A day at Mercy Air and thoughts as we prepare to leave South Africa

On our last full day in Africa we were privileged to find our some more about the charity Mercy Air where we are staying .

We had a presentation from the team leader Jeremy who explained how Mercy Air use aeroplanes and helicopters to get people and essential goods to remote places in southern Africa.   We also were shown around the helicopter hangar by one of the pilots,  Joel.

Some of the team with Joel, a helicopter pilot.

On this quieter and less busy day we also had chance to think some more about some significant moments of our time with Hands at Work.  Some of the team have written about their thoughts below...

(Names changed*)

During our time visiting families within the community, we met lots of inspirational people who encounter so many difficulties on a daily basis yet demonstrate great resilience and strength throughout it all. Their faith and belief in God is what helps them get from each day to the next and have hope for positive change to come. One of the families we met that this was evident for, shared a story that touched those who met them:

We met a woman called Zoe*, she is 24 years old and the head of her household. She lives with her 3 siblings (Brodie*, Freya* and Dina*) and her own 2 children (Elliot* and Sadie*). Zoe’s mother left the family and lives in the capital city, hours away from her children and grandchildren. She works, but does not support her children in any way. Her departure was very difficult on the siblings and causes a lot of tension between the sisters especially when the mother returns and causes friction. Zoe really struggles to find the money for food, electricity and basic essentials for her family. Her eldest sibling Brodie, aged 17, tries to generate an income by selling things at the market. However, he is often unsuccessful, which has a huge emotional impact on him and Zoe. Their house was in need of repairs, the roof on the shack that leant against the main building, was leaking and unstable. Exposed electrical wiring lay right underneath the leaking roof which creates a huge hazard. Brodie sleeps alone in this shack, whilst the other 5 all share one small room.

Zoe’s oldest child Elliot visits the care point, he says he loves going because he gets to eat. Zoe has asked the care point for help in the past and they have provided her with essentials such as washing powder.  

Meeting this family was very impactful, the service centre worker helped the sisters (Zoe*, Freya* and Dina*) resolve their conflict and work out a plan to execute chores around the house. Further work with the charity has ensured that this family will receive support with food. This is another example of the benefits the charity and workers have on families within their community.  

It was a privilege to meet this family, they were welcoming, kind and inspiring. 

Aoife

A story I would like to share, was a family who lived quite a distance from the care point in Mafambisa. The family’s situation was really complex and involved a collection of very difficult circumstances, some too sensitive to discuss. We met with Gogo JayJay* and her daughter Dominique*. There were 4 children who also lived within the home, two were Dominique’s children and two belonged to Dominique’s sister. Both Dominique and JayJay tried to get piece work whenever they could, but were often unable to get any. They had no documents and therefore weren’t entitled to any child benefit and so often went without food or had only herbs from the garden to eat. They did own their land, but the house leaked significantly and the family didn’t have a toilet. Both JayJay and Dominique expressed their gratitude at the care provided for the children at the care point. They felt blessed by the fact people care enough to help and were thankful that the children had at least one good meal a day during the week. Both JayJay and Dominique had worries and anxiety about how to provide for each other and the children. Despite their worries and the adversity they faced each day they were full of hope and positive spirit. They welcomed us with beaming smiles and laughed often. They had a great amount of strength and resilience to keep going, they had hope in God that he would provide. They fully trusted in God and his goodness. - 

Kerry  

The care workers strength throughout our time at the care point is truly inspirational. To go through your own difficulties while still caring for other families and children and Gogo’s takes unimaginable strength. Their willingness to open up about their struggles to a group of strangers shows that we may overlook their struggles when we are presented with large groups of young children who go through so much, but at the end of the day so do the care workers and we must listen to their stories because they are equally as important, as they are the backbone to the care point and care for all these children as if they are their own and putting their needs before their own. So when they

told us their struggles it opened our eyes to how important it is that they are backed and cared for.

Lucy  

One service centre worker was called Audres, who to me was a huge father figure to the community we went to. 

Audres & Jesse preparing lunch 

Every time we went there with him, the kiddies faces lit up and they enjoyed a quick game of 'shake shake banana'. 

(A game which the children really enjoyed)

To me he stood out because as a man, he makes a huge impact on the kids lives, because they don’t have m any positive male role models. 

Jesse James Palmer

A new flight crew?

Lucy takes the controls 

Leaving Hands at Work and arriving at Mercy Air

Today was the last day at Hands at Work. We were joined by Jen, Dan, Virginia, Audres and Prag for our final debrief, which was very eye opening. We talked about what was good on the trip and what we found more challenging, and the experiences we faced over the week. 

We also talked about the community that Hands at Work has and how nice it is to be a part of it for just a short time. We than went down to the gift shop to buy souvenirs and say our goodbyes to everyone.

Then we went to a restaurant near White River for lunch before going on the road to Mercy Air.  

We arrived at Mercy Air and were met by Janet, who showed us around our accommodation and we settled in. After a few of us went in the pool or played squash, we enjoyed a meal of pizzas followed by cake and spent the evening chatting and making each other laugh.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in South Africa. We have chance to look around the Mercy Air facilities and  will be given a talk about the work of Mercy Air. 

Jesse

A Day of Appreciation for the Care Workers in Mafambisa

Today was our last day in the community of Mafambisa and our last full day at Hands at Work. At the morning meeting we were thanked for our involvement in the work that had gone on this week and we joined the Hands at Work  Community in a time of worship ...  We sang a beautiful song 'Siyabonga' which means 'thank you' 

It was Care Worker appreciation day at Mafambisa and so we pampered the Care Workers with foot baths and creams, nail painting, bracelet making, pancake making and prayer ministry, we also provided cold drinks and snacks.

 It was so lovely to see the care workers enjoying themselves and allowing us as a team to show them how much they really do and how much they mean to people, as they completely deserve the recognition and the time to relax. Mr Leonard gave them all a Polaroid photo to keep of themselves, they definitely loved those.  

Soon the children began to arrive. Some of the service centre workers ran games that they would usually play, but also allowed us to teach them some of the games we played as young kids in England. 

We taught them head, shoulders, knees and toes, we also taught them Simon says but changed it to Audres says. (Audres is one of the Hands at Work Service Centre team).  There was a lot of confusion at first, but everyone soon became good at it and had lots of fun playing. Today our meal at the care point consisted of pap, bean stew and cabbage, which we ate with the children. Joe was being taught by some of the children how he should eat properly, however, the food was far too hot. When it came time for us to leave some of the children had written us notes to wish us well. Lots of hugs were given and memories made to last a lifetime in the community of Mafambisa. So when we left it was like a weight in your chest, because we loved our time there, but we know that their stories need to be shared with others so awareness of there lives can be shared and brought to light.  

Lucy

A tired but satisfied team of students 

Kruger National Park and Blyde River Canyon

Heidi tells us about our weekend off in Mpumalanga...

On Saturday we woke up at 4am to get ready to leave by 5am. We all got on the minibus and had an hour drive to Kruger National Park, once we got there we went straight in to try to see all the animals. We started out in the park at 6am and straight away we saw a large herd of zebras

 and also a herd of impalas too, within a 10 minute drive we saw many more zebras and impalas and even wildebeests. As we were driving we saw many eagles and different species of birds, later in that hour we saw a small group of about 5 vervet monkeys swinging on the trees right next to the minibus. As we continued to drive we later crossed paths with an elephant the later a family of 4 elephants and many more as we carried on driving.

 We were driving for about another hour and we saw many more elephants, zebras, wildebeests, monkeys and impalas. The minibus suddenly came to a halt as we saw a very small tortoise slowly walking across the road, after it had crossed our path we carried on driving. We saw in the distance a giraffe eating of the trees, but we couldn’t see it very clearly as it was behind many other trees and bushes.  

We had a lunch break where we all got to stretch our legs, have something to eat and look around the gift shop, after the hour long break we got back into the minibus and carried on our safari. We were about 8 hours through our visit and we passed another car saying that had seen a glimpse of a lion, so we followed their car for a bit but unfortunately didn’t see one. We carried on and then saw a large group of impalas running and a wild dog chasing after them, about 5 minutes later we saw a wild dog lying on the side of the road having a rest. As we continued to drive we saw 4 hyenas lying down in the middle of an open grassy area, but then after a few more minutes later we saw a very small baby hyena standing in an opening by itself, but we carried on watching it for a couple of minutes, then it steadily walked into its den which was right next to it. We decided to drive down to the watering hole but on the way down to there we saw in the distance a large group of baboons playing near the water, bouncing around the trees and in and out of the shallow water. We drove all the way to the top of a hill and from there we were able to see the  most of the park from where we were standing, as we got to the watering hole we saw a group of hippopotamus’s half submerged in the water, then on the other side we saw a crocodile floating on the top of the water in the distance. At this time we were about 10 hour through the safari and decided to start heading back, but we were stopped in our tracks as a giraffe stood right in front of our minibus and slowly walked past into the grassland on the opposite side of us.  

But after we saw this we headed back to Hands at Work.

Today we luckily had a lie in as we were very tired from yesterday and woke up at 8am and left at 9. We had a 2 and a half hour drive to our first stop off point at the Blyde River Canyon (the three rondavels) where we saw amazing views despite the fog and rain, there were mini stalls we could go and see to spend some of our money on little gifts for our friends and family.  

We continued on with our journey to our second stop (Bourke’s luck potholes) where we saw many potholes and an amazing waterfall. We were able to see the views from all angles as there were many different levels we could walk up to and bridges we could cross.  

After the sightseeing we had our dinner at Harrie’s pancakes where we had, as you probably already guessed, pancakes!  

Right after we ate we went into the small gift shops next to the diner and got some more gifts, then after this we started our journey back.

Heidi.

'Hands on Deck' and A fourth day in Mafambisa

Today was another good day in South Africa. We kicked off the day with a morning meeting about what is going on with Hands at Work across Africa called 'Hands on Deck'. We found out about the terrible situation taking place in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the civil war that is taking place around the care points there. The children and care workers have had to run for their lives, but Hands at Work have been able to set up a refugee camp for 145 of them, that for now is providing them with some safety. The girls, Lucy, Aoife and Isabelle did a little section on what our Link for Life team has gotten up to so far this week. It was a very good discussion and the rest of the Hands community at the Hub us enjoyed it very much.

We then went to Mafambisa, and once again joined in some African worship songs today all of the girls stayed at the care point to look after the children and young adults arriving after school.

Whereas Jesse, Joe, Kerry and Mr. Leonard walked with Eunice from the Hands at Work service centre and Maria one of the care workers, to meet a woman called Grace* (Name changed*) who has 4 boys; the oldest is 23 and the youngest was 4 but unfortunately she wasn’t in when we arrived at her house. Grace lives in a two room house. Three of her kids sleep in one room with her and the eldest sleeps in his own room which is split into two (half of which is used for the kitchen). Hands at Work had paid the eldest son to build the second room onto the original single room that the whole family shared. They also provided locks for the doors and a long drop toilet in the garden (the family had to use neighbours toilets before this was installed).

We then went back to the care point where we sat down and had some pap and potato stew with shredded cabbage. 

Some of the team were playing with the parachute which the Mothers Union from St Michael's in Penkridge which everyone enjoyed. (Thank you very much MU!) and there was lots of laughing. I got talking to one of the children about football and he knew quiet a lot more than me!

On the whole it was a good day - with the children and the team feeling a bit more relaxed in each other's company.

Jesse

Returning to Mafambisa

Although the team enjoyed their visit to Zwelisha, it was wonderful to be back in Mafambisa surrounded by familiar, friendly faces. We began the day with a relationship group – we split up into 3 groups mixed with care workers, team members and translators and we discussed things that are close to our heart. This was a great opportunity to ensure that everyone is coping well and allows us to bond and pray with each other.  

Later in the day, we split into 3 groups and went on our Holy Home Visits.

Walking to Holy Home Visits 

(Names changed*)

One group went on a long walk to visit a woman named Sara*. Sara is 25 and has 3 children (Katie*, Beth* and Ty*). Sara was very shy and hesitant to answer our questions but opened up towards the end of the visit after encouragement and support from the care worker. We were shocked to learn that the house Sara and her children live in belongs to her boyfriend who is in his forties, and therefore much older than her. She reassured us that he treats her nicely and told us that protection from God makes her happy. Sara is from Mozambique and undocumented, she told us that she was planning on visiting home soon due to the recent passing of a relative. This journey will be potentially very dangerous for her and crossing the border will not be easy – we prayed for her travels to go well. Sara’s youngest child (Ty*) doesn’t currently go to school but she plans on registering him on Monday. Her oldest child Katie arrived home from school part way through the visit, she was very friendly, happy and confident. We could see that Sara’s life has not been easy and we were saddened to hear that she had felt  helpless at a certain point in her life. Katie* and Beth* then joined us on our walk back to the care point.

One of the other groups went on a short walk to a small house with a grandmother and her granddaughter who were both in at the time. The purpose of this visit was to check up on a 15 year old boy who had not come to the care point for a few days. The gogo at the house has 4 children. One of her daughters also has a daughter who were with the gogo when we had arrived. We spoke to the gogo about her grandson and how he was not doing well in school and would be punished there, which may have been adding onto his poor behaviour. We helped look after her granddaughter and after a while we started our walk back to the care point.  

The third group visited another home about 45 minutes walk away from the care point. It was the family of a grandmother, Celia*  with four grandchildren normally with her as well has her daughter Rosa* (in her early 20s) , all of whome attended the care point. There were many parts of their story which were distressing to hear and they were very poor... As we sat together under the shade of a tree, Celia* was picking leaves off some wild plants that she had gathered, in order to make a thin soup  for the evening meal for them all.

Originally from Mozambique, Celia* had come to South Africa following the war in her home country. All of her children and grandchildren were undocumented but, thanks to care workers supported by  Hands at Work, they had been granted access to a local school.

The team were shown their home which was in need of attention, three rooms  one of which had  leaking roof, and another where rain water was seeping through the floor... And they do not have a toilet.  This is the sort of detailed information about a home setting  which can only be found out when care workers visit a home.  These Holy Home Visits  (called Holy because the expectation is that God is present and will help) are vitally important to the work of Hands at Work.

As a result of this visit the care workers and the Hands at Work Service Centre staff can assess the needs of the children and the family and see what can be done to help and support them. Their lack of a toilet will make them a high priority.

Amazingly, despite a host of very serious problems, Celia* and Rosa* were delighted to see us and welcomed us so warmly.  We were able to pray for Celia* and Rosa* before we left.  The visit left us with a lot to think about.

Good fun for Kerry and friends

Once we had all arrived back, we were greeted by about 30 to 40 children with ages ranging from 1 to 16. We all joined in singing songs, dancing, playing games and ate lunch with all the children while we were there at the care point.

Lucy and Heidi helped to serve lunch

lunch was ... rice, chicken  and beetroot

The children queue up to wash hands before food

Washing up anyone?

Aoife and Heidi

---

A day in Zwelisha

Today we were invited so spend the day with the care workers (all of whom are volunteers) and children in Zwelisha. 

Zwelisha is 30 minutes to Mafambisa where we have spent our first two days, and the Zwelisha Care Point is supported by Link for Life Project and by St Anne's Church in Chasetown as well as by other donors.

As we arrived we were met by the care workers and there were introductions for everyone there.  We then joined in their worship session and there was a time of prayer.

You can listen to the simple but beautiful song here ... 

Worship at Zwelisha Care Point 

We had been given some small gifts to pass on to the care workers by members of St Anne's Chasetown and this was a nice job to do. The care workers were delighted .  After this we moved out to do Holy Home Visits.  Izzy and Lucy take up the story from here....

Izzy writes...

Today, along with other team members, I  went on two impactful home visits with the care workers in Zwelisha. The first woman we went to visit shared her story regarding her education. Unfortunately, she didn’t do very well in her last year and now struggles to find work. She has to wait another year to redo her exams and get good results, therefore has little of her own money to support her family and relies on other family members and child support. The house they live in consists of a fair amount of space, however it simply doesn’t shield them from the overbearing worry of money. When asked what she would want us to pray about she requested that we all hold the hope of her siblings doing well in school and that they go onto get good jobs, hopefully fulfilling their aspirations. Her own aspirations were  to be a teacher, once she had been able to gain qualifications.  

The second people we visited had a mother and children living in the home. We talked with the mother about her struggles revolving around housing. She is currently working on a house to move into, as soon she will be moved by the owners of their current residence and will simply have to walk around trying to locate another home if she is unable to find one sooner. Her daughter also later arrived during the visit and we discovered she was pregnant, this came as a shock to all of the team members, when we were informed she was just 16 years old and pregnant with the child of a 26 year old man. She had hopes to have her child and then continue education and eventually become a baker, it was very encouraging to hear her aspirations, however still hard to consider a teen pregnancy involving a much older individual.

Lucy writes...

I was with the other team, and we visited a home with 5 children, a mother and a Gogo (grandmother). There were a number of difficulties this family faced including not being legally documented. Upon arrival at the house, the young children very quickly warmed to us. Having visitors seemed to bring them out of their shells. We prayed for the family for the possibility of getting documentation, for the mother who needed to get some results from medical tests at the clinic ....so we prayed she would be able to get them and also for her older sister who has difficulties with communication. 

Lucy and Heidi waking back to Care Point with two new friends

When we left the home the young children came back to the care point with us. The two young girls loved to swing and run, the smile this brought to their faces was so meaningful. One of the boys loved to run ahead and jump out at us as he thought it was hilarious. Our care worker told us about two cousins to this family ...two children who live with another Gogo, but they have illnesses meaning they need daily medication however because Gogo needs to find work, it is up to care worker Julia to make sure the medication is given, each day before school. This kind of caring hard work is not easy for any person to do so it is important for us to share these stories.  

Izzy and Lucy

Heidi chats with another new friend at the Care Point 

Parachut games were good fun

Songs and prayers before food

Heidi and Izzy helped to serve the lunch ...pap with beans and beetroot (v tasty)

At the care point some of the children also have chance to do their homework 

It was hard to say goodbye... But it was a day spent well for us and we hope it was also as enriching for the children and their remarkable care workers .

A second day in Mafambisa...

Our day started with ...

Worship at Mafambisa Care Point (the song is 'wa hamba nati' which means 'He walks with us'

Jesse and Lucy  take over the story and write about our second day in Mafambisa...

Aoife and Heidi helped with veg prep

Mr Leonard shows that Biology teachers can stir the pap (thick maize meal porridge)

Jesse writes...

(Names changed*)

Today I went on a holy home visit into the community and we met the most inspiring people ever. If you would, I would like to tell you the story of Kathrin*. Kathrin was only 15 when she moved to the community from Mozambique. She found a nice bit of land and settled down at the age of 18, when she found out she was pregnant with a boy named Johnathan*. She then started to allow other kids, who need the help of someone, to move in with her and now there are 5 of them all together - 4 of them live in one room and another a boy named Blessing* who lived next door to them in a shack. Whilst we were there we found out that there was a girl called Precious* who didn’t help at all in the house, or go to school, and when she did go to school she didn’t want to learn. Than we got told that Kathrin’s house had a really bad problem with leaks and it would cost her a lot to fix it. Kathrin also got talking to us about Blessing and later in the day I found him at the care point. I said hello he was very polite and spoke fluent English. He told me that he didn’t want to waste this opportunity that he has and wants to do well in school so he tries hard. He tells me that he keeps getting told about all the jobs he can get such as being a pilot and being a business man. Thank you for reading Kathrin and Blessing’s story.-Jesse

Walking to a Holy Home Visit on a very hot day

Lucy writes...

I also went on a holy home visit today to visit a lady named Sally*, who came over from Mozambique in 2007. She told us how grateful she is for the rain they have had recently as it means they do not need to go down to the nearby river to collect water. As a part time worker, (she and her husband have no documentation), she only earns about 100 rand (about £5) a day and only works when the weather permits it - usually only a few times a week. Her water costs 25 rand (£1.25) making this a large chunk of her wage; this buys a 25 litre barrel of water that will last about a week and is only drinking water – any other water must come from the river. She has 5 children that she looks after named, Theo*, Thomas*, Sophie*, Joe* and Amelia*. The twins Theo and Thomas both have the legal documentation they need, but the others need to work out what they need to be able to get the right documentation. Because of this Joe, who dreams of being a teacher, could not pass his grade in school last year due to no documentation and not having the right access to help him to pass his grade. He feels he can no longer follow his dream of being a teacher, so we prayed that one day an opportunity will open up for him to pursue his dream and that he can get his documentation to apply to college.-Lucy  

Back at the care point children began to arrive. We began to play catch with them by throwing a football around under the shelter, this brought lots of big smiles to all our faces. Before eating the children prayed by singing. Some of us helped to serve the pap, stew and cooked cabbage to all of the children before trying it ourselves. After eating we played lots of fun games with the children and some of the care-workers got involved and helped to lead the games.

Children wash their hands before food is served...

Lunch today was a delicious mixture of  pap, stew and cabbage ... And we all had a share

Lucy, Aoife and Jesse helping with serving

Kerry and Tony receive a lesson in leaf weaving

Some team games... Which we all enjoyed 

Jesse and Lucy

Our first day in Mafambisa

Day 2 - Aoife and Heidi

Hello

Today we are writing about our first full day here in South Africa and some of the incredible people we encountered. 

At the start of the day we joined with others at the Hands at Work Hub for a meeting and worship time ... You can listen to a little bit of the African style  worship here

We travelled about 40 minutes on some pretty bumpy roads to get to Mafambisa. As well as buying some food basics for the care point at a supermarket, we stopped at the roadside for some better value offers which Audrey and Eunice (our hosts from Hands at Work today) sorted out... (See below)

 When we first arrived at the care point, we were introduced to the care workers and heard briefly how they came to be in a position of care for the young people. Later, we split into two groups and went on separate Holy Home Visits to members of the community who are familiar to the care point. Their stories were difficult to hear but the resilience and strength of these people was inspiring.  

(No real names have been used*)  

One of the groups split off on a 45 minute walk to a small house which is home to 8 people. We spoke to a lady and her daughter about how they live and what they do to help themselves and their family through these difficult conditions. The words they spoke to us about their background and everyday life touched us all, it was hard knowing that people have to face these situations everyday. The Gogo (grandmother) of the family had eight children but unfortunately one had passed away.  One of her daughters lived with Gogo, with her 4 year old son. She shared her life stories with us and why she moved over to Mafambisa; she came to live with Gogo because she needed to get away from an abusive relationship. But Gogo and her daughter were able to greet us and wave us goodbye with a welcoming smile and handshake. The daughter of Gogo did not have a job and her son was not able to get to the care point everyday, so Eunice from Hands at Work suggested the daughter should become one of the care workers at the care point so she is able to bring her son with her everyday that he goes there. The care workers are all volunteers and do not get paid for what they do to help these children, but this also shows how much they care about peoples lives, especially young children, and show that they go out of their own time to help these children everyday.

The other group left the care point with the intention of visiting a Grandmother who had recently come to the care point and behaved somewhat aggressively, with the intention of diffusing the situation. Unfortunately, she was wasn’t there so we walked further on to visit a Gogo who cares for 11 grandchildren. Most of Gogo’s children have unfortunately passed away, therefore she has taken in the children they sadly have left behind. When we arrived, we learned that Gogo was camping and working at a farm, so we did not get to meet this incredible woman. However, we did meet her Grandson, Ben*, who spoke about what an incredible grandmother she is. Ben’s mother died when he was a baby and much to his dismay, he does not have a relationship with his father, because his father left the family to start a new family with someone else. Ben spoke about how much he adored the care point and we saw, for the first time, the amazing impact that the care workers have on the children. As a school pupil, he spoke about his ambitions for when he left school to become an actor. Gogo’s mother also lives in the house and is caring for her great-grandchildren whilst Gogo is providing for them and also her brother, who is living in the house and who is struggling with medical issues as well as an injury. Ben spoke very good English and it was a pleasure to be able to communicate with him and learn his story.  

Heidi and Aoife

Walking to a Holy Home Visit

Joe stirs the semp (maize porridge) which is cooking, with perhaps the biggest spoon in the world.