Monday 16th July: Day 3 - First day in Mafambisa

The day started early for the men, as they had prayer at 7am to attend. Chris from Hands, introduced a passage from Jude which offered encouragement about turning to God when in trouble. The rest of the session included prayers for the teams on site.

At 8am we all re-gathered for the Hands meeting. We had the chance to introduce ourselves to everyone and this was followed by a few moments to reflect on the annual Watchword. 

This year it is John 14:6-

‘Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”’

We then split into groups and prayed about the work of the different teams in Hands; both past and present. We were called back together and the session closed with a song of praise and prayer.

Following this, we joined Cat to have our orientation about the work of Hands and the communities we would be visiting. We got to learn more about the culture and what to expect. Once we had completed this, we met at about 11 to make our way to Mafambisa.

When we first arrived we headed into their church and had to introduce ourselves once again. We tried to learn all of the children’s names and Oliver succeeded in reciting 5! The children were then invited to share with us what they could recall from their sessions at the Maranatha reflection week. We were amazed by their retention of the biblical verses. Finally we joined in with one of the songs they had learnt during this week. We enjoyed trying to learn their actions.

We headed outside and Meg and Vicky helped the Care Workers to prep the lunch to be cooked. The rest of us engaged with the children and played their games with them. When the food was ready, we helped to serve the children before getting our own and joining them to eat it. The Samp (maize and bean stew) and butternut squash were surprisingly delicious and the children were very grateful for any of the leftovers.

Clarrie and Chris began washing up, as we finished eating. AJ was very pleased with his work on the clean pot! We started playing with the children again, forming some close relationships with particular ones. The parachute was taken out and the children were very excited! We spent the afternoon taking lots of pictures as they were very keen to see themselves and also to take the photos. (the photos included today are what the children took)

All too soon, we had to stay goodbye but the children didn’t want to say goodbye. We were seen off by many hugs and they had to make sure to be home before the sun set.

 

Back at the Hub we had our debrief with Cat where she told us a moving story about one of the families connected to the CarePoint. She spoke about a 15 year old girl who was the main carer in her family. Her younger sister had suffered a traumatic   experience and lived away. The young  

    girl was left responsible for her even younger brother, having to quit school to fulfil this role. This 

    put into perspective what we were involved in. We all shared our highs and lows of the day 

    before wrapping up and enjoying our dinner.

All in all, the day was a great introduction to what we have to come for the next couple of weeks. We are all so excited to see what’s to come!

By Hannah and Meg