Love Buckets

Love Buckets. So what’s in a “Love Bucket”? Roses, chocolate candies, sentimental notes? Hardly. More like a towel, sheets, gloves, vitamins, a scrub brush, lotion and bendy straws; at least that is some of what is in the Love Buckets sent to AIDS patients around the world through a program sponsored by the Baptist Global Response (BGR). Dubbed “Love Buckets” by missionary emeritus, Bud Fray, these gifts of love and compassion were distributed to 15 different patients in the Sanyati area of Zimbabwe. Bud’s Sunday school class at Central Baptist Church of Crossville, Tennessee, packed the buckets with particular items designed to specifically assist homebound AIDS patients. In September Bud, along with some men from his church, brought the buckets to Sanyati in their duffel bags. Joining up with the Village Health Care Workers, we had the opportunity to visit people in their homes and share the love of Christ in a very tangible way. Every village had a different story.

Amai Tinotenda, lying on a mat in her hut was barely able to sit up when we visited her. Blind and very weak from the Virus, she was being cared for by a 16 year old son, the only other person living there. Who would have thought a simple sheet and mattress protector were loving items? Amai did when the Village Health workers spread them on her straw mat giving her a bit more comfortable place to spend her day. Priska was in too much pain to walk and our hearts were torn as we watched her brother push her in a wheel barrow to their simple living room so we could share the “love bucket” with her. Who would have thought that a tube of Carmex would be a loving item? Priska did when we applied it to her cracked and sore lips. The smile that came as a result of this and the songs we sang for her about God’s love lit up the room. Judith, a 12 year old girl laid on the floor in her room, too weak to go to school. Her parents had both passed away and her Gogo (Grandma) took care of her. Judith was very quiet at first as we greeted her and began to share about why we came to see her; all the while her Gogo lovingly comforted her. Who would have thought that a bendy straw was a loving item? Judith did when she was able to take a drink without having to struggle to sit up and not spilling the juice all over her.

Tyron is 13. Some days are better than others and he can attend school; today he was home. His parents are both deceased and he is living with his grandparents. Small for his age and covered in a rash, Tyron is still able to smile and is very grateful that we have come to see him and share the “love bucket” with him. Who would have thought that Multi vitamins were a loving item? Tyron and the whole village did. They had been praying for a way to get vitamins, often referred to as “boosters”, for HIV+ patients, knowing that good nutrition is vital to someone being treated with ARV’s (anti retroviral). This was an answer to their prayers.

These are a few of the stories. The fact that Love overflowed from these buckets was very evident. It really wasn’t just the material items that the patients received that blessed each recipient and family; it was all the love and prayers that went in to packing each individual bucket, the love and prayers that accompanied each individual visit, and the love and prayers that now continue as names and faces are associated with each individual gift. WE continue to pray for the opportunity to show God’s love in a very real way to the people who are struggling everyday with the harsh reality of illnesses that this world brings. May they find the comfort of a Heavenly Father, who sees their pain, and whose Love NO BUCKET could contain.