I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last updated you lovely people. The first and most important thing to tell you is that he sun is back! Yes, I feel again like I’m in Africa!
On saturday we went for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful. There’s a big waterfall and an eagles’ nest, plus lots of wild tortoises! Mondays are becoming my weekly workout at the soup kitchen, as we help carry the huge pots of soup, crates of bread, apples, bananas and oranges! On average we serve around 90 men so it takes a while!
Today has been awesome! This morning I lead my second spirituality session with the skills for life students. It was on trust. We looked at Genisis 12, the call of Abraam, and psalm 91. I had such a lovely morning with the students. They are so amazing and I really enjoy their company. This afternoon we lead team prayer, which we were asked to do last night! We looked at 1 Corrinthians 13 about love and related it to our ow lives and experiences with Oasis.
Hospice tomorrow. Praise God that Mary, the lady who was so ill last week, seemed much better when some of the team visited on Monday. Hopefully she will be ok tomorrow as well.
I’ve been here in South Africa for over 5 weeks now, and, although I have been shocked at some things, it’s only been in the last 2 days that I have been really shocked. HIV is a big problem here, with around 1 in every 4 people having the virus. HIV attacks the body’s white blood cells, which defend your immune system. It slowly turns them from good cells into more copies of itself which means you can’t fight against it. People become so weak they can’t even stand, or eat. When they are this weak, they can’t fight off infections so often they have other illnesses as well, like TB. It is usually these other infections which eventually kill them.
I’ve worked in a hospice for people with varying stages of HIv. Some are lucky enough to go home again. But all are in the hospice because they’re families don’t want to look after them, or they have no where else to go. This morning, one of the ladies I get on well with was so ill. She was shivering and, having been awake for about an hour, went back to bed. The nurses had to help her to stand and carried her back to bed. It was heartbreaking to watch.
Yesterday morning, in the skills for life project, we were talking about HIv. The students are all around 18 to 20 years old and most of them said they wouldn’t go for an HIV test. This shocked me so much. I can totally understand why they wouldn’t go, it would be the scariest thing to do find out, because there’s no cure for HIV. I just realised that if I lived here, they would probably be my friends and if they had HIV I would be so upset!
It also makes me so angry to think that places that should offer mos support to people with HIV are he first to discriminate. Churches, for example, won’t necessarily allow you to continue to be a member of their cngregation if you are infected with the virus. and if the leader of the church, or vicar was o contract HIV, they would probably be asked to leave. How is this our way of showing compassion? Which people did Jesus make a point of loving? Surely we should love these people as Jesus would do, instead of judging them and throwing them out of society!
Thank you, God, for organisations like Oasis, who work with these people! The rest of the world could learn so much from their hope and optimism!
I’m sure a big cheer would go up in any school in England at the next sentence I will write. Kids here just don’t get any homework! We run a homework club on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and for the last 2 weeks, there have been no kids, or no homework! The term finishes on December 5 but still, don’t the teachers want to keep the students busy with spelling, reading, maths, science, english or history? Well it appears not! So thank you to the lack of homeowrk because it means I can write now!
Skills for life was lots of fun this morning. My spirituality session went well and the students enjoyed it which is great! Really looking forward to the drama club tomorrow as well!
I don’t really have anything else useful to write at the moment, accept to say a huge thank you to Ewan in 6C for his comment! Hope you are ok and enjoying school! I’ll try and write something more interesting soon!
I’m sure you will be pleased to know that this weekend has been very cold and rainy! Yesterday I even had to resort to wearing a jumper! Yes, a propper long sleeved jumper, in Africa? What’s going on!!
Sorry I haven’t posted for a few days. Thursday was the soup kitchen, whic, as usual, was really good fun! In the afternoon we did sports club and I helped the kids doing drama. I managed to get them all to understand and act out how they would feel to be homeless. Felt such a sense of achievement. I’m working closely with one of the skills for life students who is fantastic at running the group.
On Friday morning I fulfilled my life’s ambition and dressed up as a caterpillar in front of a bunch of school children! It was lots of fun though because we were teaching the children that they are wonderful, even if they don’t think so. The caterpillar changes into a beautiful butterfly at the end of the story!
Yesterday we went to church with a lovely english couple who are visiting for 3 weeks. They are taking 7 months to travel round the world! We went to a really nice african craft market with loads of amazing things! I really want some big furry giraffe slippers! Does anyone want anything specific. There’s lots of beautiful african paintingd but not sure on anyone’s colours in their houses or anything!
This morning we started our new timetable so I was back at the soup kitchen. My early start is now on a Thursday instead! We got an invite for free accommodation and family entertainment for New Year in Swaziland, which is where we will be on our holiday so very excited!
It’s amazing how much I can see God working here. There’s so many situations and lives he is touching and making so much better. It’s amazing!
I hope all is good where you are and you are doing lots of amazing things. Let me know about how things are going! I’m thinking of you all and praying for everyone in England [and if you're not in England I'm praying for you too!] Thanks so much for all your prayers for the team here. God is certainly looking after us! Lots of love!
Hey and welcome to bonfire night! have a sparkler for me!
Wow the last couple of days, have, as ever, been crazily busy! Yesterday was Hattie’s birthday and we had an awesome day with a party in the evening! Pre school was amazing and the kids were so lovely. I decided it would be a good idea to sit kids on my lap then bounce them around. Very good for working out the leg muscles and much more fun than the exercise bike! Arrr, they were all soooo cute though!
My timetable has changed a bit. I’m now doing more work the the sills for life students which I’m really excited about. I am going to help devise and teach an english sylabus starting in January. I am also going to lead some morning prayer sessions, and write and plan a lot more that can be used next year with other groups of students! This is such an amazing answer to prayer, praise God! If anyone has any cool and creative ideas for morning prayers, or favourite and inspirational passages from the bible, could you let me know?
Wow! I can’t believe it’s November already. It is strange to think it is, indeed November here. Currently it’s about 32 degrees with beautiful sunshine! I normally associate November with cold wintery rain, cold winterywind, cold wintery sun and generally cold wintery winter! Oh yeah, you guys would know all about that, right?!
Well it’s again been a pretty busy weekend. Last night we hosted 5 extra people at our huose for dinner and the evening and we had company Saturday night as well. We went to church yesterdaymorning which was amazing. It was just so friendly and welcoming there, and a lady got ordained which was so lovely!
This morning I went to the HIV hospice again. We played games with the patients and chatted to them. Met a guy who has been in there for 4 years. It’s hard to see some of the other residents we know getting weaker and more tired. They are just so thin. There is a girl there who is 11 years old but looks about 6. I always feel a bit nervous before we go in just in case one of the patients isn’t there anymore. Was so good this morning to see all of them! It’s quite quiet in the hospice at the moment because a few of the patients went home last week! Praise God!
Hope you all had a good weekend. Check out the prayer corner as there’s lots you can pray for, and I hope you will add your request, or just how God is working in your life as well.
Most of you who know me well know that I am indeed, already in love! It’s ok, Michael both knows about, and approves of, the latest reciever[s] of my affections!
They are the local children!
They are just so lovely and sweet. The pre school children are adorable! But the older ones are so genuine and friendly. This afternoon for example, I met up with a 10 year old girl who I’ve seen for the last couple of weeks. She always wants to walk with me and is just so eager to help me. And she is always so excited to see me! I met 2 other little girls this afternoon who were so lovely as well. I persuaded them to play cricket and made sure the boys didn’t stop them!
All the kids at the pre schools want to hold our hands and dance with us, or sit on our laps and have a hug. It’s so sweet!
There are some children who live near us who always run out to say hi to us and walk with us asking how are you? They are all just so adorble!
Just in case you are wondering, this is indeed Nicola writing and not some randomer who has high jacked my site!
You know people say that this sort of adventure means you find yourself, and discover things you never knew you had inside you? Wel it’s true!
Last Saturday morning, we had some free time. Picture the scene. Sun is shining, music playing. Chris, Hattie and Bethan are outside and Beth is writing an E mail. So what was I doing, I hear you ask…
Was I relaxing in the sun?
Or maybe I was filling in my journal?
Reading my bible?
Sleeping?
In fact, none of the above! On this gloriously sunny morning, I choose to spend my free time…
Cleaning the kitchen!
I kid you not! This is my recreational activity of choice!
I’m getting a strange sense of satisfaction from cleaning and tidying up! It’s not good! What’s wrong with me?
Hi!
I thought you might all like to know about the children here. There are at least 3 primary schools in this area that we know about, each with lots more students than in England. School starts at 7 AM and finishes by 1.30. After school, all the children stay around playing games and don’t go straight home. On Thursday afternoons we run some after school clubs, like football, cricket, drama and dance for the students. They don’t have many resources and still use blackboards in the classroom s. There are some posters on the classroom walls, but no displays of work. The teachers are still allowed to hit the students on the hand with wooden or metal sticks if they get something wrong or misbehave. Some of the time, there isn’t even a teacher in the class, so the students can’t learn.
There are no lovely green areas for the children to play on, just concrete or dusty spaces.
In SA, you start school at 6 years old. Before that, you go to pre school. You stay in school until 18, when you take your matric exam.
Wow! Well guess what? I find myself sat at a working computer for the second time today! How exciing!
Jut thought I’d try and fill you in a bit on what’s happening here in the sun! [Lol, sorry no more sunshine jokes, promise!]
Anyway you’ll be pleased to know that dressing up as a catapillar does mean I get to be abeautiful butterfly at the end of the story!
Yesterday we visited another pre school and the kids were cute. Sadly, though, we didn’t have to resort to old party songs to entertain the children. Sorry guys!
So I’m sat here in a vest top and 3 quarter length trousers thinking it’s hot! Oh yeah, I promised no more sunshine jokes, didn’t I? *sigh!
The very very important question for today is…
What type of chocolate should Beth and I get next time we’re shopping? The chocolate here is nowhere near as good as in England, so make sure you eat lots for us all! Haven’t found any new shoes to replace my tragically injured ones either!
Tomorrow we have the soup kitchen which I’m really looking forward to. The people there are so lovely! Then in the afternoon we have the sports club at a school in Cosmo City! We’re running it on our own tomorrow!
Bethan’s tin of tuna still hasn’t appeared by the way!
Hope you’re all ok and have had a fun snowball fight!
Love you all! xxx