Off and running...

It is another late night, but I want to write this post so that I don't get too far behind and so that I get down all my experiences and thoughts while they are fresh in my mind.

Yesterday was our official first day of ministry.  We started the day with a tour of Living Hope's main campus with its offices and the health care center on site.  Taking the tour with us was a group of 19 people from Singapore; their youngest member was 10 years old.  We learned quite a bit about the four programs under the Living Hope umbrella:  Living Way, Living Care, Living Grace, and Living Right.

Our tour then took us to the Wetlands area of the township of Masiphumelele (Masi).  Masi is a community that was created to house 5,000, but is now busting at the seams with over 40,0000 people.  The Wetlands is the 'bad' part of town in the larger, overpopulated, and poverty-stricken township.  This area is filled with thousands of small makeshift shacks, all dangerously close to one another.  During the South African winters there is a lot of rain.  With these homes being located in a wetland area the floors have standing water on them all season long creating damp conditions that breed disease...primarily tuberculosis.  due to electrocution concerns, rather than illegally obtaining electricity residents burn candles, paraffin, and sometimes gas stoves creating a major fire hazard.  Over 4,000 shacks were destroyed in a single fire (I believe last year).  firefighters could not access the area due to the density of the residences and no planned infrastructure.  There is so much to this, but I am only scratching the surface of the situation.  Among all the shacks I did see one that seemed carefully crafted with actual wood.  One note about Masi in contrast with my visit in 2011.  I can't completely put my finger on it but things seem/feel more positive.  Maybe I will be able to figure out why after my week there.  One thing I did see was work being done in Masi...community improvements possibly.

After visiting the wetlands we were off to view the 'tunnels' or as we would call them, greenhouses.  this is part of an agricultural program Living Hope started a few years back as part of their Living Way program.  Through this project they plan to teach gardening and farming skills so that residents
of Masi who left their farmland in the Eastern Cape can return, farm their land, and support their families.  In one tunnel they had close to 3,000 tomato plants.  They are also utilizing some eco-friendly and extremely efficient techniques.  Living Hope hopes that the revenue from this project will sustain some of their other programs.

Our tour wrapped up with a drive by the 19 acres Living Hope recently acquired to expand their agricultural program and so much more.  God has blessed this ministry in incredible ways.

After lunch we met with the Life Skill Educators to prepare for Kid's Club.  LSEs are wonderful young adults who live in Masi and coordinate this program for living hope.  They have hearts for Jesus and want to be part of positive change in their community.  After the meeting we were off to Kid's Club.  Boy, were they happy to see us.  For the first half of club we played with the kiddos.  We
were lavished in hugs and so many of them wanted to hold our hands.  the children flocked to Heidi an Crisann with their long hair and began twisting and braiding it.  I do believe that both of them were able to get all the knots and tangles out!  Actually, one little boy helped Crisann with that!  A couple kids wanted me to swing them so I did...well then more kids wanted to be swung.  About 40 minutes later I was sweating and about to fall over from exhaustion.  They kept returning to the line and other kids joined them.  Thank goodness the singing part of the program was about to begin.  The joy on the faces of the children while I swung them was priceless.  some of these kiddos have it pretty rough.  There is a 60% abuse rate - physical and/or sexual.  It's mind boggling.  And, there is so much more that makes these sweet little people's lives so complicated.

I loved singing with the kiddos.  They sang their hearts out and because there was almost 200 of them I sang my heart out, too.  No judgement on my less than stellar singing.  ;o). My next favorite moment was when this young girl, Patience, translated the bible story of Joseph being told in Xhosa into English for me.  So sweet.  At the end of Kid's Club we gave each child a half sandwich of some kind of bologna with cheese and butter, and an apple.  This May have been their only meal of the day.  Next was Teen's Club.   My teammate Donna shared her testimony.  She did an amazing job and it generated many questions from the teens.  Surprisingly most of the questions came from boys.  Even being so much older than these youth, we were able to really connect.

After Kid's Club we returned to the Team House for dinner.  In preparation for Kid's Club the next day we were up for awhile getting our crafts sorted out.  I was pretty much brain dead by then.  I had no energy or mental capacity remaining to do a post.  And now it looks like I am going to have to write about today's activities tomorrow.  It is past 11 pm here (2pm your time) and I am tapping away on this small iPad keyboard in the dark while my roomies are asleep.  Until tomorrow...