The first visitation of our day
must have occurred before sunrise: a monkey[s!] had entered our minibus at the
Wits University Residential Field Centre, enjoying a packet of mini Cheddars amongst
other goodies! Before setting off for breakfast we saw a number of impala,
guinea fowl and many energetic monkeys, including one which took up residence
on the roof of the minibus, thankfully bounding into the trees eventually. After
a leisurely, scrumptious breakfast – fruits, cereal, croissants, copious
amounts of fresh yogurt, scrambled egg, grilled tomatoes and deli-style
sausages accompanied by hot beverages and juice – we listened to Audrey’s ‘life
story’. Alice asked Audrey if she would share her story with us, this she willingly did and started by telling us about her time with Hands at Work, she actually began as a care worker within the community of Cork, doing all the things that we see the care workers doing, caring for the children in their community, cooking the children. She then spent her time teaching primary care to the caregivers, especially encouraging them in how they disciplined their children. She then moved on to being part of the service centre team and now is the leader of the Hazieview and Osheok service centers and helps in a third! Audrey has 3 children, but also cares for two others following the death of someone close. Audrey is full of life and has a real passion to care for the many hundreds of children in her care. We jumped back on the minibus to travel back along the dusty roads for another day in Share. The minibus came to a rapid halt within minutes
when we spotted two giraffes strolling through the savannah just metres from
the dirt track.
After a fairly uneventful journey
to the care point at Share some of us set off to the store to collect pap meal,
brown sugar, onions and tomatoes; provisions duly gathered, with the vast
bucket of meal securely balanced on the head of a care worker, the store was
completely bare. A poignant reminder of the scarcity of food in so many
communities we are visiting. During the short return journey we met a mother
with her two children; the day before they had been visited by one of our Holy
Home Visit teams, and given the 5 year old boy was still visibly poorly DJ soon
chauffeured them to the local clinic. Meanwhile, pap had been mixed, vegetables
chopped and the chicken feet and heads prepared in readiness for the children’s
lunch.
Audrey then continued the
previous day’s Bible study as we discussed St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
thankfully we had taken our directed homework fairly seriously but the care
workers were reprimanded [tongue in cheek, we believe!] for their lack of
preparation. After prayers and encouragement to join in the dancing, we split
into groups for Holy Home Visits, support for the young leaders’ programme,
cooking and playing with the children.
One group encountered their intended
host, a great go-go, on the return journey from collecting water from the
village Jo Jo; 2 fifty litre fertilizer containers perilously carried on a
wheelbarrow. DJ gallantly went over to her and pushed the barrow for the last
part of the journey home much to the amusement of the great go-go. After much
laughter and good humour as a follow up to the Maranatha Week, the discussion
concluded positively and then the great go go happily set off with her
wheelbarrow to collect more water.
Another group visited a grandmother who had
shared her succession of bereavements during the Maranatha sessions; Catherine
was enthusiastically grinding maize in her garage with a huge paddle when we
arrived, surrounded by 7 children. We learnt that family bereavements had included
2 of Catherine’s children, and more recently her husband and sister who had both
died suddenly from unknown causes. Her other concern was the status of the
youngest child present; 6 month old Surprise had been born to Catherine’s daughter’s
friend but rejected by the family whilst still in hospital. Supported by care
workers, Catherine had carried the baby home from hospital and introduced him
to the rest of her family – 10 children and 15 grandchildren! Last month she
had been given a hand-written note in an exercise book stating that Surprise’s
family may now wish to link up with the child despite not seeing him since
birth. Naturally, Catherine is distraught about the uncertainty of the future
although she cares for all the children simply because of love with no
financial reward. We left Catherine’s home with one of the children in her care
accompanying us back to the care point for lunch, having first been able to
assure C that for the time being baby Surprise would remain in her loving care.
Prior to the children’s lunch, we
gathered together in the meeting room for prayers and a dramatic presentation
of the Prodigal Son masterminded by Floyd. As we were departed the children
were enthusiastically eating their food which we had served to them.
We quickly
piled into the minibus aware that we had a long journey back to the hub,
initially along very dusty and rutted tracks; you will not be surprised to know
that mugs, teaspoons and out trusty metal teapot clattered in the trailer
throughout the trek. After a welcome supper – beef stew, homemade fresh, hot
rolls, salad and a treat of chocolate brownies kindly baked by Seline, a member
of the Hands team, we had a debrief with Cat who had greatly enjoyed her visit
to St Andrew’s in June when she accompanied George on his travels.
Blogged by Lisa and Rosemary
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