Tuesday - Men and Ladies Prayer

​Men’s Prayer  (By Jack) 

For those avid readers or those that have been before may notice that Men’s and Women’s prayer are now on the same day and also at the same time! (The men on the team were thankful for the extra hour in bed!) The prayer meeting was moved so that more of the men from the Hub team that live in the community were able to join. 

In men’s prayer today, we talked about faith and courage and how we can show/ use that in our day to day lives but more importantly how we could use it in the day we had before us. So firstly in men’s prayer we spoke about how we were and how our family was before looking at different bible verses that linked to faith/ courage (my personal favourite quote was Psalm 27:14) 

We then expanded on what both faith and courage meant which was that they are both connected but not the same whilst also knowing we have to trust in God no matter what happened in the days ahead of us. Before ending it off with a song specifically on the faith and courage topic and a prayer led by Levi. 

Ladies Prayer  (By Sally) 

The ladies were fortunate in the new prayer meeting arrangements to still be able to meet on the lovely chapel.

After a quick breakfast on the veranda, Alice, Carolyn, Freya, Lesley, Lucy, Rachel and myself made our way to the chapel at the Hub for Women’s Prayer at 8am. 

It is a beautiful building towards the edge of the compound and in a very quiet spot. As we waited for prayer to begin all we could hear was birdsong. 

Christie was leading the worship and it was focussed on the topic of wind. We started by reading Matthew 14 v22-32 where Jesus walks on the water. Christie talked about how frightening the wind can be. She reminded us that in the reading when Peter was afraid of the wind and took his focus off Jesus he sank. But when he called out to God he saved him. 

Christie reminded us that the presence of wind does not mean the absence of Gods presence. She challenged us to consider whether we are tired because we are too focused on whatever “the wind” is in our lives. Or what miracles have we missed because we have been too focussed on “the wind.”

We then moved on to read Acts 1 v8 and Acts 2 v1-4 where the Holy Spirit makes a big entrance as wind. She then talked about how the Holy Spirit can give us a second wind - the strength to carry on in the midst of difficult situations. She reminded us the wind is God’s business and we mustn’t focus on this. 

We moved on to share various praise points and prayer requests and then prayed together. It was good to be able to spend time together and a number of us found the readings and reflections particularly spoke to us.

Monday - Mafambisa

​Mid-morning Monday we set off to the first Care Point, Mafambisa. It was a short journey from where we are staying (driven by John).

As we arrived the Care Workers greeted us with welcome arms. They had unfortunately finished all the preparation of the food for lunch. So, the people who had been before caught up with familiar faces and new faces introduced themselves.

As the kids arrived group by group we bought out diggers, bubbles and a skipping rope for them to play with. They all enjoyed playing - the younger ones especially enjoyed playing with the bubbles. And the older ones were really good at the skipping unlike the team members that also tried to join in.

We then served all the children, Care Workers and team  the food for lunch. I found out the pot with all the pap in was much heavier than I expected! I then continued to watch it take 3 of the care workers to lift the pot.

The children and us then enjoyed the food and I had my very first taste of pap and cabbage!

After we finished our lunch we bought the speaker out of the van and enjoyed dancing in front of/ and with the kids to all the songs we listen to at holiday club, making it feel like we were at home. The children begged for more songs but after 3 rounds of shine and plenty of other songs we decided it was time to stop and continue playing.

After finishing the dances we then had to do the hard job of saying bye to the children. We had lots of hugs and plenty of children asking for us to stay.

Then later on Monday night we arrived back at the hub and enjoyed some drinks before then being greeted with a bring and braai which was a mixture of different foods to pick from. While we enjoyed eating our food we spilt up into little groups to talk about our day and funny parts of our lives with people from the hub to get to know each other more as people. After we stuffed our faces, our team had our daily debrief about our day at the Care Point before enjoying some little snacks and a calm game of rage! 

By Freya (and Jack for the last paragraph) 

Monday Morning at the Hands Village

Monday 3rd August 

We all turned in early last night after the long day’s travel to the Hands Hub. Most people enjoyed a restful night, even if we didn’t appear to have boundless energy for a prompt start this morning. We began with breakfast together on the terrace in the morning sunshine, in anticipation of what the day would bring….

Monday mornings at the Hub start with a weekly gathering for worship, prayer, news and updates; and to offer the week to God. Beginning with a time of praise I was struck by waves of emotion as we sang “Purify My Heart”, a song Chris and I had spoken about and chosen many times over the years while planning worship. But the feeling of welcome, love and unity from the folks at Hands as we introduced ourselves and our team filled us with joy and hope for our time in South Africa. 

Charrisa led the gathering, opening with a passage from the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians encouraging the church there in their work of sharing the good news of Christ, including “we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people” (Col 1:4). Words which give as much encouragement today as they did to those early believers two thousand years ago.

We then split into small groups for a ‘getting to know one another better’ session; shared prayer requests; and praying for some of the other teams that will be coming out to join the Hands work in different countries across the continent this year. At the end of the session we came back together to share in closing worship. 

After the main group split, our team were invited by the leadership group at Hands to sit with them, Levi spoke so clearly about how the whole Hands family were standing with us in our time of grief for Chris. To support us and be alongside us in, what would be, an emotional visit this year. Expressing also how much Chris is, and will be, missed by those who knew him at the Hub and the wider Hands team.

Another get together with the service centre staff and our hosts followed, to prepare us for our first visit, on this trip, to our partner community of Mafambisa; to update us on their progress and their current plans; more of that to follow in the morning…..

By John 

Journey to Hands - Saturday and Sunday

Saturday afternoon we arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 thanks to Noah, Garry and Dan. We had a drink altogether before Lucy and John had to head to Terminal 3 as they had a separate flight (as they weren’t part of the original 2026 team).

Flights went smoothly, some people managed to get a good amount of sleep while some where staying up playing Battleships.

Landing in South Africa, we were rewarded with our first beautiful sunrise, luckily they were allowed to open the blinds on the plane for us to see

After going through passport control and collecting all our bags (thankfully) we grabbed a coffee, collected our van for the 2 weeks and waited for Lucy and John to head onwards. Unfortunately, we were given a smaller bus than expected so little bit tight with all the luggage and 10 people. 

YES, there is meant to be 10 people in that picture. 

Our next stop, Alzu petrol station. If you’ve seen the blogs before or have been you will know it’s not a normal petrol station. At what other services can you grab lunch and get a picture with a Rhino in the background?

Carolyn took charge of driving for the afternoon drive to the Hands Hub and did a brilliant job. Smooth enough ride for some people to catch up on some sleep.

Arriving at the Hub, we were given a warm welcome by familiar faces which was lovely after a tiring 24 hours. We had a quick tour round the Hub and noticed a few changes. 

Unpacked our bags before cooking and eating our pizza that had been set up for us by the Hub.

This was followed by a chat going through what our week will look like and what we are looking forward to in the coming week.

All ready for a good night sleep to wake up for the Monday 8am morning meeting, followed by our first day at Mafambisa. So excited to go back!!

By Ben and Lucy 

Communities and Prayers

This will be our final pre-mission trip blog and our last update from the UK! As we complete the final stages of our preparations, we want to take a moment to say thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and generous donations. A special thank you goes to everyone who has supported our young people by donating or attending fundraising events, helping them raise the funds needed for this trip. It is amazing that we can offer young people the chance to live out their faith and deepen their relationship with God in this way. 

Please do join us on Saturday 1st August at 11am for coffee in the Chapter House to send us off on our way. Thanks. 

Communities

We thought it would be interesting to share with you the profiles of the communities we will be visiting over the next two weeks. Please click on the links below to have a read. At the bottom of each page there is a link to the Care Point profile and the latest care point report. 

Mafambisa -  https://www.handsatwork.org/southafrica/mafambisa

Welverdiend/Pfunani - https://www.handsatwork.org/southafrica/welverdiend

Seville B - https://www.handsatwork.org/southafrica/seville-b

Prayers 

As we embark on our travels tomorrow we ask that you join us in the prayer that we shared at our commissioning service on Sunday. 

Lord God, as we stand here today, we thank You for the privilege of travelling to South Africa to serve some of the most vulnerable communities. We thank You for every person in this team — and especially for the young people who are stepping out in courage, compassion, and faith.

We pray that You would go before us in every journey we take. Keep us safe as we travel, protect us in every place we visit, and steady our hearts when we feel unsure. Fill us with Your peace and Your presence.

Help us to work together with patience, joy, and unity. Teach us to listen well, to support one another, and to serve as one body with one purpose. May our teamwork reflect Your love.

Lord, use our singing, our dancing, our conversations, and our smiles to bring encouragement to those who need it most. Let every word we speak carry hope. Let every moment we share remind people that they are seen, valued, and deeply loved by You.

Bless the communities we will meet. May Your light shine through us, not for our glory, but for Yours. And bring us home safely, changed for the better, and grateful for all You have done.

We place this journey in Your hands.

Amen.

Our Team Africa 2026 Logo — What It Means to Us

This year, Freya, Ben and I designed the Team Africa 2026 logo, and it honestly feels amazing seeing something we created represent our whole team.

We chose every part of the logo for a reason. 

The outline of Africa shows where we’re going and the people we’re going to support. 

The figures around the edge represent the careworkers, the children, and us all connected as one community. 

The cross in the centre reminds us that Jesus is the focus of everything we do. 

The Scottish badge stands for St Andrew’s Church, the place that sends us out and supports us. 

And finally, we included the Bible quote Philippians 4:13  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It’s part of the holiday club song Be Happy, which loads of us grew up singing. It’s one of those verses that sticks with you, especially when you’re nervous or excited about something big. It reminds us that even though we’re young, we’re not doing this alone.

By Jack 

Commissioning Service - Sunday 26th July

Commissioned for Mafambisa: A Moment I Won’t Forget 

On Sunday, something happened that felt bigger than just “getting ready for a trip.” At the end of the service, our team gathered at the front of church for our commissioning and even though I’ve been to South Africa once before, this moment hit differently.

We were asked to say our names out loud. Simple, but powerful. It was like saying, “I’m here. I’m part of this. I’m stepping into something God is calling me to.” Then we made our commitments, to be a whole team, stronger together than any of us are on our own; to be active and sensitive, not just doing tasks but noticing people; to deal with the unexpected (which, if you’ve been before, you know is basically guaranteed); and to go the extra mile with humility, leaving pride behind so we can be open to whatever God wants to show us.

The congregation promised to support us and pray for us. It meant a lot.

Then came the moment that will stay with me: we held out our hands to be anointed with oil. One by one, we said:

Hands to work. Hands to embrace. Hands to give. Hands to receive. Hands to create. Hands to bless.

It was simple, but honestly, it was powerful. Standing there with oil on my hands, I felt the weight of what we’re going to do not heavy, but real. These hands will carry bags, play games with kids, share food, hold someone’s arm when they need support, and maybe even wipe away a tear. They’ll give, but they’ll also receive. They’ll bless, but they’ll also be blessed.

Going back to Mafambisa feels like returning to family. To stand with the community we love, and to keep learning what it means to serve with open hands and an open heart.

This commissioning wasn’t just a moment in a service. It was a reminder of who we are, why we’re going, and the God who goes with us.

And now… we’re ready.

By Carolyn