Day 9 - First Day in Mafambisa

Day 9 - First Day in Mafambisa

This morning started off early for Oliver and Chris who attended Men’s Prayer at 7am, which focused on the question of ‘why are we created?’.  Many people shared lots of different reasons as to why, through their relationship with God, they believe we were created. This provided much thinking for everyone and mainly focused on the idea that we are all created to worship God and it was shared that it is often compared to a wedding where someone traditionally would leave one family to join another which was the reason that we are created, to join Our Father’s family in heaven.

Following on from Men’s Prayer, the team then joined Hands’ Monday morning meeting, which was our first opportunity to introduce ourselves to everyone having been in Oshoek for a few days last week. The small-group, led by Audrey, who lead the meeting shared stories of 5 children from the surrounding areas who had made significant recoveries having been quite unwell and how Our God is so powerful that he has the ability to heal the wounded and the sick and to improve so many situations for so many people. Busie then shared how important it is to pray for these people that we learnt about and that we were being trusted with their stories, as well as all the stories that we hear within the communities, and she continued that if we aren’t praying for these individuals then we shouldn’t have the power to share the stories of these children, care workers and care givers. 

At about 10am, after the service centre team had been able to have some brief time in the office, we got in the bus alongside Angie (our host), Audrey, Bethuel and Prudence and headed to our partner community, Mafambisa. Upon arriving it was so special to see some magnificent changes which had taken place throughout the year that our Church have physically been away from this community. To Sophie and Lucy this was a brand new community and one that everyone wanted to be special due to it being our partner community, to Alice and Alice it was a new location for the same community, having previously visited Siyathathuka in previous visits. For Clarrie, Chris and Oliver, this was a chance to go back to this community and to see the immense changes which have taken place over the year. 

One thing that has changed, which we knew for sure before we came, was that the ‘toilets’ which Cupboard2Africa dug at the beginning of last year had been built and were fully functioning. We also found out that the cooking facilities within the church grounds had been completed which bought a whole different feel to the care point (one of stability, continuity and longevity). Upon arrival at the care point we found the cooking hut had been painted in a bold orange which was stunning, along with the traditional coloured shapes which can be seen on a few care points. We also found the toilets had been painted half blue for males and half yellow for females with illustrations. Chris, Clarrie and Oliver were particularly excited to see what had become of their deep hole from last year! We were also delighted to see that a recent team had an artist who designed an image for the back of the cooking hut which showed children and adults with mountains and wildlife, some thing that looking very special and unique to our partner community. 

The team were greeted initially by 2 care workers, Alzeria and Kyetsiwe, who ensured that many team members were put to work either washing dishes, cutting cabbage or raking while others spent time with the care workers and taking in this new community. We were later joined by another care worker, Rose, who brought her Grandson Gideon. We then shared a time of worship with the care workers and completed all our introductions, Audrey then asked all the care workers for some prayer requests for things that they were struggling with in their lives currently. Along with some personal issues, one thing that was evident was the struggle to show love to all these children and to encourage these children to try and build their relationship with God while at home and out in the community and not just at the care point. We then split into smaller groups to get to know the prayer requests and current issues in their lives which was really good for the team to get to know our care workers better before praying for them and their families. 

After this, more children started to arrive and so the games started, with some playing catch, some playing football and others (mainly the girls) having their hair plaited by some of the girls at the care point. This was lovely, if not slightly painful at times!! What was amazing about coming back to Mafambisa was to see and recognise many of the children that the majority of the team had met before. Toby and Thomas are 2 particular boys that the team last year got to know really well, and these boys are both amazing drawers, and so we were blessed to be able to see some of their amazing sand artworks again today. Another aspect of last year that has stayed with many of us was how we brought the holiday club song ‘Shine’ to the children last year, which they absolutely loved. And even now, a year later, we had the pleasure of seeing quite a number of the children walk straight up to us and start singing ‘Shine’ without any music or encouragement from us. This was truly special to see! 

As more children arrived, the games continued, as well as some really valuable conversations with some of the older children, who absolutely love to show off their incredible English skills! It was almost time for lunch, and so we gathered with the younger children, whilst the youth were with Bethuel, and had a time of prayer and song before lunch started. During this time, it was also special to see a few of the children recite verses from the bible from memory, something that always amazes us! Lunch then started, and today we were treated to samp, beans, cabbage, onion and carrot, which was just so tasty! We sat and ate with the children, and it was also very humbling to see that many of the children had bought food containers with them, to be able to feed any younger siblings at home. This shows that, even though they themselves are very hungry, they are more than willing to take home part of their meal to share with sibling who maybe aren’t quite old enough to attend the care point just yet. 

After clearing up after lunch, we started to say our goodbyes, which are always difficult to do, but it was amazing to say that we will see them all again tomorrow. With joy and happiness in our hearts, we travelled back to the hub, with enough time to get Audrey and Prudence back to the taxi rank so they could get home safely in the daylight. Once back, we had about an hour to chill before dinner, where we enjoyed chicken stir fry and rice. Angie then came and joined us in the Village for debrief, where we discussed the day, and how we each personally felt about visiting Mafambisa. For some it was a completely new care point that they had only heard about, for others it was a new location but same care workers and children, and for the rest it was a chance to return to a community which they visited last year. This meant that there were really great discussions and new fresh ideas and perspectives about our partner community. Before we finished, Angie encouraged us all to set some personal goals for the rest of the 3 days that we will be in Mafambisa for, allowing us the opportunity to either step outside our comfort zones, challenge our faith or get to know either the care workers or children a little bit better. With this is mind, we set off to bed for another early (ish) night to rest before another amazing day at Mafambisa tomorrow.