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)