Well, dear Reader, I feel I have no choice but to write the following entry on my blog. Some of you know me for always wearing trainers: Others will know that I live in jeans, very rarely bother with make up and don’t care if my jewellery matches my shoes, bag, top or hair style…

I’m sad to tell you that there has been an unforseen tragedy which has taken place here in the amazing and vibrant city of Johannesburg. Yes, dear Reader, I am obliged to report the sad demise of the recognisable Nicola…

Her successor is a much more feminine creature, who has spent the majority of her money over the last 3 days on new earrings and a hair cut. Yes new earrings; Not just new, but new and dangly earrings!

Nicola’s new problem though, which she would very much appreciate any input in solving is…

Now do I buy new necklaces and bracelets to match my new earrings?

The first time I went out with the community health workers in October, we visited a lady in a wheelchair who was paralysed in her right side. She couldn’t leave her house because there was a step down. We got on so well and she was really disappointed that I wouldn’t be around for her birthday in June. I told her she could be like the queen in England and have an official birthday. I said next time I go back it will be her birthday.

Well after that things got pretty busy and I didn’t have the chance to go back and visit her. But yesterday I finally had that opportunity.

She was so excited to see me again which was so lovely. I took her a chocolate cake and some shortbread biscuits, along with some sweets. She loved all these and was so pleased with her cake. But I also had a present specially for her. I had found a beautiful fine bracelet I thought she would like. It was handmade and so delicate [it was just too big for me, shame!]

She was so happy with it and put it on straight away. I felt so good that I had been given the chance to go back and bless this wonderful lady in such a small and simple way.

Yesterday evening I had the privellige to spend a couple of hours in the company of some of the most inspiring people I have ever met. I had the chance to go and visit a community centre in an area called Westbury. Here, a group of men work tirelessly to improve their community. They all used to be in rival gangs in the area. These gangs were at large during the 1960′s, 70′s and part of the 80′s. Many young people were involved and many were hurt or killed during this time. But in the 80′[s, this group of men decided enough was enough and they wanted to be unified in their mission to stop the gangs. So the group was formed, after much negociations and leaps of faith from all parties. Now, 20 years later, Westbury is proud to say there are no gangs in their area. They work closely with over 150 young people in schools to prevent them from getting involved in gangs. They visit them in their homes, helping them to find their identity and find a place of love and encouragement. This amazing group of men also visit gang members who are in prison for their crimes. They work hard with all the authorities, the police, prison service and schools to support young people.

One member of the group last night told us how they visited a group of 4 men in prison who had, between them, killed 7 young people in one night. He took with him the father of one of these young people so that he could tell the men in prison that he had forgiven them. Most of the men who come out of prison help with mentoring the young people. They can tell them what it is like in prison and act as role models to them.

I was totally blown away by so many of the things that were said last night. The one that sticks out in particular is what one of the x gang members said to me:
“Those men who are now in prison, it is only by the grace of God that they are there. They could have been killed, like those they killed. But God has poured his grace upon them so he has a purpose for their life.”

They believe this purpose, especially for them, is to support young people, to be to them the fathers they don’t have, to show them love and encouragement, to work with churches to make a difference. What more proof of God’s amazing grace do you need?

I’ve been so busy since I last wrote! Can’t believe we only got back off holiday last Tuesday! Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning was the induction course for the new group of students joining Oasis on what was known as Skills for Life but is now Bridge the Gap just to confuse them. They are lovely and I lead some of the sessions for them. We even found time for some singing! Saturday morning was the graduation of the last group of students. It was so good to meet up with them again. So many of them got A’s overall in the course. I was so proud of them and spent the entire ceremony grinning manically, causing the new students I was with to ask why! But it was awesome to see so many of them achieving so much!

It was Beth’s 21st on Saturday so we spent the weekend celebrating! We had a big braai yesterday and had a record of 15 children round our house. On Saturday night we went out for a meal to an African restaurant. All the waiters came over with a huge ice cream and sang lots of african songs for Beth’s Birthday. Also the guy who was playing the guitar came and seranaded her. She had a good weekend which is good. And we’re going out again tonight. We have a new couple over from England who are on a world tour and we’re going round for a games evening! Hope you all aren’t too cold. If it makes you feel any better, it rained lots today!

An amazing thing happened on Christmas Eve which I wanted to share with you all. I decided it was worthy of having it’s own special post, which is why it isn’t in my big update.

A few days before Christmas we were all praying as a team about getting post. Here, post arrives in a box about half an hour’s drive from where we are living, so once a week we go to collect it. We all wanted post in time for Christmas so were praying things would arrive. We said we hope we either all get post or none of us do.
On Christmas Eve we went to get the post. All the rest of the team recieved post but I didn’t. Surprisingly, I wasn’t too upset, I really thought I would be. That evening we went to the office to use the internet. The front gate was rusted shut because there was a massive storm the previous night. We tried for 10 minutes but couldn’t open the gate. In the end we went round the back of the office to get in through the back door. Laying by the back gate was a letter. It had clearly been there all night and was covered in mud from the rain. It was addressed to me.

The envelope was full of sand when I opened it. But it was a Christmas card. It was from my next team in Salford, who had the street adress rather than the post box address. The street post is notoriously unreliable. But there it was, just in time for Christmas, having survived the biggest storm we have had since we have been here. I was so overwhelmed. God really is amazing. He can turn little things like Christmas cards into real life miracles. Thank you so much Salford Team, you really don’t know how amazing it was to recieve your card!

I thought you might be interested to learn a little about the Swazi culture and Swaziland itself. It is a very peaceful little country just to the east of South Africa. It has a population of about 1.2 million people in the whole country. London has around 6 million people just to put it in context! Traditionally, Swazis live in vilages in small huts made of woven sticks with thatched rooves. The huts are round and are all hand woven; It must take ages! The men, women and children all live separately in different parts of the vilage. Swazi culture means that the men are allowed multiple wives. It is custom for a man to ask a girl’s family permission to marry her and to pay them either in money or cows for her. When they say yes, he must first see if she is able to have children, as this, in their culture, is how a woman should be. So she has children before they marry. Each time she has a child outside of marriage, the man must pay and appologise to her family. It is usual that a woman will have 2 or more children before she marries. But while the man is “dating” this girl, he will also most likely be doing the same with other girls as well.

The king of Swaziland currently has 14 wives and around 28 children. Each year there is a huge national ceromony where all the maidens come to dance for him and he chooses a new wife. The maidens wear barely anything and the festival goes on for days. They must camp out, sleeping rough, wear no shoes and go and collect a certain type of reeds for the king. The final day of the festival is when they all dance for the king.

Hi Everyone! Happy New Year! Welcome to 2009, hope it’s going well for you so far!
So I haven’t posted for so long, we had no internet and then Ive been away on holiday since 27th December! So this entry is a massive update for you all!

The week leading up to Christmas was pretty chaotic. We had to pay 2 lovely visits to the Home Office in the centre of Joburg to sort out our visas. Turns out, having had them for over a month it only took the people 20 minutes to sort all five visas out. Ah, if only we’d known!! Thankfully though, that is now all sorted and we do not ever again have to visit those delightful people!

Christmas day itself was really chilled out. We got up early to watch the sun rise but it was cloudy. We spent the afternoon at some friends’ house, who have a pool. We had a braai [barbecue] and chilled out in the sun with the family. We are so lucky to know such amazing people. They were so welcoming and really made our Christmas day special. In the evening we went to see some Christmas lights in Joburg as there aren’t any round here. We went to the Hilton Hotel for drinks afterwards.
Boxing day morning was pretty quiet. We had some of the local children round and watched a film. In the afternoon it was one of our bosses’ Birthday and we went out for a coffee and cake. In the evening came the dreaded task of packing for our holiday…

We took a minibus on Saturday morning to a place in the north east of South Africa called Nelsprite. We stayed in a hostel and chilled out mainly. But on the Monday we went to Kruger National park on Safari. It was so amazing, a real once-in-a-lifetime experience. We managed to see so many animals. We spent the night there as well camping in tents which was so awesome. There was so much wildlife! We did a sun rise safari the following morning and saw around 9 young male lions strolling down the road in front of us. It was amazing! I’m so glad we went.

On New Year’s Eve we travelled to Swaziland, where a family were hosting us. I honestly have never met such an amazing and welcoming family before. We spent 6 fantastic days with them in Swaziland. they showed us the sights and we had 2 huge braais with the whole family. The children were so cute and all of the family just made us feel so welcomed and part of their group. I would like to say a huge thank you to them for their generosity and amazing hospitality. Swaziland is a beautiful little country with lots of things to see and do. We visited Swazi Candles, the museums, a cultural vilage, where we saw traditional dancing, and visited some lovely places to just chill out and relax!

Now back at work and feeling really up for starting projects again. I cant wait to meet the new group of young people who Oasis is working with. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. Love to you all!

Wow! I can’t believe it is less than a week til Christmas. While I think most of you will be shopping, wrapping presents, organising families and generally trying to hide from the cold, here we are still ambling about in sandals! I haven’t bought a single present yet, and we still have no idea what we are actually doing for Christmas!
But you think you guys are busy. Stop and take a moment to think what it must be like for poor Father Christmas at this time of year. And on top of organising his elves, recruiting reindeer, wrapping presents and planning his night time trip round the world, he still found time to pay a visit to a group of very special children in Cosmo City!
Holiday club yesterday was a Christmas party which was a total surprise to all the children. We brought them all to the hub, which was all decorated and set out with food ready. While they were eating, who should stroll in my the great Mr. Clause himself. You also have to understand at this point that, being used to the sort of weather that you are currently experiencing in England, poor Father Christmas was struggling in our 30 degree heat! But still there he was, complete with 4 huge bags of presents for the children. They were so delighted, it was amazing!

Other than that, not much has been going on really. Lots more children have discoveredour house recently, and in doing that, have found we offer juice, crisps, biscuits and sometimes even chocolate as well! And of course great entertainment and the best company possible!!

How’s all your Christmas prep going? Hope it is all going well and you are looking forward to Father Christmas’s visit on 24th!

Hi Guys! I’m so sorry I haven’t posted for over a week, it’s been crazy round here!
This week we have been running a holiday club from 12-3 PM each day. We have had between 15 and 40 children aged between 4 and about 12. We have been diong lots of activities, mostly involving glitter and hand painting, as well as playing lots of games and doing sport and bible stories with them. It’s so much fun but tiring!
I also have to tell you about our awesome evening last Friday. One of the guys who volunteers at the soup kitchen invited us round to his house for dinner. His wife is lovely and we got to meet his little girl who is just the cutest child! His wife is originally from Holand and they celebrate St Nicholas day on December 6, which is when we went round. The little girl got so excited when St Nicholas left her a note and presents. But wt he was even more generous, because we all got a chocolate letter. We were so touched that St. Nick remembered us as well. But then the little girl hunted out presents that he had left for us! They are such an amazing and generous family! Thank you so much for such a wonderful evening and for making us feel so welcome and part of your celebrations!

I have a lot to tell you about in this entry. The retreat was so fantastic and so relaxing. We stayed in log cabins in he mountains in the middle of nowhere. On Friday morning we climbed a waterfall which was fun! We all got really badly sunburnt though!

Monday morning should have been the soup kitchen but we didn’t go. Instead we were asked to plan a short drama for the youngest kids at one of the primary schools about HIV, as it was world AIDS day on Monday. So we prepared a cute little puppet show and arrived at the school to find that plans had slightly changed!
We were performing to the older children instead of the youngest ones, and it was a full school assembly! There were around 1000 children there! EEK!! Very scary! We had to sit on the stage as guests of honour during the assembly as well!

Yesterday afternoon we took too of our friends out for ice cream. They are two of the local kids who come to visit us often. It was so much fun. They are such amazing and inspirational children!

This morning I turned he garage where we do skills for life into a craft and creative area of chaos! It was great though. I go all the students a prayer diary and we covered them in wrapping paper and made a big collage about all the things we are thankful for. They were so creative And no one can ever say you are too old for glitter! It just isn’t true!