Thursday - Maintence and Ceilidh!

Our journey is nearly over and today we started our last full day at 'Hands'. Today 'Hands' had planned us a full day of activities. Vaughan was up earlier and managed to catch the sun beautifully on the "Hands Hub".

The day started after breakfast with our final debrief with Herman and Charissa at their home. Charissa had prepared a beach ball with questions on it which we threw to each other. On receiving the ball each person had to share a different emotion or story about our time here in South Africa. The first time around we chose the question that we wanted to answer but the second time in order to make it more challenging we were given a colour by the person throwing the ball.

After the debrief we had a session with Cat, who is one of Hands senior staff. Cat prepared us for when we go back to the UK having had such an intense time in the communities. She warned us that even though we will be bubbling over with excitement when we get back, it may be that people will not fully understand our time here and we may find it difficult to explain. Cat also asked us to consider what the experience had meant to us and also to consider what we would do with our experience. She suggested that if we just committed it to a nice memory it would be a shame so we should try to apply what we have learnt and been taught by our time in the community, at hands and by the people of Africa especially about their strong love and faith.

In the afternoon we carried out a maintenance afternoon. The Hands maintenance team of Cavier, John, Never mind, and Sibuie guided us in moving rocks from the edge of the playing field and taking them up the lane in a pick-up to help repair the dirt road. The girls cleared leaves. 

The evening started with an opportunity for members of the team to share with the Hands community and the volunteers staying at the hub! DJ thanked the staff for their hospitality and their welcome and explained for him it was just like being at home, Mark shared his great respect for the devotion and care that all of the Care Workers and support staff showed to the communities. Susan told us about an experience that she had in the community of Share with the Care Givers and Care Workers. She shared how she had been so conscious of the overwhelming feeling of love in the room as she sat amongst the ladies who had so much love and care for their community. Clive reminded us of an moment in mens prayer earlier this week, when George had reminded us that we only had all our homely comforts by chance, and how we could just as easily have be born vulnerable and poor and with nothing. We should be so grateful to God for everything that we have. Vaughn spoke about how he had set out to prove to himself that the Hands Care model worked. This he had been able to do and found himself being very thankful for both the experience he had had in the community and in the various sessions that we had had at the hub. Christine shared that being a practical person - she wasn't sure how she would get on just being, but she had. Christine focused on the verse that Cat had shared for us in Wits last week. Isaiah 43 : 19 which talked about a river flowing into the desert, and how this is the effect that teams make when they go out into the community. Vivienne elaborated on this to tell how she had walked with one of the Care Workers in Share (Promotion) who had turned to her and said to how grateful the community was for our visit and how it gave them power and strength to face the hardship ahead. The team thanked the Hands community, for their hospitality, their kindness, their love and for allowing us to walk this amazing journey with them.

Next we had a bring and share, where the whole of the Hands community come together for shared dinner together with all the volunteers staying at the hub! The Hands staff each bring a different dish with them and everyone tucks in. it was very delicious!

Our team had decided that we would teach the Hands community some Scottish dances and so we launched into a ceilidh the pictures and video below tell the story.

Blogged by Chris and DJ.

Wednesday - Election Day+ Mercy Air.

The day started today with a lie in for some as it was a bank holiday for South Africa and the local elections. The more active of us took a stroll. Vaughan and Vivienne walked the perimeter of the village appreciating the flora and fauna and discussing politics and religion! Clive and Chris ventured out of the grounds for a short walk to experience some African views. DJ went for a walk behind the Hands village with some friends to a look out point over the valley.

The afternoon was spent with the charity Mercy Air. We enjoyed cake and tea by the pool & Vaughan, DJ and Alice braved the coldest water ever! One of the pilots, Paul, explained the vision behind the charity. They fly into Southern Africa usually transporting charity workers into remote areas to deliver medical/ dentistry aid. They mainly work in Mozambique and we were lucky to be shown a couple of the aeroplanes. As we left we were treated to a small aeroplane taking off and heading over the Drakensberg range.

We then headed to the Gumtreez restaurant where we enjoyed traditional South African fare of bunny chow, a curry within a small loaf.

All in all a great and relaxing day!

Blogged by Mark and Sarah

Tuesday - Siyathuthuka

Tuesday is usually morning prayer for the ladies but today this was in a slightly different format of "Ladies Tea". Charissa hosted all the ladies from the "Hands Family" including our team at her house, on her stoop (patio). Cat shared Psalm 37 about how faithful God is. She referred to their praise and prayer points from over the last year and talked about how faithful God was to answer prayers and to trust that the unanswered prayers we all have would be answered if we wait and trust in the Lord. Psalm 37 is that we should Trust in the Lord, Take delight in the Lord, Commit everything you do to the Lord and Be still in the presence of the Lord. Cat then closed in prayer and blessed the food we were about to share.

We were treated to a real feast of homemade delights from chocolate muffins, apple slices, homemade salted popcorn and fresh fruit - this was all topped off with freshly brewed coffee! This year Charisa started a bookmark prayer where the Ladies of Hands spend two months praying for another lady at hands and come together every other month to swap bookmarks and bible verses before picking a new partner! After the ladies had shared their bible verses and words of encouragement for each other we played a game of "Go Fish". Each lady in turn had to use the magnetic fishing rod to pick out a cardboard fish bookmark with either a name or a forfeit on them. This determined who their next prayer partner would be. It was great fun and provided a lot of laughs! Susan had to be quiet until the next red fish was picked, Alice had to rub her tummy and pat her head, Claire had to tell a joke, Christine had to sing the first line of her favourite song, Sarah described her favourite and worst meal and Vivian shared a story about her favourite teacher!

We arrived at Siyathuthuka with Patricia, Go-Go, Steffi, Craig and Devon for a fun-filled day of Holy Home Visits and a Kids Afternoon which we had already planned. We gathered in the hut for praise and worship before getting into four groups! Three groups were going out with the Care Workers to visit homes and one group stayed behind to help prepare lunch for the children.



Claire, Alice and Christine visited a two bedroom home at the end of the village. In the home lived a mother and her four children (three of whom attend the Care Point). The family were seen as vulnerable as the mother was not working. The mother used to work on a farm but had lost her job due to becoming ill with TB and even though she had a note from the hospital, her employer did not believe her. The mother had recently been receiving treatment for TB and fortunately was now in recovery. She was originally from Mozambique and moved to South Africa when she was only 16. At the time she arrived in South Africa education was not free, she had no access to money and therefore had to go to work on the farms meaning that she is illiterate and cannot help her children with their school work. This has had a negative impact on her eldest son as he is 15 and still in Grade 5 alongside his younger sister who is 11. Whilst working on the farm, she met her husband and they had their four children. Over the last 16 years she had been lucky enough to get her South African ID and papers entitling her to child benefits. The mother also named all of her children with her surname so that they could have South African birth certificates and she could claim grant money to help support her children.  Her husband had recently left her to work in Johannesburg but had since married another women and had not been in contact since.

After prayer and encouragement we offered to help her get water from a local river. Due to the recent drought, the local people are using the river for water to bathe, wash their clothes and water their vegetable patch. As we saw the mother pick up these empty 30 litre buckets  - we wondered what we had let ourselves in for! We picked up the four buckets and headed off to the river just across the road. After being told by a local that it was "too dangerous" to collect water on this side of the river
Christine and Alice followed her down a steep cliff to the river bank! Claire stayed at the top to provide photographic evidence and words of support (and laughter!) The water in the river was clear and Alice took her shoes off and stepped right in to fill up the buckets. After filling up the buckets and passing them to Christine on the bank we then attempted to try and climb back up the sandy, dusty cliff to the top! This was hard work and therefore we had to pass it between the three of us back up the hill! Three of us carried two buckets between us and the last one was carried on the mother's head! They were super heavy!



On arrival back at the Care Point, Chris shared that on his Holy Home Visit he had been introduced as Alice's Dad by the Care Worker and the Care Giver screamed "Alice Alice!" Chris informed her that he would bring her back to visit. So off Claire, Alice and Chris went to visit her... On arrival at her home - she rushed up to Alice and greeted her! Alice remembered that we had met her last week at the Care Point. Today, she was wearing African traditional tribal dress and having her hair plaited!

Last week, some of our team visited a home where a 16 year old was pregnant and her 16 year old partner had stayed in Mozambique after a lengthy stay. During the night she gave birth to a little girl. On Tuesday, we were fortunate enough to visit her home again and meet the little 1 week old baby girl whose name means “Precious Gift”. The mother and baby were looking really well and she was able to breastfeed her baby. Whilst we were visiting her home, she was washing her nappies and keeping on top of having a new baby. At the same time, Vaughan helped the two twin boys to count in 2,s, 5’s and 10’s using their fingers. These boys attend the Care Point and we have seen them each day we have visited Siyathuthuka.  At the moment, the twin boys were not attending school as they had recently just moved from Mozambique and there were currently no spaces in the local school.

Back at the Care Point, we began our Kids Afternoon. Clive and Chris had planned some different games including the "dice counting game" and some beanbag fun! Before long, the Care Point was buzzing with children. Once most of the children had arrived, we got the speaker and Scottish dance music ready to teach the children the ''Ocardian Strip the Willow'. We lined the children up with their partners and demonstrated the dance and then it all began! As soon as the music started, the children were clapping and tapping their feet and couldn't wait to start dancing so much so that Chaos broke out and it turned into a Scottish African Rave with Alice throwing her arms up in the air! It was great to see the children and Care Workers laughing and having a great time together! Christine couldn't believe that she was doing the dance she had learnt at the age of 9 in school with children in an African community!

This was followed with praise and prayer and children had pap and beans for lunch served by the team. After lunch, it was time to hand out the pencil cases that had been handmade by children in Year 7 at Edward Peake. Sophie (The Care Worker) handed the pencil cases out to the children in turn and we all clapped and cheered! After a group photograph we continued with our games. Some of the older children played hockey and had their nails painted whilst the rest of the children went crazy over the bubbles!

At 3:00 we began to say our goodbyes. There were lots of hugs and hi-fives and many words of thanks and appreciation from the Care Workers who asked us to come back next year! We were all sad that it was our last day in the community but that it had been one filled with fun, laughter and enjoyment!

Blogged by Alice and Claire

Monday - Zwilisha

Monday mornings at Hands at work starts at 7am with men's prayer. So the men of the team were up early with a quick cup of tea and off to the chapel. The people who live in the Hands village take it in turn to lead men's prayer and today it was the turn of George Synman, the founder of Hands at Work. George read for us from a small book, a passage entitled "What Does My Everyday Life Look Like?" Which was based upon Colossians 3: 17,23 and Luke 16 : 10. The article asked the question does my daily life reflect that of a disciple of Jesus Christ ? Do we look after ourselves, do we take care of our possessions and our household, do we manage our finances well?

The message was that it is by the grace of God that we have the things that we have, it is up to us to be good stewards of everything that we have and do, because what we have is on loan to us from God.

The passage concluded by talking about our health and our reliance on all sorts of medicine to live and how we run to the doctor at the slightest thing and yet God himself has told us that he is our healer (Exodus 15 :26). We should look to God in the first instance for healing, but God also created physicians and they play there part in the healing process. George told us that in something like 85 % of illnesses were actually weakness of spirit and we should put out trust more in God.

We then had a short time of reflection followed by prayer of thanks and prayers for what is going to be a busy week for the Hands community.

This was followed, as last Monday, by praise and prayer. The bible readings lead to discussions about leadership, particularly referring to those in national and local government.




Today's care point was at Zwilisha, a community which was only set up 18 months ago. We were all looking forward to this visit as none of us had visited there before; it was good to see a care point in the early stages as the  others we had visited were well established. We received a very warm welcome from the care workers who were extremely well organised having already prepared most of the food.






The care centre was different to the other two that we have visited as they were still working in temporary buildings. The only permanent building was a Wendy house that the fire service had donated on Mandela Day this year. It is hoped that a permanent building will soon be built.






Building work for a permanent structure is going to commence next week. The breeze blocks were already on site and in position. Money awarded to "The Room" from the 2014 Deanery Project will go along way to funding this new building.





We were then split into three groups so that we could make Holy Home visits with the Care Workers.

 The first group visited Celine who was living with her son and her older daughter, although we arrived to discover that the daughter had left the home leaving her young son there to be looked after by his grandmother. Her brother's daughter also lived in the house, she had left school as she is expecting a baby in October. Her boyfriend had also left school to find work so that he could support the family. Celine is a Jehovah's Witness, and had been for 22 years, so declined our prayers. As we were leaving she gave us some cassava to take to the care point, this was immediately prepared for tomorrow's dinner for the children. As we were leaving we were presented with a plate full of cassava for us to try, Clive mentioned that he had been waiting 60 years to try some, as his father used to say how good it was, after eating it in the Gambia in the war.






The second group walked for 20 minutes along the road to visit a grandmother who was looking after her grand daughter, Joy, as her mother had passed away. Joy is  sixteen but is still at Primary School as she had learning difficulties and could not move up to High School until she graduates. Also in the household were two of  Joy's aunties one of which had an eight month old baby. Grandmother was not at the house when we arrived as she was working in the local school. The school was directly across the road so she came across to spend her break with us. She sat with us and asked us to pray for Joy and asked for help in finding a new job as she was finding her present one too hard.









The third group walked a short distance from the Care Point to visit a twenty one year old boy called Siabo who lived with his grand mother and six other siblings and cousins aged between two and twenty one years old. Siabo was thought to be vulnerable as he had repeatedly failed at grade ten and therefore had not matriculated. Hands was working with the family to help him complete his studies. The group was then joined by another grandmother who lived next door, she had her orphaned grand daughter with her. She explained that she was struggling as she had no I.D. so they were living on the children's allowance and help from the other members of the family.

We all returned to the Care Point and enjoyed playing with the children. We were all impressed with their skipping skills and they were impressed by the rainbow coloured parachute.

                

 All too soon it was time for pre dinner prayers and bible readings. These were led by a very mature young leader, Celine, in grade 10 who had excellent English skills, she kept the register, led the prayers and ensured that we served exactly the correct proportions of food to all of the children.

All too soon we had to leave the children while they were enjoying their meal of cabbage, pap and potato. Everyone felt that it was a very rewarding visit to a well organised centre which offered us a very warm welcome. We wish them well in the future and hope that their permanent buildings are soon constructed.

Blogged by Christine

Sunday - Day Off - Kaapschoep

A new day dawns and already it's Sunday... we've been here now for a whole full week.  Up early again  but not as early as yesterday(!) so we can leave at 8.00 for Church in White River, led there by Cat who is one of the Youth/Sunday school leaders.  We were warmly welcomed at St George's, the Anglican Parish Church which has a lovely village feel to it, and which, along with a smaller group from the African School of Mission, we helped to fill. We had a good sing with some lovely modern hymns and really enjoyed the connections the readings and sermon made with our mission.

 We all felt that the whole service spoke to us individually and as a group; the readings and the sermon were so apposite. The preacher focussed on the importance of relationships, illustrating it by referring to himself as a wilful child increasingly ignoring the well meant advice of his loving parents

Hosea chapter 11 (verses 1-11) was the first passage:
"When Israel was a child I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt.
"But the more I called him the further he moved from me..."
such a move away from God leading to disastrous results both then and now. Hosea goes on to recount God's drawing back from punishment, stressing forgiveness and the chance to start again. We are given that chance again and again... and have it now here in our work to support the most vulnerable children and their carers.

The psalm was 107 (verses 1-9 & verse 43).
"Some wandered in the wilderness lost and homeless. 
"Hungry and thirsty they nearly died...
"For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things...
"Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.

The gospel reading, from Luke 12 (verses 13-21), was the parable of the rich fool and his storage of worldly goods .
"Beware! guard against any kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own...
So the preacher encouraged us to focus more firmly on what is really important. Often we are over concerned not only with our own worldly needs, but also allow these to lead to an inappropriate use of power, even in the church; he then extended this to include the dangers of corruption and linked it to forthcoming elections.
"Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God."

The final prayers included the following:
    God bless Africa
    Protect our children
    Transform our leaders
    Heal our communities
    Restore our dignity
    And give us peace
    For the sake of Jesus Christ, Amen

After this wonderful time of worship and further prayer and reflection, we set off to replenish supplies and then head towards the nearest 'mountain' to climb... at Kaapschoep, reaching there about 11:30. Half an hour or so to purchase souvenirs was followed by a substantial lunch of both savoury and sweet pancakes.

A short hike was then suggested, so we walked through a pavement of sandstone boulders and shrub land, which led to an escarpment with extensive views over the surrounding countryside. Vaughan was given a free geological tutorial by Christine as they clambered up the occasionally steep pathways. This chance to learn from each other is another great aspect of the teamwork.

To complete our day of rest we enjoyed a super home-made meal of chicken korma followed by meringue nests and fruit salad. We then embarked on a reflective discussion to allow us to refocus on the challenges of the week to come. This included thinking about the surprises, the challenges, the things we had learnt and the things we are looking forward to. We then summarised by thinking about the things that we may take home from our time here and in the communities.


On completion of the refocus session we prayed for:

Our last few days in the community, for a successful and happy week; that we can be helpful and bring support to the care workers and care givers in the communities that we are visiting, seeing and working with...

For Africa and all its vulnerable children...the children that we have met, that they will learn to grow into independent and successful adults and that they may have a brighter future...

The faith of the care workers and the care givers and give them the strength to continue with their wonderful work...

For our continuing health, strength and understanding to be able to give of our best in the week to come, so that we can do our best for the really needy...

For all the communities that we have visited and will visit. We pray for a cohesive team that will be supportive and encouraging to all. We pray that our experiences and challenges will help us to grow as people and that we are able to share these with others back home. We thank you for our team leaders and that you will give them the strength to continue to lead us effectively...

We pray that God will give guidance to each of us, challenge us, and give us greater emotional strength and understanding, for less frustration and more ability to let some things go more easily.

Blogged by Clive and Vaughan

Saturday - Day Off - Kruger National Park

4am and with the moon still in the sky we stirred from our beds and following a quick cup of tea, we made our way to the mini-bus with an air of excitement. We were off to Kruger Park for our "day off".

The journey took about 40 minutes and we were first into the queue to enter the park at 5.30am. As the sun started to rise we entered the park and within only a few minutes we were greeted by a pack of Hyenas, very close to the road. The cameras were out and rotation patterns worked out so that every one got chance to snap a few shots.

We were soon on our way and turned off the main road  towards the service area at Afsool. The road was long and rough and fairly stark of animals, but we did see giraffes and Zebra, just to wet our appetite.

We were just about to turn into the service area and we saw at the top of the hill a few cars stopped by the side of the road, this is always an indication of animals being "on view", so we rushed up the hill and watched a troop of water buffalo crossing the road in a neat straight line.

Arriving at Afsool we hired a barbeque and were soon cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast. The service centre served coffee and so breakfast was complete.



We now had the pleasure of a Tarmac road for the next leg of our journey north wards towards Skukuza visitor centre.  Not far up the road and we saw elephants, black rhino, and Impala, and Impala and more Impala. Suddenly there was a group of elephants in the distance and as we all tried to get a glimpse we, well some of us, caught a glimpse of a Leopard, unfortunately it wasn't waiting around and shrank back into bush. See if you can spot it in this picture!

As we continued northward, we had the opportunity to leave the Tarmac road and drive up a large rock formation and get out of the bus to enjoy the brilliant panoramic views.

After a time of group photo's, family photo's and just photos we were back on the road again and heading for the swimming pool at Skukuza. Yes you can swim in Kruger Park. The temperature outside was 27, but unlike the uk the air was very very fresh. The weather was hot, but the water was cold, very cold at first, but we all swam and enjoyed the peace and relaxation. We even had a cup of tea with our swim.

Time for an ice cream before we were back in the bus and heading for lake placid, I don't think it's quite called that but it certainly sounds like it. At Lake Panic there is a watering hole with an hide at the side of it and slits to look through. The water had several hippo's wallowing in whilst a heron and an egret looked on. A lone iguana wandered along the shore of the lake.

Our time in the park was coming to an end and we started to make our way back towards the Numbi gate where we had entered the park some 10 hours earlier. Our last view of the day was an elderly giraffe being illuminated by the setting sun strolling majestically through the brush parallel to the road. It had been a peaceful and relaxing day, the sun had shone and we had had time to have fun together as a team. As we left the park the sun was just going down behind the hills and the day was over.

Blogged by Chris

Friday - Share

I woke up this morning to the sound of monkeys on the roof, so not only was I woken by Chris snoring during the night I had a early wake up call from this too!  We also found that during the night the monkeys had eaten our rusks, tea bags, sugar and milk! Chris had to chase the monkeys away to get what was left of our tea bag supply. I'm use to mine and AJ dog Charlie eating our food but not monkeys..

Kat shared with us about the background to the community of Share. Lots of people move to South Africa from Mozambique so therefore have no SA ID. They are not able to receive any until their parents die. The challenges that they face are completely different to those at Siyathuthka.

At breakfast Chris asked Cat to pray for us before we went back into the community. Cat spoke briefly to us about a verse from Isaiah chapter 43 vs 16

" For I’m going to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Don’t you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the desert!"

Cat reflected that us going into the communities was like a river rushing into a desert. She said that the encouragement that we gave to the Care Workers was so important and it is on that love and encouragement that the communities grow. She then prayed for our second day in Share.

Once we had had our tea and breakfast we set off back to the community. It was about a hours drive from where we were, 90% being in the dusty dirt road.  These roads are very bumpy and rough so by the time we got there we where ready to get off the bus! 

The day started by greeting the Care Givers, it was great to see them again as even though we had only met them the day before it felt like we where saying hello to friends we had know long time.  A couple of us started to prepare the food, cutting cabbage, tomatoes, chicken and beat root.  All of this is cooked over one single open fire, which every time I see what they have prepared it amazes me, I struggle too make a meal at home with the oven and microwave (AJ does the cooking) let alone over a fire..

The others that weren't preparing food carried on repairing the outside shelter which is a basic shelter but with green netting as the roof to create some shade. This had ripped causing it to hang free. So with climbing on chairs, shoulders and stacks of tyres we managed to repair it and create some much needed shade for the kids.

We then went on some Holy Home Visits - we went with our Care Worker Promotion, Mark, Sarah, Vivienne, and Bethwell, one of the Service Centre Team.  The house we visited was about a 15 minute walk away, and along the journey we where greeted by many children coming out of the local school, some goats and couple of cars with people waving. 

We arrived at the GoGo's house. Bethwell had explained to us on the way that the GoGo looked after 3 children. Two of the children's mother and father worked away on farms and visited sometimes and the other childs parents had passed away.   In his words he also explained that she was 'mentally disturbed', so I really didn't know what to expect when we got there but I then found out that Vivienne was a mental health nurse and Mark was a counsellor so I thought that between them two and their skills we would be ok!

We spoke to GoGo with the help of Bethwell, who translated our English to Siswati while Promotion translated it to Tsonga, so how much she understood of what we where saying I don't know but you could see the happiness it bought her with us coming to visit.  We told her about ourselves and asked about her and the grandchildren. We then sang some songs and tried to tell some jokes but the punch lines where lost in the translations.. But we all had a great time getting to know her and  the grandchildren.  One of the grandchildren Precious was shy to begin with and she was sat in the dirt playing with a stick so I went over to her to say hello.  She gave me a look to say who are you? why are you here? I held my hand out and she then squeezed my finger and came over to the rest of the group.  We continued to sit and chat, sing songs and we all had a nice time. It felt like they were all happy that we were there and we weren't intruding on their space. 

When it was time to leave, the vulnerable child came with us to the feeding point. This meant leaving the other two children with the GoGo as these children weren't to be seen as 'vulnerable' children as there parents where still alive.  Precious was sat on my knee and as I stood up to leave with the others she started to cry, I tried to comfort her but what ever I did or said just made her cry more, she clung on tighter and tighter.  The GoGo came over to take her but that made her scream even more,  I had massive feelings of guilt having to leave this child whilst the other came for food. I wondered would she eat tonight? Did she eat yesterday? But then Bethwell came and said if she comes there will be an even more vunerable child that doesn't eat, a child with no mother of father. I still feel guilty, what would you of done?

Blogged by DJ!