On Sunday we shared stories, pictures and reflections from our 2022 visit to South Africa and our partnership community of Mafambisa.
Here is the link to the video summary of our visit. We hope you enjoy watching it.
Please do come and talk to us about our visit - we have many stories to tell.
Myself, Lucy and Carolyn went off to one of the care workers’ house called Dudu. We had been told we were going to visit the son as he was refusing to go to school. We arrived there and unfortunately he wasn’t there as he was going to the shop. But sadly the only challenge with this family isn’t just the boy isn’t going to school.
This family where living on the other side of the town but the landlord was charging them more than what they should have to pay. Their neighbour gave them a house on the other side of the town (near Mafambisa) and is only charging them 200 Rand for the electricity. The family are trying to save up though so they can buy their own house.
Dudu has 5 children and 2 grandchildren and a husband who is her 3rd. Her husband is only the father of 1 of the children. This is meaning that some of the other children aren’t respecting him as a father. This man is so loving towards the children although they aren’t even his. He has a small wood business where he has to walk many miles to get this wood but then he doesn’t have a car so has to hire one to take the wood back to his house. Sadly he has to pay the rental wood and he loses profit due to this. The children deliver the wood to houses and are asking their father for a pay even though the money he gets is paying for their food. This husband does all of this but has a problem with his heart where he can’t get enough air when inside his house so he would have to go outside. This means sometimes in the night he has to get up and starts doing his job as he needs fresh air.
Dudu has a daughter who has 2 children. She has poor mental health due to Dudu’s ex husband sexually assaulted her. Dudu’s daughter now has a partner but is using her for children and doesn’t care about her. Dudu’s husband is trying to tell her this but because she doesn’t respect him, she isn’t listening to him. The only other income coming into the family is the daughter’s children who allow the family some grant a month.
The family are struggling financially and have very little so Hands at Work have stepped in and are providing some more mattresses and are providing new school uniform for them. The husband asked if Hands could help him and they are making a contract so they pay for wood once a month but they pay a little more than he asks so he is guaranteed a profit from that purchase.
By Ben
We woke up to the sun shining over the hub and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the peace and quiet of the village. We entered the day with mixed feelings - excited to be back in Mafambisa but also sad as it was our final day in Community.
We arrived in the brilliant sunshine and were greeted by some of the Care Workers. It was interesting to see the cooking pot and fire outside and we later learnt this was because the wood was took long for the shelter. We were then set straight to work - Carolyn and Lucy chopped and grated, Chris found a spade (more on that later) whilst the others played with the Under 5’s. We got the bubbles out, the balloon footballs and even some paper and pens.
Papa Chris (his new name at Mafambisa) and Papa John (from the Hands maintenance team) set about filling in a hole in the cooking shelter. First they mixed the cement and then filled in the hole, levelled it off and let it set. The Care Workers were so impressed they asked if they could make the shelter floor flat so that the big logs would fit in so off they went. They later also created a ramp into the new Childrens shelter.
Next it was time for relationship group, we sang; we checked in on everyone; Carolyn then prayed before Lucy shared an encouragement from John 1 v 5 - it was great to be able to link this verse in with the song Shine. We finished the encouragement with sharing a picture of the children of Mafambisa in 2019 that we took. The Care Workers absolutely loved this and seeing/ naming the children and how much they had grown. This is now on the wall in their office/store room.
What happened next was a first for a St. Andrews Team and one we will never forget as was so special and humbling. We left the shelter after the relationship group but then about 10 minutes later we all returned. The Care Workers wanted to bless us as a team and pray for us as it was our last day. They shared about the importance of teams visiting and how they had been waiting for us to return since COVID 19 and wondered when it would be. They also said thank you for our support as their partner for the Children, for them and also for the provision of the new Childrens shelter. As a team, we then stood in the middle of the new shelter whilst the Care Workers sang a prayer of blessing and thanks over us before Maria (Care Worker) then prayed for us. Although, we didn’t understand every word - we could feel the power and Holy Spirit in her prayers. It was an unforgettable special moment.
Lucy, Carolyn and Ben went on a Holy Home visit to the Care Worker ‘Du Du’s’ house (see the next blog) whilst Chris carried on with the cement and John, Alice and Jack played with the Under 5’s and then the older children as they arrived.
We then sang, prayed and served food to the children before the music then started playing to “Shine”. We danced and sang to “Shine”, “Be Happy” and “Great Great” before pausing and taking a new group photograph of the children and care workers of Mafambisa. This produced some giggles. The music and dancing then returned for one more time before we then sadly had to say our goodbyes and see you soons to the Children and Care Workers. We left with heavy hearts but also ones full of love, joy and memories.
On returning to the hub, we drank a well earned cuppa on the veranda before eating and then preparing for the annual South African Ceilidh that we were leading for the Hands Village. We danced; we danced; and we danced some more. It was very fun. We ended our evening with a reflective time around the fire pit.
Sadly we heard yesterday that baby Gift had passed away and never made it to Pretoria hospital. Please pray for Lilly, Gift’s mother and Nktula, Gifts sister.
It was our final day in the community today. We were back in Mafambisa where we had such a joy filled day. This continued back at the hub as we led the rest of Hands at Work in our annual South African Cheildh. We are now off to reflect on the last fortnight round the fire pit.
We will be unable to blog tonight as between 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm our region of South Africa will have load shedding which is where the power will go out for 2 hours so that there is enough power to go around South Africa. This is done on a rota basis. Please check back in the morning to read about our last day.
Here is a few sneaky photos of what we may have got up to.
The lady is originally from Eswatini, she came to South Africa about ten years ago with two of her grandchildren so that they could access education. A risk because, as we have heard so many times on this trip, being from a different country and having no legal papers means she has no rights, no claim to any benefits and the children cannot complete education or gain meaningful employment.
After a time her grandson left to finish his education and try and find peace work; her granddaughter became pregnant and after giving birth went to live with her boyfriend’s family, leaving the lady on her own. In March this year another granddaughter arrived at her door with her own baby, and then left, leaving the lady to care for her under two year old great-granddaughter….the lady is eighty-three years old!
The house she lives in is extremely rural, no running water, no electricity; she has a small piece of land where she grows crops to feed herself. House is a generous term - think more a couple of run down, leaking sheds, with ill-fitting windows and doors, and no floor. She is also very hard of hearing, and doesn’t see very well, and her mobility is limited. Despite this she is cheerful and doing her very best to look after her great-granddaughter.
Each weekday one of the care workers collects the child on her way to the care point, they wash her, care for her and feed her, and return her home late afternoon with extra food for the Gogo. But at the weekend they receive little support.
When we arrived she was trying to frighten off a few goats intent on eating her crops and avocado trees; she invited us to sit down (no chairs) and chatted for a good time with the team who had come to check on her welfare. We established that she had run out of water and so John and the two service centre staff set off with buckets to a neighbours house, who had a pipe of running water from the mountains. “Neighbour” actually meant a trek of about 400m across a field and through a small copse, to bring back enough water for essential use!
After returning with the water we prayed with the Gogo, the child and the rest of her family, who still live in Eswatini, but never visit. We asked God to help show a resolution to the situation; and gave thanks for the care workers and their faithful support. She was extremely grateful for the visit and the help she had received; and insisted on walking us to the edge of her land to wave us goodbye.
We rose early this morning and jumped into the bucket bath, which is like a manual shower but still very refreshing. Time for a bit of breakfast and we then sat down with Levy, our host while in Osheok, and the Osheok Service Centre team, for a time of prayer and sharing! We went around the room, sharing how we were feeling and identifying any prayer points!
We safely arrived back from Oshoek to the Hands Hub to find the whole of the village in darkness! There had been a power outage since 2:00 this afternoon in the whole of the local area. We were greeted by the West Midlands Team who helped us unload the van and we found some head torches and lamps and sat down to our still warm meal from the hospitality team. Check back later for our blog.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!””
Isaiah 52:7 NIV
We set off for our day at the Houtbos care point following prayers at the service centre. I was particularly excited to see how and if Houtbos had changed since our last visit 3 years ago. After a very bumpy drive we safely arrived and I was delighted to see a new brick building.
We The previous corrugated metal shack is still standing but used as a wood store for the carepoint. We were reunited with Ma Nester who is a wonderful, faithful lady that has been involved with the carepoint for many years. The new building contains a kitchen area with an indoor stove, what an improvement! I have established that all the carepoints in the Oshoek area now have indoor stoves, this must be such a blessing.
We quickly got to work peeling vegetables ( feels familiar) and preparing the food for the childrens’ lunch.
We then had a short time of introductions and a few words of encouragement from Chris before we headed out to our two Holy home visits that have previously been shared. (Check out the previous blog)
Upon our return from the home visits we checked on the progress of the cooking of lunch and then as we had over an hour until the children arrived from school on the bus Carolyn and I went across to sit on a large rock outcrop to have some time for reflection. This rock apparently is referred to as Ma Nester’s rock… at this point I’m not sure why! After a few minutes Ma Nester came across and we moved to the top of the rock where we sat and chatted with her. She shared with us that she, along with the care workers and many of the community would meet and pray at 5am each morning, oh in winter it’s 6am! Ma Nester spoke about her concern for the youth in the area as once they have left school there are very few opportunities for them as such a rural location and very few jobs. The view from the rock is truly amazing, high up in the mountains, overlooking the Eswatini border, with spectacular views all around. We finished our time together on the rock in prayer.
When we returned to the carepoint the bubbles had come out and were being enjoyed by not only the few young children but the care workers too. As 3 o’clock came the school children arrived off their bus and came running through the gate, a joy to behold in the beautiful sunshine. We had more of the toys and games out including a giant inflatable ball which proved to be great fun.
Lunch of rice, potato and beetroot was then ready and another first was that the food was served up in the kitchen and then handed through a hatch to the children .
After lunch we then played with the parachute and Ben and Jack were playing football with many of the teenage boys.
We finished our day at this very special place with a few rounds of singing and dancing led by the lads! I think it is true to say a truly amazing day that we all feel blessed for being able to share in . Houtbos will remain dear to me but hold special memories for us all. ❤️
