Day 10 - Houtbos

Men's morning prayer was taken from Psalm 32. The passage was read three times. The first time we were asked to pick out a word that stood out. The second time was a phrase that resinated to us. The third was how the passage was speaking to or guiding us. Prayers were said for the coming week and especially for Chris who was coming out of hospital today. 

Breakfast was enjoyed before we joined the community Monday Meeting, as our team was traveling to Oshoek everyone encircled us and prayed for us. The announcements were given out and we sang Happy Birthday to one of the boys from Canada, South African style. We will have to try this out in our Chapter house!

Reflections from the watch word came from Malawi, DRC, Nigeria and Mozambique. 

Then we played a game called fruit salad , each person was given a fruit name and when your fruit was called you change seats from around the circle and if you didn't get a chair you called the fruit. It was great fun especially when the word fruit salad was called when everybody moved. From this we split into our fruit groups to pray. Then finished the session by singing a very powerful worship hymn.

Following this we packed the minibus with our kit and our provisions for an our stay in Oshoek service centre. The van was very full! 

We drove through some beautiful scenery and views on our way to Oshoek. We arrived after two and half hours of traveling , where we were welcomed by the team, Penolope, Ntobeko, Senzo!

We finished our packed lunch and headed out to Houtbos for our first visit. We arrived at Houtbos  to be welcomed by the team. There was screaming and long hugs for Alice and Busi from Ma Nesta and Neli remembered Alice and Oliver from previous visits! Neli even remembered Alice stirring a big pot of Pap in the tin shed in 2019! 

We found pictures and shared them amongst us of this visit! We even noticed that Busi was in them. Busi reminded us that this is why team visits are so important as they help us to remember where we have come from. 

Whilst we were waiting for the children to arrive, some of the team caught up with Ma Nesta, others reminisced previous visits and some of the team helped bring more wood from the store.

Noah tried his hand at wood chopping but then Neli showed us her wood chopping skills. Wow! The wood was then put behind the stove to dry out.

The children arrived at 3pm on mass having been transported to the Care Point by bus. The Children came into the church and began singing. The Team were asked to share their names with the children and the children were asked to remember them! 

Following this the children sang so beautifully and then said their prayers before their meal.

The views from Houtbos are amazing and although it was a little chilly the team then finished their visit by doing the dance routines the children love.

To dance with the children and Care Workers was a privilege especially with such a great back drop. The children requested one more song before we said our goodbyes until tomorrow. 

We shared our debrief with Virginia and all concluded the visit was a joyful time. 

The Oshoek Service Centre has had some improvements with bunk beds for the Men and single beds for the Ladies. Gas heaters are keeping us warm too.

We shared a meal with the team prepared by Gift and Virginia shared her story of how she came to Hands. It was deeply moving and we all were privileged and honoured to listen to her story. We finished the evening by playing a round of rage! 

By Nick