Day 12 Thursday 19th September

We are relieved that the weather has cooled overnight, only 28c today.

It’s our last visit to the centre at Zwelisha to meet the Care Workers and give them a pampering session to show our appreciation for having us.

After playing with the children and helping to prepare lunch, chicken feet stew; we had a time of sharing and praying for the workers. 

While the ladies painted nails and made Scratch Art crosses the men went off to do some practical work. 

So Iain,Wes and Chris went to a local house to do some cleaning, we thought it my be some walls and floors!!. What we found was a rat invested kitchen with cockroaches 😔. If I say two of us felt ill afterwards, that gives you an idea of the smell. We had our bucket,rubber gloves and scrubbing brushes  and set to work, we had rat droppings falling of shelf’s on to Iain’s new hat, cockroaches running across work surfaces and electric cables not as they should be 😏.But we persevered and left a clean smelling,clean looking kitchen.

Well done chaps.s

We ended the day with a Briaa at Dan Wasps and heard his story of how they have come to be looking after a little girl from one of the communities. It was a lovely evening.

Day 11 Thursday 18th September

Word of the day...hot! 

At 8am it was already 19C and it climbed to over 40C at the hottest point while in Somerset (no were not back in England just yet). High in the mountains we met some amazing careworkers, onevery bubbly individual was Joanna who made usall feel very welcome. The whole team got involved with lunch preparation and after all joined in worship before heading out to home visits. 

Although the heat was nearly unbearable for us the children spent most of the day playing with the kite, bubbles and skittles we’d brought along to play with. 

Wes and I (Clare) went on a home visit. Quite a long, dusty walk. We met a Go Go called Adella who is a refugee from Mozambique. She cares

for her 3 grandchildren who cannot go to school due to not having the papers. Hands are waiting to secure more funding so these kids can go to 

The carepoint. Go go’s other son is very ill in

Hospital but she cannot visit him with no 

Money or transport. Her other son died. Her

Daughter who is the mum of the kids she cares

For gets some work on a farm. She may come

Home on a Friday and bring a little money or justcabbages if the boss doesn’t pay her because 

She is a foreigner. 

We were privileged to pray with her and must keep doing so. 

Stella and I (Maggie) went to visit a family wherethere are 2 girls, Lebo 9 and Amanda 7, living ontheir own. Their mother is working in Nelspruit quite a distance away and only returns once a month with food. A little while ago the girls were cooking rice and went outside to greet a friend and left the rice cooking which caught fine and started a fire . Neighbours helped put it out and mother came to see but had to go again leaving the girls on their own. They now have to look after themselves but sleep at a neighbour’s as they are very vulnerable. We prayed with them and the Care workers showed them how to keep the house tidy. The girls came back to the Care-point with us.

Before lunch the children sang and said the Lord’s prayers. Lunch today was rice, chicken stew, cabbage with carrots and spinach.

By the time they had had lunch there was time for more play with skittles, skipping ropes etc butwe were all melting from the heat so soon loaded the bus and made our way home for showers!!!!

Iain and his shadow!

Lebo and Amanda

Lunch time!

Only 2 more days to go now....

Sunday

Last rest day today. We went to church with 

Tommy to the small Anglican Church he and

Morgan married at. For those who struggle to

Get to Capel church on time our service started 

At 8.30 am and this was their second service of

The day!!

We all then met at Casterbridge with Tommy, 

Morgan and Finn for a light bite and look at the 

Craft shops. 

In one shop was an amazing display of paper

Mache chickens. These are given out plain to

People to decorate and then be auctioned for

Hands at Work. 

In the evening we were treated to a Shangan

At a localish hotel. This was drumming, dancing

And singing going through the milestones in a 

Tribal village. The buffet which followed 

Included bbq crocodile, kudu and worm!!

The hotel had signs all around telling us to be

Aware of wandering Crocodiles and hippos. It was a set on a beautiful river where said hippos

And crocs come out and roam most evenings!

Sadly they did not appear for us, but I did get a bit nervous when Iain got a bit too close to

The water!!

Abi and Wes being the best looking couple 

Around got chosen to dance with the tribesmen!

Day 10. Tuesday 17thSeptember Zwelisha visit two We had an early start today with three groups going out for the holy home visit. The group I was with went to a family that had no father and an ill mother, so Witness a nineteen year old mother herself cared after the children.Nothando a sister of 12 year old, Prudence an 11 year old sister, Ayanda a 5 year with poorly eyes and a brother Sethu of 4 years old. The mother had money problems and her allowance cards for the children had been taken away from her. So she was not getting enough money to feed or clothe the children correctly. At the care point you could see in their eyes that things were not good at home, it was good to go to their home and witness their home life which was not good, Stella prayed for Witness and Grace a lady from another team gave her some encouraging words.We then went back to the care-point with Witness and Nothando were we joined in with the singing and dancing competition were we came last ,but was great to see the children laughing and joining in with the fun, we joined the children with a rice and chicken meal,then headed off back to the hub. A good day, thank you lord.

The team I was in visited a family with Melody , Carla and Julia (one of the Care workers from the care point.) The family consisted of a boy,       Success,17,his sister Lindslae,11 and 2 youngerbrothers Polite and Reboy,7 and 5. They haven’t seen their mother for over a month, she just disappears . She has an alcohol problem as many do here. The father is doing peace work in a nearby town and gets home occasionally. Success looks after the family as he has had to leave school after completing Grade 8 but now he can’t go back as he doesn’t have the right papers. It’s a common problem here and very difficult to solve. It relys on the mother producing the paper ID. Success was very sad. He said his dream had been to be a doctor because he wanted to care for people but now he had lost all hope of that. We can’t imagine anything like that happening in the UK. We tried to encourage him and say there were other good things he could do caring for people. We prayed with him for his papers to be sorted out so he could return to school and also for their mother to return. Then we took the younger children back to the Care point for lunch and to play. It was a long walk back and very hot. Onceback, we too joined in with the singing and dancing which was hilarious but I keep thinking aboutSuccess and his struggles in life.

We promised to keep praying for these children and their situations. We heard other stories of some of the other children there and it’s all so sad but Hands at Work do what they can to encourage them through the Care workers.

‘Success’ and his family

Monday 16 September The men had an early morning prayer meeting followed by a group meeting for everyone. Several people and groups are leaving this week including Tommy, Morgan and Finn who are going to Zambia. We prayed for all of them. We were told that many of the Care Workers are persecuted by the own families and communities for the work they do with Hands. A few verses about the persecuted church were read and prayers were said for the CWs. “God can change adversity into triumph”. We then went into another Care Centre Zwelisha, with Audrey, Prudence, Melody and Bethwel, a male care worker. Some of the children are not allowed to go to school because they have no papers. Many are neglected by parents who are alcoholics. We spent time playing and getting to know the children and CW’s.

To be continued ........

Sat 14th September

We headed out this morning to do a bit of sightseeing. Our first stop was Harrie’s Pancake House in Graskop for brunch, the Canadian way!

The Main Street in Graskop has lots of Traditional African craft shops so the girls bought souvenirs.

We then drove on up the mountains, passing huge areas of forestation. It had rained overnight and the clouds were still low, we drove through them, on and off. The scenery was breathtaking.

Our destination was the Mac Mac falls,a stunning waterfall and great photo opportunity. Our nextstop was another waterfall at Lone Creek but at the pool at the bottom.

Wes, Abbie, Tommy, Chris,Iain and Finn braved the cold water for a paddle then Wes did the ‘full monty’ and went under. Finn loved the water and didn’t mind the cold.

That worked up an appetite so we stopped at a Cuban Restaurant for diner, our first evening out,mindful that we had to be back before the10pm curfew. 

To be continued.......

Thursday 12th September

Today’s the day we are leaving Swaziland. We all  have mixed feelings about that. There have beenlots of highs and lows in our few days here. But Imust say the thought of a shower and toilets      that flush is quite a draw!!! It was hard leaving    some of the children that we have grown fond of, knowing that their lives are so hard. It will certainly make us more conscious of how much we   have that we don’t really need.

One highlight today was visiting the ‘house’ that our men have been helping to build this week. A GoGo (granny) lives there with her grandson as her daughter has died and her old house was in disrepair. This lady could hardly stand but when we visited today and asked her how she felt       about her new house she started dancing, she was so happy. 

We then started our long drive back to White-river. It has been extremely hot today. We arrived here feeling very hot, tired and dirty so showers were very welcome. A lovely meal had been prepared for us and now we are relaxing in the            communal room having put our washing in the  washing machines - what luxury! An early night is needed as we’re setting off early in the           morning.

Watch this space for Kruger tomorrow!

Photos to follow when we’ve had time to sort     them out.

The house the lads help build

The 3GoGos!!! And her grandson.

Rest Day 1: Kruger National Park 13th September

Early start leaving at 6.30 for an exciting trip which exceeded all our expectations!

We were looking out for The Big 5 (and managed 4!): Leopard, White Rhino, Water Buffalo, Elephant (no sightings of a lion). We took our trusty white van around the huge park (the size of Wales!). 

Steven from Hands was our guide for the day with plenty of local knowledge having been there over a hundred times himself. There was a max speed limit of 60KPH - so no speeding tickets today!

After a while we became quite ‘blazee’ about seeing Imparla - as they are most prevalent. We saw a wonderful array of brightly coloured exotic birds (large and small) with Spoonbills, Hornbills, Razorbills as well as Herons, and so many others - Dave would have been so excited! 

We also saw; Crocodiles, Hippos, Zebra, Wilderbeasts, Warthogs, Waterbuck, Kudo, Baboons, varieties of Monkeys, Tortoise, Mongoose, Snakes and Giraffes!

A feast for the eyes and so exciting to see them in their own environment as God meant them to be. Most corners we turned there was something: either in the road or close-by in waterholes and and the river.

It was a great but long day with looking up, down and sideways, hours of driving and lots of ‘Ohhhs and Aaargghs’ and Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ on the stereo! We got back at 7pm and the ‘Hospitality  Team’ here had made us a welcomed Cottage Pie!

....and so to bed! Nite Nite!

Tuesday - What a day!

Today was a day of Experiences and emotions, we had joy and happiness with the children we are starting to understand and seeing unconditional love, with everyone involved. Thank you lord.

The ladies then had the holy home visits which were a totally different experience a grandmother who finds it difficult walking looking after a young boy with hiv and a bad eye infection very emotional for all of us. Thank you lord. The men have had some building experience and again tomorrow hopefully.

In the evening we had a gathering of local lads at our house and got to know about the football team they have, which keeps them occupied in Evenings and a shared interest in the local community. Most of them also go to church 😊.

We also discussed how the day affected us all and believe Msengeni care centre and care workers do a great work which we would love to be a part of.

Watch this space!!!

When the ladies went on their Holy Home Visit  we visited the home of Phindile, one of the Care Workers. She is facing all kinds of challenges as her husband has no work as there isn’t work      around here but they still have to pay school       fees for her children to be able to stay at school.She is trapped in a viscous circle and can’t see her way out of it. We prayed with her for her to   trust God again   for Hope, and we promised to

continue praying for her and also to ask you at  church  to pray for her situation. Quite a challenging, and humbling day.

Wednesday - Msengeni B - Faith

Morning!  Small groups to get the day started. Across Africa the Hands team, no matter where they are, join together every Wednesday and studythe same scripture. They break down this scripture throughout the year focusing on different aspects of it each week. We focused on “humility” and the scripture alligned reads:

Luke, 9:48

Jesus said ‘If someone accepts this child because of me, then he is accepting me also. And anyone who accepts me also accepts my Father God, who sent me. The person who makes himself the least important among you is really the greatest.’

We discussed humility at length between ourselves and what it truly means to be humble? The catch 22 of acknowledging oneself as humble, meaning you are not humble. As you read this blog,we emplore you to challenge yourself as we did on this point. An act completed by oneself, was that you? Or was that god working through you?

Shoka house, where we were staying, was guarded by the thickest of vines and thorns and needed trimming. Queue the machetes and elbow grease! Now we have a surplus of firewood and smores are sure to be consumed in the foreseeable future.

We visited Msengeni B, this was created on theback of the need of children in the area and managing that between both carepoint A and B. B was created in 2017 and is still a working progress however you wouldn’t have thought that basedon what we saw. From early morning we slotted into life at the carepoint alongside the careworkers by distinguishing with washing and the preparation of food. Cutting cabbage finely with a bluntknife was quite a skill, unfortunately Maggie and Claire found out the hard way! Flintstone tactics via sharpening the knife on a rock helped, a little. 

Whilst the food was being prepared, some of the team went to visit the home of one of the careworkers, Zodwa & her husband ,Boy, and their and children, Ncebo, Nnceda and Vusi (oldest to youngest). Unfortunately the children were born with severe disabilities, yet Zodwa and Boy continue to work and serve the community whilst pressing through their own hardships. Zodwa talked to us through her faith in god and that she is grateful to Hands coming to her at the time they did, as the carepoint does so much for her and the kids. It was something we noticed as well as they were solemn at home, but once we walked to the carepoint they were singing and dancing! Thetransformation is astonishing and the work done here was showing us time and time again that it’s incredibly needed.

Before each meal the children sing songs and say their prayers together before washing their hands and lining up to receive food. On the menu today was samp and beans with cabbage, carrot and onions. Stella and Wesley helped sort through the peanuts and ground them down with a pestle and mortar which was added to the pap in the samp. Delicious. 

Until tomorrow!

Monday 9 th September

An early start for the men this morning. -  7 am 

Prayer meeting in the little chapel  up the hill

In the Hands Village. 

After loading the van we set off to Swaziland 

With Tommy, Morgan, Finn and our 2 Hands 

Volunteers Melody and Vosie who are staying 

With us in Swaziland. 

The journey, with a stop at the border took 

Around 5 hours. (Oops that included a short 

Enforced stop for speeding. A few sorries and 

The nice police lady let us go free!!  

We got to the care point and the response from

The kids was quite overwhelming. They ran to us 

For hugs and were keen to know our names 

And laughed at us as we tried to say their’s!  Then ensued some football and circle games with all

Of the children. What a privilege it was to play

With them. 

We are now in our lodgings for the next 3 nights.We’ve tried out our head torches ready for the 

Outside loo and pray we don’t have to scare off any snakes tonight!

The

Friday 6th September

Woke up to find that it had rained             overnight and feeling much fresher. It’s the first rain they have had in 4 months. More  i s needed, but not yet!!!

The other main news, which I’m sure you    have all heard, is the death of Robert        Mugabe which has dominated the news     channels all day. I heard it on SABC TV at  breakfast, just as Silvia, who looks after me, came in with my fruit salad and yoghurt.

Silvia is a pleasant young woman with 2     children aged 10 and 8, although she        doesn’t look old enough! She comes from  Zimbabwe, so I asked her if she had heard  the news of Magabe’s death? She stood    and looked at the screen for several minutes taking the news in.

She then turned to me and said, “He was a bad man, a bad man. All the trouble in       Zimbabwe is because of him”. 

Silvia then told me that she was orphaned  as a child and brought up by her father ‘s  family. She said, “a white woman from the Catholic Church educated me, I did my      A Levels because of the help of the white  woman from the church”. She continued. “We need white people, they give us work.  He didn’t help us, he just helped himself”.

She is pleased to be in Sth Africa so her    children can get an education. 

I learnt from the news coverage that         Robert Mugabe was the son of a carpenter and trained to be a teacher. He was           described as the Father of Democracy in   what was Rhodesia, leading the country to  Independence. Most of the African Leaders who have paid tribute to him have revered him and what he did. 

Some of you may remember the Cricketer, Henry Ologona who came to speak at        Vauxhall Farm some years ago. He said       “Robert Mugabe would be remembered as a Dictator and Tyrant”. 

One one hand he was a Liberator and on    the other, a Dictator. It depends on which   side of the Scales of Justice you sit. Both   residents and staff at the Care Home had  plenty to say about Mugabe’s death. Many were cross that he would get a state          funeral; saying that the country would shut down while the event takes place. 

One resident blamed Mugabe’s wife Grace. “At first he had good policies and was        helping the country, it was his wife that led him the wrong way”.

Other news which has been in the headlines all week is the protest against Violence to Women and Foreign Nationals.  President  Cyril Ramaphosa gave a address to the      nation on TV last night in response. 

He said he was appalled at the way woman and foreign nationals are attacked

“It is more than a National Crisis. It is a      Crime against Humanity”.

He appealed to everyone to “respect women and to teach our boys to respect girls”.  He said they would be reviewing Laws on   Domestic and Gender based violence,        saying “Rapists would receive a Life           Sentence.

Ramaphosa called on all Religious Communities to “humble ourselves, to pray and bring healing to our nation. The nation is             crumbling under Femicide”.

Strong words

Thursday 5th September

Fiona drove us out of Johannesburg into    the country today, heading northwest to    Cradle Valley.

She told us she often cycles along this       route The roads are quiet and they have a wide sidewalk. There are few footpaths anywhere, you often see black people walking along  the  side of the road and on the      central      reservation. 

The drive took us past shanty townships   with their boxlike homes with corrugated    roofs. Washing hanging out to dry on the  metal fences. Black people sitting around,  rubbish everywhere.

The contrast between these shantytowns   and the large houses in the gated              communities is vast.

As we drive out of the city we pass small    farmsteads, a chicken farm, equine centres and smaller black communities. Fiona         pointed out an old wreck of a car which    was home to an elderly black woman. 

We stopped to look at a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl pecking for food in the dry      grass. We spotted 2 Impalas (a small         antelope) scavenging for food on the side of the road, oblivious to the passing traffic.

The straight road began to climb up hill and the views became more spectacular with   open countryside and mountains on the     horizon. This is the first day we’ve had        cloudy skies and they gave a haze over the hills. We drove on for about 30 mins then  arrived at Maropeng, a UNESCO World      Heritage site.

It is an underground museum, ‘The Cradle of Humankind’; telling the story of how we have evolved! The African’s believe that the  first man was discovered in Africa about.   100 years ago. The museum held many fossil and bone artefacts. It was very interesting and well done but they couldn’t explain who created the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Air and Water.   www.thecradleofhumankind.net/pages/maropeng

There is also, an amazing Bronze life size   sculpture; statues of men and women who have taken Africa’s ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’ with Mandela at the front. It spans     about 250 years, there are about 100        statues, all in a walking pose facing the      same way, looking forward. It is very          poignant and in a beautiful setting with      open country as a back drop. 

100 years ago. The museum held many      fossil and bone artefacts. It was very interesting and well done but they couldn’t         explain   who created the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Air and Water.   www.thecradleofhumankind.net/pages/maropeng

Sunday 1st September

unday 1st September 

Maggie and I received a very warm welcome at Gracepoint Methodist church in the Glenferness district of Johannesburg this morning www.gracepoint.co.za 

We were both overwhelmed with the size of the building, the main worship area had seats for about 900 and they have 3 services on a Sunday! We went to the 10am Service which was almost full, with families, young people and older folk like us.  It is a thriving community of Christ Followers.

The theme of the service was ‘Selfless - Living Beyond Greed’ Luke 12 v 15 - 21. Does our accumulation of ‘stuff’ make us live ‘foolish lives’. How can we live well? 

A challenging service in our consumer dominated lives.

After lunch Maggie’s friends took us to the Monte Casino Bird Gardens, where we saw some wonderful exotic birds. The flying display was quite spectacular. 

  

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