Day 10 - Pfunani Community

Week two started with Men’s prayer at 7am. (More on this in the next blog!)

This was followed by a quick breakfast before the usual Monday meeting for everyone from the Hands team. As part of this we gave our feedback on our visit (normally this would take place on the final Friday but it will be a public holiday so we did it today instead.) Adam talked about what the visit has meant to him and how it has given him a new appreciation for what he has. Matthew and Pippa both talked about their favourite moments so far and Mark talked about the humbling act of foot washing on care worker appreciation day. Ben talked about the changes he has seen at the Mafambisa care point since his visit two years ago. We also expressed our gratitude to Prudence, Virginia, Eunice, Audrey, Audres and Loneck from the Service Centre and our hosts Charissa and Herman at the Hub. 

After the meeting we quickly got packed for three nights away. The care points we are visiting this week are several hours north of White River so we are not returning to the hub until Thursday. We set off in the minibus along with Eunice, Audres and Tyler who are accompanying us this week. After a few hours (including a couple of coffee/toilet/shopping stops in Hazyview and Acornhoek) we arrived at Wits Rural Facility. It is the rural campus of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and where we are staying this week. As soon as we were in the gate a snake crossed the road in front of us which gave a few of us a bit of a fright. We checked in and dropped off the trailer with our luggage in and set off to Pfunani straight away. 

On arrival at the care point at Pfunani we received a warm welcome care the care workers. There were a number of under 5s already there and after an initial hesitation on both sides we soon started playing together - mostly on the amazing jungle gym they have at the care point and with the bubbles and footballs we had brought with us. Before long almost all of the children (and all of the team) were busy. Next it was time to gather in their amazing shelter (built around a tree) for singing and prayers before a lunch of pap and beans which Adam and Alice served up. 

Once lunch was over (and a quick game of netball for some) the speaker came out and the singing and dancing began. Matthew, Adam and Pippa led this (more about where Ben and Harry were below) and before long the children of Pfunani were joining in with Shine and all the usual favourites. During this time (by now it was past 4pm) the older children arrived from high school and were offered food by the care workers. 

Ben, Harry and Mark also returned at this point - they had been with Audres and Tyler to visit Audres’ chickens. Pfunani is home for Audres. He grew up there and was a care worker there until he joined the service centre team. 

(The next section is written by Ben and Harry) - Those who had been in men’s prayer in the morning had learnt that Audres has a chicken project and wants us to pray for him and them. When we got there, we waited for the key from the young people looking after them when Audris is away and then saw the 100, three week old chicks. Audris showed us what he was building to move the chickens outside when they grow a bit bigger. He told us that he is doing it to sell them as its always been his dream, ever since he was young. They have to be about 7/8 weeks to be able to sell so he is excited and has started to market them to people to prepare. Overall, it is amazing to see someone develop over time, as he used to be a care worker at Pfunani and is now working with Hands, helping his community and doing some work for himself.

Just before 5pm the children started leaving and we left for the drive to Wits. We settled into our rooms and then joined together for dinner before a debrief. Many of us commented on the contrast between the rural setting of Pfunani compared to the more urban location of Mafambisa and Mluti. We also observed that the care point has much more space for the children to play including football area with goals. 

With all the travel it was a long but enjoyable day. Some of the team even had the energy for a late night game of cards whilst others took the opportunity for an early night to prepare for our return to Pfunani on Tuesday.  

Blogged by Sally (with the chicken visit blog by Ben and Harry)