2nd Installment
Hi everyone! We have contributions from Sharon and Patricia and Jenny today. Thanks so much everyone who is supporting us in prayer.
We are learning so much and experiencing so much. We are a few days late, but hope to catch up soon. The pictures aren’t being posted, will try again when we can.
Clinton’s back:
We went visiting, walking quite a long time between houses. The goal was to see as many in a few hours as we could and I think both Sharon and I were a little unsure of what would happen, so we just went with the flow. The first visit was with an old man named Naso, and his wife Elizabet. They were both poorly in health, Naso with a stroke that stops him moving around and Elizabet with TB. I prayed for both of them for healing and God’s blessing, particularly as they are responsible for three orphans next door. Naso is the brother of Triphena, one of the ladies who came along with us for the visits, the others being Ephie and Girly – pronounced gaily – and it was sad seeing the lack of light in their eyes.
Next we visited Aletta Boma who was a blind lady. She liked the sound of both of our voices, and wanted a new walking stick, and was particularly interested in whether I wanted to give her one! Alas, I could just pray for her. She had more money than most, I guess, in Belfast. She had a cow that was grazing somewhere, and plenty of chickens.
Flora and her husband Isaiah were next. They were obviously Christians, and had a real joy even in their need. Isaiah looked like he had a very bad accident, with all his teeth displaced, and an eye that was obviously not working – milky and damaged. He also had a very heavy wooden leg, that was really too heavy for him to move. We prayed for them and shared a verse. One cool observation about life in an African village, is that there are few physical fences and even fewer psychological fences.
Next door to Flora was a lovely lady called Elsie. Elsie was so happy to see us, and was happily chatting away to Flora, Triphena and Ephie while we were next door. She specially wanted to greet us, and to teach us some new words – words which I now forget 🙂
. But these ladies, walking around 3 km each day to do HBC (home based care), would meet and greet on some level more people than I would see in a week, and I am in sales! They are rich in relationships in a way that I would covet for Australia. Then we visited the orphans that Sharon wrote about, much more poignantly than I could ever do.
Finally we visited Nelson, a man born in 1916 on the 16th of November – same as me. He proudly showed me his ID, so he could show is age – 92! His wife was a spring chicken of just 78 . he was very, very active in his mind, and we had a laugh about him reaching 100.
Now even though I said finally, we made two short visits to another two CHH situations, and the ladies just checked on how things were going for them. It strikes you then just how many girls are in charge of these households. Just a wonderful day, and we haven’t even reached the part about the kids!
We got back to the centre, and had our own packed lunch – which was very nice, then we served the kids a meal. I have attached a photo of mum and Vicki serving them papa and beans. Papa is a meal based on rice flour. The beans are pretty much like the Mexican one – with a brown sauce. The kids were just amazing! The meal was served and it was both chaotic and ordered. The kids were kept in line by the more motherly types among the ladies. The kids ate their meals in groups away from the staging area in a quiet way, no grace was said that I could perceive, and the kids had to wash their dishes afterwards.
After that the kids hung around playing together, and then mum bought out secret weapon no. 1 – the skipping ropes. That was an immediate hit and create about 1 million photo opportunities. We were doing lots of different games of skipping and had individual and collective ones. Daniel was pretty gifted, but a few of us had a try of it. The kids had a natural rhythm, and even the non-gifted ones had an hilarious time trying to skip! The ropes were donated to the centre, so it can continue to bless them.
We discussed what to do tomorrow with the team of workers there, and decided on a Macadamia or peanut treasure hunt, as well as the soccer balls being brought over, perhaps 2 or three. We have balls from Grays Point, Menai, and North Sutherland, so maybe three is the correct number. The others joined us around 3pm and Steve showed that he is a dab-hand with a skipping rope in his hand, doing cross-overs that the kids weren’t able to imitate.
It was really a great day, and it was terrific to see some joy and enjoyment with the kids. We went home and just probably did most of the debriefing on the way home. We got home about 45 minutes before sunset, and had a debrief session about what we could say. I wanted a one word description of the day.
We had: Good, moving, different, exhilarating, real, and more that I have to check up on. Keith told a story about he and Leyton praying for a guy with cancer who could only raise himself on his elbows to be prayed for. He had advanced symptoms, and no where for toileting, so they smelt the reality of Africa, where death is an everyday occurrence, and it was pretty confronting for all of them. They were with Daniel, as mentioned above. Sharni made the observation REAL and it was a revealing one. She explained that she saw kids her age just playing with rocks and dirt, but in a way that almost wanted to make her join in. that in the age of ipods and computer games, the simple joys of playing together almost without props, is a wonderful gift to be missing out on in a land of plenty. Well said Sharni!
It was great that everyone was able to share something, and that we were so positive about the experiences of the day. We all pretty much crashed, and everyone was in bed by 8:15pm. The night sky was pretty beautiful, and I showed one of the girls there the green laser pointer. Hopefully we have a chance to do a night sky session once we are in the groove, even though the moon is starting to wash out the night sky – rats! Full moon on the weekend.
Tuesday I woke around 3am, and got up at 3:40 and thought I better prepare for the day, so I did that with the usual suspects coming in around 5-6 – Sharon, Vicki, mum and Stephen. It was nice and peaceful, and I really think that perhaps I need to re-arrange things so my alone time is in the morning and not the evening. I will work on that thought some more . . . The lack of real coffee is starting to bug me, and Amy, surprise surprise a 20 something girl from Canada, offered me a Lavazza plunger coffee cup. My arm was twisted a lot, but at 6am after a pretty average blend 43, I said yes to yum.
We really had a bad start to the day. Keith and I got sunburnt after all day in windy sun, and we needed caps and sunscreen. This buying of supplies and general mucking around meant that we were late leaving, and even later for our rendezvous with Daniel just after Hazyview, where we bought our supplies in a pick and pay, and hats in Price Less or something like that. Just a normal shopping centre, and you pay the attendance 1 RAND for using the toilets. By the way, you tip everywhere in South Africa. We missed Daniel, but found him in Cork, where he gave us a gentle scolding for being late. Have to do better next time. We dropped off in Cork where they had dancing lessons to give and also they wanted to build some play equipment, and do some work in the garden. We had different tasks today. We were late arriving, as were the ladies, and we met, had a word on Psalm 23, which showed me that my short word from the previous day wasn’t that bad.
My prepared word for the next day, therefore didn’t get used, but at least I have one for next time. We then had singing, and the same lady started us. Just a great experience hearing them sining, and they did some of it in English, perhaps for us, so that was nice to be able to sing along. I didn’t write about it yesterday, but it was great. They had a time praying, which they all did in low voices, with lots and lots of quick words. I don’t know if it was tongues speaking but it was pretty different to listen to. Then we split up into groups. We had two ladies the same, but one different, with Ephie not with us. Our job was just two do some work for a CHH. We had to go about 2 km to the house, and went past Elizabet’s and Naso’s place from yesterday, with the green rake outside the orphan building.
We went to a more picturesque part of Belfast, built more on a hill, and as we weaved our way down a rivercourse, both Sharon and I commented on how almost pretty things looked, in the midst of poor houses. Plenty of smiles and Sharon has made it her job to raise a smile and a wave from every person in Africa – a big, but satisfying job! We found the household, mother and father both passed away. We were joined by a young man named Sula. The little boy bought me a hoe, presenting it to me like a trophy – very cute. The ladies were ultra-impressed that the two teenage girls – about 13 and 12 – had put on some food for lunch. It was the normal papa, but the girls had made it far too watery – nearly nothing in it. The fire was also smokey, so Sharon had the responsibility of turning it into the correct mix. The ladies showed her how to do it, and the trick was to not have it running over the sides, because the girls had it too full of water. They folded the maize or rice flour into the mix gradually and had the three or four different techniques to get rid of the lumps. After Sharon, the small lady who was new finished it off, and we went up to sit with the kids in relative silence, before moving on to our tasks, which was to create a rubbish hole for the kids to put their rubbish. That was fine, but at the end of it, I just got washed over with a real weakness, feeling like I was about to throw up and had to have some water. After that I was fine – maybe I am allergic to work .
We then came up and we prayed and I read the benediction from Ephesians 2. The younger girl was giggling, I don’t know if anyone had prayed for her in English before! We walked back on another path and spoke to the kids at another household, this time a girl with only very young siblings, so she was literally doing it on her own. We prayed for her, and particularly that God would raise her to be a woman of God who would be an example to the community as the ladies were who surrounded her. We also visited an old lady who was brought in, I think on some days, with some balls of white stuff which she ground into a meal for cooking for another CHH. The previous girl was getting fed there as well, so it is awesome to see the humanity of this place – people sharing their skills for those without those skills. Sharon got a photo and as usual the kids wanted photos of them as well.
We got back around 1:15 and had our delicious deep fried rolls with almost a pate like stuff inside. Nice, but after two you were very full. We also had chips and fruit. Then we fed the kids the papa and this time chicken feet and head in broth. Sharon was doing the chicken and working to instructions fed them exactly the right amount and it finished just right. The ladies then had their share, and it was clear that they don’t get lots to eat, they really ate as if they were very hungry. Even the better off, and the assisters, are in need in Belfast. It was another great meal.
We then got the soccer balls out, and mayhem proceeded! The older kids got the ball from Grays Point, the girls with the red/white Sutherland ball and the middle kids the ball from Menai. Very funny and very skilful. They loved kicking the ball high, and then volleying the ball, or bicycle kicking, or just piled in roughly. I wanted Leyton to get involved but he was happy to stay with me and see them playing by themselves. That went for a long, long time, and 2:30, then 3:00 rolled by. Then mum got out the nuclear weapon – the puppets, and surprisingly from the adults to the youngest kids, they fell in love with the Australian animal puppets. Craziness ruled, and we got some semblance of order, but it was now 3:30 and pretty late.
The adults loved playing with the balls as well, and it was lovely to see ladies that seemed just to work and work getting to just relax between themselves. The game they played was passing the ball, then bending down and touching the ball to the ground then passing it on. They really enjoyed it, even the oldest.
The final game was the macadamia nut hunt, and the kids spread out riotously round the garden with the ladies I’m sure scared that the kids would ruin the lettuce, tomato, and other plants. They found the stash, and ran madly up the hill to chase the kid who found the bag. They all lined up, they were dished out and the kids gathered in little clumps to process the macadamias with stones crunching on a smooth brick or something like it. What an experience! The joy of the kids was just great, and it was great for me as the team-leader to see all the members experiencing the joy of this moment, each in their own ways.
Ina in particular was just completely in her element. She had visited Caroline, an old blind lady who had nothing to eat that was clean, was unable to see herself and therefore didn’t have that attention to appearance that African ladies in particular take pride in. She lived in an unkempt place with two flat foam mattresses that were covered in dirt. That was distressing for mum to see and she longed to be able to give one of the rolls that had been given to them by the Hands people at the start of the day, but alas, she didn’t have it there to give. She took a photo of the lady, at her request, and the lady made the comment to mum that she could see her with her ears. But this session with the kids was such a gift from God, and we left for Cork astonishingly late, but also so full of the memories of kids with nothing, having full stomachs and smiles in their faces.
We left all the facilities the ropes, balls and two packets of puppets with the workers there, the puppets to go to preschools in the area according to the co-ordinators. While we were at the centre, Daniel showed me the core values of the centre, which he said was about to be followed up with a mission and vision statement. They really have a systematic approach to helping, that will allow them, I believe, to make a large difference as quickly as possible.
We got back late and tired from the trip, after picking up the guys at Cork and seeing their wonderful swing that they made for the kids and getting the reports. You will have to see the video that Jen took of the young 16 year old singing for her for a few minutes. Sensational! ***
2nd July – latest update
This morning I couldn’t get into the building, so after my shower, I stayed outside to pray mainly over how I would talk to the group this morning about my mess up in the previous debrief. The guy who let me in finally, at around 5:10 was Levee, who was fresh back from Zambia a couple of nights ago. He is one of the people who mobilises churches to mission, who checks out new areas for work, who does the scouting work ahead of time. I talked with him for a while about his work, and he seems like a very fit guy – works out at 3am every morning, but finds it hard to go jogging, because of the farmers believing that people are stealing, and he doesn’t want to get shot on suspicion – I agree with him. So he just does push ups, skipping, and other stationary exercises. Seems like an amazing guy.
He told me that someone is leaving soon for Ndola in Zambia and from there I can get Bethany’s parcels into the border for her.
Reading from 1 Peter this morning. 1 Peter 1 tells about God’s people in Asia. They only see evidence of God’s presence by faith. V8 says – you love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious inexpressible joy. Blind people have ability because of their disability. We rely on our eyes so much. Without them we tell ourselves we would not be able to function. But here Peter points to the fact that God chooses to reveal himself to us only by faith. In this sense we are all ‘blind’. So why would he do that? God chooses to reveal himself by talking through his Word. V9 tells us that the reward for trusting him will be the salvation of their souls. I have been inspired by the blind in our midst. Isaiah was talking to me in humour with just one bad eye left. The lady with the beautiful house had really seen us with her other senses. The sense of smell, of sound, of touch, and of taste, all allow us to gather communication. Think of the smell of a loved one, or the sound of their voice. My first challenge for you today, then, is to be aware and intentional on your effect with the young and old people that you come into contact with today. When you pray for people, it is important that they hear the words that you say for their immediate comfort and encouragement. But remember, we are praying to God on their behalf, and you know that God hears you with an ability that far surpasses the best hearing on earth. When you have people interpret for you, be careful to remember that they are doing the best that they can, encourage them and be careful to check with meaning, even if that means an extended exchange to do that. Let’s learn lessons that go with us beyond these two weeks. Because this can especially help us in functioning in the world. Just one instance of this: how often do I miss the boat in understanding what is going on by having my mind on more than one thing. I did it with Jenny last night, even as she was telling me something. Because of my pre-occupation with trying to fix up one of my many blunders, I had blundered again. But if I would only listen carefully, really listen, then I would be so much better equipped, like blind people, to extract every little bit of information.
Jenny’s Diary
30/6
Felt more alive with it after a good night’s sleep.
Arrived late 10:30 at Cork again. Jared Geoff & Steve helped Simon with building a swingset for the kids.
We had no water to water the garden. Simon gave Pat the key to his ute so we could go and get some water. Sharni and Pat in front with Susan and I was in the back of the ute with 4 other ladies.
We first stopped at a number of places (about 3) to get containers and leaf mulch for the garden. Then to one place people who were building a house; they had a tap but had run out of water. We drover around and eventually found another place with water. There is a pipeline underneath going from one town to another and the people had tapped into it. Susan said if we ask nicely the people would normally let us use it. So we stood around for another hour roughly while we filled up about 15-15 containers of 20-30 litres.
We eventually arrived back around 1230 and the kids had arrived for lunch again. We had lunch and after helped with watering the garden then gave out the skipping ropes and balls for the kids to play with. They enjoyed them but they also enjoyed doing their dances which had also been planned for today. It was great watching them.
Sharons’ Diary
I am truly blessed to have been allowed to come and share our time and their time together. Everyday is unique; it has never happened before and will never happen again. This day to me will stand among the 1st of the most privileged days of my life. I am tired, my hand is sore from writing and I know will put this book down and closed but that will never happen. In my heart about the people I met today; the children at feeding time, the orphans and those at risk, the skipping the playing, my planting onion in a garden with instruction from one to three ladies to going to their toilet with Ina to Sarni when they came in the bus to collect us; the impact she had on the teenage boys, and the care works reaction to her bing my daughter. The love and genuine friendship they offered today I will never forget. May the Lord keept them in his hand forever
sharon
Patricia’s diary:
27/6/09
Left for short term mission trip to SA today. Flew out 7:30pm to Perth and had a quick taxi ride ton international airport for plane to Joburg – quite a good flight. Arrived safe and sound at 5:15am.
28/6
Thanks to God and all the people praying! Had cup of hot choc in airport and then a 4 hour drive to Whitte River. Very scenic. Bit of a cold wind but warm in the sun. we arrived around 2pm. Sleeping in a room with Ina a Vicki – had a reasonable nights’ sleep and woke up around 5:15.
29/6
We had a prayer meeting with Hands / ASM guys and then set off in the bus to Cork (A) and Belfast (B). the trip took about an hour. I noticed lots of people walking places and just ‘hanging around’. Apparently the unemployment rate is around 80%! We were greeted in Cork by Flora who then gave us a ‘tour’ and then the care volunteers sang for us and prayed and we set off for our home visitation in the community. Very poor people but we helped some get water and washed some dishes and saw some really beautiful children. We then came back and had lunch and had about 80 children come to be fed and then Steve told the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – whilst susan interpreted and we acted (ie Geoff, Jenny, jared, Sharni and myself). We then sang for them and they for us. 2 little boys told me a ‘story’ and one of them quoted Josh 1:7-8 – strong and courageous. We then went and collected the others from Belfast and came home about 5pm.
30/6/9
Went to Cork today. Got to drive Simon’s ute with susan, Jenny, Sharni and 2 other workers 4 about 3 hours to try and find water. They had no water as the water delivery people were on strike because they had not been paid! We finally found some and filled up about 10-30 litre and 20 litre containers and took them back to water the vegetables. We then had lunch and played with the children with skipping ropes and soccer balls. We taught them the ‘hokey pokey’ and they sang and danced for us. The men built a swing for the kids and we got home about 5:15pm. We are going to bed earl and getting up around 5:30 sharing a room with Vicki and Ina. Lovely meals at night.