Rachel's Adventures in Africa

Back in the Northern Hemisphere

2010-07-20T17:35:00.004+01:00

Well it's been a while since I last blogged. That's because once the World Cup started in SA there was literally nothing bar soccer happening in Clarens! The village caught 2010 fever and it took over our lives. Vuvuzelas were being blown from about 4am each morning right through the day and evening from at least a couple of weeks before the first match. The kids were all given World Cup beanies, learnt the 'disci dance' (the official world cup dance) and the shops sold all things soccer including flags, wing mirror covers and sweeties.

It was fun watching the games on a big screen in the township or together in people's homes. South African's are a lot more patriotic than us Brits which was great to see. And the excitement when Bafana Bafana scored was unbelievable.

Anyway, part way through all of this I found out that I had been successful in my application for a job with Tearfund. I was so suprised as I really hadn't felt that my phone interview a couple of weeks previously had gone well and I had convinced myself that they had offered it to another candidate. So I quickly booked a flight back and left South Africa on 1st July. The last couple of weeks in Clarens and my time back in the UK has been a bit of a blur so far and it's only just sinking in that I've really left. I had a lovely evening the night before I left where I just invited loads of people over and served mulled wine (it's freezing winter in Clarens at the moment). We had a great time and then the next morning I was off. I travelled in true African style to the airport - packed into the back of the bakkie with all the suitcases. It was actually the most comfortable spot I reckon as I got to sleep all the way!

I start my new job next week and am busy trying to decide where to live. Tearfund are based in Teddington so I'll be somewhere around there. I'm going to be the administrator for the Central and East Africa Team. I think it will encompass all sorts of things and I'm excited to be a part of what Tearfund are doing to mobilise Christians worldwide to fight poverty.

I'm not sure what I'll do about this blog. For now I'll leave it but I may use it to tell you what's happening in different Tearfund projects around Africa once I'm familiar with them.

Thank you so much for reading over the last however-many months and for sharing in my African Adventure - I know it's not over, it's just taking a different shape for now.

Some pictures from the World Cup:

Moshoeshoe and his friend about to watch the match

Local boys in Bafana Bafana kit with a mini vuvuzela
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Modiehi playing a vuvuzela
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Popina waiting for the game to start
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Doing the disci dance on the village square
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Mapheo news....

2010-06-07T15:19:00.004+01:00

Last week we held a banquet at Mapheo. We have spent the term teaching the kids what it means to be part of God's Royal Family, making things to demonstrate each point along the way. The kids made a self portrait of themselves as a prince or princess, a robe, a crown, a signet ring and a flag. We held back all their work then last week held a banquet to celebrate and gave them all their lovely things to wear. It was a whole lot of fun! The kids sat at a really, really long table, enjoyed yummy pap & stew and jelly and each got a party bag. It was one of those incredibly precious moments. Seeing kids who have nothing, are often unloved, and certainly represent the poorest of the poor dressed as princes and princesses and waited on by us was amazing. It literally brought to life the scripture that says Jesus will lift the poor from the ash heap and seat them with princes. If you want to see photos (and you should) head over to my facebook profile - I don't have a good enough internet connection right now to put them here as well.

Last week held a first for me - I had to change the dressings of a child at Mapheo who is HIV positive and very sick most of the time. It's the first time I've actually had to touch an open wound of an infected person. I was suprised with myself at the level of fear it held for me. Despite being educated on the subject and wearing surgical gloves I still had to speak truth to myself as I did it to ensure that the fear I felt inside didn't show. It made me realise just how easy it has been for HIV to become such a stigma in our community.

More Mapheo fun

2010-05-31T13:14:00.002+01:00

So remember our game of ladders? That day there was one little girl who had stood out to all of us as totally clueless but hilariously so - she would plop herself back down in her place after her turn of running (which never went the right way), turn to the leader next to her and state in Sesotho 'oh I don't understand' with a very melodramatic sigh and then giggle away. This week we were teaching the kids about the great commission and trying to open up the world to them a little bit. The leaders sat around the room, and in groups the kids rotated around us and each of us taught them how to say 'Jesus loves you' in a different language. After the kids had left we all compared notes and guess who had made us laugh the most? Yes it was Katleho again! If you know that Friends episode where Phoebe tries to teach Joey to speak French it was like that. We'd state the phrase to her a little bit at a time and then Katleho would speak it back. She'd get it completely wrong but think she was getting it 100% accurate and grin away at us. Very, very funny. Let's just hope God never sends her to Russia or Poland or India - they won't understand her at all!

On a much sadder note, this week one of our Mapheo families lost a little baby boy. His mum is HIV positive and we're sure he was born HIV positive. He didn't seem to be developing properly and then contracted meningitis a few weeks after he was born. He spent the last few months in the hospital and died on Thursday. Please pray for peace for the family and for them to come to know Christ through this tragedy.

Mme Masakile's Testimony

2010-05-20T11:55:00.002+01:00

Here is the testimony of the lady in our church who was healed of HIV:

Jemina’s (Mme Masakile) Testimony:

She got tested last year in June. She was tested by Dr Jeremy (who was attending Dihlabeng at the time).

Her result was HIV positive. Dr Jeremy send her to the clinic to confirm the results. She also tested positive at the clinic. Then they took her blood to the laboratory. And her cd4 was 750 (consistent with an otherwise healthy person carrying the HIV virus).

How do you feel after hearing that you are HIV +?

•I had a shock, and I was also afraid because I think that I am going to die! But I try not to show people that I just heard this terrible news.

•I could not sleep at night. I had lots of questions in my mind with no answers. I told Topsy (leads People of Hope our HIV/AIDs ministry) about my status and she encouraged me a lot. But when I am alone this thing came to my mind and torment me. I struggled to accept this for a month and I could not sleep well for a month.

•After a month, I said to myself that there is no need for me to be anxious about this thing of HIV. And I said to myself I need to tell God about this because there is nothing that I can do. Every night when I had a sleepless nights, I used to pray to God and telling Him about my sickness.

•After I spend lots of time telling God all this, I felt his peace coming into my heart. I felt Him removing all the stress, shame etc that I had for such a long time. It was even difficult for me to tell my family that I am HIV positive.

•After I received this peace, I decided to come fourth every Sunday to be prayed for. I did this for the whole 8 months. I was saying to God, “please heal me, I give my health to you because you know everything about me and now I present everything to you God”. I felt his peace all over my heart, mind and body and I started to feel bold in me that I am healed. I told the other lady in our church my status, and she encouraged me to share this to my children!! But I find it very difficult.

•This year in February, I felt faith raising up in me. And I felt in my heart that I am healed.

•Sunday the 18th April 2010, we had HIV/Aids Sunday in our church, and then I told myself that I am going to test again.

•I told Topsy, and she agreed with me. Firstly I was tested by Dave Farr (nurse from the UK volunteering in SA/Lesotho) and I tested negative. I asked Dr Liam Selfridge (member of the church, who is a consultant at the regional hospital) to test me again with another test just to confirm. And I tested negative. I felt like jumping, shouting, I didn’t know what to do. I was so happy I couldn’t contain myself. I felt like telling everybody that Jesus healed me!!!!

•I told Dr Liam that I am taking the medication from the clinic (Batrim). The Dr asked me to stop taking that medication because I am healed.

•He sends me back to the clinic with the referral letter, to ask the clinic to do another test. Then on Monday I went to the clinic.

At the clinic
•They first didn’t want to do the test to me. The sister in charge was very rude, she didn’t want even to read the letter from the Doctor. We had these arguments for 15min before they agrees to do the test. They said to me that the test that the doctor wants me to do is very expensive and I don’t have money for that!! But they end up doing it.

•They asked me to come after a week to fetch my result. Before the Lay Counsellor told me my result, she first asked me what I we doing/using at our church (witchcraft). I said to them we pray nothing else. She didn’t believe me, she thought that maybe there is something that we are using. I told her that our weapon is the prayer only. I asked her what are my results, I told her that I believe God healed me. She told me that the results came back negative.

•For all this time, I was asking God to do a miracle for me. I don’t read or write, but I keep on saying to God: “I heard my leaders saying that you do miracles, you heal every diseases, please Lord heal me, I know that you have power to heal every sickness.”

And God came to heal me and I am so grateful to Him.

My encouragement to others
I will like to say to everybody, who is facing difficulties in their lives, God is able to do everything. Please trust Him always and He will give the desire of your hearts.

Fun times

2010-05-16T14:48:00.002+01:00

This week at Mapheo I was running a good old game of ladders. You'd think seeing as we've played it a few times before and I had leaders demo at the beginning that everything would go to plan....but naturally it didn't and I haven't laughed so hard in a long time! It was totally hilarious watching the kids enthusiastically jump up when their number was called (or anyone elses number for some of them), or when they were shouted at by their team as they'd missed their number, then follow the course any way except the right way, including a little one heading to the toilets. They were all over the place, often running up the ladder and missing their space to sit down so doing it all over again, invariably going in opposite directions to each other, all the while being laughed at by all the leaders. They really didn't mind that they were getting it wrong everytime and being teased by us which was great. A few months ago many of them would have found the whole experience terrifying. I wish I'd taken a video for you all to enjoy the chaos but sadly I wasn't expecting such hilarity on a Thursday afternoon :-)

Another very funny thing happened this week at youth on Saturday night. Laura was speaking and introducing the topic for the evening. We're going through a series on idols and Saturday was about the worship of self. She said 'tonight we're talking about worshipping me'. The translation came throught 'tonight we're talking about worshipping Laura'! Thankfully she was tuned into the interpretation so picked it up straight away, otherwise we'd have had some very confused teenagers :-)

A miracle at Dihlabeng

2010-05-03T15:53:00.001+01:00

Possibly the most exciting news ever - at Dihlabeng this Sunday we heard our first testimony of a lady being healed of HIV! She tested positive last year, and was sent to the hospital for full blood work as usual so it clearly wasn't a false positive result. Her words were 'I've been asking God ever since I found out to fight this battle for me'. 2 weeks ago at our HIV service she went forward for prayer then felt she should get a test done there and then. She had two independent tests which were both negative. This result has now been confirmed by the hospital. She said 'we think HIV is this mountain in our lives but nothing is impossible for our God'. The whole church just went crazy. What a celebration! May there be many more such miracles in the future.

General news

2010-05-03T15:41:00.002+01:00

The major news from the last couple of weeks:

1. Rose has gone back to the UK after getting stranded here for an extra week because of the volcano in Iceland. It was lovely to have her visit for 3 weeks and of course she spoilt me!

2. We have been trying to visit one of my little boys at Mapheo for the last few weeks. Everytime we've been to the house there's been no one home and he hasn't been to Mapheo or church for a few weeks. Then the day before Rose flew home we finally found his mum waiting at the side of the road for a taxi. We stopped and chatted to her to find that he was in hospital in Bethlehem for a 'rash'. She told us he'd been there for a week but she hadn't seen him as she couldn't afford the taxi fare there. I gave her the money she needed and said I would also try and visit him. He's only 6 so the thought of him being in the state hospital (which isn't very nice) with no one visiting was heartbreaking. So on the way up to the airport with Rose the next day I stopped at the hospital. What I found out was even more heartbreaking - he'd actually been there for 2 weeks having been admitted with the measles, but the doctor had discharged him a week previously as he was now well. However the nurses were finding it impossible to get in touch with his mum to come and collect him. When he saw me he came racing down the corridor full of smiles and gave me a big hug. I gave him some food and toys which he promptly took to share with his little friend. The nurses asked me to take him home as the doctor was threatening to put him into a childrens home. It was so traumatic. But I had to leave him there as I was on my way to Jo'burg to drop Rose at the airport and I wasn't sure if his mum would be home and ready to take him. Now he has been picked up by an uncle who lives in a different town so he's still not back in Clarens. This means he's missing school yet again. It's so frustrating dealing with this family as he is a gorgeous little boy but his mum just doesn't seem to want him. She's living with a man who's not his father and has just had a new baby. This has meant that her boyfriend has started being very difficult about the older child being around. Please pray that she would be saved and come to realise her responsibility as a mother, and to understand the gift that this beautiful boy is.

3. I've moved house - I've moved in with a young couple from church to save some money. I moved at the weekend so am still getting used to it, but I think it's going to be fun. The drawback is my loss of internet connection so now I have to use the wifi service at the bakery, which is a bit of a hassle.

Small town life

2010-04-27T14:52:00.002+01:00

So today I was at a braai (it's a public holiday in SA today) and Gareth & Nicci start sharing about their fish and chips takeaway on Friday night. They were really disappointed with it - they phoned in their order but when Gareth went to collect it they'd given it to someone else, he had to wait for 30 mins for them to make his order and then apparently it only came with like 5 chips.

At this point Jeremy says 'that's funny we had fish and chips on Friday night too and ours was really nice'. Laura chips in 'yeah and they even gave us a side salad which was lovely'. (There's only one place in Clarens that does fish and chips takeaway which is how we can have this conversation in the first place.)

Comprehension dawns on Nicci who says 'how many did you order?'. Jeremy and Laura ordered 3 portions as Laura's mum was with them. Gareth and Nicci also ordered 3 portions as a friend was with them, and Nicci specifically asked for a side salad, something that doesn't just happen to turn up in your order.

Well it turns out Nicci phoned through their order for collection at half 6. Gareth was held up at a guest house so wasn't there quite on time. Just after half 6 Jeremy walks into the shop and orders 3 sets of fish and chips and is told 'they're right here ready'. He thinks 'wow great service I turned up at the perfect time' and walks off with Gareth's order. Meanwhile Gareth shows up late, is told his order has already been collected, waits half an hour for a new one, drives it home, arrives home as he gets another call to another guest house so goes straight out again. So not only were there only 5 chips, but by the time he got to eat them they were cold :-( As he said at least he knows now who to be angry with lol. Meanwhile Jereamy and Laura just high five each other. The joys of small town life.

HIV Sunday

2010-04-19T07:29:00.002+01:00

Yesterday our church service was dedicated to teaching about HIV, both the medical facts and Biblical teaching; prayer for those infected and affected; and testing. It is estimated (many haven't been tested due to fear and many of those who do get tested keep the result a secret) that 1 in every 2 to 3 people in our community are infected with the virus, but there is still a massive stigma attached. As a church we are trying to break that stigma and tell the truth about HIV and the hope that Jesus brings.

Living here, I've had a lot of training on HIV - so much that I'm now a qualified tester. But there were a couple of facts given yesterday that floored me:

1. A rich person with HIV on average lives 5 times longer than a poor person with HIV. I knew that they would live longer but hadn't realised the difference was that significant. This is due to access to better medicine and healthcare, better nutrition and more awareness about personal fitness.

2. Last year in SA the same number of people who died in the Asian tsunami died from HIV every 3 weeks.

Looking at those facts it's easy to see why people in our community feel helpless in the fight.

One of the best things Dr Liam did yesterday was to teach that HIV is not God's punishment towards an individual. That it's a result of living in a fallen world in the same way that we live with many other sicknesses. In this community that is such an important truth - so many are ashamed of their status and therefore keep it hidden resulting in them not receiving the care they so desparately need. Many, many women in this community have been infected by unfaithful husbands, but still feel the stigma is too great to go and get treatment.

Our home-based care workers are doing a fantastic job of visiting in the community, breaking down the barriers, but as a church we need to stand up and speak the truth. The truth that being HIV positive doesn't exclude you from the community. The truth that knowing your status is better than not knowing. The truth that if you're positive you can be treated and live a normal life for many years. The truth that God still loves you. The truth that Jesus died that you might live for eternity in a new and perfect body in a world free from HIV. Only the truth will set you free.

A great night at youth

2010-04-11T18:07:00.002+01:00

Last night I had a brilliant time praying for some of the youth at church. A couple of the highlights:

1. I prayed for Seipati who had a tummy-ache which was instantly healed.

2. I prayed with Mamakgua who was manifesting not in a good way. I and Modiehi (one of the girls on the youth team) took her into a room to chat and pray. She had responded to a call for recommitment but when she was prayed for felt like she was burning. When we chatted we found that she has been hearing a voice whenever she tries to pray telling her not to and she couldn't worship. While we were praying for her about this I felt we should pray for the gift of tongues. I explained this to her and she was very keen to receive the gift. As we prayed over her she began to speak in tongues and as she did so her whole face changed. You could literally see the peace of God descend on her. She was just so excited to be speaking in tongues and to now have this weapon to use whenever she hears that voice lying to her.

What a privilege last night was!

That's My King!

2010-04-11T07:18:00.002+01:00

"The Bible says my King is the King of the Jews
He's the King of Israel
He's the King of righteousness
He's the King of the ages
He's the King of heaven
He's the King of glory
He's the King of kings
He's the Lord of Lords
That's my King!
I wonder, do you know him?

My king is a sovereign King
No means of measure can define His limitless love
He's enduringly strong
He's entirely sincere
He's eternally steadfast
He's immortally graceful
He's imperially powerful
He's impartially merciful
Do you know Him?

He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world
He's God's son
He's the sinner's Saviour
He's the centrepiece of civilisation
He's unparalleled
He's unprecendented
He is the loftiest idea in literature
He's the highest personality in philosophy
He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology
He's the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Saviour
I wonder if you know Him today?

He supplies strength to the weak
He's available for the tempted and the tired
He sympathises and He saves
He strengthens and sustains
He guards and He guides
He heals the sick
He cleansed the lepers
He forgives sinners
He discharges debtors
He delivers the captive
He defends the feeble
He blesses the young
He serves the unfortunate
He regards the aged
He rewards the diligent
He beautifies the meek
I wonder if you know Him?

He's the key to knowledge
He's the wellspring of wisdom
He's the doorway of deliverance
He's the pathway of peace
He's the roadway of righteousness
He's the highway of holiness
He's the gateway of glory
Do you know Him?

His life is matchless
His goodness is limitless
His mercy is everlasting
His love never changes
His word is enough
His grace is sufficient
His reign is righteous
His yoke is easy
His burden is light
I wish I could describe Him to you...He's indescribable
He's incomprehensible
He's invincible
He's irresistible
You can't get Him out of your mind
You can't get Him off your hand
You can't outlive Him
And you can't live without Him

The Pharisees couldn't stand him but they found out they couldn't stop Him
Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him
Herod couldn't kill Him
Death couldn't handle Him
And the grave couldn't hold Him!
That's my King!"

From a sermon by Dr S M Lockridge

Masterbuilders Conference 2010

2010-04-10T13:16:00.002+01:00

Over the Easter weekend Dihlabeng hosted the 6th annual Masterbuilders Conference. This is a conference for leaders from the churches in our sphere of Newfrontiers - the Eastern Free State, Lesotho and now Dubai. This was the most international conference yet as we also had visitors from the UK and from Zimbabwe.

It was a fantastic weekend. Once again we had the privilege of having the father of Newfrontiers, Terry Virgo and his wife Wendy, come and speak ot us over the conference. We had times of fantastic praise and worship, and some excellent teaching. I was particularly impacted by Thabo's preach about bearing fruit that will last and Colin's preach about following spiritual parents. We also fellowshipped over fantastic food.

This is a big conference for a smallish church like Dihlabeng to host. We had 300 people attending, many of whom then have to be hosted by local families, and all of whom are cooked for for 2 meals a day in our little kitchen. It's quite a logistical achievement, especially when the weekend follows a week of some of the heaviest rain of the year making our marquee unusable for meal times! There were moments in the week before the conference when cars couldn't even get up the road to church as it had turned into a mudslide but thankfully by the weekend it was safe enough to use.

It was great having the Zimbos with us, and as usual they had a great impact. They had come to the conference full of faith that they would never be the same, an attitude that they take everywhere they go. It was so refreshing and such a challenge to many of us.

All in all I can't think of a better way to spend the Easter weekend, celebrating the death and resurrection of our beautiful Saviour, than by spending time in His presence delving a little deeper in the riches He bought for us on the Cross.

Hope restored

2010-03-26T08:09:00.003Z

I have been feeling a bit hopeless and worndown over the last couple of weeks. I started this week very aware that I had begun to shut my heart away from some situations here, thinking in man's wisdom that that was how to protect it. God, thankfully knows better and gave me a week full of hope.

On Tuesdays I work at Silver Hope, a church based craft business that is providing jobs for some otherwise unemployed ladies from the community. We mainly focus on beading and sewing, both work that is straining on the eyes. This week we had a lady visiting from England who had brought with her a whole load of reading glasses of different strengths. It was wonderful to watch the ladies try them on, finding a pair that helped them to see better, then parade around the room showing them off whilst praising God for His provision. Such a simple thing - a pair of cheap reading glasses from Primark, but it's hard to imagine the impact of such a gift on these ladies. In some cases it will literally transform their lives. Apparently Paulina was so blessed by the gift that she shared about it in her cell group this week as a testimony to God's faithfulness.

On Tuesday evenings since January Pula and I have been leading a new christians course for teenagers who have just been saved. This week we were talking about baptism in the Holy Spirit, and we had the privilege of getting to pray for the gift of tongues for them and hear them speaking in their heavenly languages for the first time.

On Wednesday we had a Mapheo leaders meeting. We took turns in sharing stories from the last year of what we've seen God do in the kids and special memories we have with them. It was so encouraging. I think sometimes we end up with compassion fatigue here - we're so constantly surrounded by suffering, the kids lives are seemingly endlessly sad, and you can end up protecting your heart from it by refusing to think about it. But when I look back over the year and remember what God has done, it gives me hope for those situations which I have at times chosen not to dwell on as they're too sad. Some of the memories we shared were:

1. Seeing Malefu (her name means 'mother of death' which I think gives you a clue as to her horrific home life) smile and giggle for the first time.
2. Seeing Lerato (one of the girls I visit) get baptised. Since her baptism Lerato has been transformed. I used to have to insist on her answering me when I said hello to her, now she's waiting for me every Mapheo and church to give me a hug!
3. Seeing our older boys who used to be real trouble makers respond to clear boundaries and love. They're not always well behaved now (they're still kids, and kids from tough homes) but they understand the consequences, and one has even shared with a leader that he understands that we punish bad behaviour because we love him and want to show him the right way to live.
4. Seeing Marietta who's about 11 change from being a worldly would be teenager back into a child. It's as if God has restored to her the innocence which had been taken away at far too young an age.
5. Seeing Sawana respond to love and actually desire physical affection from us.
6. Seeing the whole of the Nkosikulu family saved and added to the church. Their home life has been transformed from drunkeness and abuse to a place where we love to hold our cell group!
7. Seeing little Ben who's probably 2, feel so safe at Mapheo that every session, given half a chance, he falls asleep in our arms. He even asks to go to sleep now! He comes from one of the toughest situations we know, is covered in infections, is always filthy, but has stolen all our hearts.
8. Seeing Lebote go from being quite a shy and introverted little boy to being the first to dance at church often entertaining us with his awesome moves which he performs without realising that he's centre-stage at the front of the church with everyone watching him.
9. Seeing our older boys really know Jesus. Especially seeing Lerato and Sankwela worshipping Him.
10. Seeing Puleng change from a sullen, stropy little girl to this term winning the prize for always being at Mapheo and always being on time. She's now ever ready with a smile and a hug.

And that's just some of the endless stories we could tell of children who we've seen God at work in. I'm so glad that He chooses to use us to show His love and faithfulness.

Yesterday we took the kids who had been at Mapheo nearly every session for their end of term treat. It was great as it was a different group of children to those who normally end up on the trip. There were some of our more difficult kids there so we were encouraged that they love Mapheo even if they don't always show it! We took them up to town to a restaurant for a milkshake and chips. The restaurant also has a play area at the back with a climbing frame and pet rabbits so we all had a good time. The kids particularly loved flinging themselves off the climbing frame at Jeremy who would catch them. Unfortunately Popina who's 3 didn't realise that you had to actually warn Jeremy that you were about to jump and just went for it! Thankfully Jeremy managed to catch him, but only once he was literally inches from the ground!

So this week has definitely been one of hope restored for me. I hope that you are encouraged by reading this that God is always faithful, always working even when we can't see the outward signs, and that He truly does love the poor and downtrodden of this world.

Faithfulness

2010-03-17T16:44:00.001Z

Today at Mapheo we were learning about God's faithfulness. It says it all that in our prayer time, asking the kids what they were asking God for, a little 6 year old without hesitation answered 'food'. What a privileged life I lead.

Silence

2010-03-15T18:50:00.003Z

So sorry for the shockingly long blogging silence! My excuse is that first I had James Allen visit for a week swiftly followed by my parents who took me away for a holiday to Cape Town. I've been back in Clarens for just over a week now so life is getting back to normal.

It was great having James come and see me - another excuse for doing some touristy stuff like Golden Gate. And then my parents came out as it was my 30th (!) birthday. They arrived on the day which was wonderful. I was also suprised with a pancake breakfast with some friends which saved the day as until that point I had just cried my way through the morning! Then my parents spent the weekend here, with Nigel and Cheryl Clark. Dad preached at church which was great, and then on the Monday we flew off to Cape Town. It was such a wonderful birthday present - nearly 2 weeks with my Mum and Dad, touring the Garden Route and then a few days staying with friends in Cape Town. We did all sorts of stuff - the Cape is a brilliant holiday destination.

I still can't believe I'm 30 - it takes some getting used to. I think that and the fact that my visa is coming to an end at the beginning of October (along with my finances) is causing me to start to think through what's next for me. So I'd appreciate your prayers that I hear God's direction clearly.

Lastly for today I want to really commend Hayley Geurts to you. Hayley is my friend and African supporter who lives in the UK. She's married to DJ and has 2 lovely little boys. A few weeks ago Hayley was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then she (and her family) has displayed such an incredible faith and trust in Jesus even when walking through this dark time. Well done DJ and Hayley! You're an inspiration to so many of us - what an example of praising God through the storm. I hope to live with the courage you are showing.

Baptisms

2010-02-07T13:11:00.003Z

This morning we had a baptism service at Dihlabeng. I don't know how many were baptised but I would guess around 30 - 40. Baptism services here are amazing. We erect a pool in the middle of the church and we all sit round it. We have a time of worship which is usually even more vibrant than normal as everyone's so excited about the baptisms. Then we have a short gospel presentation. This morning Ntate Joseph was saved and promptly asked to be baptised! Then the baptisms happen. Those who are being 'dunked' queue up, kids first, and one after another they climb into the pool and are baptised. Meanwhile ladies in the congregation lead different African praise songs and the atmosphere is incredible. Today there were some very elderly people being baptised who bravely left their crutches and walking sticks behind and allowed themselves to be lifted in and out of the pool - not very dignified!

Part of the queue of kids waiting to be baptised

Lerato, one of the Mapheo girls I home visit is baptised

One of the girls from the youth new christians course I'm helping to run is baptised

Culture shock

2010-02-06T09:12:00.004Z

Most of the time living here I just get on with it. It's not that I don't notice cultural differences - they're hard to miss as they're everywhere, it's more that they have ceased to suprise me. But now and then, events happen which send me into a kind of cultural shock. I suddenly realise that I really am here, living in a completely foreign culture that I have only scratched the surface of. It hit me again last night.

Last week at the youth meeting during a response for salvation a young girl started manifesting. I took her into a private room with a friend and we began to chat with her and pray for her. As she had come forward to be saved she had felt like her hands and feet were tied. The Holy Spirit prompted me to delve a little into her church background and we discovered that the only other 'church' she had attended had performed live animal sacrifices and rituals during the meetings. I explained to her that her feelings of captivity were not from Jesus - that He died so that we might have life and freedom. We prayed for her and as we serve a God who is infinitely more powerful than the princes of darkness she was delivered.

Then last night I was walking home from church with a friend. He's a wonderful young Christian guy who is sadly an orphan. He was orphaned sometime ago but last night he told me that his extended family are putting pressure on him to shave his head in response to his fathers death in order to please the ancestors. He was asking my advice on the situation. And what a complex situation it is - especially for me, the english girl, to understand. His number one priority is live for God and to bring glory to Him, but he also realises that sometimes it's ok to compromise on these things in order to preserve relationships with family members who are not yet saved.

It's after dealing with situations like these that I suddenly realise afresh what a foreign culture I'm living in. I know that every culture has good and bad within it and we should always be asking what God's heart on an issue is. We are members of His Kingdom first and foremost. We must be prepared to lay our own cultural expectations down if they hinder our journey in becoming more like Christ.

Water

2010-02-06T07:38:00.004Z

So the water conditions in Clarens have been pretty awful for the last couple of weeks - bathroom water is distinctly brown and drinking water is cloudy for at least a couple of minutes after you pour it! The other day I ran a bath and then promptly let all the water out again as I couldn't face getting in such dirty water. So now I always use bubble bath so that the bubbles obscure the colour! The water here can be dodgy but it normally only lasts a couple of days before the municipality gets it sorted. Here's hoping that they correct the problem soon :-)

Added excitement at Mapheo

2010-02-04T12:01:00.004Z

So yesterday we had a little extra excitement at Mapheo. I put out water play as it was a scorching hot day which got rather out of control and many kids had to half strip as they were so wet!

But even more 'exciting' was the arrival of a snake! Some of the older kids were playing ball games at the back of the hall when they noticed the snake slithering across the stage just behind them. This wasn't a snake that was afraid of us either and it headed straight for the kids! We got the children to stand well back from it - no mean feat as so many of them were bizarrely fascinated by it. Thankfully it decided not to come after us and slunk off. Some of the men who help at Mapheo managed to trap it behind the stage and eventually kill it. We're fairly sure that it was a small spitting cobra - one of the few poisonous snakes in this area. I hope we don't see one in church again!

Water Play

The kids try and get a look at the cornered snake

The thankfully now dead snake

Coming back to Clarens

2010-01-25T14:16:00.002Z

I spent Christmas in a very snowy England. It was so lovely to be home, to see my family, to spend time with precious friends, to eat my mum's home-cooked food, to have all the conveniences that you take for granted in the Western world like decent supermarkets and central heating.

Then nearly a week ago it was time to pack my bags and leave again. No matter how settled I was when I left Clarens, it's always so hard to say goodbye. It's at those moments that I really feel I'm counting the cost of following God's will for my life. When I realised that I hadn't actually said goodbye in person to my Nan or my nephew and niece it was heartbreaking. I'm holding back the tears now as I write. Next time I see Mary, one of my best friends, she'll no longer be a Sloman but a Hairs as she's marrying Dan in May and I can't be there. I missed Tally's wedding last year, I can't believe that now I have to miss another really special day. But that's the sacrifice that I have to make to live here.

I'd like to say that as soon as I was back in Clarens those feelings faded, but actually this time they haven't. Yet. So far I still feel caught between the two worlds that make up my life and not sure which one I prefer to live in. But it's only been a few days and the fact that it's rained incessantly since I got back doesn't help. I know that I'll get back into the swing of things and before I know it time will be flying past as usual.

I have been enjoying seeing all the Mapheo kids again - they were soooooo excited to see us all this week. It's been the long school holidays here, so they haven't had Mapheo for 6 weeks which is a very long time when you're 8. Youth was fantastic on Saturday evening - there was an outreach during the day to encourage people to come as it was the first meeting of 2010. Over 85 young people came, and 30 were saved! We're starting a new Christians course with them next week and will then put them into home cells. Church this week was also great, after the usual vibrant praise and worship the kids church team took over the sermon section with a drama. All the kids stayed in and sat captivated at the front as the drama unfolded. It was a brilliant ploy to show what they do in kids church and ask for more helpers.

Hopefully the rain will let up in the next couple of days so that I can actually do some washing :-)

A roundup of 2009....

2010-01-25T13:50:00.003Z

Well we're already nearly a month into 2010 and I still haven't sat down and written a roundup of 2009, so here goes....

2009 was a year that was full of adventures for me, adventures in cross-cultural mission and adventures in faith. As I look back in some ways I can't believe that I've managed what I've done - it really is a testimony of living by the strength and grace of Christ. Those who know me well, know that I could never in a million years be doing this in my own strength. I'm one of 4 children, and I'm the daughter that my Mum always imagined would stay close to home. But here I am, living 6000 miles away from home, and for the most part loving it!

2009 saw me face some incredibly tough situations both personally and in the work that I'm doing. I went to traditional African funerals complete with ancestral worship, a precious family left without saying goodbye, I have dealt with some awfully sad situations with the children I visit, I've had tick bite fever, the list could go on and on.

Through all the difficult times I've never once been tempted to give up and go home. Sometimes the sacrifice can feel so huge, but serving God in this community is so clearly His plan for my life right now. And He's shaping me so much by being here. I've learnt so much of God's faithfulness this year. His grace truly is enough for every circumstance.

And there have been far more fun times to outweigh the tough ones. I've had amazing times playing with the kids at Mapheo, or just generally in the street; I've had the privilege of being at the wedding of Mathandela and Melittah; I've been on 20s camps African style; I've organised chilli eating competitions with hilarious results; I've had visitors so been able to do some touristy things; I've driven a 2-wheel drive on a mountain that's only supposed to be attempted by a 4x4; I've had endless amounts of people over to my little flat; I've become an honourary aunty to baby Daniel; I've been able to worship African style every Sunday; I've stood really close to a wild giraffe; again the list could go on an on.

So 2009 was an adventure, full of 'character building' experiences! And at the moment I have no idea what plans God has for me in 2010 but I'm sure that the adventure of faith will continue :-)

An African bus story...

2009-12-21T12:30:00.004Z

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...

2009-11-30T12:45:00.004Z

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

2009-11-25T13:47:00.004Z

Need I say more? Yum yum.

PS I'm feeling amazingly so so much better!

Another trip to the doctor

2009-11-23T07:49:00.003Z

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

2009-11-22T11:39:00.002Z

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

2009-11-16T11:51:00.002Z

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

2009-11-13T09:39:00.003Z

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

2009-11-12T07:37:00.003Z

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

2009-11-08T16:29:00.002Z

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

2009-11-08T15:29:00.002Z

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

2009-11-02T15:21:00.002Z

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

2009-10-23T20:24:00.003+01:00

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

2009-10-12T08:07:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-10-11T20:01:00.002+01:00

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

2009-10-10T20:26:00.002+01:00

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.....

2009-10-10T11:55:00.004+01:00

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

2009-10-07T12:41:00.004+01:00

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

2009-09-30T19:10:00.002+01:00

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....

2009-09-29T12:30:00.003+01:00

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.....

2009-09-26T10:45:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-09-23T11:36:00.002+01:00

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

2009-09-18T19:57:00.003+01:00

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

2009-09-15T13:43:00.002+01:00

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....

2009-09-15T13:33:00.002+01:00

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.....

2009-09-08T19:26:00.003+01:00

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....

2009-09-05T13:55:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-09-02T10:32:00.003+01:00

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

2009-08-25T13:01:00.004+01:00

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

2009-08-21T13:27:00.002+01:00

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

2009-08-19T17:10:00.006+01:00

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

2009-08-16T21:13:00.006+01:00

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...

2009-08-16T20:54:00.002+01:00

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.....

2009-05-22T08:08:00.005+01:00

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

2009-05-04T07:41:00.003+01:00

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...

2009-04-26T16:19:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-04-24T12:27:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-19T14:36:00.008+01:00

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.

Sad Stories

2009-04-05T19:39:00.002+01:00

Life here seems so much more dramatic in many ways than in England. People's stories are either wondefully pointing you towards Jesus, or just terribly sad. I guess that's the impact of poverty and disease. It's no longer shocking to have no parents - it's more suprising to meet a child who lives with a mum & a dad. Today I heard a story which I'm really struggling to come to terms with.

There's a little boy in Maseru (the capital city of Lesotho) who the Newfrontiers church there have come into contact with. They then called the doctor who is currently in Clarens from the UK for 6 months as the boy was clearly unwell. Dr Peter discovered that he had a cancerous tumour in his leg. His only hope for survival without supernatural healing was to have his leg amputated. That would be bad enough but sadly the boy's family decided to rely on traditional African medicine rather than take him to the hospital for the operation. They kept waiting for the traditional medicine to work and now they've waited too long - the boy has no hope left. And to top it off, Dr Peter was telling me tonight that this is one of the most painful deaths for anyone to endure. He's just a child and he has to deal with all of this. All because his family placed their faith in a lie.

But tonight we heard that he has become a Christian. He has placed his little life into Jesus' hands. Without God's healing he will die within 4 months, but at least now he will go home to his Saviour.

I know I will never understand God's purposes in this life, but it's so hard to hear these stories, meet these people whose lives are so hopeless. I am so thankful that God has saved this little boy but I can't understand why He has allowed this situation to come about.

At the end of the day I have to trust the God I serve, that He truly does see all things and will work all things together for good for those who love Him. This child loves Him, so this must have some good in it somewhere.

You know you're a Brit living in rural Africa when....

2009-04-04T11:25:00.003+01:00

1. You ask someone if they are 'hobnobbing with the bigwigs?' and they just stare at you.
2. A friend decides to try out an english phrase so tells you he's here playing the drums because he 'got limbered into it' rather than lumbered with it.
3. You go to a city supermarket and lose all self-control at the sight of all the cheese and leave £10 poorer.
4. You go for a local horse trek and see wild zebra and wild black wilderbeast (but return with flea-infested jeans).
5. You get caught in a crazy storm whilst travelling through Lesotho in the open back of a bakkie so have to take shelter in a tiny village 'shop' while watching the lightning strike the valley in front of you.
6. You were travelling through Lesotho sitting in the open back of a bakkie in the first place. By the way, although it's legal to cram as many people as possible in the truck, it is illegal to balance on the side of it. You must be fully within the vehicle. Sound like a theme park?!
7. The policeman at the border post is reluctant to let you back into SA until you converse with him in Sesotho (those lessons have come in very handy!)
8. You are offered a 'snackwhich' and have to ask for an explanation (a toastie to you and me).
9, You give a fellow english friend your only bar of english chocolate for his 30th birthday, and then get very emotional telling his wife about the sacrifice you've made.
10. You slowly but surely lose your pretty good grasp of world events.
11. Eventhough life is challenging in many ways, you are having a whole heap of fun!

Why I love Clarens....

2009-03-21T13:06:00.001Z

Today I went to the bakery to buy some rolls for lunch. The owner didn't have change for my note so just said 'don't worry pay next time'. That soooo wouldn't happen in Hatfield!

Sawana made my week!

2009-03-15T19:00:00.005Z

I've been praying for something to post on here....the last week has been mostly uneventful in terms of good, encouraging things to write. Instead I've been dealing with a very nasty tummy bug, working on conference admin and trying to sort out my car insurance (still not resolved). Oh and I did get to go to a lovely birthday party!

But let me tell you about a little boy called Sawana. My guess is that Sawana is 4 years old. He comes to Mapheo, the project helping vulnerable children, with his sister. His sister, Mafohle takes care of a number of small children. She brings them to Mapheo and to church. Until a few weeks ago Sawana would just play very quietly and solemnly by himself. Then one week we had some new toys - little farm animals. I don't know how but he suddenly opened up. He played with me and Mojalefa (another little one) with the animals all afternoon. Making them walk all over my back. That was the first time I saw him smile and have fun. Since then each week at Mapheo I have tried to play with Sawana for part of the time. He still tends to play on his own, but is ready with his gorgeous smile when you talk to him. This Thursday we got the farm animals out again, and again he loved playing with them. But he never initiated anything until tonight.

At the end of church I was chatting to a friend when who should come running up to me, arms up for a hug? Sawana! I couldn't believe it - he'd actually sought me out and obviously thinks I'm a safe bet for a cuddle now :-) His little face smiling and his giggles as I tickled him have literally made my week. God is so good. It's hard to explain just how emotional I am over this on a blog! This is just one of many stories of the children learning to enjoy playing with us and obviously finding safety at Mapheo. Each person who helps at Mapheo could tell you their own story of children who have opened up to them. It is amazing to watch the kids come alive and just enjoy being children.

Afrika Afrika!

2009-03-06T05:21:00.004Z

Well I'm finally able to update my blog! The internet here is tricky and until now I didn't have enough time online on a stable connection to write anything. But, hurray, I now have my own connection in my new flat!

The last few weeks have been a complete emotional rollercoaster! There have been some amazing highs, but also some rock-bottom lows. I think I'll get those out of the way first.....

My birthday - this will feature on both the low & high list, but inevitably I woke up feeling low. It's never going to be nice waking up on your own on the other side of the world and realise that you're now very nearly 30!

My car - again this will feature on both the low & high list. A friend has very generously lent me the money to buy a car. Second hand cars here are incredibly expensive, but consequently hold their value. One of the elders at church asked if he could choose me a car to try and ensure that I didn't get ripped off. Buying cars here is a mission - there are no MOTs, you very rarely get a service history or find out how many owners etc. Anyway having chosen a car, he then got his usual mechanic to check it over who said that it was in good condition but the front brakes and handbrake needed tweeking. So we agreed that I would buy the car as long as this was sorted out. I picked the car up on my birthday (a Wednesday). For the next few days I felt that the brakes weren't working well so I decided that on the following Monday I would take it back to the garage (which of course is half an hour away in Bethlehem) to get the checked. But on the Sunday the brakes actually failed. A guy from church spent the whole afternoon with my car jacked up on his drive looking at it, and discovered that the one of the back brake pads was completely mis-shapen which had caused all the brake fluid to leak out. He did a temporary fix for me, and I took it to the garage on the Monday to be properly fixed. I left on Monday night feeling good because fixing the back brakes meant that now the hand brake was also working well. However my peace was short-lived. On Tuesday afternoon the clutch cable snapped! So then Steve arranged for the car to be collected by the mechanic. Having said they would come on Wednesday morning, they finally arrived at 4pm so I wasted a whole day waiting at home for them. In the meantime I had also noticed that the car had absolutely no oil in the engine. So in the end I paid for a complete service for my own peace of mind. Then when I finally got my registration documents this week I had trouble getting my new tax disc, so the saga continues.....

My bank card - one of my bank cards has been cloned and used in the UK. In itself it's not a big deal as thankfully the bank spotted it before they spent all my money. But it's just such a hassle trying to sort it out from here. I was told that the money was going to be refunded and that I'd get a new card etc, but now it seems it might not be that straight forward. And of course I can't risk having my bank card and PIN posted here, so I have to wait for my next visitor to get it.

Headaches - I think because I've been feeling stressed about things (car, moving etc) the last couple of weeks I've been battling quite a few headaches. With everything that's been happening I've been feeling at times overwhelmed by the enormity of what I'm doing. Why did I ever think it would be easy for a single english girl to move to Africa & try and buy a car for instance?!

But enough moaning, here are some of the highs:

My birthday - once I'd got through the stress of the morning, and picking up my car (spending 5 hours in Bethlehem waiting for it), I had a fantastic braai (bbq). I'd invited loads of people and we had a great time together. Hopefully there'll be photos on facebook soon.

My car - despite all the hassle, having a car here makes such a difference to life in Clarens. It's wonderful to be able to go and do my food shop whenever I have time rather than rearranging my schedule to fit in with a lift.

My visitors - since last blogging, I have had a number of visitors. I had Dave & Anj, John & Val and Jenny from Hatfield. They spent a week in Clarens, then a week in Maseru before finishing their trip with another couple of nights in Clarens. It was really fun to have them around. Those of you who know them will understand the kind of impression they leave! A particularly stand out moment was Anj playing with the kids at Mapheo - all the leaders were in awe of her ability to draw the little girls into a game with their 'babies'. On their last night we went out for a posh dinner to end their holiday and celebrate my birthday - thanks guys! Then last week I had 2 of my most favourite people in the world here - Tally & Mary. Unfortunately because of wedding dress fittings (it's a long story which I won't go into here) Tally could only stay one night, but Mary stayed on for a couple more. We had a great time together. It was hard to say goodbye, especially since I can't get to Tally's wedding in April to be her bridesmaid so when I see her in July she'll already be Mrs Ottewell.

Cell group in Lesotho - while Mary was here we went along to a cell group in the Lesotho highlands. It was such a truly African experience. I was driving one vehicle while another english guy, Dave, was driving a landrover through. We were taking 2 cars as there are so many people to pick up along the way. Unfortunately when we got to the border, we had just gone past the point of no return on the SA side when the landrover broke down. After trying to sort it we agreed that Mary & I would drive through the border, then straight back again into SA to the point where we had phone reception so that we could call for help. We got through to Lesotho fine, but coming straight back through to SA caused us some issues. The lady at the border post just could not understand what we were doing and was not happy about it. After holding onto my passport for a while, she finally relented. As we were driving through no-man's land back to the SA side we came across the guys who had decided to walk through the border and leave the car behind. So then we had to go straight through the border a second time! Thankfully this time on the Lesotho side, Fusi who is Basotho was with us so he could explain to the border official what we were doing coming back again so soon. By this time we were running over an hour late. We drove through to the normal pick up points to collect people - it was great to see old friends again - then set off on the drive to Mocochello (if anyone from Lesotho is reading I apologise for the spelling!) We hadn't realised how far it would be. I was driving and it was of course all dirt tracks as very few roads are tarmaced in Lesotho. The drive was spectacular. We drove for about an hour into the mountains, up and down passes, through the most lush valleys. We saw a few taxis on the road, but it was mainly donkeys, people, and cattle. In the highlands there are a lot of traditional herd boys still. They wear a particular blanket, and spend their days looking after cattle. It really is another world. When we finally got to the village we had a great time meeting as a cell group. We had a vibrant time of praise and worship, then Dave shared a word about Father God. There's no electricity in these areas, so by the end it was very dark inside the house. We were sitting on upturned bricks as there were no chairs. But the people are so full of joy. It is always a privilege to be able to go to meet with them. As we left a storm was brewing, so the drive home was hectic as we tried to beat it. Driving on those roads in the dark is exhausting, so part way home me and Dave swapped and Me & Mary sat in the open back of the bukkie. I'm now covered in bruises from the bumping but it was fun. We got home just ahead of the storm and managed to push start the landrover at the border. Pete West who owns it had come to meet us and got permission to push it through no-mans land then turn back. It was a classic end to a very African experience!

Moving into my flat - on Monday I moved into my flat so I can finally unpack. I'm still surrounded by stuff as I've barely been here since then, but it's good to know that this is home for at least the next six months. I can stop living out of a suitcase & really put my roots down.

HIV training course - I'm currently studying an HIV course with a small group of people from church & Rehobothe in Lesotho. It's run by the Desmond Tutu trust and once we have completed it we are qualified to test people for HIV. It's been really good discussing stuff as a group. The situation here is getting worse. Infection rates are rising, there are currently no ARVs available in the Free State, and we have just heard that the state counsellors who were working at the small clinic in Clarens are being sent to work in Bethlehem instead. So that means that at the moment if someone attends the clinic for a test no one counsels them before or after, and if they are positive there are no medicines avialable anyway. We are very blessed to have a doctor serving here at the moment so he is helping to train us in how to handle this sort of situation, and how to be an advocate for people to ensure that they get the right treatment. We have been talking about the possibility of turning the church into a clinic a couple of mornings a week or something like that to help the community. Because of the work of People of Hope and Mapheo the church is well respected in the community so this could be a really good opportunity for us.

Well that's a long enough post for now! I will post again soon with details of another of the projects which I'm working with. Thanks for reading!

Dumelang baena!

2009-02-07T10:24:00.000Z

Well the rains finally lifted last Friday morning. I promptly went out visiting with People of Hope, forgetting both hat and suncream & ended up looking like the stereotypical Brit abroad! Very embarrassing. My forehead has only just returned to it's normal colour, and my arms have started peeling.

This week has been good. I've pretty much worked out what I'm going to be doing here. One of my main focuses is going to be working with Mapheo - I'm now the official administrator & will also be helping with home visits. They really needed someone to take on the admin, as at the moment there's no central record of which children are visited each week and how they are. We also want to keep a height & weight chart for each child so that it's easy to spot who's particularly malnourished so that we can help where necessary. Our main obstacle to this at the moment is obtaining dates of birth for the children, as most won't have a birth certificate. We will have to accept an estimate for many.

Mapheo has around 50 children on the books. Children are only allowed to come by invite, to ensure that we are helping the most vulnerable in the community. They also need to be children that the church has contact with generally - either through People of Hope, the School or the actual church services. Each Wednesday and Thursday afternoon they come along to the church. On Wednesday's they have a structured teaching on a life skill & bible teaching. So for instance this week was about looking after your teeth (they all got given a toothbrush and paste for Christmas), and then also a biblical teaching on watching what you say. The children then split into younger and older groups for activities. Then on Thursday's they come and just play. Most of them won't have toys at home, and also don't have any adults playing with them, so it's really important that they have time to just play with us. This Thursday, the children trudged through a true African storm (if you've been to Africa, you'll understand!) to get to church. They arrive soaking wet, many have no shoes, but they are so eager to come that even that awful weather won't keep them away. I spent my time playing with the little ones. We were playing with the dolls. It was so funny to watch them. The girls are so inventive. They put the babies on their backs and marched off to 'Bethlehem' (our nearest shopping town) to do their shopping. They turned little foam dominoes into cell phones which we all chatted through. It was particularly amusing when one of them named a dinosaur teddy 'baby Laura' - Laura is one of the leaders at Mapheo!

Although Mapheo is undoubtedly fun, it's also heartbreaking. This Wednesday I was working with the older ones doing their activity. I was sitting at a table of boys who are around 10 years old. I noticed that one boy was having trouble writing his name on his work. A Sotho helper wrote his name down for him to copy, but he couldn't even manage that. This is a boy of 10 who has been at school for probably 3 or 4 years. He's obviously got left behind at an early stage and the teacher can't be bothered or doesn't have the resources to help him. What hope will he have if that continues?

This Thursday I got soaked walking in the storm to Mapheo, I spent the next 3 hours there freezing cold. But I got a lift home and soaked in a hot bubble bath. The kids who came will have walked back to a home which is a shack or very basic building with no running water let alone a bath. They may not have a change of clothes to put on while the wet ones dry. They may not even have a bed. And there may well have been no dinner for them.

When you dwell on the desperate nature of their situations it can be overwhelming. They have been identified as the most vulnerable children in our community for any of a number of reasons - orphans, extreme poverty, child headed households, abuse, terminal illness, trauma, malnutrition, neglect. All we can do is show them the love Jesus commands us to and try to bring some kind of life education to try to equip them for adulthood. We pray that this will make a difference to their young lives.

The other things I will be focussing on are discipleship - I've been asked to help disciple the FYP girls who are here this year, Silver Hope and People of Hope. I'll write more about them another time.

I've also this week decided on somewhere to live. I'm moving into a little self-contained flat which is being built within the house of a couple from church. It will be ready at the beginning of March. I think it will be really nice. It has a lounge/kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. They are kitting it out for me so that I can just move straight in. It will be good to have the extra space of the lounge (everywhere else I looked at was just one room) as it will make it much easier for having people over, which I've decided is the way forward socially.

I'm refreshing my Sesotho skills. It's been amazing how much I remember. Unfortunately the lady who gave me lessons before is no longer teaching. I would love to find someone to give me some more lessons though. It's so frustrating not being able to communicate beyond niceties or conversations about illnesses. One day this week I came out of my house to find a small child (not unusual in itself - they play in the streets in the township all day) sobbing her heart out. I stopped and played with her a little bit until she cheered up, but I had no way of finding out what the problem was. She may have just been told off, but it could have been something so much worse & I couldn't find out. So I'm determined to get better. Thankfully the ladies at People of Hope basically refuse to speak in English to me so are forcing me to learn new things!

Anyway, ke tlamena ho tsamaya jwale (I must go now), salang hantle (goodbye).

Hello from a somewhat rainy Clarens......

2009-01-29T10:59:00.002Z

I have arrived in Clarens! I had a difficult journey - I had to repack at the airport as I wasn't allowed to take all my luggage, and then the flights - there were 2, one to Dubai, then one to Jo'burg - were inevitably exhausting. I have decided that direct or nearly direct flights are worth the extra money. By the time I arrived in Clarens I hadn't slept for about 36 hours.

I have had a good first few days - there have been low moments though, so I'd appreciate your prayers that I settle quickly. Things here have changed a lot since I was last in Clarens. The general feel of the place is bigger - the supermarket can now actually be called that as it's had a re-vamp, and the place is crawling with tourists. The supermarket in Bethlehem now stocks a small variety of cheese, and if you're willing to pay you can even make fajitas (5GBP for 10 tortilla wraps!).

I've been taking things easy this week - I've spent a day shopping for essentials in Bethlehem like a fan and towels. Then I've spent a day working with a new project which is a small craft business doing jewelry, cards and sewing. I've been to visit the new Mapheo project which is working to provide a level of care and safety for the most vulnerable children in the community. Both of these things I feel may turn out to be projects I commit time to. I'm going to visit in the community with People of Hope tomorrow. I've also been spending some time catching up with old friends.

Something that is clearly different here this time which will take some getting used to is the lack of singles in their twenties. Last time I had a lot of people around to hang out with in the evenings and on weekends. Now it seems I'm the only one of my age group volunteering here. Everyone else is married, so it will just take some time to suss out how to socialise best.

Please pray for my living situation. Where I am is a bit of a 'stop-gap' - it's fine, but I really want my own place. I have a few options but I want to be sure I make the right decision.

Please also pray for the weather - it's rained continually since Monday evening. That's ok if you're living in a brick house and have a car, but makes life difficult for most people here. We'd like some sun!

Last Days

2009-01-21T16:25:00.005Z

Wow I can't believe I only have one more full day at home before I leave! This last week has been full of seeing people in between trying to sort out my packing. Packing, I have discovered, is like revision - anything is preferable! But I can't put it off any longer.

I've had to say a whole load of goodbyes this week which has been draining. In the end last night at cell I announced that I 'wasn't doing goodbyes'. I just couldn't cope with any more. People's support for me has been amazing - even just today two people have taken time out to pop over to see me unexpectedly. I feel really blessed to know that I have everyone behind me as I leave, encouraging me & praying for me.

It's strange - eventhough I've lived in Clarens before & know how wonderful a place it is and am going to live with friends, I still feel nervous. I guess the reality is starting to hit home. Although I have friends there, I haven't actually seen any of them for 18 months. And things at the church will have undoubtedly changed since I was there. I'm excited to see what it will be like this time, but also nervous as it's actually a big unknown.

Just before I left Clarens last time one of the elders of the church had a word for me. He said I was going to encounter a situation in which I would see God's grace in a new way which would in turn cause my faith to rise. I really feel this is the situation - God has been so gracious to me in all my planning and in His provision for this next season. Knowing all that I've walked through in the last 18 months, knowing that He has provided for me financially for this time beyond my expectations does cause my faith to rise. I know without doubt that this is God's will for me.

So eventhough I am tearful, eventhough I know I will miss people and will find it incredibly hard to actually leave on Friday, deeper than those emotions runs my conviction that God will provide all that I need to serve Him in Clarens. He will be my rock and comfort. He is able to protect me from homesickness. He will be walking with me.

A few weeks ago someone prayed out at church about Jesus knowing how we feel in any situation. And I remember that really impacting me as I thought about the cultural shock Jesus endured when He lived on the earth. When I'm frustrated with situations and the constant cry of 'but we're one new man in Christ', I can remember that Jesus understands those frustrations and is walking through them with me.

And then last week at cell we sung this song:

Into Your hands
I commit again
All I am
For You Lord
You hold my world
In the palm of Your hand
And I am Yours
Forever

Jesus I believe in You
Jesus I belong to You
You're the reason that I live
The reason that I sing
With all I am

I'll walk with You
Where ever You go
Through tears and joy
I'll trust in You
And I will live
In all of Your ways
And Your promises forever

I will worship
I will worship You
I will worship
I will worship You

This song sums me up at the moment. I'm moving to the other side of the world because I believe in Jesus. I belong to Him. I'm following Him, whether through tears or joy. This move is my worship to Him.

On a lighter note I thought you'd enjoy seeing where I'm hoping to spend Saturday night eating the most amazing chicken burger in the world with some old friends and maybe listening to some live music.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T19:15:00.002Z

Happy New Year everyone! I have had a wonderful Christmas at home with family & friends. I was totally spoilt with lots of yummy food, lovely presents, gorgeous nephew & niece time and general lazing around.

I can't believe it's 2009, and that in 3 weeks time I will be frantically finishing my packing ready to embark on the next chapter of my life. It still feels a little unreal - I can't comprehend that I'm about to move to the other side of the world. And yet at the same time it feels all too real if you know what I mean.

Today I had to say my first goodbye. I met my good friend Rachel last time I was living in Clarens - she was teaching at the school and lived a couple of doors up from me. She also lives quite near me here so we've managed to see quite a bit of each other since being back in the UK. It's strange to think I won't see her until July now and stranger to think I'll be living in Clarens without her around the corner. I'll miss you Rach!

I was thinking of having a little goodbye gathering to invite friends from all around to but the diary has conspired against me and I just can't fit in hosting people with all the things that other friends have planned & I've committed to. But then again maybe it's easier just to slip away anyway - I don't think I could cope with too many emotional goodbyes.

I have no idea what 2009 holds for me, but I do know that this year is going to be exciting, rewarding, challenging and at times very, very hard. This time next year I know I will look back again on another year of God's grace & favour.

Burdens

2008-11-20T10:31:00.003Z

Over the past few weeks I have been realising again the magnitude of what I'm embarking on. God has been reminding me of His call for me to speak for justice, to love the poor & outcast of society, to share His hope with people whose lives are full of hardship and striving. This is my unescapable destiny for the next season of my life. And I'm excited. But it comes at a cost. I will miss my family and friends here. I will no longer naturally 'fit in'. Living cross-culturally is hard work. I will face situations which devastate & frustrate me. Which push me to what I think are my limits and beyond. I will have to lean on God for strength, as in my own strength I would fail. There will be times when I will sit at the top of the local prayer mountain weeping and crying out to Jesus for people who are dying of AIDS in a tin shack, or children who have no family left. These are the burdens I am carrying.

Here are the lyrics of a song I have on repeat a lot of the time at the moment:

I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But Your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
And I can't let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
With so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
It all can overwhelm me
But when I think of all who've gone before and lived a faithful life
Their courage compels me

And when I'm weary and overwrought
With so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
I see the shepherd Moses in the Paraohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord
And when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the underground railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man's side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come kicking down that door
I see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

(Sara Groves, When the Saints, from the album Tell Me What You Know)

Indeed, when I think of all those who have gone before me, I do take courage from their lives. I know that my God is faithful. I will not shrink away from His call for me, no matter how hard or costly. I know that when I'm weak and overwhelmed, He will fight for me.

Update

2008-11-14T12:40:00.002Z

Well it's been a while since I put an update on here. I've had a productive few weeks. I've booked my flight, so am officially leaving on 23rd January 09. It's a little later than I had hoped for but it saved me about £200 so was worth staying in the UK for a couple of weeks! I've opened a new bank account to use in SA which is good. It's amazing how different all the bank charges are. I've opted for Nationwide as they seem to be the cheapest by a long way. I just hope their exchange rates are competitive.

At the moment I don't have anywhere to live in Clarens. Apparently there's nothing up for rent right now, so I'm praying something will become available in the next month or so. Ideally I'd like a small studio flat in a development called La Rola.

I've been getting really excited recently about going - last weekend I met up with the girls I was in Clarens with last time and we did a lot of reminiscing. It was really fun. I'd forgotten what an absolute adventure it all was!

Visa appointment

2008-10-10T09:01:00.002+01:00

Well my letter from SA arrived, so I called the embassy and made an appointment to submit my application (20 minutes on a £1 per min line!).

I took it in on Wednesday morning and proceeded to have possibly the most stressful, horrible day of my life so far. The short story is that I saw 3 different people, who all told me different things, I spent 2 hours running (literally) between the embassy and a nearby internet cafe getting faxes sent from SA, photocopying extra documents and printing off possible flights. It was quite simply a nightmare! The staff lived upto their reputation of being difficult and rude - one even called me stupid to my face. But after all that they processed my application same day.

So at 3pm I arrived back at the embassy after a lovely lunch with my friend Lindsey. The queue was enormous and the room appeared to be in disarray. I finally reached the front of the queue to be told that my application was successful. I had been told earlier that there might be a problem with my funding so that was a relief. Such a relief that I didn't immediately notice that they'd given it to me for completely the wrong dates! I had asked for it to start on 3rd January 09 - this is what all my documents stated, was the date of the flight I had printed off, the date Dihlabeng Church stated in their fax. However, the visa began immediately. This is not a problem except that it leaves me 3 months short at the other end.

So then I joined another queue to ask for it to be changed. The long and short of it is that it became quite clear that the lady at the desk didn't have a clue, and was just making stuff up on the spot to deal with the large volume of people with incorrect visa's. In the end she offered to keep my passport and look into changing it - but there was no way after a day like that I was leaving my passport with them - I genuinely think I would probably never see it again! So I walked away - at least I have a visa valid for the first 21 months. I'll cross the bridge of the extra 3 months when I get to it.

Visa update

2008-09-26T12:58:00.002+01:00

Just a quick visa progress update - I finally got my medical yesterday. After waiting weeks for the appointment, when I arrived at the surgery I was told that the doctor wasn't in after all! Thankfully a different doctor kindly added me to his list & then happily checked me over, declaring me fit & healthy for my visa application. Hurray! And an added bonus, having been told it could cost me £100 for the xray then £100 for the medical, I've actually paid nothing (if you ignore my tax contributions - and yours!). So now I'm just waiting for a letter to arrive from Clarens stating that I'm going to be volunteering at Dihlabeng Church. As soon as that arrives I will be going to London to put my application in at South Africa House.

I also managed to get my international driving licence at the weekend. It's a pretty strange document - it looks like it's come straight out of WW2!

On Saturday I'm hosting my first of 5 craft fair fundraisers. The last couple of weeks have been a bit manic getting ready for it, but I think I'm there now. All we need is some sunshine so that people can enjoy their cream teas in the garden!

Generous Giving

2008-09-17T15:20:00.002+01:00

The last few weeks have been amazing in terms of God's provision for me. So many people have made generous financial gifts to me - thank you all so much! It has been really encouraging to go from not really knowing what was going to happen, to knowing at least how I'm going to pay rent! People always say 'if it's God's will He'll provide.' It sounds like a cliche but now I'm finding the truth in it.

I have my medical next week, and thanks to some friends have managed to track down the specific forms I need the doctor to fill in & it seems I don't need such an indepth medical after all which is good!

Unfortunately I overlooked a couple of things I need for my visa so am now trying to pull everything together so that I can go straight to South Africa House with my application after I have my medical. The most important thing is that an official letter arrives from Dihlabeng Christian Church stating that I will be volunteering with them. Unsuprisingly the whole visa system would appear a little more complicated than originally anticipated - South African Home Affairs department has quite a reputation for red tape!

Calendar update - 14/100 now sold!

I finally had my xray....

2008-09-04T09:16:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I finally got around to getting my chest xray done. It was actually a pretty painless experience aside from the part where I couldn't suss-out how to put the gown on. First I tried it backwards, then forwards, then backwards, then forwards at which point the radiographer came to get me and said it needed to go backwards so I had to change it again. Those things really should come with instructions!

So now I have to make a doctor's appointment for 2 weeks time to get the results. I have to prove to the SA authorities that I don't have TB. This seems a little weird as SA is pretty rife with TB so one more person arriving with it wouldn't make much of a difference! While I'm at the doctor's getting the results, he's also going to give me a medical for my visa application. This really does scare me a bit. But I have to have it done, or I can't apply for temporary residence, so I'll just have to be brave.

Quick calendar update - 8/100 sold already!

Calendars!

2008-08-18T14:48:00.002+01:00

Well today has been pretty exciting as I finally picked up my calendars from the printers. I designed them a while ago using photos from my time in Clarens. I'm going to sell them to raise money for my move. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out - they look really professional (see above for a couple of page examples). So if anyone's looking for a 2009 wall calendar let me know!

Jersey and Shuttleworth (and then Africa)

2008-08-05T21:08:00.003+01:00

Last week I went to Jersey with old uni friends for our annual holiday. We had such a fab time, and while I was away I got to tell my 'africa story' again. Andy, who's been away for 6 months, hadn't heard it yet. It was so exciting to get to share again how God has planned this for my future & how He has made it so clear to me what my immediate destiny is. Plus trading Africa stories from our times there with Andy and others made it all seem very real again to me. God is good!

But back home I'm struggling to even think about Africa. My nan called me today and through our conversation reminded me of all the things I still have to do.....get my xray (I still haven't visited the hospital), get my medical, apply for my visa, have calendars printed, sort out insurance, buy my flight, sort out a suitable bank account, plan more fundraising etc etc....but at the moment I can't think past the end of August.

August 22-25 we are going to Together@Shuttleworth. This weekend has taken over my life in recent weeks. I'm helping with the organisation of the conference, and I feel like my life is on hold until it's over. But I'm really enjoying the experience of working on something this big & I'm learning a lot of new skills which I'm sure will be useful in the future. So roll on Shuttleworth08 - it's going to be fab! (and afterwards I can get back to planning for Africa....)

Off to Clarens

2008-07-22T18:58:00.004+01:00

So I thought I'd start a blog for anyone who's interested to keep upto date with my move to the sunny Southern Hemisphere. Here are my plans so far...

Sometime in January 2009 I plan to relocate to Clarens, South Africa. I lived in this beautiful village for six months in 2007 which makes it a little less daunting.

Clarens is a tiny village in South Africa on the border of the kingdom of Lesotho. It's on the edge of the Maluti and Drakensburg mountain ranges, and sits at a height of 6207 feet (compared with Ben Nevis at 4409 feet). This is high enough to take a few days to acclimatise to the thinner air. There are around 400 permanent white residents in Clarens, and around 2000 permanent Basotho residents. There are 3 main languages spoken; English, Southern Sesotho and Afrikaans. Clarens is beautiful, and attracts many tourists in high season, mainly from Johannesburg.

I will be working on a voluntary basis for Dihlabeng Christian Church (part of the Newfrontiers family of churches), probably looking at how the church can care for vulnerable children. It is estimated that 1 in 3 of the local population are HIV positive. This obviously has a huge effect, particularly on children.

I have many jobs to do before I can leave, but at the moment I'm focusing on getting my visa application in. This requires a police check, medical report and a TB report. So far I have only got my police clearance. I'm off to the hospital sometime this week to get my x-ray for the TB report taken. Once that's done I can book my medical report.