Day 5 - Mluti

 

Our day started with breakfast on the veranda at 8am and as is typical on a Wednesday morning at Hands we shared in a small group. Lonneck had sent us a bible verse to read and some questions to discuss but before we did that we went round the table while eating and drinking to share our highlights, lowlights and spiritual insights that we have experience so far while being out in South Africa. 

The bible verse we looked at this morning was from Luke 7: 11-17 where Jesus raised the young man from the dead - Hands had sent round some questions to get us thinking about the verse and the healing powers of faith. 

It was then time to head to Mluti, a Care Point still in the Clau Clau region, for the day. We were joined by Virginia and Prudence in the bus from the regional support team who were telling us about the current and ongoing problems that they have in Mluti. Similarly to a lot of other South African Care Points, they struggle with individuals being undocumented having travelled from either Mozambique or Eswatini (Swaziland) and therefore they are unable to be registered or claim government grants or go through school easily. Other problems that they are having are high levels of alcohol abuse which can significantly impact the children within the community. 

When we arrived at the Mluti we shared some time to sing and pray together. We took the opportunity to introduce ourselves and share any prayer requests which we had - some of the Care Workers were unwell with flu and some of the team were feeling tired so we all took the time to pray for all of these things and anything else on our heart. 

It was then time to go on Holy Home Visits; Oliver, Nick and Pippa went with Prudence to visit Libby to hear about her family while Rachel and Adam went with Virginia to visit Lucy who were a new family from Mozambique (more to follow in separate blog). 

Noah and Alice stayed at the Care Point and assisted with cooking and playing with some of the children. One girl, Peony, loved the bubbles and spent a very long time sitting on the step playing with a wand. 

Once others returned from their visits, we took some opportunity to play with the children. Nick particularly enjoyed playing with the trucks in the sand and building sand castles. 

The children also loved playing with the balls on the JungleJim - and some of our team members loved the long slide!

The time had come for us to worship, sing and pray before lunch we did in a circle in front of the cooking hut. Lunch today was samp (large puffy rice with beans and carrot) with butternut squash which was amazingly served by Alice and Pippa! They did have to keep their eyes peeled however as some children came back to for another bowl having already eaten but luckily the Care Workers were on the ball in noticing this. 

Once we had finished dinner, it was time for some dancing which we completed one the steps with the children in front of the hut - they all seemed to enjoy this very much! We then said our goodbyes and made our way back to the hub to have some downtime before dinner which was boar sausages, mashed potato with gravy and salad. We had an opportunity to share about our Holy Home Visits and then shared how we were feeling by using the weather to describe our feelings (something that some of us had done before at Hands). 

We took some time to relax, play some games and get ready for heading back to Mafambisa tomorrow!

By Oliver