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