On Thursday 16th August some of the team went with Cathy Middleton from Mercy Air to a weekly primary care clinic in a nearby informal settlement called Msholozi. The clinic was staffed by a team.of nurses from Africa School of Missions Amd it as very busy
The link for life team members were asked to play with the children as they were waiting to see the medical staff. We had some basic toys, building blocks and some paper and crayons. We were soon on a large mat on the.floor playing with children who were hapoy to join in with anything we offered them.
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| One of the streets in Msholozi |
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| The ASM clinic in Msholozi |
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| Space to play |
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| Showing off some careful colouring |
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| Things start to get busy |
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| Ready for our flight home |
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| All aboard! |
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| One of the streets in Msholozi |
There must have been about 80 patients waiting to see one of the nurses. Moat of the folk who live in Msholozi are migrants who have come from Mozambique or Swaziland Swaziland or are South African citizens but do not have the papers to prove it. This means that health care agencies hesitate to take them.on, or charge a lot for a consultation. The Africa School of Missions treats their patients for free or a minimal 10 Rand (=50p) fee.
The Link for Life Team stayed for the morning session and then returned to the Mercy Air Base to allow time to pack and prepare for the Journey home.
In the evening we shared our final evening meal together which was a BBQ ( or Braii as it is called in South Africa). We each wrote a letter to ourselves, or things that we wanted to remind ourselves about when we return home. Rose will keep the letters and post them to us in a couple of months.
After breakfast on Friday 17th we shared a final prayer together and a team photo before Andy, Becky, Pauline, Elisha, Molly and Tina got into the mini bus for the journey to Johannesburg and a flight home. Rose, Richard, Andrew and Sam are staying on for a further week
Our thanks go to all who have helped, given, prayed or followed in the run up to this visit. We hope that in some small way you will feel that you have been part of Link for Life and the partnerships we are trying to develop with people in such great need. Our thank also, of course, go to God, for all the mercy and kindness we have received and the people we have been privileged to meet. However challenging this visit has been for us as a.teqm.and as individuals, it is nothing compared to the daily struggles which are faced by some of the people we have met. For them we must make sure that our link with them really is a link for life.
