Hands at Work Stories that will stay with us...

Here are some of the stories that have stuck with us over the past week:

Libby’s Story:

There is a story that really impacted me on my last day at Mafambisa. When playing the parachute games with the children on the Kids day at Mafambisa, I saw a little boy around the age of 1 standing on the edge of the circle, not joining in with the game. I went over and tried to talk to him, he came across as very shy and isolated. I picked him up so he could see what was going on with the parachute. I took him with Me and Liz to set up the finger paints, whilst doing this I put him on a chair, he didn’t move until I had finished. Once again, I picked him up and sat down on the chair with him. Within the space of fifteen minutes he was fast asleep in my arms, I took him inside the church and lay him down on a mat to sleep whilst I helped the children with finger paints.

One of the Hands people that had come with us, Dan, told me about him and his story. Elton* is 18 months old, his Mum left him just before he turned one to go to Johannesburg to work and live with another man. She only comes back for one day a year, around Christmas to see her children and say hello. That is all. He lives with his eighteen year old sister and her two children without anyone else to care for them, they have no other family they are in touch with.

Dan, however, is there for them. He visits their house once or twice a week to make sure they are okay and are still safe. This gives Elton hope for his later life. Without Hands at Work and all their supporters, Dan wouldn’t be there to keep them safe.

That is Elton’s* story.

Millie’s story:

Obviously, over this past week of community visits I have faced a lot of emotional challenges, however something that especially impacted me was the story of Victoria*. She is a mother of four, who lives in a house that lacks security and has lots of problems, such as leaking roofs and cracked, broken windows. Since theft is prominent in her area, she and her family are at risk of getting broken into and robbed. However, she can’t afford to fix these problems herself, despite the inconvenience and danger they put her family in.

These living conditions are polar opposite to the ones that I have grown up with, and I sincerely hope that she and her family remain safe at home. For me, home is one of the places I feel safest. I cannot imagine the idea of living somewhere that lacked basic security essentials, such as a door that locks.

Luckily, the Hands at Work team are aware of this problem and plan to provide Vicky with what she needs to ensure she and her family are safe at home. 

Georgia’s story: 

A few days ago when we did the children's day I met a girl called Teresa* she was a lovely girl she spoke really good English. Whilst we were there me and Teresa* made two paintings for each other. I did a painting of me and her with lovely messages and I did a painting with a flower on it with our names on it, she did a picture of me and her, she put things like "I love you Georgia," "good bye everyone." She also put "love you so much my friend good bye Georgia.” When at the end we had to say good bye I played one last game of catch, gave her a massive hug and finally I got on the bus. I really didn’t want to leave but I was happy I left with some good memories and she knows there is someone that cares about her. 

Amelia’s story: 

When it was community prayer on Friday we prayed with the care workers and care givers, then we did home visits. I met this lovely lady called Gogo Sierra*. She was so kind and welcoming. We needed Harmony* translating for us that day. She had told us about her pain and suffering. A part of the story got me when she started getting upset, she told us about when she lost her husband around two years ago. The family had blamed her for his death and had kicked her out from the house along with their kids. She was left stranded, nobody to turn to in her hour of need. After a few weeks, she went to collect his pension that was split between his ex-wife, current girlfriend and herself. After trying to get her life back on track, she was hit by another emotional obstacle, her daughter had been murdered. This, along with the grief of her husband passing, had caused her to go back off track for the second time. She had lost faith from the suffering and the pain, but Hand’s at Work had helped her back on the path of God. She was left with more questions, but God, and the frequent prayer meetings, had helped her find the answers that she was looking for. 

She started attending the care point, along with her grandchildren. She is now doing well and has a long, tough journey, but has stayed strong through it all. She now looks after three of her grandkids and her other daughter is staying with her, plus her two kids. Some of the children had been failing due to their loss, but she was determined to get them back on track so that they have a great life. She aspires to go back to school and get her old job as a teacher. She had said that the Maranatha workshops, that Hands at Work run, helped her overcome her grief and become the strong woman she is today. 

*Names have been changed. The views expressed in this blog post are those of the contributors and not Link for Life project or Hands at Work in Africa.

Kruger National Park - 26 Feb

Giraffes!

Today (Monday 26th Feb)  was an amazing experience, but had started a little too early for our liking. Our day started around 4.45am, which was when we left for Kruger. We had left so early, to make sure we got to the park early and could get through security by sunrise. The first twenty minutes of searching for animals proved unsuccessful, however soon after Libby spotted some monkeys and baboons, getting us all very excited. Soon, she picked up the nickname of Hawk Eyes due to her excellent animal spotting, even when they were camouflaged. There were lots of false alarms (the lions we saw turned out to be piles of sand) but we soon saw more animals, including many impala, some really large elephants, zebra and vervet monkeys.

Sleeping Lioness!

We stopped for a snack and toilet break around mid-morning, which helped us feel more refreshed from the early start. Once we were back on the sandy roads of Kruger, we kept our eyes peeled for any sign of wildlife, big or small. After another few hours, we stopped off for lunch and a shopping break. The food was very much needed to keep us energised (although Millie had already got through several naps during the morning). Libby and Millie ate their chips in the company of many monkeys, who were very brave and were swinging around all over the picnic benches. One particularly cheeky monkey stole a women’s sandwich and began to eat it!

Rhino

After a brief shopping spree, we headed back onto the track, meeting a very large elephant who followed us down the road! From a bridge, we saw some hippopotamuses and crocodiles, as well as some rhinos, waterbucks, warthog and wildebeest in the distance. We were also lucky enough to see a lounging lioness, as she lazed on the grass next to the road. We were beginning to get disheartened about spotting a giraffe, and it wasn’t until the very end of our day that Georgia spotted a group of giraffes, both young and old which were too busy chomping leaves to take much notice of us. Also, we spent a bit of time at Lake Panic, where we had to be silent for the beautiful birds around us (however the hippos didn’t seem to stay quiet for very long, before bellowing away). We also spotted some wild dogs and then a family of hyenas. Despite the adult hyenas looking absolutely terrifying, the cubs were adorable and were fighting with each other.

Hyena !

Overall, it was an exhausting yet fantastic day which really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Yesterday was a more relaxed day to end the week nicely. Although it was nice to enjoy some down time, it was a good chance to reflect on the stories from the past week. We went to a local shopoing area called  Casterbridge for some food (and a chance to spend some more of our money!) Once we had arrived, we sat down at the Magnolia Cafe, unexpectedly Paul and Cathy Middleton  (from Mercy Air where we will be staying on Tuesday)  were there too so it gave the students a chance to introduce themselves. Here we had a delicious lunch and then had a chance to do some Sunday shopping.

A children's treat day in Mafambisa

Today was our last day in Mafambisa. It was truly dedicated to the kids and making them all feel very loved and cared for. To start with, there were only about six kids so we threw a ball across a circle. When more of the children came we turned the game into volley ball. When the children got tired of this, we moved on to some parachute games like fruit salad. After that, we played more games with the children : follow me, duck duck goose and river dam. They all enjoyed this, especially because they laughed at us because we couldn’t speak Siswati.

Libby, Liz, Val and Rachel set up some finger painting for the younger children, they drew hearts and wrote their names. This allowed the children to communicate with us by expressing themselves through their masterpieces, despite the language barrier. Later on, we got the bubbles out and all the children loved blowing them and trying to pop them. Rachel then shared a Bible story through a game and then all the children recited the Lord’s prayer before running over to receive their sandwiches we had made for them the previous night. 

Soon after we had all finished eating, it was nearly time to say our goodbyes, so we all took photos and Millie had a very long hug with Lala (she didn’t want to let go). Mr Leonard had a polaroid, and all the children were very keen to have a photo taken together, and they all wanted to take a photo home with them. After another few minutes, Mr Leonard practically had to drag the students away from the children, as they had all grown attached to them. Once everyone was on the minibus, we set off, some of us getting very emotional as we waved the children goodbye. We had five minutes of quiet and reflective time, which was much needed. 

 

Finally we arrived back at the Hub, and had a debrief with Jen, who hosted our team. We each shared our worst and best moments from out trip so far, although the highlights outnumbered the negatives! We also discussed how we were planning on acting as advocates when we arrived home, and which stories had impacted us the most.   

Georgia & Millie

*Names have been changed. The views expressed in this blog post are those of the contributors and not Link for Life project or Hands at Work in Africa.

Encouragement and Prayer in Share - and a thank you to Audrey!

Today we visited Share and did community prayer with the care-workers, care-givers and the Hands at Work volunteers. We sang a number of songs which had included a favourite of ours which was 'On your marks, get set, we are ready for Jerusalem’ along with two other South African songs. Then Dan, a regional support team volunteer, was talking about the story of Moses and the encouraging message behind it. We had two members who had helped in telling the story. One who translated what Dan said into Tsonga and and Morgan who drew representations of the text. 

After the community prayer, we all went on separate home visits and were all emotionally effected by the things we heard and the stories of suffering that were told. 

So after the home visits we went back to the care point and played with the children. We later said our last goodbyes as we would not be returning to Share whilst we were in South Africa. We were sad that we left the children, care workers and care givers but we were happy because we gave support and were leaving with lots cherished memories. 

This paragraph is about Audrey, she used to be a care worker in Cork and now she is a volunteer for hands at work and she helps all the communities around the area. Throughout the trip she has helped us on most of our journeys by translating and teaching us the languages before we arrive. She has also been there for and made us laugh. She tells us about the peoples' lives and their struggles. We were amazed how she knew all of the children personally and had so much background knowledge on the kids and the care workers which had helped us a lot with trying to understand peoples lives and struggles as best we can. 

Georgia

Care Workers Appreciation Day - Share - Thursday 22 Fe

Millie’s Story:

This morning, we travelled to Share from our temporary accommodation at Wits, with Morgan and Audrey. The girls went to the storage room with a care-worker to get some food, while the adults began to cut the butternut squash for our shared lunch. The group continued to prepare vegetables before entering the care-point building for a worship session, where we praised the Lord and sung and danced to songs. Once the worship was over, Audrey asked each caregiver how they were and how their children were, really showing them that people cared about their welfare. Afterwards, we set up stations for careworker appreciation day, including hand massages, nail painting, feet washing and making bracelets depicting Jesus’ life and ministry. Following that, we ate our Pap which was served with potato, butternut squash and soup. Soon, the children had arrived home from school so we tried to become acquainted with them, although our terrible attempt at speaking in Tsonga didn’t prove very successful!


When we had finished talking to the children, we served them their pap. When everyone had finished eating we played a type of bulldog, the children really enjoyed it and so did the care-workers and caregivers. We then played with some of the children and they did our hair.



Libby’s Story:

I helped in the careworker appreciation day by helping Val with the hand washing of the ladies, they really enjoyed the hand cream massage at the end of the ‘routine’. I was really glad we got to take part in this day as it encourages the careworkers to keep going at all he amazing work they do even though they have their own struggles.

When playing the bulldog game, one of the girls called Catherine* hurt her knee, I took her inside to Promotion. She then sat on my knee whilst the others finished playing the game. When I was told that I could walk home with some of the children I really hoped I could walk Catherine* home, luckily I could! Me and Rachel took Catherine* and her sister home, her grandmother Rebecca* greeted us at the door, she introduced herself and thanked us for taking care of Catherine*.

Later that evening, during the de-brief, I found out that Catherine’s* mother had been found dead in her house. Unfortunately, this was only a year ago. Shortly after her mother had passed, her father left Catherine* and her younger siblings alone. He did not inform them that he was leaving. This left Rebecca* to look after her three grandchildren. Catherine* has still not fully got over her mother’s sudden death and has also not forgiven her father. She does not know whether he is still living or where he even is. This made me very unhappy when Audrey told me as I just can’t understand why her father would want to leave behind three other children and not support them through the death of their mother.

Today was filled with amazing memories, amazing people and amazing activities. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this day.



Amelia’s Story:

Today was the care-worker appreciation day, as you already know there were four activities and I participated and helped in making bracelets that represented the life of Jesus. It was entertaining but took a lot of patience with the small beads. All of the ladies seemed to enjoy that and I hoped that they had a nice time. after that we got our meals and I was extremely excited because I think the meal is different but very flavoursome. After that we carried on helping with the activities until the children started to arrive. When they started to arrive we all sat down on a slope and some of the girls and boys started to plait our hair. We all parted ways and I sat with Millie on the grass and we chatted whilst she had the loveliest little boy on her lap that was smiling and laughing all of the time. What really made my day was a little girl who came over to me and plaited my hair and chatted with me, she nearly fell asleep in my arms until one of her friends came over and sat on both of our laps. They kept taking turns on sitting with me until they both found a seat. She stayed with me for the remainder of my stay at Share and after she ate and played with me, Millie, Libby and Georgia and 3 other children, she was ready to go home. Georgia, Liz and I all walked her home and what bothered me was that there was lots and lots of glass on the floor and she had no shoes on. This definitely got to me and made me appreciate all that I have and that they appreciate what they’ve got. We walked her home and she was welcomed by her family and they were polite and she waved us off and smiled at us, as she had throughout the day. I had a spectacular day that was filled with memories that I will never forget.



Georgia’s Story:

Something that had an impact on me was how the children walked around barefoot, despite the shattered glass and rubbish littering the floor. Compared to the life of luxury that I’m used to it was shocking  and deeply upsetting to think that some people lack even basic essentials.

During the careworker appreciation day, I helped wash the feet of some of the ladies, which was very important as it links back to Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper, I felt honoured to be able to give something back to the people that had dedicated their lives to making others happier and safer.

Later, the children ate their food while they socialised, they seemed to enjoy their Pap. Afterwards, we played some games with the children, including Ring-a-ring-of-roses, the hokey-cokey and  an attempt at the macerana. It was heartwarming to see the children so joyful and grateful as we played with them.






*Names have been changed. The views expressed in this blog post are those of the contributors and not Link for Life project or Hands at Work in Africa