An African bus story...

Getting from Clarens to Harare is never going to be easy, but my journey turned into a nightmare 36 hours! I got a new shuttle bus from Clarens to Jo'burg which wasn't too bad, but as the destination was right in Jo'burg it took longer than the usual airport run would. Ben (the guy I was travelling with) and I arrived at the Citiliner desk at the bus station to be greeted with the news that our bus was delayed. Not really a suprise to us, as most things don't run to time in Africa. The bus finally arrived several hours later and this is when we discovered what turned out to be quite a major error in judgement when we booked our tickets. The lady had asked us if we wanted to buy a ticket on Citiliner or Greyhound. I had travelled on Greyhound before and it had been about as comfortable as a coach can be. The Citiliner however was significantly cheaper. The saleswoman told us that they used the same buses. So in a moment of madness we believed her and opted to save some money.

The Greyhound coach has two sets of 2 seats with an narrow aisle down the middle. It seats a mere 50 passengers. The Citiliner coach however is the same size but manages to seat 85 passengers - you do the maths. It also therefore has to tow a massive trailer to fit all the extra luggage in. And there's a LOT of luggage to fit in. Going from Jo'burg to Harare most of the passengers are Zimbabwean's who've gone down to Jo'burg to shop. So there were mountains of bags. Plus you can take almost anything on the bus, you just may have to pay an extra charge. So in our trailer was a fridge/freezer, shelving units for a shop, and a whole load of inverters which are big business in a country where electricity comes and goes constantly.

Ben and I got on the bus and found 2 seats together. Sadly the seats were so small that for the next 27 hours we were literally joined at the shoulder and hip. We watched as the people piled on, bringing more bags with them. The overhead shelves were quickly full, so then after putting bags under feet we filled the aisle up. We also assume that there is some kind of black market in eggs in Zim as every person had at least 4 dozen eggs with them. We estimated that there were over 1000 eggs on the bus with us. Still better than a few live chickens which isn't unheard of.

We finally set off, and because we were so late immediately hit rush hour in Jo'burg and then Pretoria. We quickly discovered that small seats and lack of leg room weren't the only differences with the Citiliner. There was also no airconditioning, no toilet and the only working speaker on the bus was directly above our heads. This meant that when the driver put music on it had to be so loud that the whole bus could hear it through our speaker.

We made it to the border by 3am. We all piled off the bus and queued up to get our passports stamped on the SA side. I now really needed the toilet so rushed off to find one. The bus driver however didn't want to wait for me and Ben struggled to stop the coach leaving. I just got on before he headed off through no-mans land to the Zim side. Others weren't so lucky and had to run through. Beitbridge is a pretty big border so it's quite a long stretch to run and catch up with the bus. On the Zim side we were pleased not to be bribed for our visas, but then began the long, long waiting game. After unloading the bags off the bus to be checked, then reloading them hours later after they weren't checked, we went and waited for the bus to get through the traffic jam to end of the border. It took the bus about an hour and a half to move about 500m so that we could leave the border.

So finally after about 6 hours of hanging around the border we were off again. Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly until we came to an unscheduled stop outside a petrol station and as the bus stopped, something at the front in the dashboard exploded and the bus filled with smoke. Naturally we all piled off the bus again. After yet more hanging around while various people looked at the engine we discovered that the radiator had exploded. But given that it was accessible from the inside of the bus, there was no need to actually fix it - we just needed one of the drivers to sit by it and keep topping it up with water as we drove. So every couple of miles we would stop and wait while the driver went and re-filled his 2 water bottles. After we'd done that a few times, some bright spark suggested that if we collected up all the empty bottles on the bus and filled them all with water we could keep going for much longer at a time. So that's what we did. We donated our empty bottles to the cause and miraculously made it safely into the bus station in Harare.

And there began the great unloading of the bus. So yet more hanging around - although that makes it sound relaxed and ordered, which it most definitely wasn't. The bus station in Harare is hectic - there are people everywhere, buses coming and going, hawkers hassling you and it's all generally very African. We all pushed and pulled our way to our bags while the heavens opened above us. Thankfully our hosts were there to pick us up and take us home.

So 36 hours after leaving Clarens I had made it to Harare - there's a true African bus story for you.

Only a few days left...

This last few days in Clarens have been very strange - people are beginning to talk about Christmas (especially those of us who are going to home to various places over the next couple of weeks) but the weather is very, very, very hot and sticky! My english brain can't cope. So I'm sitting here typing in my shorts and t-shirt with the fan on and have just got in from doing a bit of Christmas shopping.

Last week the school had their nativity play and prize giving which I went along to as a number of our Mapheo kids are at the school. The nativity was very sweet. There was an unfortunate incident of diarrhea where a little girl on the stage had an accident but then as she walked off the stage and through the church she left a trail behind her. That was bad enough, but it got worse when a little baby decided to make mud pies with it! So one of the teachers quickly covered all the piles with earth from a nearby plant pot and we all carried on as if nothing had happened!

On Thursday morning I helped a friend who is the deputy head at the school with her class trip. It was fun - we packed the kids into various cars and I drove a bakkie and we went out to a local farm. We walked them down to the river and there they paddled and built rafts (none of which floated successfully!) The really funny thing was seeing what they ate for lunch. These are 7 and 8 year olds and many of them had the biggest bags of crisps, or about 6 slices of bread each. I'll try and get hold of a photo to put on here for you to see.

This is my last week in Clarens - on Friday I leave for Zim and then I go straight home to the UK after that. So I'm away for 6 weeks. It seems like a long time but in reality there's nothing happening here after this week so it would be quite hard to be here for the extra 2 weeks before I fly. Clarens is so small and quiet that a couple of weeks with no work would be very boring! So I'm taking the opportunity to spend some time up in Harare. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm excited to see what's happening in the Newfrontiers churches there and how things have changed since I visited in 2007.

I can't quite believe that I'm at the end of my first year here - it seems to have snuck up on me! It's hard to process everything that's happened. It's been so challenging at times and I know God must have grown me but sometimes that's hard to see in yourself. It's also been a lot of fun and a great adventure. At some point I'll try and blog a round up of the year, but right now I have a whole lot of jobs to get done before I leave on Friday morning!

Cherry season

Need I say more? Yum yum.

PS I'm feeling amazingly so so much better!

Another trip to the doctor

This morning I took my second trip to the local doctor. For the last week I've been fighting a very nasty coldy thing as a result of the tick bite fever. I've had a sore throat, lost my voice and a chesty cough. Lovely. So today the doctor looked at me, listened to my chest, looked down my throat and prescribed me some more double strength antibiotics to give me a 'fighting chance' against a nasty chest infection and some medicine for a throat infection. Joy. I actually don't feel anywhere near as ill as when I had the tbf, but I'm very fed up of not feeling myself and having no energy. I'm praying that this lot of medicine really hits the nail on the head.

A fairly average week

This week has felt pretty normal in lots of ways. On Monday I spent my day off visiting people, having a very exciting phonecall from Dan & Mary to share the news of their engagement, and braiing the biggest steak I've ever seen in the evening (it was a delicious fillet!)

Tuesday was spent learning to use a commercial speed sewing machine at Silver Hope. We're branching out to selling bags, so I was asked to try and sew up linings. Pretty funny since in England I'm not exactly known for my sewing skills! But I managed to master the crazy machine without losing any fingers so it's all good.

On Wednesday at Mapheo we did cooking with the kids. They were in groups of varied ages, and then could choose 5 out of 9 possible ingredients to make something with. I was picked to be one of the tasters at the end which I was dreading but in actual fact the kids had done a great job and it was tough to choose a winner.

The rest of the week carried on as normal, then on Friday me & Nicci (the wife of the couple who lead our Impact year) took the 2 girls who are left out for a milkshake to celebrate the end of the year. As you probably know I've been really involved in looking after the girls on Impact and I can't believe their year is over already! Over the year there's been 5 different girls come and go, and it's been fun and challenging to be involved in their discipleship.

On Tuesday a cyclone off the coast of Madagascar caused our weather to go a little crazy. We went from about 27 degrees on Monday to around 10 on Tuesday! You can imagine the shock to our poor bodies. So out came all the winter clothes again. This miserable weather carried on right through til today when it's back up to 25 degrees overnight.

To make matters worse I've been battling the after effects of the tick bite fever (it leaves you 'immuno-compromised') which this week resulted in an incredibly sore throat, chesty cough and the loss of my voice. I think I'll be off to the doctor again tomorrow if I'm not feeling better.

It really does feel like things are wrapping up here. December is the long summer/Christmas holiday so things shut down in December...which means there's only one more week of projects! It's strange because it really doesn't feel Christmassy at all - the weather's hot, there's no twinkly lights, no Christmas music in the shops. When I went to Bethlehem this week they had put some decorations up in the mall but it all looked a bit pathetic and out of place. To me Christmas trees only work in a cold climate, so that you can put fake snow on them, and their lights can twinkle in the 16 hours of darkness a day. I'm glad I'm coming home for Christmas - I don't think I'd cope with a hot one!

The goodness of God

So remember the family that moved away? Well two weeks ago our church started a church plant/adoption in the town that they moved to. There has been an amalgamation of our church plant with an existing church with very exciting results. Because the existing church had no experience of Newfrontiers (the family of churches we're connected with) this week the whole church joined us in Clarens to see how we do church. And guess who was there? Dingani, the older boy who is part of the family who moved away! Already God has knitted him in to this new church community who he and we knew nothing of when they left. It's such an answer to prayer that this family will still be connected with a grace-filled church. God is so good :-)

Storms

So the storm season has arrived and we've had a few amazing storms already. I thought I'd put some pictures up of what happens when a storm arrives at sunset...

Good times

Yesterday was such a lovely day here in Clarens. First of all I slept well for the first time since the tick bite fever saga, then because I'm still quite tired from being ill I'd cancelled my morning stuff and spent it at home reading The Week. A friend bought me a subscription for my birthday but somehow it all got messed up so this was the first edition I actually received. The weather was also beautiful after a couple of stormy and cold days.

At Mapheo we took the kids out to a nearby farm where they have various animals you can look at. It's a bit like a tiny safari. The kids were so excited as it was a suprise trip. We loaded them into the cars (as exciting as ever) and set off. At the farm we walked around the land looking for animals and their footprints. The kids were in teams and had a sheet of paper with different footprints to find and tick off. Suprisingly they all managed to find them all within minutes - a little imagination goes a long way! We also saw some different kinds of bok, black wilderbeest and zebra. It's such a privilege to be part of so many firsts in these children's lives. They were so excited to see the animals as in Clarens we only see cows, sheep and chickens. After we had seen the animals we sat and ate our hotdogs in front of an incredible view across the mountains.





In the evening I got together with some other ladies and watched a period drama which was fun.

And then as the icing on the cake, when I was fast asleep in bed my phone rang. I looked at it and realised it was England calling! My cell group at home had been putting together their christmas shoebox gifts and remembering me doing them last year so decided to call me (before checking the time difference!). They passed the phone around and I got to have a little chat with everyone. A lovely end to a lovely day.

Saturday Evening Blogpost

On the first Saturday of each month Elizabeth Esther (a fellow Christian blogger) opens her blog up for others to link a post of their own blog from the previous month. This is the first time I've taken part, and it was quite hard to choose a post from October as it was in reality a tough month here. So I've picked one, which although sad, really reflects what October was like for me. If you're interested in finding new blogs to read then pop over and check it out. I'm an avid reader of Ali (number 32 on the list). She's a paediatric nurse working onboard the Africa Mercy ship and her stories are always a challenge to me.

Tick bite fever

The blogging's been quiet this week as I've been in bed with tick bite fever, something I wouldn't wish on anyone. It's a fairly common illness here, there are ticks everywhere so you always have to brush yourself down after a walk in the long grass. Obviously I missed this one as it bit me on my bottom, and obviously it was diseased as the bite which would normally be harmless resulted in the worst fever of my life. After a couple of days of feeling like I was fighting the flu I had a night where I sweated buckets - literally - and paracetomol didn't bring the fever down much so I took my first ever visit to the doctor here. She took one look at the bite on my bottom (which I had assumed was a mossy bite) and announced I had the dreaded tick bite fever. So after a week in bed, sweating fairly constantly, joints aching, taking 6 strong antibiotic tablets a day which messed with my digestive system somewhat, I finally emerged for the first time last night. I feel fine now, just very tired and washed out. The good thing is that apparently if you get tick bite fever more than once it gets less and less dramatic each time.

So I've now survived my first 'african illness'!

Honey Nut Shredded Wheat

Well honey nut shredded wheat have arrived in Bethlehem's Pick n Pay (our nearest supermarket 30 mins drive away) and at R89.99 for a small box they're a bargain! That's about £8 on today's rate! Needless to say I'm not eating them :-)

Strength will rise

Earlier in the week I was contemplating blogging about a lovely walk I did up in the mountains, or the fun we've had at Mapheo, or showing off the new sewing techniques I've learnt at Silver Hope.

But before I got around to it, something much sadder happened, and I need to write it out to help me to process it. So here goes....

This afternoon I was walking to church when I noticed that at the home of one of the families I visit a funeral tent was up - a clear indication that someone had died this week. So I got a Basotho friend to come with me to the home later to find out what had happened.

The family situation is very confusing (I wrote out a family tree a few months ago to get my head around it), but basically in this house lives a granny, a grandson who comes to Mapheo and a son who is Mpho's dad (another little boy I visit). 4 of the kids I visit are cousins via this granny. Other people come and go from the house, and there's always lots of children around who the granny is looking after.

Mpho is the little boy in the middle of my main blog photo. He's the one who gets shunted around a lot and was left behind by the rest of his family (on the mothers side) a couple of weeks ago. This week I also found out that his mum is thinking of sending him far away for school rather than sending him to a local school. A decision which I'm trying to discourage her from taking.

Mpho's dad, the granny's son died this week in hospital in Bethlehem. Sadly I didn't even know he'd gone to hospital so it was quite a shock this evening. I sat in a bare, squalid room on the floor with granny keeping vigil over his coffin which was shrouded in lace curtains and surrounded by candles, while the family and friends got steadily drunker outside in the tent. She has now buried all her children but one, is living in the latter stages of HIV and caring for a number of children on a tiny income. What can you do in a situation like this? It is just too sad for words. No old lady wants to be burying her children. No little boy like Mpho should have gone through so much by the tender age of 6. And just to make it even more surreal some of the family were delighted (literally) to have a white girl come and pay her respects. I did all I could do, I prayed with her. I asked Jesus to be her comfort and strength. Then I left and wept over the injustice of her life, the pain that her family has seen.


Strength will rise as you wait upon the Lord, as you wait upon the Lord, as you wait upon the Lord.
Strength will rise as you wait upon the Lord, as you wait upon the Lord, as you wait upon the Lord.
Our God, Your reign forever, our Hope, our Strong Deliverer.
You are the Everlasting God, the Everlasting God.
You do not faint, You don't grow weary.
You're the defender of the weak, You comfort those in need, You lift us up on wings like eagles.


Praying for strength, comfort and hope.

Rustlings

Over the past week, I have been very aware of little rustlings in my bedroom at night. The first night I tried to find the little animal, but after half an hour gave up, deciding that it was most likely a little frog and they're not scary cos they can't climb onto my face while I sleep!

At this time of year I get quite a lot of the little fella's coming into my flat under the front door as there's a little gap where it doesn't quite fit right.

Then this morning, while I was getting dressed I finally spotted my little green friend. I caught him in a empty butter tub and took him outside where he belongs. I hope he doesn't think my bedroom is a nice home after being here a whole week and come back tonight!

Happy Birthday Beth!

This is Bethany Naomi, my niece. She is my favourite little girl in the whole world. Today is Beth's 2nd birthday. She had a little fairy party with some friends to celebrate. Sadly skype wasn't upto the task of calling her today, so I only heard a few muffled words from her, but I'm sure she had a great time. And I'm praying that next time I see her (Christmas) she'll actually remember me :-)

Happy Birthday Beth! And well done to Raoul & Sarah on producing such a beautiful little girl.

Tears

This week I noticed that the mud huts where one of the families I visit live had been knocked down. I assumed that they had got a government house in another part of the township. So today I took a Basotho friend with me to try and find out where they had moved to so that I could invite the kids to church on Sunday as usual.

We went to their old home and asked the neighbours where they had moved to. The answer didn't need translating - 'Fouriesburg'. Fouriesburg is about a half an hour drive from here, and much bigger than Clarens. I had no idea that the family were thinking about moving, it must have been a sudden decision. For the last 9 months I have visited them most weeks, taken the kids to church every week, shared the gospel with them, and really fallen in love with the family, particularly the kids.

So, Phethetso, who is the gorgeous little boy in the front of my main blog picture has left. I feel so unbelievably sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to this wonderful 3 year old and his family. I am gutted that after so many months I never managed to get the family to come to church with us or challenge them about ancestral worship. I'm upset that once again this has meant that little Mpho's life has been messed about with as he's sent to live with someone else as they couldn't take him with them. I don't understand why God would move them to a place where there isn't a work like Mapheo that will help this family, or as far as I know a grace-filled church. Tonight I have cried a lot of tears.

An advert for Skype.....

Skype has revolutionised my rural life. For those of you who don't know, Skype is a way to make phone calls via the internet. If I call someone on their Skype account, it costs me nothing and sometimes we even turn the camera on so you can see each other. It's pretty surreal when you think about the fact that you're chatting via the internet video link with people so far away! But it means if I need a recipe from my mum I no longer have to wait until an appropriate time to trek to the nearest phone box, I can just Skype her. Last week I got to chat to my nephew and find out what he did at school. This morning I caught up with a friend in Harare. Plus I can call overseas landlines for a fraction of the cost of using my mobile, so I even get to talk to my Nan now and then which is very precious.

So if you don't already use it, download Skype for free off their website. It's really easy to use. And works here on a much slower internet connection than in Europe, and doesn't use up too much of our allowance which is a bonus!

And thank you to the clever people who figured out that the internet could be used for phonecalls!

Being truthful with God

This weekend the 20s from our region went away for the weekend together. For many, many reasons, which I won't detail here, this was probably one of my toughest times yet. I was holding it together until Saturday night when it just got too much. Becky, an english girl who's just moved to Maseru with her husband and baby came and prayed with me. I know it will sound obvious but to me it was a revelation. She said to me, 'you're really strong all the time, doing what you do, living amongst people you don't always understand, without the support of a husband. God says it's ok not to always be strong, to sometimes find it incredibly tough.' I think subconsciously I had thought that I couldn't tell God things that were difficult for me personally here because He's the one who sent me here.

So after she'd prayed with me, I went for a prayer walk and told God all the reasons why it's not ok at the moment. None of those things have changed in the last few days, but there was a freedom in actually admitting them to God. And if you're reading this, know that being on mission on another continent is a great adventure, but it's definitely not always easy.

Victory

For about the last 8 months I've been playing squash with my friend Em. We both started as beginners, learning together, and once I sussed how to serve we were pretty evenly matched. Even so, Em would beat me every single time...until tonight when I won a game!!! Oh the sweet taste of victory....

A wedding....

On Sunday a couple from my cell group, Mathandela & Melittah got married. They have been together for a long time, over 7 years I think and have 2 beautiful little girls. For various reasons they haven't been able to get married until now.

In Basotho culture, as in almost every culture, weddings are traditionally very expensive. Mathandela & Melittah live in a 1-room shack, Mathandela was not working until very recently and Melittah serves on our People of Hope team for very little financial reward. So they have never had a hope of paying for a traditional wedding.

But that was actually great, because it meant that our cell group was able to work together to give them a lovely day. They got married during the morning service, and a lot of their unsaved family came along. After the service there was cake for everyone bought by the church. Then about 40 people went back to Jeremy & Laura's house and we had a little reception for them. We had borrowed tables & chairs from church and laid them out on the lawn. Our group provided the main course and drinks, and another cell group very generously made puddings and cakes. Everyone had a great time, Mathandela even gave a little speech before they cut a beautiful chocolate cake. Jeremy's sister had sent from England 2 bridesmaid dresses for the girls and another lady at church had made a simple but lovely outfit for Melittah to wear. And the best wedding present - Mathandela's mum who has been very difficult about the wedding and church etc gave her life to Jesus after the gospel call in the morning!

The whole wedding was such a testimony to the community of the church. Mathandela & Melittah were blessed with a lovely day which cost them nothing, and to be honest in the grand scheme of things didn't cost us much either! It was hard work, but so worth it. Mathandela & Melittah are now married, something they've wanted for a long time. They can now begin the next season of their lives together. They have been and continue to be a wonderful example in our community of what it means to follow Jesus, even when that means making the difficult decision to shun your culture risking family relationships.






PS - it was also another first for me....I was in charge of the food for the reception! So I can now confidently say '40 people, easy'!

A milestone at Mapheo.....

Last week was very exciting for Mapheo - not only did we have our end of term trip but we also had our first parents evening.

Over the last few weeks we've been inviting all the parents and carers to come with their children to parents evening which was on Wednesday. We really want to reach out to whole families, not just the kids and this was our first idea of how to get them involved in what we're doing.

So on Wednesday we set up the church and welcomed about 150 adults and kids for dinner. As leaders we sat amongst the parents and tried to get to know them a little bit better. Jeremy & Laura shared the vision for Mapheo, we watched some photos of what we've been doing, the kids got certificates, we ate pap and wors, Jeremy shared the gospel, then we prayed with the families.

The whole evening was fantastic but my favourite part was when the kids got their certificates. Over the past 2 terms we've been watching the kids and writing down positive things about them. So every child got an individual certificate congratulating them for all sorts of things like politeness, ball skills, sewing, helping etc. The kids stood up while their certificate was read out and then we all clapped them. It was brilliant to see them so encouraged. Here are some photos:




Then on Thursday we had our end of term trip for the kids who have been the most faithful at coming to Mapheo. We took them out to a farm a few miles away which borders Lesotho. We walked down to the river, which forms the border, set up a gazebo and parasols and played in the water. Then we played some games on land, and finished with eating hotdogs and pap. It was great, and wonderful to see how easy it is to give these kids a treat!

Rain!

Being an english girl I never thought I would be so excited about rain! But we haven't had any rain since about mid April, although I've completely lost track. The winter here is as dry as a bone, and the whole landscape turns depressingly brown. The earth becomes dust and with a winter wind it's impossible to keep things clean.

So over the last few weeks as the weather has warmed up we have begun eagerly expecting the rain. We have had a few false alarms with big clouds building up, the weather becoming very sweaty only to find it all disappears again. Last week we even saw a storm over the mountains, but it was so far away in the Drakensburg that we couldn't even hear the thunder.

Then yesterday, after a beautiful morning, over the course of the afternoon the day became ominously dark and finally at around 5pm we got our storm. I cannot describe the smell of the first rains. I've heard other people say how amazing it is but I really didn't realise that it's so awesome. The smell of all the dust dampening down, and the earth coming back to life. It was almost worth all the months without rain....almost.

Courage to stand against injustice

This post is totally lifted from the intro to a brilliant book - Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen (the founder of the International Justice Mission). If reading this, God stirs you about the injustice that is rife in our world, then read the book - you won't be the same again.

"CS Lewis said 'courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful until it became risky.'

As Christians we have learned much about sharing the love of Christ with people all over the world who have never heard the gospel. We coninue to see the salvation message preached in the far corners of the earh and to see indigenous Christian churches vigorously extending Christ's kingdom on every continent. We have learned how to feed the hungry, heal the sick and shelter the homeless.

But there is one thing we haven't learned to do, even though God's Word repeatedy calls us to the task. We haven't learned how to rescue the oppressed. For the child held in forced prostitution, for the prisoner illegally detained and tortured, for the widow robbed of her land, for the child sold into slavery, we have almost no vision of how God could use us to bring tangible rescue. We don't know how to get the 12 year old girl out of the brothel, how to have the prisoner set free, how to have the widow's land returned to her or how to get the child slave released and the oppressors brought to justice.....we sit in the same paralysis of despair as those who don't even claim to know a Saviour.

It need not be this way. We can recover a witness of Christian courage in a world of injustice. We can rediscover our Maker's passions for the world and for justice - passions which may have grown unfamiliar to us. We can come to know the compassion of Jesus like never before as we go with Him to look into the eyes of those who are in need of rescue. We can be restored to the conviction that God is prepared to use us to 'seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow' (Isaiah 1:17).

Our God is a God who spends His days weeping beside children in brothels, prisoners in pain or orphans in trauma - a God whose core hatred of injustice is rivaled only by His hatred of idolatry."

Complements

A few days ago, I was walking through the township between appointments, collecting unknown children along the way, who hung on my arms, bag, pockets etc and bravely trudged up hills with me.

At the top of a particularly brutal hill, I came across some kids I actually knew. I stopped to chat and ask them to tell the other kids that they had to stop walking with me now as I was going a long way. Katleho, a kid from church, promptly told me that he thought I would turn into a black person soon. I asked him what he meant, and he said 'because you just love black people'. Around here, that's a serious complement, and one that I will treasure. Things like that are what keep me going on the tough days when I feel so far from home and out of my depth.

A sad day for Sawana....

Last week at Mapheo we took the kids up to the dam for an orienteering lesson. This VERY exciting event was organised to help explain that God has a plan for each of our lives, and He gives us a map to follow. The trip meant an opportunity to ride in cars again, and to visit the dam - a first for many.

The Kloof Dam in Clarens is nestled in the mountains above the town. It's a really beautiful spot. The kids were put into teams with a 'responsible adult', given a map of the dam and sent off to find various spots. It was a competition to see which team could locate the most things on the map. They were instructed to work as a team and not to leave the little ones out in their eagerness to win.

I didn't have a team, so proceeded to spend a very pleasant half an hour sitting by the dam chatting to the other leaders with no teams. The kids returned, and while we handed out juice and cakes Jeremy worked out the scores.

When Jeremy read out the scores, he got to one team who had done particularly well, but then said he had to deduct some points as they had treated one of their members badly.

Jeremy on his wandering to see how different teams were doing, had come across little Sawana (5) standing on the side of a mountain where his team had left him as he was slowing them down! He didn't have sufficient clothes on and his team had told him to wait there and they would come back for him. So for I don't know how long, he'd stood there waiting for them, getting colder and more frightened.

You should have seen his little face as Jeremy shared the story with everyone. He was literally re-living the horror. It was so heart breaking.

But all appeared to be forgotten when he arrived at Mapheo the next day with his (now usual) smiles, and got busy making a pair of binoculars with me. It would seem that kids really do bounce back.

Random happenings from the last week.....

1. Wildfire season has arrived which means that some farmers are creating 'fire breaks' to try and protect their land. This basically means they try to burn a stretch of land in a controlled way so that if a fire does start it won't be able to cross over onto the farm as the land is already burnt. Unfortunately on a farm just outside of Clarens the firebreak got out of control last week and burnt the entire mountain! As a friend was saying 'quite an embarrassing mistake to make - they'll have to look at a black mountain for the next few months'!

2. Last week there was a meercat in my garden - a MEERCAT! I've only ever seen them in the zoo before.

3. Visiting Mpho and Phetheso's family last week me and Moshoeshoe let them try on our sunglasses. It was a complete comedy. They instantly changed from these smiling little boys to complete moody gangsters! It got the whole family laughing which was brilliant. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me to capture the moment.

4. Walking away from their shack we saw some little girls who had built a miniature shack complete with chimney, lit a fire inside and were huddled around it pretending to cook. Very sweet, but oh so crazily dangerous!

5. At Mapheo this week to try and consolidate some first aid stuff we'd done the day before we created a hospital during free play. When I 'arrived' at the hospital as a patient, I was promptly told to lie down because I was dying. Then I died and was buried in toilet roll. Not exactly what we had taught the day before!

6. When I went to the post office this week, Clement the postmaster, promptly asked me if I'd been playing soccer the day before. When I said no, he asked 'why not, Gareth (another white church member) was!' To which my reply was an incredulous 'because I'm a girl!' The same day I had to explain to another Basotho guy that it's not polite to tell a girl that she looks exhausted. Great day for me!

7. Walking home with some Basotho's the other day, my friend Chommy called out to a guy in the street greeting him as a 'nigger'. Seeing as the guy didn't deck Chommy I asked if it's not an offensive word here. No, in fact, here 'nigger' is a complement! It means you're super-cool.

8. At church on Sunday morning I ended up with 8 kids under 6 sitting with me. One of them had a piece of chewing gum that I reckon she'd already been chewing for quite some time. After a little while she decided to be really nice and share it out. So she gave everyone a little piece to eat. I declined my share. After they'd chewed for a while she demanded it all back, put it all back in her mouth and chewed away before repeating the whole cycle several times. Pretty disgusting, but it was encouraging to see this particular little girl share something!

The story of two adorable little boys....

So I thought I would tell you about some more of the kids I visit (again I'm changing names). These two boys are cousins. There's Matt who is 5 or 6 and Paul who is 3.

I'll start with Paul. He is a very fortunate young man. He has both a mum and a dad who still live together. He also has a very cute baby sister and a greatgrandma who loves him. They all live in a complex of 3 one-room mud huts, along with another cousin, greatgrandpa when he's home (he works away) and Matt.

When I first met Paul he was quite frightened of me. But over the last few months I've taken him to church with me every week, played with him at Mapheo and visited him at home, so he's finally warmed up to me. He will not gladly come up to me for a hug, and when I pick him up he flings his little arms around my neck and clings on until I make him put his feet back on the ground.

The main problem in Paul's young life is poverty. This family are living in such a desperate situation. They have no water or electricity. The very small piece of land they live on isn't suitable for growing anything. The 2 men of the house are constantly searching for work and often only manage to find work that takes them away from home. At the moment the only income for all 8 of them is two small goverment child grants. Often when we visit, Paul's mum isn't there as she's out searching for wood and wild food, sometimes taking her baby with her. On the occassions that we've been there and she hasn't taken the baby, she is crying constantly, I assume from hunger. This week when we visited there didn't appear to be any food in the house. Paul is consequently tiny, he looks more like a 2 year old than nearly 4. They can't afford to send Paul to nursery, and there are absolutely no toys at home, which means he's unlikely to be ready to start school in a couple of years. Life in this home is about as tough as it gets.

Another major issue in this family is their belief in ancestral worship. Paul has strings of beads around his stomach and neck which are part of ancestral worship rituals. They do not realise it, but this kind of activity is so damaging. They are opening themselves and their children up to all sorts of spiritual problems.

Matt is not as fortunate as Paul. He has a mum and dad who are both living. But his dad takes no responsibility for him, still living with his own mother. His mum lives in a tiny shack up the hill from the rest of the family. She shares the shack with her boyfriend who has been high every time we have seen him, openly smoking joints in front of us. He does work, but I assume that most of his pay goes on drugs, and he gives some to Matt's mum for food. Since I've known Matt he's been passed backwards and forwards between these two homes.

A few months ago I got a call at 8pm asking me to come to the township as someone from church had spotted Matt wandering around. They had taken him home and discovered that when he got back from school at around 2pm his mum hadn't been home and the house was locked up. He played for a while but when it started to get dark he buried his school books in his yard so they wouldn't be stolen then wandered around looking for his mum. I immediately went to get him. Thankfully as I was about to take him home with me for the night his mum turned up.

Matt's mum has a tough life. She has no parents. She has no ID so struggles to find work. But she's also made some unwise decisions. This means that with all that's going on in her life, Matt doesn't seem to be a priority. She started working a few weeks ago, so sent Matt back to live down the hill with Paul. It's hard to see such a young child being passed around with no stability. He still goes and sleeps at his mums at the weekend sometimes. I wonder how long it will be before he starts to react to the situation. At the moment he's always smiling.

Matt was going to the church school. Sadly a couple of months ago his mum wasn't able to pay up her school fee debts and so he was asked to leave. We're hoping to get him into a different school for next year, but he was quite far behind in class so it will be tough to get him upto the standard he needs to be. Again he has no toys, and no real adult interaction except at Mapheo and church, so his development is behind.

Matt also comes to church with me every week. And every week he delights everyone with his crazy kid dancing at the front of church. He's even been put on the stage to demonstrate it before now! He loves to sit on my lap, and he will wrap his little legs around mine while grinning up at me. A few months ago there was no kids church so he and Paul had to sit with me through the whole service. Matt very quietly and cutely entertained himself (and many others) by draping my hair over his head to see what it would be like to have 'white hair'. The game lasted a good half hour. Needless to say my hair looked interesting afterwards!

Please pray for this family. None of them know Jesus. They are hopeless in their situation. Please pray for opportunities to share the gospel, for continued building of relationships. Pray for an end to ancestral worship. Please pray particularly for these boys, that they would grow up knowing that we love them, and more importantly that Jesus loves them unfailingly, unconditionally, steadfastly. That He has good plans for their lives. That in Jesus there is a hope and a future for them. Pray that they would come to know the beautiful person of Jesus for themselves, that they would follow Him all their lives even through the trials of poverty.

Spring has sprung!

Well the last week has been pretty interesting.....

At Mapheo last week we looked at Jonah and the Whale. To help explain the concept of the size of a whale we showed some footage of 'The Blue Planet' from the BBC. It was really interesting watching with the kids. None of them have ever seen the sea. Most of them will never have even seen a body of water, as the dam in Clarens is a long way from the townships and most Basotho people never go there. I doubt that any of them have ever been swimming either. They were fascinated by the DVD (apart from Lebote who took the opportunity to snooze in my lap!), Mashoehoe translated some of the facts about whales and Jeremy explained what a wave is and how some people surf on them for fun.

Thursday brought the first storm of the season. There was lots of thunder but it was very cold so the rain failed to arrive, instead we got pebble size hail stones (which are very painful when they hit you!). Friday warmed up a bit, and on Saturday Spring definitely arrived. Since then the blossom has blossomed, the weather is beautiful, the wind has died down, and of course being the english girl I am, I have got sunburnt. But still no rain.

This weekend I went to 2 funerals. Two good friends lost parents over the last couple of weeks so I went along to support them. It was my first experience of a Basotho funeral. Traditional Basotho believe is that we must please our ancestors (ancestral worship), and within this the funeral is very important.

On Friday afternoon, me and Mashoeshoe were visiting a Mapheo family who live next door to Sankwela's dad who died last week. As we approached the house we were greeted by the sight of the cow being slaughtered by a group of men ready for the funeral feast, and beside the cow was a dead sheep being skinned. Quite a picture! It is traditional to kill a cow for the funeral and cook the meat to feed everyone who comes along. I think there are also some ancestral worship rituals performed with the skins.

After Salt and Light on Friday night a crowd of us went out for drinks at Friends, and then to the 'Night Vision' for Mme Elizabeth. Mme Elizabeth was my friend Anna's mum who died 2 weeks ago. She was a Chrisian, so the night vision was very focussed on God. We all stood outside in the 'tent' (a small marquee which is always erected for the funeral, either in the garden or the middle of the road) and sang Christian songs interspersed by people speaking to the crowd. Traditionally anyone who knew the person can speak at the night vision, and they usually speak about the person. The night vision continues all night but we only stayed til about 1am. There was another one taking place slightly nearer my house where the singing was so loud that it kept me awake!

The next morning Mme Elizabeth's funeral took place at the church at 8.30am. Because it was a Christian funeral it was a time of thanking God for her life, and one of our elders preached the gospel to the congregation. But it was not without some African wailing. After the funeral everyone goes to the graveyard for the burial. I didn't go to Mme Elizabeth's burial as I knew I wouldn't be back in time for Sankwela's dad's funeral. That was at 11am. So I went to the house and found Sankwela outside.

Sankwela is the only Christian in his family. He also didn't really have a relationship with his dad as his parents are divorced and his dad had remarried. The funeral was a very traditional affair. We chatted outside while the ceremony took place in the tent as neither of us really wanted to be there. Then we went to the graveyard for the burial. All the men go to the grave, while the women stand at a small distance singing while the coffin is buried. It takes a long time (hence my sun burn) then everyone returns to the house for the meal.

At the house everyone queued up to wash their hands. Because this was a traditional funeral the handwashing was a ritual. There were three bowls in a line, with different things in each. The first was designed to cleanse you from the graveyard (it had a particular plant in it), the second was for ancestral worship, the third just water. Then there was a plate with tiny pieces of meat and a cup of traditional beer.

Once you had completed the washing and tasting you could have food. The food was yummy but for the first time in my life I struggled with the meat. I just kept seeing that cow tied down being slaughtered. As soon as the food was over, me and Sankwela left and spent a leisurely afternoon sunbathing in my garden.

Despite being threatened with being thrown out of home, Sankwela stood his ground on Sunday morning and refused to shave his head as is traditional for the oldest child after the funeral in order to please the ancestors. Standing for Jesus in these situations must take so much strength. I am so blessed to have a family who are all saved.

Saturday night is youth group. The last few weeks have been brilliant. We have really been blessed by the presence of God in our meetings. This week Seabata (who used to live here and help lead the group) came back from Jo'burg and preached. He talked about being set free from sin, even inherited sin. It was another excellent night.

On Sunday night we had our penultimate evening in our 'sex series'. It's been a great series about God's plan for sex and marriage. This week was about homosexuality. The speaker spoke from his own life and it was a very moving evening. He made himself so vulnerable by sharing his testimony and I have no doubt that it will have helped people to understand more about this topic.

Tuesday was 'Spring Day' here, and as I said earlier, Spring has definitely arrived! Here are some pictures of the pretty blossom:

Living in the shadow of apartheid

This weekend was really nice, but yesterday I realised that it was also a weekend which summed up much of the situation in rural South Africa. You see I am part of a multi-cultural church. The vision of Dihlabeng Christian Church is to example what it means to be 'one new man in Christ'. Sadly, living in the shadow of apartheid, this is not an easy task. Clarens is still a very segregated community. I live in comfort in the white part of town, while many of my friends live in much poorer circumstances down the road in the township. When I walk through the township I am greeted by a constant cry from every child I pass of 'lekgoa' (white person). Some children are so unused to seeing white people that they literally hide from me.

I spent Friday evening at our 20s meeting - I was the only white person there. On Saturday I was invited to a braii - there were no black people there. Then on Saturday night I went to our youth meeting - again I was the only white person there. So it would seem that we are still living very separate lives. Coming from a nation where, although there is undoubtably racism, I am used to sharing my life with people from all sorts of different cultures and backgrounds, I find this aspect of living in Clarens incredibly difficult.

God has been very gracious towards South Africa. It is a miracle of His mercy that these post-apartheid years have been peaceful in this nation. But rural South Africa is still living with the consequences of generations brought up through apartheid. We need Christ's healing in our prejudiced hearts. We need His power to break the bonds of poverty. We need His strength to stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves. We need His grace to understand one another's cultures. And we need His love to truly become 'one new man in Christ'.

African Heads

I am always amazed by the ability of African ladies to carry things on their heads. The one time I tried to carry a box of clothes on my head it fell off and the clothes scattered all over the road, much to the amusement of my Basotho friends.

Yesterday I saw the most bizarre thing yet though - an old lady going to collect wood had a full size axe balanced on her head. As my sister later said - 'that's just silly'. I did wonder quite what would happen if the axe slipped even just a centimetre - not a pretty thought. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me to capture the moment.

A day of two halves

Today started off pretty badly - I heard 2 very sad pieces of news in quick succession. My friend Laura in the UK is pregnant with twins who are due in about 4 weeks time. They've known since the beginning that one of the babies may be poorly, but today she has been admitted to hospital as the doctors are very concerned about the baby's health. They are deciding whether they need to deliver the twins this week. It's obviously a huge worry for Graham and Laura as the doctors are unable to tell what's actually wrong with the baby or how serious it is.

After Laura text to let me know, I found out that a good friend here lost her mum yesterday. Anna's mum has had a long battle against a brain tumour and at times God has brought significant healing to her. But in the early hours yesterday Anna's mum passed away in the hospital. It's so hard to know how to be a comfort to someone in this situation. I visited Anna at work this morning and managed to hug her and pray with her. There's little more I can do, and Anna is Basotho so I don't even fully understand what happens now. Her dad, who works away, has come home to sort out the funeral. There are a lot of traditions associated with death in the Basotho culture, and I am still quite ignorant of them. As with all cultures, some are harmless traditions and some are not so harmless. The grieving process is influenced by culture, but we can all take comfort in knowing that Anna's mum knew Jesus and so is now with Him in glory.

So this morning my day was feeling quite overshadowed by these sad situations. I was struggling to lift my eyes above the here and now. But then I went to Mapheo.

This term we are looking at 'God's Plan for Us'. The idea is to show the children that God has good plans for each of us. We're also teaching them about different kinds of jobs so that they can begin to grasp an idea of what they could do for a living in the future. So last week we looked at being a builder and between us built a brick wall. But I'll blog about that another time. Right now I want to tell you about today.

There's a lovely lady in our church called Jeanette who owns a restaurant in Clarens called Valley Cats. Jeanette saves all her bashed up cakes in her freezer for us and periodically the kids at Mapheo get to feast on them for their snack. So she's well loved! Today Jeanette had the whole of Mapheo to her restaurant to teach them about the different jobs you can do.

It's hard to describe just how big a deal this was. First of all it meant getting to go in a car up to town as it's too far for them to walk in the time available. That's a massive treat all by itself. Then it also meant being in town, again a massive treat. Top that off with getting to go to a restaurant - a first for the kids - and you begin to understand how exciting it all was.

Word had obviously got out about our trip as when we got to Mapheo at 3pm, an hour before it starts, there were already quite a number of very excited kids waiting. As we prayed together, this number grew and grew, and the kids became uber hyper outside. Which was probably a good thing as it's FREEZING today so all the excitement kept them warm although also inevitably led to a few tears.

We got the kids through registration and the rules and then started ferrying them up to town in the cars. They waited playing games on the village green until we were all there, then formed a 'snake' to walk to the restaurant.

Jeanette was all ready for them so after listening to a story about a cake baker, she chatted about what you need to run a restaurant and all the different jobs you can do.

Then came the really exciting bit. Jeanette had prepared it so that the kids could be her customers! She had set out long tables outside and all the kids sat down. Then she gave each one a special menu:

Polony roll - 5c
Scone and jam - 5c
Milo and marshmellow - 5c

She gave every child a little packet that had 20c in it - enough to pay for one of everything on the menu and leave a tip. So as the waiters handed them plates with the food on they were able to pay for it. Needless to say the kids absolutely loved it! They got to be real customers and enjoy good food. They also got to take their menus home along with a little packet of homemade sweets from Jeanette.

The kids were so well behaved, and had an amazing time. It was a privilege to be a part of such a wonderful experience. And it totally made my week and probably my month :-)


Puleng and Zodwa enjoy their food

Matsamai enjoys his milo

Paying for food

Jeanette hands out packets of money while the kids look at the menu

Walking in a snake to the restaurant

Back in Clarens

I spent the whole of July back in the UK. It was lovely to be home for a few weeks and spend time with family and friends, go to the Newfrontiers Leaders Conference and watch a whole load of Grey's Anatomy. I also got to go to 2 friends weddings - congrats to Alex & Emily and Mike & Vic!!

Just before I left Clarens I did manage a day 'bumboarding' at Afriski - the ski resort in Lesotho. It was a lot of fun. The resort is at 3,300 metres which is the highest I've ever been and the air is defintely thinner there! It was my first time at a ski resort, but Miriana who practically grew up on skis assured me it was a very 'african' version. Here are a couple of pics to explain:



The cable supplying electricity to the ski lift - we sledged over it a few times!



The interesting apartments which have been built with balconies with no walls!

I've been back in Clarens for a week now and it almost feels like I've never been away....almost. But not completely as while I was gone Pippa, another English volunteer, left to go back to the UK to start her studies. Then 2 days after I got back, my neighbour, Miriana, also left to return to Germany to start her studies. Over the past few months Miriana and Pippa had become good friends, and Clarens and my flat are much quieter without them.

I thought I would share the stories of the kids I visit with you over the next few posts. I'm gonna change their names so that any confidential information is protected.

I'll start with Sam.

Sam is 6 we think, but we can't be sure as we've never seen a birth certificate. His mum died about 2 years ago of a 'heart problem'. I suspect this is code for 'AIDS' but can't be sure. There's no dad. So now Sam lives with his grandma. Grandma is a lovely old lady. She takes good care of Sam and the others who live in her home. There's her son and daughter, and various others depending on who happens to be staying there at any particular time.

The problem is that Grandma is HIV positive. She's beginning to look pretty haggard and she can't work. Thankfully because Sam's paperwork is in order she does receive a state child grant for him. But as yet I haven't plucked up the courage to ask her if she's made any plans for Sam when she dies. Because she will die, maybe not next week, maybe not next year, but it's looking unlikely that Sam will reach adulthood before she passes away. Her son who lives in the house is the father of another child I visit but has taken absolutely no responsibility for him so I very much doubt he would take Sam on. Her daughter is too young to care for Sam. So what will happen to him?

I'm also concerned about Sam's health as he has had a cold for the last few months - his nose is always running. This is not a good sign. But this week when we visited we were told that they had all had the flu but were now recovered. So at some point I also need to ask if I can do an HIV test on Sam. Apart from the cold he seems pretty healthy, so it could just be caused by malnutrition.

Well that's the beginning of Sam's story. Without the hope of the Gospel he's in for a pretty tough life. Even with Jesus his life is unlikely to be easy - like most people around here, he will have to survive day to day. But the Basotho people are a joyful nation. Even in the midst of her suffering his grandma always wants to know how I am, how my trip home was. If she comprehends that my life is much nicer than hers, she doesn't show it or make me feel guilty.

I pray that Sam grows up knowing God, knowing that He has good plans for his life, plans to prosper him in some way. I pray that even if he lives his whole life in Clarens, struggling through poverty, that Sam will know that he has a hope and a future through the grace of Jesus. And I pray that God will allow me to be a part of Sam's story.

Back online and an end to facebook importing...

Well after my beloved mac decided to die a few months ago I've been offline so not able to blog. But during my trip back to the UK in July I was able to pick up a cheap laptop so, hurray, I'm back online in my flat. So blogging will begin again in earnest. But I have decided to stop my blog from automatically importing into Facebook as notes, so, if you want to keep upto date you'll have to actually visit the site....http://rachrigby.blogspot.com.

Rats, dead cats, drums and cheese.....

It's been a while and I've yet to write my April newsletter (sorry!) so I thought I'd do a newsy blog bringing you upto date on my adventures.

Life has been ticking along nicely here. The weather is very autumnal and almost wintry, although it will still get a lot colder! I'm trying to ration my layers, use of my fire and use of my electric blanket so that when the real cold hits I still have some options for keeping warm. I'm fortunate as my flat isn't too bad. The front room which is my loung/kitchen stays lovely and warm as it has the sun all day. So I can still have people over without fear of them freezing. But my bedroom doesn't get any sun so it's very cold in there already. My sisters coming to stay in June and I'm hoping that the extra body will warm it up a bit!

My car is still off the road, but is now in the process of being repaired. After much arguing with the garage I've given up on them paying for it as the only money they've offered me was illegally obtained. They are unbelievable. There is no sense of right and wrong, all they want is to sell as many cars as possible and they don't care if someone is killed because of their faulty workmanship. I have heard that in the past they have pulled a gun on a customer - as my Dad says, it gives new meaning to the phrase 'cowboys'! So knowing that and feeling very uncomfortable around the manager, I have decided just to leave it. Sadly that means that once again they've got away with selling a dodgey car, but it's pretty tough for an english girl out here to make a difference in this kind of situation! So a local mechanic is now fixing the car, and he's a lovely trustworthy man, so I feel good about it. I should have it back on Monday which will mean it's been off the road for almost 7 weeks. Very frustrating when I've been paying insurance all that time!

A couple of weeks ago I went on the church 20s winter camp. We went out to Golden Gate National Park which is very near here. It's a beautiful place - very mountainous. The weekend was excellent. It was a great time of getting to know people better. We played some fun games, and as there were only 5 whities out of 40 people, none of us from SA, it was hilarious cultural confusion all the way! Trust me by the time a joke is translated it's not funny any more. We went on a 'hike' into the mountains which was spectacular but revealed I have developed a fear of heights in certain scenarios. This was scary for me as there were no paths and some of the walk meant climbing up exposed sandstone with no grip. I came back down on my bottom! The low point of the weekend was the rats who lived in the kitchen and weren't that afraid of showing themselves. At least the snakes were hibernating!

Last week when I was out doing my Mapheo visits with Mashoeshoe we came across a toddler entertaining a crowd of small children by running around holding a cat by it's tail so that it's head bumped along the ground. When we intervened it quickly became apparent that the cat was dead and had probably been dead for some time. While Mashoeshoe was telling the kids that dead cats are dirty so not good toys, the little one ran off thinking he was in trouble. He ran straight towards the main road but thankfully fell in the ditch before he got to the road. He was very upset, so I ended up having to cuddle him. It was hard not to freak out as he was filthy, now very snotty, and had been playing with a dead cat for however long. As soon as I got home my coat went in the wash and I jumped into the shower!

This term in Mapheo we are looking at spiritual gifts and talents. The kids have been having a great time trying out different skills like sport, art and sewing. My favourite week was the music week. I had a group of little boys who I took around the 'stations' to try out different music things. They got to make a shaker, learn a (very) little bit of drumming, and shake percussion instruments to learn about rythm. They had such a fantastic time, as did I! It was also great to see some of them learn how to throw and catch a ball on the sports week. The next day during free play all they wanted to do was play with the balls.

The last few weeks I've started having people over for lunch on Sundays. It's been really fun squeezing people into my little lounge and getting to know them better. It's also been fun trying to adapt recipes so that I can make them here. It takes quite a lot of patience and sometimes imagination to take a recipe I have no trouble with in England and make it here. The things available vary so much, and I haven't sussed out what's a cheap dinner option here. The other day I had a good laugh on the phone with my parents. I was asking my mum for a recipe for 'moroccan chicken' - a yummy chicken and rice dinner she makes. As she went through the list of ingredients I just kept saying 'oh I can't get that'. By the end out of a long list of stuff all I could get was the chicken, the wrong kind of rice, the wrong kind of chick peas and the olives! Needless to say she didn't bother to go through the method. But I have realised that as wine is so cheap here, I can afford to cook with it! So this week I made a lovely 'coc au vin' dinner. And this week for the first time in 5 months I managed to buy bay leaves! Yay! But can I find a garlic crusher anywhere?? But this week there was genuine Irish cheddar in the supermarket so I'm looking forward to enjoying that. And if you can afford it you can now get parmesan as well. And rice infusions pringles. And last week there was a new cadburys called 'biscuit and fudge'. It was yummy. It wasn't in stock this week. I wonder if we'll ever see it again or if it was delivered to Bethelehem by accident like the Maltesers were once. But avo season is almost upon us - buttery avo's for about 20p each. Happy times :-)

Vulnerable children

Over the past couple of weeks I've been struck again and again by just how vulnerable many of the children in our community are. Last week 2 of the kids at Mapheo were orphaned - sadly not an unusual thing around here. The day after their mum died, their uncle also died of HIV. On my visiting rounds last week I & Mashoeshoe (who I visit with) finally found a little boy we'd been looking for for weeks. We had thought he was living in Kgubetswana. We'd looked around for him each week but never found him. Then last week after speaking to a lot of people we finally saw his mum. She very casually told us that he lives in the squatter camp. So down to the squatter camp we went and found him living with his gran, grandad, aunty, uncle and at least 2 cousins in a tiny mud hut while his mum lives in much better conditions up the hill. I cannot comprehend how a mother can leave her son in squalor and not appear to be bothered. They are all living in 2 rooms, there is a single wooden bench, a stove, a few pots and pans and a bed. That is all their possessions. But after visiting hm, Mpho came along to Mapheo for the first time in about 2 months. It was so great to see him there, he was completely confused, but loving it! The irony is that his name means 'gift'. Clearly his mother thought he was a gift for his gran not her.

Not a single child that I visit has their own bed. They are all living in absolute poverty. At least one mum is HIV positive, but thankfully very open about it. I'm hoping to test her son in a few weeks. There are probably more who are positive, but the stigma here is still very real, so people keep that knowledge to themselves or just don't get tested. Last week we found that a dad has walked out on 2 little ones we visit. So their mum is left to care for them alone. Again, sadly that's not unusual. Very few kids still have dads who are involved in their lives.

This week visiting has left me a bit overwhelmed - I love visiting but it's also really hard. If I was here doing this in my own strength I'd be back in England by now. Life here is hard to deal with. But I'm not here in my own strength. God is sustaining me. And He loves those children and families far, far more than I do. I think my heart is breaking when I visit their homes, but His is breaking more. He longs for every one of them to come to know Him and His saving grace. He wants to rescue them. He wants to give them dignity. He longs for every child to know their worth in Him, to know that they are loved absolutely by Him. He wants to father them. He wants to raise them up out of their hopeless situations and make them into princes and princesses in His Kingdom.


He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with princes
With the princes of His people
(Psalm 113)


As we visit I pray that this is the message we bring. Jesus is the only hope. He is the only one who can bring dignity and joy to people who have nothing and are shunned by society. And if all I learn from being here is that Jesus is everything I or anyone else needs, then that's enough. It will be worth the sacrifice. If I learn to truly depend on Him, to give my all to Him, I will be satisfied.


I look at the mountains around me and realise that the God who created them is the God who saves me. He who made the heavens and the earth. He will not let me fall. He who looks after me is always awake and alert. He will never drop off or daydream. He is my keeper. The Lord gives me shade from the heat of the sun and the glare of the moon. He protects me from evil and gives me breath each day. He will watch over all my days. (Psalm 121)

Amusing moments...

A few more comical moments arising from cultural differences and living in the country.....

1. Last night I played 'music for the chairs' - the Sotho person introducing the game had mistranslated the title 'musical chairs'!
2. I said I'd love to be 'a fly on the wall' in a friends house. No one had a clue what I meant.
3. This afternoon in a youth planning meeting there was a moment when I was completely lost with what we were talking about. Then I realised that there were 4 of us, all of different nationalities and I was the only one speaking in my first language. No wonder it got confusing!
4. I decided to make a carrot cake for my girls discipleship group, but after substituting practically every ingredient (except carrots) because I couldn't get hold of any of them, it turned out bright yellow with orange carrot bits. It also didn't taste anything like yummy carrot cake, more just like normal sponge cake.
5. Apparently all white people look the same to some Basotho people. And apparently some Basotho people can't hear a difference in European accents - English, Irish, German - we all sound the same! It makes me feel better about how long it takes me to learn people's names here.

The End of Miss Schutz, The Beginning of Mrs Ottewell!

Tomorrow one of my best friends is getting married. Sadly I can't fly back to England and be her bridesmaid :-(

Tally is marrying Tim after a very romantic courtship. I don't know Tim very well, but he is a Godly man who has won Tally's heart through his careful pursuit of her and that's good enough for me! It's such a small world - I actually met Tim in Clarens when he was visiting friends in 2007, before he'd even met Tally! They met after she moved to London to take up a nursing post after graduating.

Tim & Tally - I know you will have a wonderful day & and a fabulous honeymoon! I so wish I could be there to celebrate with you - perhaps we could have a re-enactment in July?! I can't wait to meet the new Mrs Ottewell, and come and see your new home when I'm back.

Tally - you are such a special person, and have been a great friend to me and many others. I love you squillions xxx

General Update on Life in Africa

March/April visitors - Lindsey, Catherine, Laura & Natalie


This last month has been fun. I had some friends come to stay for 2 weeks and as it was Easter holidays here I was free to do lots of touristy things with them which was great. We had a couple of days in Durban and it was lovely to get to see the sea again and go swimming. I'm praying that God will call me to live next to a beach next! (as long as it's not one by the North Sea!!)

Since they left life has been pretty slow. Things are only just getting back to normal after our Masterbuilders Conference. Mapheo half started last week but is back into full swing this week. And all the FYPers were off on a 2 week training block in Cape Town. I hadn't realised how much of my time is taken up with Mapheo and the FYP team until they both weren't happening! So I'm looking forward to a much more hectic week this week.

We had a Mapheo planning meeting this week and it was great to hear some of the ideas Jeremy & Laura have for extending the programme. I won't write about them here as nothing has been finalised yet, but it was a really encouraging time and got my creative juices flowing! This term we are looking at 'gifting and skills'. So we're covering different spiritual gifts and teaching the children some other skills such as sewing, dance, art, cooking, woodwork and sport. The idea is to show that everyone has something which they are good at and to build self-esteem. Most of the children have a very low self-esteem as no one ever encourages them. We also want them to understand that God gives every one of us both spiritual gifts and natural talents.

The beading and craft project I help at is continuing well. I have managed to get 6 agents to sell the stuff in the UK so far (thanks ladies!). The idea is that each month we will post a box of stuff to a different person who will host a Silver Hope Party to sell the items to friends.

I spent the Easter weekend in rural Lesotho. It was the first time I had never stayed overnight there before. It was really fun and very interesting. The life in the rural areas is very different to here eventhough it's just across the border. There is no electricity or plumbing. At the moment there is a water shortage, so families are having to collect water from the pump in the middle of the night as the tap is dry in the morning. Some people have generators, some have solar power, some have gas stoves, but many have nothing but fire. Toilets are 'long drops' although some aren't quite long enough if you know what I mean! The people are very friendly though and I've got to know quite a few people in the church. We were helping with an outreach which meant going out and inviting people to a showing of the Jesus movie in Sesotho. It was great to be able to go out visiting and see more of how people live in the villages. They tend to live in mini compounds of 2 or 3 houses on a plot. It's very 'african'! I also had to go and pick people up from a mountain village I'd never been to before. Really you should have a 4x4 to get there but I just about managed it in the church bakkie. There's not really a road up the hill - you just drive across the bare rock face which is full of pot holes! It was a great weekend.


The church in Tabaholo Lesotho


The top of the rock face which serves as a road

On return from Lesotho I found that my car had broken down again! I had thought the clutch felt funny on the Friday but assumed I was being paranoid. I left my car with an elder from church in return for taking the church bakkie to Lesotho. He then tried to drive it to church in Clarens, but couldn't even get off his drive. When I got in it the clutch cable snapped again. I called a local recommended mechanic to come and look at it. He says that the garage in Bethlehem who've done all the work on it so far had replaced my old broken clutch cable with a used one rather than a new one. He has also found a problem with a little bracket which feeds the cable to the pedal. Plus having paid for 4 litres of oil to be put in the car there's practically nothing left but no sign of a leak. So we can only assume I was ripped off there too! Owning a car here is certainly a challenge! I'm hoping to get it back sometime this week, and then I will decide whether to try and sell it or keep going.

As I'm sure you know, Wednesday (22nd) is voting day in SA. Please pray for a peaceful day and a good outcome. The result is almost certain to bring Zuma into power. As christians we must pray for him that he manages to lead well and move away from the temptations of corruption. The elections are a huge deal here - there are posters everywhere, and people wearing their freebie ANC t-shirts. It's a public holiday to encourage people to vote. The historic vote of 1994 is still incredibly fresh in people's minds.