Friday 28th July
This morning was Community Prayer which happens every fourth Friday of the Month. The whole of the team at Hands Village head out into a different community each month to pray, worship and share the word. Today we visited Mluti, a small care point serving 36 children. We congregated on the steps to be given information about the community, to pray and to be separated into as fewer vehicles as possible! We were encouraged to pray for the community on the way.
On arrival at the Care Point, there was a buzz of interaction between Care Workers, Care Givers, people from the Hands Village and our team! After many introductions and SiSwati greetings we gathered in a circle under the trees to begin to worship. We worshipped in true African style being led by women from the community. There was singing, clapping, dancing and happy faces all around! It gave us insight to what Church in the community must be like on a Sunday!
Morgan from the Hands Village shared an encouraging word based around Galatians 6 verse 2
"Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ". She talked about how we find it easier to help others than to ask for help ourselves. We then discussed two questions in smaller groups - we were encouraged to get into groups with people that we did not know very well. The first question was "Do we find it easy to help others?" to which the majority answered "Yes" and that they thought it was important and that they enjoyed helping other people. The second question, which was more difficult for many to answer, was "Do we find it easy to ask others for help without feeling like it is a burden?". In one group, a Care Worker shared that she had recently had to ask for help to feed her children as she had run out of money. She went to a local shop and asked the owner if she could take the food and pay later but he responded with more kindness than she expected and gave her them on the house! We felt that she was doing a better job of asking for help than most of us in England especially when there was more on the line! After, this we shared our own experiences and any burdens we were struggling before praying for each other.
After, a closing prayer we split into multiple groups to go on "Holy Home Visits". The groups were made up of people from the Hands Village, Care Workers, Care Givers and our team. We all dispersed into the community walking along the dusty tracks to reach our different homes.
Emily visited a GoGo (Grandma) with some people from Hands Village. She lived fairly near the Care Point with her two grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law. Both children attended the Care Point. She lived on a sizeable plot of land with a well cared for vegetable patch, however the house was in a state of disrepair, particularly the door which was unable to be locked. The lack of security was especially worrying for the family as there had been a number of thefts reported in the area, including a couple to their home. The most valuable item that had been stolen was a water tank (which had a capacity of over a 1000 litres) that the GoGo had saved up for along with her neighbours to buy, as water only gets delivered once a week to the end of the village. A number of her animals such as chickens had also been stolen. She had reported these thefts but had been threatened by the perpetrators and therefore did not want to pursue it any further. It was agreed that her son would be fixing the door that same day and Hands would visit again next week to ensure the safety of the property and the family.
Alice P, Claire and Lesley visited a home a fair distance away from the Care Point. We walked along a long dusty road both down the hill and then up the hill! We passed a number of people from the local community carrying out various chores such as collecting sticks and water. It always amazes us how much these women can carry on their heads.
We were informed by Patricia that we were going to visit Beauty's house, a 32 year old lady with three children. She had hurt her foot three years ago and was unable to work and therefore provide for her children. Her mother had also recently died. On arrival at her home, we were warmly welcomed into her home and encouraged to sit on her sofas. Her older two children were at school and she was looking after her youngest son and her niece. We began conversations around the open wound on her leg. We found out that she had had this for over three years and doctors had not been able to discover what had caused it. Also, her medical records had gone missing on numerous occasions! Her foot, until recently had been incredibly swollen so was unable to walk. She had recently received medication for her wound which had begun to heal. We were informed by Busie that in South Africa, people are often just given medication without explaining what it is for. Lesley was able to identify each of her medicines and inform Beauty of what they were for along with some general advice on how to keep the wound clean etc.
We were amazed at how fluent her English was, so Busie from Hands asked her when she had left school. What followed was an emotional and heart breaking story to hear. When it was interpreted to us, Beauty became very emotional. Beauty informed us that she left school at 14 to go and look for her mother who had decided to train as a "Witch Doctor" in a neighbouring community. On arrival, Beauty and her sister were informed that her mother had not arrived yet. The "Witch Doctor" then kept them hostage (kidnapped them) for two years under the pretence that their mother was on the way (she actually wanted payment for the girls before releasing them). After two years, the mother had still not returned and the "Witch Doctor" became poorly. Her husband then began to be abusive to the girls and they were at risk of being sexually assaulted. Beauty ran away to a neighbouring community and began looking for her mother and other members of her family. She found some distance relatives who began to help her. Her brother (who was looking after them) was working for a mining company. Unfortunately there was a horrendous fatal incident where all the employees died except for him. The local community then set out to find him and bury him alive with the others that had died. Beauty's family then rescued him before rescuing their sister.
In 2007, they moved to the community of Mluti where they were fortunate to receive a government house which Beauty now lives in with her sister, three children and her niece. The only income that they receive is the government childcare grant for two of her children, due to the birth certificate and ID cards being stolen from their previous home. Beauty's youngest sister also does not have any ID or birth certificate so is unable to receive any income. After hearing her story, we then washed her dishes, swept her yard and tided up the inside of her house before praying. Alice and Claire were shocked at the colour of the "clean" water that we used to wash up in!
Once back at the care point, the children started to arrive from school in dribs and drabs. Some of our team started a game of football, which Alice S won with an amazing goal, whilst others played stick ball and twirled the skipping rope very fast! Once nearly all the children had arrived it was time for some parachute games which had been donated to Hands by Mary Dominey (thank you!). Before the children ate, we sang and prayed again. Floyd then led us in a word of encouragement based around the story of Zacchaeus.
Emily and Holly served the children their daily meal of Samp, Beans and Beetroot. We love how the children all line up in height order to collect their food!
We had all had a very busy, fun and enjoyable day in the community!!!
By Emily and Alice P
Up early again this morning with breakfast at 7.15 and then we were off to church at 8.30 ( the second Service of the day). We attended the Parish Church of White River where the deacon reminded us that following Christ is not about creating a cosy comfortable space around us, but rather about following a "Palestinian revolutionary" that continually challenges our comfort zone! She challenged us not to say our prayers off pat, because of familiarity, but rather to understand the depth and implication of what we were saying. Bronwyn used the example of the Lord's Prayer and in particular the bidding of "Your kingdom come" do we realise what we are actually asking for when we say this line? Bronwyn used the illustrations from the words of Jesus from about what the kingdom of heaven will be like, Matthew 13: 32, Jesus describes the kingdom of God to be like a mustard seed, the least of all seeds and yet grows into a massive bush or tree, its roots fill the earth, it causes chaos. Then in verse 33 Jesus refers to the kingdom as like the yeast in bread, again anyone who has made bread, without the aid of a machine, will know that yeast can be quite unpredictable, will it rise or not? The kingdom of heaven is something that will challenge, will not be something cosy, are we sure that we understand what we are asking for every time we say the Lord's Prayer. Then finally in verse 47 Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is like a dragnet that is cast into the sea, again not a simple task that we see in pictures, nets full of bristling white wholesome fish ready for the pan but rather a heap of many many different types of fish which have to be unpicked and sorted, many being discarded or thrown back! When we are truly building the kingdom God we should be prepared for children, drug addicts, alcoholics. Are we ready for the kingdom of God, could we cope with what we are asking! 
