier in the day. A short simple sentence. I realised that there are always opportunities
for us to do good, because God has already ordained it. He has already equipped
me to be His agent of change. All He requires of me is to be open, ready and
willing to be used by him. David was incredibly grateful that we would take
time out of our day, and help him, a complete stranger to the extent that we
did. He said that his faith mankind had just been restored.
I was touched, and realised that I
also needed to repent of my initial attitude to helping him out. It was a
lesson learnt – Always be willing to HELP! It’s an eternal seed that you sow,
whose rewards you cannot even begin to fathom.
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