Monday 24th July
The alarm went off at 6:50am, but to our surprise we weren’t
tired as we were all asleep by 9:30pm the night before! The poor men however
were up far earlier as they had men’s prayer at 7am. After breakfast there was
a Monday morning meeting, with the whole of the hands village. The meeting
started with notices for the week, followed by sharing of experiences from the
departing team and some funky South African songs. The focus of this Monday morning
meeting was prayer and in particular for the teams that have been, that are
here and are yet to come. We learnt the importance of teams and how much the
hands village feel blessed by their presence.
Next up, orientation time! Tommy is our host for the duration
and he went through step by step the ins and outs of the trip and what the days
would entail. This helped as a first timer as he mentioned certain cultural no
no’s which helped when we met our first group of care workers and children in
Zweelisha.
After the short and sandwich filled bus journey, we arrived
at Zweelisha to be warmly welcomed by the care workers, Juila, Lindeeway and
Selena. Thankfully we had brought some expert Siswati speakers from the Hub –
Jackie, Bethwell, Melodie and Devon. We spent some time playing a name game,
which was hilarious for those of us who can’t multi-task, but the care-workers were
great and learnt all 12 names J
We warmed up our voices by learning some praise songs in Siswati with actions,
including ‘Uthando lwakhe’ meaning ‘his love is amazing’. To end our meeting
with the care workers before the children arrived we had prayer and sharing of
a word from The Bible led so beautifully by Rosemary who recited psalm 150 and
described her personal reflection.
During the day we heard several stories of children and care
workers. One particular story that stuck with us all was that of a care worker
that passed away in June. She was only 24 and had 3 small children and died
because of really awful circumstances. She had made a huge Impact in her community
and had formed strong relationships with her fellow care-workers, who were so
clearly still grieving for her.
BAM the kids arrive! What a whirlwind we were about to
encounter. The children were arriving from their first day of school showing
off their new equipment for the year, pens, pencils, glue and books. It was
really nice to see them so happy. They were super eager to play so we got some
footballs and a skipping rope from the bus and the fun began. These kids really
know how to play! We were playing catch for what felt like forever but they
were having great fun, even the older ones as old as 16 joined in and loved
playing with all ages, which for our British culture is practically unheard of.
After all the playing, we switched to praying! We all congregated in the small building called a Life Centre. This building was partly built using funds donated by the Biggleswade Deanery. Last years team saw the beginnings of the building work, so it was amazing to see the finished product in full use. The children were great and they taught us some new songs, including one about walking alongside Jesus, impressively led by a ten year old girl and boy.
Dinner was served (by the best servers in SA). Pap, soya mince and cabbage was on the menu and was demolished by all 35 children and 5 care workers. My personal favourite was Precious, aged 3 who ate a HUGE portion for her age and had the biggest belly at the end of it, which she was very proud of! (Susie, this is your favourite tiny girl from last year).
It was soon time to leave, but there was time for one last big game of Crab/Octopus/Lion (depending where you’re from) a fun game for all.
Love from Holly and Claire
Aah Clairey sounds like you had a great day Sending my love to you the team , all the care workers and children xx
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying following this blog & great pics xx
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