Day 1 and 2: Travel to the Hands at Work Hub

It’s Saturday morning and the start of the South Africa adventure for the 2024 team. From 10am the team, with the exception of Alice (who was due to meet up with us later after travelling across London) were given a wonderful send off by many of the church family and by David and Jane Newsome (Hands at Work). After, we went to Lucy and John’s for a lovely lunch. The team left Biggleswade at 3pm with the intention of arriving at Heathrow in good time. Vaughan, Ian (Harry’s dad) and Lucy helped with providing transport. Even though Alice was going on a different earlier flight, she was unfortunately delayed getting across London and then her flight was delayed due to no push-back truck available. 

The main team’s flight was at 10.15pm and we arrived at Johannesburg O R Tambo Airport at 9.40am (South Africa time). My (Mark) first impression was seeing a large Oliver Tambo statue in the main foyer area and an even larger statue of the same former politician outside as we departed for the hub once Alice was reunited with the team. 

It is quite a long journey from the airport to the hub and we stopped off at Alzu services. Unlike Watford Gap, a large group of animals including Rhino congregate at a large watering hole behind the service station. This wonderful view could also be fully appreciated by the gents when using the WC via a large picture window, the sill height of which maintained the men’s’ modesty! 

We arrived at the hub at 6-ish and were met by Charissa and Herman amongst others. The welcome was heartfelt and warm and really appreciated. Although travel weary we still managed a tour of the facilities and some prepared a pizza evening meal with salad and potatoes. There was time to reflect on a quite tiring 27 hours but knowing that our experience had begun. It is clear that the team is comfortable in each others company - a testament to some thorough preparation and a great group with some able to share their past experiences.

Blogged by Mark