Hi there prayer partners,
Well so much has been happening and we have been unable to get messages, sms or email out, but we have a short window to let you know our progress as a team to this point.
I am happy to say that it is all very, very good!!!
We all met together at the church and distributed assorted skipping ropes, glow plugs, and 70 soccer balls in everyone’s bags, and it all went very, very smoothly.
Our flight to Perth was with a very high headwind, meaning a 5 ½ hour flight, which left us just 1 hour 10 minutes for the connection at Perth from the domestic to international hotel. Our flight caught up a little time, but the shuttle to the international had already left. This meant we had to go in three taxis very, very fast to get the connection.
We made it with around 10 minutes to spare – the plane was already boarding as we were getting through the international connection section of the airport. Booking in groups of 5 and 6 meant that we kind of got through as 2 sets of families, which was nice. The first timers – Sharni, Sharon and Vicki all did remarkably well considering the way that we were pushed here and there as a big group.
Most of us took my pre-flight advice and did not sleep on the first leg, but did sleep after the dinner we received on leaving Perth. We were at the back of the plane and small babies usually frequent the back of the plane, so there was a fair bit of crying as we went along, but most managed to get some sleep.
On our arrival in Joburg, we got a little bit of duty free, and sticking together, went through customs with nothing to delare, hoping that no one would be stopped and thank God we were not, and left into the brand new arrivals foyer at Johannesburg. Because of the world cup it was absolutely shiny and new, with a huge round foyer for guest arrival, surrounded by the flags of confederation cup soccer nations, being played in South Africa to prepare for the world cup next year.
We met Geoff, who stayed overnight after a straight through flight, at the airport and then went upstairs to relax ahead of our bus arriving for us at 8. We stopped at Mugg & Bean and got some light meals – muffins etc, with fruit smoothies, coffees (with foam or cream cappuccinos). The prices were about half in a Sydney airport, and we tried to do some money exchange from auto-tellers.
We left in baggage convoy and the bus driver met us right on 8 o-clock. We got into the bus and Sharon, our scribe, proceeded to write down all that she saw, giving it comparison with different areas of the Australian countryside, which it resembled a lot.
The hills of gold ore dominated the landscape for quite a long way, with some of the hills dug very early, and with quite a gold colour – indicating that the gold wasn’t fully extracted. In fact our driver told us that the ore washings were richer in gold than the actual ore bodies are now, so they are reprocessed.
The driver Ed talked and talked, and I was happy that I was down the back at this stage, with Keith and Stephen and Geoff the closest to him.
We stopped at a little café, on a carp pond, and got some light meals again – about 2-3 hours after the first breakfast. It had been a very long day and night. This place also was very reasonable in price and they let us split the bill. The friendliness of the Africans immediately hit us all, and we tried to do some shopping for nick nacky things, although I should have bought sunscreen and a hat for the trip, but didn’t.
We pulled up at the Hands building, very new, that Steve had helped build. We met some of the one-off volunteers, nearly always girls in their early 20’s from Canada, who made us feel welcome.
We met Marilyn who gave us a first briefing about what is around, where the facilities and our dorm rooms were. She showed us what part of the kitchens were ours, and what not to touch. They are retired people from Canada, serving for a few years. Dave her husband was down for doing our dishes and cleaning up for the week.
Kristal then arrived to do the briefing about the mission teams. We had quite a complex program laid out for us, which was interesting, but we all felt a little ‘in the dark’ about what it all would mean. She seemed to have all of it under control, and we learned that we would be travelling 2 hours per day to get to and out of the communities where we were to serve for the first week, the villages of Cork and Belfast.
We had a tour of the place with Steve Jones and most of us except Sharon and Sharni, looking at the new buildings going up, because the ASM (African School of Missions) compound needed many of the bedrooms that are currently leased by Hands At Work medium (1-2 year) workers. They have until the end of the year to be out. We saw their water supply, their new sewerage system, their bore and tank supply, and watched the sun set over the mountain where the Petra Bible College is located on the opposite hill. On returning, we met our cook Praxidence, who made us lasagne for the first night.
We had a mentor / leader meeting about the split up of the groups, since we were moving into both communities on the one day, and that was a challenge. The split up was: Team A Steve Jones, Geoff Budd, Pat Andrews, Jenny Wood, Jared Wood, Sharni Brebden. They would be going to Cork to work for the day, and Team B was Clinton Wood, Leyton Wood, Sharon Walker, Ina Cook, Vicki Murphy, Keith Wylie.
We turned in very early – everyone by around 8pm with some even earlier.
Many woke early on the next day bcause of the time difference with Sydney and I was the first among them, even though I was already intending to get up early to prepare, do a team briefing and to spend an hour in prayer for the team on this nervous first day.
Transport was an issue. Every Monday there is a great get-together of all the Hands Staff, with birthdays done pretty differently to Australia, praying for those leaving/ coming, and an update on what is happening with those at distance – Robyn and Sal, George and Carolyn (who are in Capetown), and more. It was a good meeting, but we were already running late and our 22 seater bus hadn’t yet arrived.
It did arrive around 45 minutes late. I didn’t realise it, but Steve was getting quite flustered and ended up not bringing his license, which he needed because he was driving. It all ended up fine, but Steve didn’t know that at the time!
The bus ended up very very nice. A 22 seater diesel with about 6,000 km on the clock, spotless with a PA system, full airconditioning, and very very comfortable. It gave us lots of room to spread out, and the seats were not too uncomfortable, especially for a bus. We are going to be spending 2 hours a day in them, so I hope they are comfortable!
We were very late leaving, but that is Africa, and because of parking problems, needed to do quite a bit of shuttling, which ended up not being necessary.
Our team went to the community of Belfast. Both communities are in an area known as Bushbuckridge, where the people are more rural, and poor than in the Masoyi community where we will largely be spending the second week of the team together. The community program at Belfast is not very well developed, but they have a large compound garden, which must be manually fed by water gathered from a long way away. Imagine every drop of water coming from a place around 400meters away downhill – so that it must all be carried uphill.
There is just a little office there, run by Doris, and seconded by Daniel (aka Best), Prudence, Effie, and a team of about 20 other. They run mainly home-based care, and a central feeding of high risk orphan kids at 2pm every day with a meal of papa (rice meal) and beans, or something similar. Following this was a session of games with the kids.
We were a little disconcerted and me especially, because I was asked to give a word that I had plum forgotten all about! I had a short thing from Luke 16:11 to give my group, but never had the ideal opportunity, so I presented that, very poorly, and will do much better tomorrow now that I know the ladies better (only male there was Daniel, among 28)!
We sang a couple of songs and then proceeded to pray for the group, and get ready to go out into the community. It was late by this time, around 11:30, and we only had until one to go out. We went out two by two in our group, and the groups were Leyton and Keith, who went out with Daniel, Ina and Vicki, who went out with Prudence, and Sharon and I who went out with Effie, Girly, and Triphena.
I can only give an in-depth account of one of these, ours, although Leyton and Keith had a very varied time, visiting a dying man, and praying for him, as well as learning about Best, their leader, who had lost a parent and an in-law in the last two weekends, and had to travel 250km by public transport to arrive on that morning with nothing to eat, and Keith shared his rolls with him for lunch. Yet he was cheerful, wonderful company, and really spent great time with Leyton. I am very grateful to him for the help that he gave Leyton.
Sharon’s Log:
Today was amazing. When Clinton asked for a word to describe as we debriefed, and mine was ‘moving’, Sharni’s was ‘real’. The people here have a giving heart, not that they have any material things to give, but they give you themselves. I felt a responsibility from the Lord as did Ina. I felt unusually comfortable, a peace that surpasses all understanding; that is what he gave me and it could not be any other, as the anticipation and fear of the unknown was surpassed by his peace. What I found for the majority of the time, was that language was no barrier. The yes and physical contact and smiles can be a language all its own. I looked at them, like I really meant looked at them, and they also really looked at me. Eyes locking and looking deep into each others eyes, no words were necessary; everything that needs to be said has been, just through a word-less language. Quite a spiritual experience is the only description that comes close to describing the connecting. A knowing love and I do care. So much can be translated by eyes, touch and smiles. Clinton and I teamed up and I feel we were very much connected. Three ladies escorted us on their home base care rounds to approximately 6 or 7 families in a poverty stricken village called Belfast. I can see why the people on long mission stays stay on and the short term mission go back. Just after one day of visiting I have a deep love for the people of Belfast and for South Africa itself. Clinton and I prayed with these people on a care plane and I felt and absolute honour and privilege to be allowed to be introduced and spend some time with these people. Maybe the saddest was two teenage girl Viriginia (16) and Confidence (15) their parents have both died and they have a little 2 year old boy Kennet to raise and more orphans in the next house. They had two more at their house – Touli and Surprise and another 2 orphans to care for next door. There were two graves in the two houses that spoke of the grief so graphically. Their eyes showed tiredness, troubles beyond their young years should know, and a helplessness. Clinton asked me to pray for them, which I did. When we were leaving them as I was walking away, I had one more word for them which I truly believe came from the Lord. I told Virginia that what she did looking after the orphans next door was courageous and wonderful, and the Lord knows, he sees you! For the whole time we were with them I saw no real sign of happiness, but when I told her this her eyes lit up with a sparkle. She and I had eye contact and a comfort and happiness was transmitted to me that she believed what I had said and was thankful for the reminder that what she does is not invisible to God.
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. 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 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 visitined 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. 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.
Then we visited the orphans that Sharon wrote about.
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 J he was very, very active in his mind, and we had a laugh about him reaching 100.
Just a wonderful day, and we haven’t even reached th 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, but more about that tomorrow.
Thanks so much for caring for us in prayer, we feel very supported.
God Bless
Clinton and the team