On today’s episode of “Build Relationships. Break Poverty.” we are sitting down with Eswatini’s Senior Manager of Programs, Bheki Motsa. Bheki is one of three senior managers, oversees all HopeChest programs, and carries an instrumental position in all of the growth and development of work being accomplished in Eswatini. He completed training in the Swazi Leadership Academy, and is now one of Matt Gerber’s “right-hand staff.” In this episode, Bheki candidly shares about his childhood and how he joined HopeChest staff, discusses different religions in Eswatini, and illustrates how HopeChest programs are transforming lives.
On today’s episode of “Build Relationships. Break Poverty.” we are sitting down with Eswatini’s Senior Manager of Programs, Bheki Motsa. Bheki is one of three senior managers, oversees all HopeChest programs, and carries an instrumental position in all of the growth and development of work being accomplished in Eswatini. He completed training in the Swazi Leadership Academy, and is now one of Matt Gerber’s “right-hand staff.” In this episode, Bheki candidly shares about his childhood and how he joined HopeChest staff, discusses different religions in Eswatini, and illustrates how HopeChest programs are transforming lives.
Hi, I'm Rick Wright and today I'm sitting down with us what the senior manager programs begging Motsa. Peggy is one of three senior managers overseeing all hope just programs and carries an instrumental position all the growth and development of work being accomplished in Swat, teeny in partnership with adventures in missions. He completed his training in Swazi Leadership Academy is now when a Matt Gerber's righthand staff. In our conversation, becky candidly shares about his childhood and how he joined hope chest. Staff, discusses different religions in syt then illustrates how hope chest programs are transforming lives. Let's dive in.
Speaker 2:They activate especially with the people so that you could see the change coming on fire and young people being passionate about serving Gordon, standing out against whatever that is
Speaker 3:today in their feminism, in their communities.
Speaker 4:Welcome to build relationships, break poverty, a podcast that challenges the Western perception of international poverty by elevating the voices of local leaders and processing how we can help to alleviate poverty without harming those living in vulnerable communities. We are children's hope chest and we believe that building two way relationships will break the cycle of poverty.
Speaker 3:Becky, a what a blessing it is to have you with us today. Tell us a little bit about you, your background. Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me here and enjoying it. So I grew up in resident. I've lived in Switzerland, my mind, my whole life. So I grew up in a town called love for me. So in the southern part of Switzerland, I was raised by my grandma because my parents got me. When those students school, my dad was able to continue with school. My mom had to drop out of school and raised me on her own. Uh, actually my, my dad kind of denied through Hepa three's parents so that he, he could continue with school. So I only knew. I've met my dad for the first time when I was six. So that is why I grew up with my grandmother from my mother's side. My mother asked me when I was still young up to maybe two years then she had to go and look for jobs and everything like that. So I just grew up with my grandma when I was growing up. One of the things that happened is that because I was staying with my grandma, they went in a lot of creates, so most of the time I would just spend my time alone does a point in time where I was asking myself, do I really have parents or a wide, you know, and I would even sing some songs that suggest that maybe I'm in offer or something like that. Yeah. So already at five at age five, I was looking cattle before going to school. I started school and all us preschool analysts, six and seven, and I went to grade last eight. Yeah, but before that out or lady looking after care, I'll go to the mountains and spend the whole day. They're just having fun. So that's where I became more independent in that
Speaker 5:became independent life. And your walk with Christ. Tell us a little bit about that. My, my, my grandmother was a
Speaker 2:prayerful woman. I mean she was a believer, so one of the things that she instilled in me, it's, it's believing in God, believing that when you pray then something will happen. I think that stuck in my in my lap because she would pray when her kids were not home. She'll like, they'll go for man's or sometimes for years when there's something wrong with them, she'll pick it up in the spirit and then she will call us together to pray for that specific one, even to pray that they come home and then few weeks later they will come and then share with us then for us as children or be surprised that wow, premarital sex. I think that's the standard that she said within me. So when our school, just after Grade Eight, I started being involved in all sorts of things that young people do. Teenagers do. More or less. Getting into those kinds of things is demar. I could feel that I'm steering away from the standard, that migraine mindset in my life. Then that's when I felt I really need to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. I pushed for that. I mean, I accepted Christ on my own after I decided that the kind of life that I'm living now, it's just not good for me and I really need Christ to help me out of A. I wasn't doing a lot of bad things but are struggling inside. That's what helped me.
Speaker 5:You want to think about the people in our lives, the family members that have had such an impact on us in behind closed doors, praying for us. Your story of that, your grandmother had a lot of impact on your life, so jumping ahead a little bit. Hope chest. How'd you go and get involved with hope chest?
Speaker 2:I started in 2007. Just volunteering as a translator for short term, short term mission teams. I'm still doing school. Then I was actually at the university studying bachelor of science, majoring in math and chemistry, but in my church I was very active so some missionaries used to come there, so during my school breaks out, go and work with those teams were just evangelizing, visiting hospitals, those kinds of things. Before then I was in so much exposed to ministry because I've been doing school, I've been, you know, just thinking I'm going to be a scientist when I'm in school, I don't have time to, for people for anything, you know, but working with them it exposed me to so many things that were going around in my own community and I felt like there's so much that I need to do to reach out to people. So because of that impact that they are visiting head on me, I started doing more of visiting people and just sharing the gospel and that kept growing. It went up until 2009. That's when the jumbo or Mountain Creek approached me and asked me if I can join the staff full time. And that was before 2009. I used to, every time there's a break, hold outgoing wreck with them for sometimes three months, sometimes two months depending on how on what's going on or what they're doing. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Well, it was great talking to Matt and you know, getting his passion for the shepherds and you are on the ground floor of what the shepherds program is today. Correct. What was the program called when it first started? It was cool.
Speaker 2:The Group of seven local staff or swazis that way, moving around doing discipleship. So they were called a discipleship team. We call them d team, so when I joined in 2010, I became part of that team which was called the d team. There were already some key points that the way of visiting throughout the week, but when I joined there were about four new key points that we're going to be introduced. Then jump on creek. I'm asked Ms Dot specifically to help discipling those new care points. That was wholly and my feminine and bad. Those are the key points that I started discipling. At most of them there was just nothing that Bush and the kids wasn't used to. People coming to them and sharing anything with them. So.
Speaker 5:And your focus was discipling the kids? Yes, and some of the parents were certainly. We're open to the gospel. Yes.
Speaker 2:Some of them are open, some of them didn't know what that was about, but there wasn't that much resistance because of the poverty levels. I think people would just accept anything that looked like it's going to help be helpful to their children.
Speaker 5:Can you tell us a little bit about the religions that are in Swazi? It's pretty varied, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. The the colon is the. That's the traditional one. People believing in ancestors I'm in Christianity is acceptable. It's not acceptable all over the country, but the problem is that so as this think I can serve God, I can worship God but still do my ancestor like honor my ancestors and because they're like, no, you can't. If you forsake your ancestors then you are. According to them. It's like you are forsaking your own college, our own origin or something like that. I mean it doesn't make sense to them that I can be fully committed to go the liver side. My ancestors feel like that's your roots, so that's the big thing, but now they are other cars. We call them as it's the C, W, I mean they'd believe in or trust periods and then this all kinds of ironies, uh, who most of them they read the Bible I would say without understanding and then they'll do traditional healing and all those kinds of things. And then of course the last few years we've had a lot of Muslims coming in for a long time. We didn't have problems with the Muslims or the high faith or anything like that. It's been the is and traditional healing like religions that believe in traditional healing and ancestral worship. Those were the things that have been therefore, but the gospels beginning and France has been getting in, in southern, it's a free country and fortunately that is allowing even the other religions too to come in. But a lot of people are bringing in the Gospel in the Gospel is preached everywhere is bringing. Yeah, the platform is always there. So back to the shepherds. So you're involved with our programs, the Swazi Leadership Academy, right? Did you go through the academy? Yes. Two Thousand and 10. I was discipling the kids, said the care point up until beginning of 2011. Then in May of 2011, I went to do the leadership training for six months in South Africa and I came back end of the year. Then beginning of 2012 we started recruiting students for the leadership academy and then my role then was to us to mentor them. I mean I went with them to the training for eight months. I was on staff with a discipleship program in South Africa. Then 2015. The first group that was going to go to the key points, I was mentoring them and then designing the program, the weekly program for them and also making sure that other than them pouring into kids at the camp, but they also develop spiritually and personally. That was my role. Tell us a little bit about the shepherds today. It's amazing how good is helping us grow the program and the impact that is. I mean they change that has been happening in them and then the impact that they've had in their own communities. The the big thing for me or the most amazing thing for me about the Shabbat is that when we recruit them, sometimes it feels like I wonder if this person will get in a way. I'm in this. Some of them are. I mean it's such a mess, if you can call it that way, is that it's very hard for you to believe that maybe something, but over the years God has shown me that there's nothing that is beyond His mercy and His grace and there's nothing that is beyond his ability to transform your life and as he has been transforming them, it has been impacting me a lot. I mean to believe that nobody's is junk or is worth being thrown our way. That all year with nothing good has been transforming them and through the training that they get. Especial in the fist year was the leadership academy. It's a three year apprenticeship. When they come back, it's amazing how the seed things differently and they just confront all the ungodly things that are going on in their own communities and even in their churches. They live that. They bring in there because in some of our judges we, we do worship God, but I feel like we, we have so much of this victim mentality that even in our approach of worshiping God, we feel like we've done so much wrong that I don't deserve this. I don't deserve that, but when this one come, I mean they just sort of and everything and the activity, especially the young people so that you could see them coming on fine young people being passionate about serving Gordon, standing against whatever that is in their families and their communities. So that is so much fulfilling for me to see in so much encouraging to see in our communities because that's how I know that this is sort of your change. If they can change themselves first and then give themselves to peers, you God within their own communities and commit themselves to, to seeing other lives being changed. Whatever it takes to see that happen. They're just committed to it. I mean, they're just fulfills my heart boy pills, my heart and I think about it because one of the other aspects that I saw firsthand, I know it's a passion
Speaker 5:of yours, is the sports programs. Talk to me about the sports programs, soccer, football, uh, in America. Football's different as, as I was working with some of the kids in Swazi, they were kicking around in American football and I say, well, wait a minute, let me show you how to play American football. And we had such a great time, but tell us a little bit about the impact on the kids and the community through the sports programs. Yeah.
Speaker 2:People in I way in the world, they love sports, so we're using that as a tool to reach out to them. We just, the sports program is a, it's a, it's a discipleship program, but through sports. So we, we, we gather together, we do and we laugh with the people are there and then use that, that sports with a soca or whether it's whatever, that people love to apply it into a real life situations. And then when we apply that into real life situations and then we start bringing in the gospel and bringing in the aspect of a god wanting to to change as an wanting to make us the best into what we are passionate about, which is sports. So it's amazing to see the approach. For me, it's unique because after a long time, especially in Swaziland, people have had a negative perception to add sports, especially Christians that know it's ungodly. This so much bad habits that kids learn out there. But our approach in the program, it's called Sports for Christ in our organization, our approach, they come there, we, we do clean staff. We would talk. We don't use bad language for anything. I mean we were family, we were brothers and sisters. We love one another. If, if there are issues, I mean we solve them the godly way and it's amazing how the kids starts to understand that, oh, I can still make this thing a positive thing because when they've been loving it, especially those that are part of the church or Christians, they've had an issue that, I mean, I love this, but how can I develop myself into more into it because everybody's stroking Baylor, but sports and everything, but after introducing these discipleship making tool, using sports, I mean it is make them to just reach out to many places which are typically just a normal church cannot reach out to because when you bring what they love, then they accept you and then you go failed and then you, you end up bringing in the gospel and they easily accepted because you brought it through something that they are passionate about.
Speaker 4:Thank you for listening to this episode of build relationships, break poverty. Did you know that we have an online store? You can help us spread the word about our organization by using one of our hope chest mugs or shirts. When you purchase an item from our online store, you support hope, chests work of empowering thousands of vulnerable children, their families and their communities. Visit store dot hope chest.org to shop today.
Speaker 5:Yeah. I guess I want to back up. You work for Matt. He's the country director in Swazi. Tell us a little bit at a touch sensors on your role wearing multiple hats. You do many things. Tell us your, your, your key role. What's a. what's a day, a normal day for you look like? There's no such thing as a normal day.
Speaker 2:Yeah. My my day and my role as a senior manager for programs. Okay. Pistol fall in that role, I oversee all the programs under me. The four managers were overseeing different programs, what could the leadership development manager and then therefore programs under that which is SLA, music, ministry, sports and this. The ambassadors of hope, which is also leadership training. Then this marketing and media. We just also ended that. Then there's the administration and then the last one is point development and that's all. That's way all the couple of community relations and the Cape on discipleship. I'm in the day to day activities at the falls under, so those people are important to me. Just a noma if this anything like that. In normal day in my role it's, it is split between administrative work at the office because I do more of strategizing around the programs that we do and also designing staff, making sure that the programs that I live in, wherever we are presenting them and whoever is in is being impacted by the program if they somehow live is. And also I do a lot of coaching to the managers but also just to the staff in general because a, there's the program side, there's the operation side. The operations is more about implementing whatever has been designed on the program side. So for me I do a lot of going back and forth, you know, coaching, making sure that the focus is more on transforming people other than just passed me and programs and projects because the heart of our ministry is changing. It's not just doing programs, so doing project. So what keeps me going back and forth between the operations and the project. Still making sure that we don't take in by focusing on the projects as in just project so my day is Split Between Administrative Work and coaching and then a lot of meetings with the staff, with different staff members. I also do a lot of, you know, just personal coaching or I'll say personnel mentoring. When people have issues a I easily see through and then get pushed to the core of what's the root cause of whatever problem that they're going through and then help them to think that thinking of ways to either overcome that or to solve whatever that is. Giving them that time to solve problems for people, but I held them in the process of thinking what can be the best solution around this problem that I have, but also on their work. I help them with. Especially with the mentality when they're doing stuff that is challenging. Just twisting the mentality in approaching it from a place of knowing that it this is, this can be possible, or if you cannot figure it out now, they could be more different options. So just give yourself time or reach out to different people. And See, so for me it's more about the positivity in approaching anything that people are doing. So my ad advising and advisory role in my mentoring role, it's more about helping people being positive. And I come back to the sports analogy in the word that keeps coming to me as his coach. You're a coach or a mentor. You know, you touched my heart yesterday a little bit when you sort of talking about care points impacting communities, communities impacting care points. Can you tell us a little bit about that as you see? It's, it's both, right? A key point. It's a place where kids, um, that, uh, I would say that are considered good for nothings in the community. That's where they go. But because of the ministry that we're on, that's where, that's a place where they find hope and a place where they find God. That's the place where they fund direction for their labs. So as that has been happening, these kids have been given a harp and they've been actually have. They are value in Christ and as as they've been growing and understanding that I'm vulnerable to God a might not have parents or I might have been rejected in life, but I've got value and I can do something positive about my life as they grow in that confidence. They go to their families, they go to their schools and friends and then they, they impact those people positively just by being confident in, in their bright future that they have in God, you know, and in the transformation that God is doing in their labs that just springs a huge impact because it changes the perception. People are like, wow, these people are this, these kids are changing. Then not just a useless people that are going to Norway, but I've got no one to add to ppt or you know, those kind of things that people think when you, you don't have anything. So that is influenced the community to stat valuing the Cape One more because in the past people, I mean they did not care about whatever that was going on at the care point. But then now it brings them more because there's more that the kids are, and I'm in, in terms of the programs that the kids are doing and the projects that are happening are the key points that are also a way of bringing the community on board. Uh, they find a reason now to come and work together towards improving. I'm into, towards making their own community to be abreast community that they can live in and they discover a lot of, I mean giftings from different people that, oh, this one has lived it in this or I've got this potential, I'm in a, I've got this talent. That's where people discover themselves. And so the key point has become a place where people are just discovering things that they've never thought about themselves. Whether it's acute or whether it's an older person, you know, who's done many parents that are impacted by the change that they've seen in their kids. And they would come closer. Some of them, they've even received Christ because of seeing the change in their kids.
Speaker 3:That's impact. That's it right there. I like what you were saying, discover themselves. And then the community started to embrace, had one time they probably say the care point, what's a care point? It's over here. But then they're starting to really engage. You know, we're talked to Matt a little bit about Swazi. We talk about obstacles. We've got a, you know, we've got this issue with a drought that we've been praying will end. What are some of the other obstacles you see in Swazi when we try to help orphaned kids needs impoverished kids? What are some of the other obstacles that are out there? I think some of the biggest I've stay close is
Speaker 2:a, I'd say minutes there. Polaroid mentality that is so much ingrained in the older generation because the younger ones that are looking up to those. So that mentality, it is making people to be, you know, like to be incarcerated in the, in a box where they feel like nothing will ever go. Right. And that makes them to be an an negative role models to the youth that is upcoming. And that is causing a lot of abuse towards children because people, they just feel like, I don't have these. I don't have that, so I've got an excuse to do whatever to a child or to steal if things are not going right, I can keel for me. All those things that people do to other people. It's because of this victim mentality because of the poverty, you know, the strong poverty that people have grown up, you know, when you feel like. I mean it's so dry around me when I'm growing up. You feel like, I mean, anything that can make me maybe get something to now do you know, even if it's killing someone or even if it's abusing someone or even if it's still informed someone. I mean, to me that's, that's a big obstacle to positive development of the young upcoming generation, but with what we're doing. I mean we were making so much progress in shifting that mindset. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, it's interesting because then changing the narrative, you just set it right there. That's the biggest obstacle. You know, donors, sponsors, all of us. We continue to pray for Swazi, you know, and you see miracles right in front of your every day. Tell us a story of something you've seen recently where God's hand, you know, they laugh at me, but he was, you know, my mom, you say it was a god wake is like, what happened here?
Speaker 2:Wow Man, his name is. He's put down. He used to be a key point I think before I joined, he was part of the leadership academy is I, but before that he was just a point key. He lost both parents, so just after finishing high school, he, he, he told us that I want to join this program, so please in my care point I want to be the one going to the training so that I can come back and invest in my own care point. Before joining the program was very shy, very reserved a bit as us part of the program just came alive and it was such a, an amazing leader. I mean in whatever that is happening, who just take the need. A miracle that I've seen out of the change that has taken place in his life is that after finishing a, his commitment with sla, he, he, he'd discovered along the process that you wanted to be a nurse. So after finishing his commitment, he applied for a nursing school in January and then the school starts in August, so between January and August while he was waiting to hear if the medium, they did admit him and then he did all the interviews, you know, all those that have been admitted, the they have to go through Senate interviews with some of them are eliminated. So he did all the interviews up until the last one. But when it did the last one, I mean they just, they never came back to him. So what he did, he, he went after hearing from other people that, you know, they've been, they've gotten their replies, but nothing has came to, gave me when there to find out and then people are just mean. Like if you didn't hear anything, admins you. I know you haven't been accepted, but then he wasn't convinced that that's it. You know, he started praying about it, that God, this is what I want to do. He asked if you can rewrite it later to the principal of the college and explain his situation. Um, then they said yes. So he, he went, he came to me after all that, that process and told me that they acquired about my, my, whether I'm accepted or not, so I'd love to write a letter but under your name as my leader. And so we, he, he did the draft, then a had to get an edited it and then put it in our logo and then we send it. He took it there, they gave him some numbers to call and just to find out what's going on. But when he was doing that, it was so much whole place. But in the process, I mean, he started praying and just before the schools stellate I think week before that, uh, it was very clear quiz that also tried to call and see if they are considering a leotard or anything like that. So what happened was that it was clear that I'm in, there's just no hope in this thing, but what he did and I didn't even know he did that add two weeks before that he started, he dedicated a week just to prayer and fasting about this whole thing. He prayed. He prayed in on a Thursday of that week that he was praying, know he was praying. The principal looped through his letter and then he. Because in the letter we, we, we did mention that he was part of our organization and it also talked about the things that he's been doing for his community while you as part of the leadership academy. And we also indicated that as an organization we are committed to pay for his college fees. So after looking through that, he, the principal called me and asked if just to confirm if I know this person because I put my number, my conduct and said, do you know this person? I said, yes. Then he said, tell me more about him. Then I started explaining about him and what he is done and read the. I was like, why didn't you do this in the beginning of this process? Why did he go through the. Because it's not like he was in qualifying. It's because they only take a few if you applicants based on what government is able to pay. And I was like, okay, turn him to come and get his acceptance letter by Monday. So when I called him to tell him that the thing that is said, he was like, thank you Jesus, and then is that a prison gloves like what's going on? And then after that aesthetic explaining that I've been praying to God about this and I'm so thankful that he has answered my prayer and then he went there. Then it started this school, whatever laughed about him being in that school. It's the influence that he has been a that a new school. Now we just this August, that is a condition. So in his first year fuel, few months down the line, he. It was clear to everyone that this is a leader. He was voted to be the director of spiritual affairs for the students in that school and that this is a Roman Catholic school, so they don't do a lot of Christianity, his staff, you know, actually they not allowing them to meet, to pray in all those kinds of things. They say, if you want to pray, we have to do it. That Roman Catholic Betty is mobilized. So ministry into that school, uh, that, uh, meeting for prayer that we're so moving out into the community and, or helping people out there. I mean, I've been impressed by how he has influenced the school in terms of introducing Christianity, but, but also the miracle that it was for him to be admitted into that school. Yeah, that's, that's an amazing story.
Speaker 3:It's a miracle. And he planted that seed. I mean, with liquid. That seed did. So you're an answer to prayer. You're a miracle. I mean, country director Matt speaks so highly of you, becky. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5:it's your, uh, will continue to pray for you and pray for everything you're doing and my prayers. I can come out to see you soon with a group of people, so I want to thank you for your time. It's been a blessing to you. Safe travels back. Thank you, and next time we'll play some soccer. God bless you, brother.
Speaker 4:Thank you for listening to this episode of children's hope chest. Build relationships break poverty. You can follow hope chest on instagram, facebook, and twitter. If you haven't yet, go to apple podcast to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast.