BYOB: Bring Your Own Bucket
We had the teaching materials, projector, laptop, and sweets to use for the icebreaker game. It seemed like we were all set to go. But at the last minute, someone said, “Just one more thing – we should probably bring a bucket.”
Yesterday, we began a group with Arise Cape Town for 8th and 9th graders who have experienced traumatic events and need help managing their residual stress. Every Thursday morning, we are graciously given an hour of school time, an open room, and 11 teenagers- all coping with PTSD in very different ways.
There’s not enough space on the Internet to describe the still untold stories inside those 11 bodies. There is no adequate vocabulary (in any of the 11 national languages) to communicate the dynamics that played during that hour. It doesn’t even matter that we didn’t even come close to addressing the actual class material… We did have a bucket.
I’ve written about buckets before.
Buckets have come to matter to me since I moved to Africa.
We grabbed that bucket to take to our class because we often find classrooms vandalized, neglected or in terrible condition when we arrive. We brought a bucket in hopes of being able to find some water (despite the drought) to clean the room and create a pleasant space for our attendees.
A few weeks ago a new term was born, broadcasted and burned into history of Cape Town: DAY ZERO. Day Zero is the day when our taps will go dry, and the city will run out of water if rains do not come. At the time of the announcement, Day Zero was six weeks away. A geographically small city of over four million people was facing a startling set of chain reactions. Sports programs shut down, and schools had to consider if they could stay open. We would have to make hygiene and waste procedures for our homes and businesses without using plumbing. And consider what would happen to unused, unmaintained plumbing in the long run. Hospitals were preparing for an outbreak of disease, and panic-stricken violence immediately began to erupt at available water sources.
We ordered what seemed like the last 500 liters of drinking water available in the city and miraculously avoided the chaos of grocery store showdowns. (It was like shopping for supplies on the Gulf Coast the day before the hurricane comes!) I scoured the city for buckets. It was bumper-to-bumper trolley traffic in every store, and I quickly learned to grab buckets and then figure out if I was going to need them.
We purchased buckets and bins that we would need to implement Day Zero plans if/when it comes down to it. In the meantime, we’ve outfitted every sink in our home with a basin to catch water. We wash dishes in buckets, and then flush our toilets with the day’s dish and shower water. We installed a low-flow showerhead that barely cries enough shower-tears for soap to lather, and we catch the cold water that falls first to fill our kettle and coffee pot.
This bucket has re-appeared in our shower! Lifa bathed in it until he was 7 years old (along with countless others) - and now IT'S BACK!
The whole city started doing the same thing. Farmers even went above and beyond that, and donated their precious, vital water to the city.
And it’s working.
Since Day Zero was announced three weeks ago, the date has been pushed back by TWO MONTHS. Rain has not fallen, but water consumption has reduced that much! (Rain season typically starts before the new Day Zero is expected!) HALLELUJAH!
A bucket seems like a small thing.
But even with just one bucket at a time, we can make a difference. (18 buckets all over our house = 1 metaphorical bucket)
We didn’t need the bucket yesterday for cleaning the classroom. We were pleasantly surprised to find a clean space. But I think bringing the buckets prepared our hearts to serve 11 children who expend most of their energy making themselves untouchable because they feel so unclean.
Our classroom and our bucket.
I thought about that bucket this morning when I read John 13. Jesus kneeled and pulled up a bucket to the dirty feet of those who would betray, deny and doubt. He was about to unlock heaven for them, whether their feet were clean or not. But first He wanted to posture Himself so they could really know that life-changing love.
We went to that high school yesterday with tools and teachings that could truly change the lives of those students, but first we needed to be ready to kneel down and clean their seats.
I currently have a love-hate relationship with buckets for 1,000 practical reasons. (I also have a renewed love for dishwashing gloves and bleach – in that order.) But when I zoom out, it’s humbling to realize that taking a shower with that bucket is literally saving people’s lives. And the blessing of being able to teach a class because I have a fancy Masters degree is merely scaffolding to the joy and honor of showing up with a bucket, with prepared heart and hands to get down and dirty.
Let’s be prepared. Let’s do everything we can to go out and give our very best. And let’s make sure we always bring our own bucket.
What bucket do you have to bring today? Trust me. It will make a difference.