Day 7 - The Hub!

Every Friday, Hands at Work gather together as a community with a different focus. This Friday was ‘Hands on Deck’. It is a time where people that have travelled around the Hands countries and communities share or provide updates. 

Brook shared a verse from Isaiah about being Gods Hands and Feet. This was very apt as many of the stories that followed were examples of this. 

The St.Andrews Team were asked to share about our ten year long partnership; how it started, what it looks like as well as this years team and why people have come for the first time or come back again. 

Oliver shared how our partnership had started 11 years ago when The Room invited DJ (Chris’s Nephew) to come and share about his time with Hands at Work.  He continued to share how we sent our first team in 2015 - ‘The Room in Africa’ and how they visited the communities of Mluti, Share, Siyaththuka and Osheok. This visit was the beginning of our partnership with Hands and the communities of Siyaththuka and now Mafambisa. 

Oliver went onto share that over the ten years we have sent 9 teams including 5 that have contained youth. He then talked about the importance of partnership and in particular that we noticed this in 2024. Examples included Ben being recognized by name; people asking ‘Where’s Jack?’ And how we are still asked this year; Khethsiwe shared with Alice that she was pregnant before telling many others; Oliver was recognized out in the community by an old Care Worker called Alzera and that the children and Care Workers had sent two videos wishing Chris a speedy recovery! Our relationship with Mafambisa deepens every time we visit and the responsability that we feel to visit and encourage support has become stronger over the last few years and there is a real connection between the kids the care workers and our teams!

Oliver then went onto share that the St Andrews partnership looks and has different meanings for different people 

• for people on the ground visiting for example this might be Kethsiwe pushing other Care Workers out of the way to have her feet washed by Chris Parker, or the whole community singing shine as we get the speaker out. 
• for people at home it is supporting children monthly, praying by name for every child and Care Worker in Sunday service over year, sharing of stories of dreams and encouraging others to visit, supporting fundraisers for young people or for projects. 

But for those that can and have it isn’t just about sitting at home, everyone who has visited these communities goes home changed by the experience of Hands and by the communities. 

Nick shared about his journey to Africa - he started by sharing parts of his blogpost before then talking about the fundraising that had been done for Mafambisa; for the security fence, the children’s shelter and then two sets of toilets. The Hands community found the picture of Nick on a toilet incredibly funny! 

Adam went onto share about the 2025 team and the reasons why some of us have returned. He also shared that we believe that God has called each and everyone of our teams over the years to visit Hands at Work and we believe he has curated each team at the right time with the right people and we belive that this year is no different with the obvious exception of Chris Parker being unable to attend! 

He shared that we have all returned for different reasons. Alice for example has such a deep connection with SA and Hands, she spent a year volunteering in Durban as a teacher back in 2023 and has been on all but one of the trip from St Andrew’s to Hands at work. She always feels a particular closeness to God whilst in South Africa and at Hands. 

Pippa really loves to see how the work Hands does makes a difference for the communities we support; for example she really enjoyed seeing the positive impact Oliver’s words of encouragement had on the Care Workers at Mafambisa on Thursday. She also felt a strong call to come again this year to be able to experience Hands at Work without her parents both of whom came last year. 

One of the things which keeps bringing Oliver back to Hands is the importance of worship - like many of us the ways of worshiping in South Africa are far different from the ways of worship we have back home and is such a pure and emotional way of worship. 

Adam shared that he felt such a strong calling to return to South Africa following his visit last year, remembering the relationships we built was one of the things urging him to come back, last year he and the rest of the young guys made such a strong relationship with one guy in Pfunani which has actually continued over the last year.

Oliver then finished up our slot by talking about how over the ten years we have seen communities across SA: Clau clau, Bushbuck Ridge and Oshoek. We have been fortunate to have seen communities graduate like Share and Zwelisha. We then shared the changes seen in Mafambisa this year. These included the toilets, extension of the church, the pigs and the development of English amongst some children and Care Workers. He finished by saying that we feel very blessed to have been here and to be able to share today and we look forward to everything in the week to come. 

After our slot, Lonneck prayed for our partnership and team. We then heard from Joanna which was a volunteer from Germany that had spent a month at Hands. Before we continued - Prudence led us in a time of worship. 

Next up was Bernard from Germany who sits on the International Board. He shared about his journey with Hands from when he was a long time volunteer to now helping to set up Hands at Work Germany. Finally Busie who was at Hands for a long time and had moved to Australia a couple of years shared about what she had been up to and how she felt God had called her to build community over there. She shared that it hadn’t been easy but that we were called to be Gods Hands and Feet and that after experiencing Hands we cannot play it safe when we return home. Brokenness is all over the World and we have to love and bring hope. It was very inspiring! 

After the morning meeting, we visited White River to purchase groceries for our down time in Kruger this weekend, our trip to Oshoek next week and Care Worker Appreciation Day. We also had to print a photograph to attach to a banner for the Care Point that hadn’t been printed properly. 

Once we returned we ate lunch and then were joined by Levy (Hands Leadership) and Eric (DRC Leadership) for a Q and A. Levy shared his experience of Hands and some updates. He then answered some of the teams questions such as;

1. How can we explain the importance of Partnership back home in the UK. 
2. Is there anything we can do to support Hands with the rising water table and flooding at Mafambisa? 
3. When do they think Mafambisa will graduate? 
4. Are there any new Care Points planned in South Africa?
5. Are Hands thinking about expanding to other African Countries? 

We then asked Eric about the DRC (Congo) and what is was like on the ground. We asked if the situation was becoming more positive and also whether the children were still attending the Care Point. Eric shared that the political situation in the DRC particularly the Congo was challenging and they were continuing to pray for Peace. He shared that there were 3 Care Points in Goma (the North) which were the most affected and 11 in the South that were currently unaffected. He shared that the usual routine of Holy Home Visits, Feeding the children and supporting the community had resumed which was good. 

Oliver prayed for the DRC and for the work at Hands. 

We then spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for Kruger and Osheok before we then had some fun team time playing cards. We also put our gifts together for the Care Wirkers ready for next week. Oliver took the new members of the team on a tour of the Hands Village before we had dinner! 

By Alice