It's been a long time since I've posted. Yes, we're still in South Africa, and yes we're still serving, it just happens to look a bit different these days. Cam has rejoined corporate IT life and as he says, the mission was not what I did, nor where I went, but it's who I am 24/7, wherever I go. After 3+ years of working in various outreach projects, I made a change to spend this year mostly on "in" reach: getting to know some of our older church members better by sharing visits and meals, lifts to the doctor's office, counseling, walks and talks on the road and the like. It's also included a great deal of introspective time with God and my family trying to build up the things that were neglected over the last three years of a busy missionary life while my kids quietly and quickly slipped into the pre-teen and teen wonders they have become.
It was with great excitement that we welcomed our friend Jessica out to South Africa for 3 months, and I decided it would be a good time to get back involved in some outreach work with her while she was here. One lesson I have learned the hard way is that you cannot do mission projects alone. Jesus instructed his disciples to go out 2 by 2 for a reason and dividing and conquering does not work in the mission field. It is imperative to have the support and mutual encouragement of your fellow worker as you encounter the adventures that come in the mission projects. It's also super critical for some great comedic value as you watch the hilarious blunders that always come with doing anything in Africa and you can reminisce about these years later when you are sitting on different continents remembering your past adventures.
Jessica and I headed out together with the volunteer coordinator Yvette for our first outing together to Lamontville a couple of weeks ago. I was excited at the prospect of coming along to help someone else, and to not be the one running the project. It turned out that Yvette needed more hands on deck for her school craft and lesson at the primary school next door, so I left Jessica to sing her phonics songs without me (although I'm sure she could have used the backup harmonizing I could have provided) and headed off to join the class of 6 year olds. As I was walking there, I was thinking about the last time I had been in a zulu school.
Happy's School for the Disabled
The first school I ever encountered was Happy's school for the disabled which I visited every Friday for about the first 6 months of our time in South Africa in 2009. We always came after the teachers had left for the day and Cam would join the kids age 13 and up for a Bible Study while my kids and I would teach the younger children a Bible lesson and play games. Let me repeat that.... My 4 year old Wyatt would disappear somewhere into the school grounds, while my 6 year old Ani would be off in the girls dorms pushing students in wheel chairs to our classes and chasing down Wyatt, while my 9 year old Shiloh would stand with me like a deer in the headlights wondering how we were going to teach 40 zulu kids with physical and mental disabilities without a translator. Needless to say, we learned something new every week, usually what DOESN'T work, and then made notes to try something new the next week.
I have this one very vivid memory of trying to belt out some of the Christian kids songs I knew- by myself every week solo - because of course, Ani was off chasing Wyatt and wheeling girls around, and Shiloh wasn't about to make a fool of himself in front of 40 kids, even if they didn't know what we were saying. I remember singing "Who built the ark-Noah, noah?" week after week and waiting for the response....... which would be met with dead silence for about the first 3-4 weeks. "Noah, Noah!" I would sing and dance and wonder if they spoke any English. By the end of the class I was hoarse and my voice squeaky and they must have been quite amused. It wasn't until about 3-4 months later, when a few musical volunteers arrived who had worked with these kids previously, that I realized this group had a repertoire! Out came the guitar and an awesome "Jesus love is a bubbling over, hallelujah!" I kid you not, out came the hand signals from some of the kids that I thought couldn't even move and these loud voices singing in ENGLISH and I was open mouth in shock! What an education to realize that you can't just waltz in somewhere and decide to dispense your dose of good works, service and teachings, but that you must spend day after day, week after week building the relationships with those people. We went back to Happy's school a few months ago after only being there 2-3 times in the last 2 years. A girl walked up to me and called me by name and told me she missed me. She remembered MY name after all these years and so many other people working with them since I had been there on a regular basis. God taught me so much through that moment and the children at Happy's School.
Christianberg School
My second experience with a zulu school came when we were working in the Clermont township on a wonderful feeding program at the local clinic. We had really been struggling with our food parcel distribution program, because we were losing most of our volunteers and would have a very small group of people to process the massive amounts of food that we distributed every month. As we were standing at our big pot ladling out butternut soup to the patients waiting at the clinic, a lady named Thabiso came by and asked us about or organization. She then mentioned that she was headmistress at a school down the road- Christianberg- that had a need for breakfast to be served to the children so they could take their HIV medications in the morning. Over 60% of the children were on HIV meds - a shocking figure to see in real life before your eyes. In our province, 2 out of every 3 people you meet will be HIV Positive.
As God would have it, this school was very close to our newly established Clermont church in her neighborhood and we had been trying to grow our Sunday School. This seemed to be directed by Him! We went and visited her school the next week. One of the challenges of a food parcel program is getting all the documentation for the orphans to prove their vulnerability (parent's death certificates, id book copies, etc.) so you are not defrauded. I use that term loosely as there are so many that need food in our area, we're just trying to target help to the most vulnerable ones. We walked into her office and she said, let me show you my files on my children. Every child had these documents in place and if they had missed school recently, a personal visit had been made to their home to see what was going on! We were so excited to see that God had solved our dilemma of knowing that the food we were giving the children was actually getting into their tummies, and not being stolen from them on the way home. Thabiso even said to us that she didn't want food parcels, because if she fed them at the school she would make sure they ate and not someone else. So our breakfast program started up and even during school holidays, she would feed the kids every day.
As we were walking around the school, I was surprised to see the sparse nature of the classrooms and grounds. Lessons were going on in each class in zulu as children worked from old worn books, with very little stationary. I thought of the long list of beautiful new stationary that I had recently bought for my children at their new school and how my kids had an amazing astro turf hockey field for primary school and this school had barely a field full of holes for soccer. As I looked in the next classroom, I saw one of the girls that I taught in the Clermont Sunday School and she waved at me and gave me a big smile. I was so excited to see someone I knew! This was a sign of confirmation that we were meant to bring our resources to this school.
Thabiso immediately hit me up with the question, "do you have any books? We will take any books at all, as we are building our children a library." I was very excited about her passion for books and we took a big collection from church donations to them. Some of the volunteers had initiated an after school program with the kids once a week and we were invited to bring gifts along for the children to their year end party. We had a generous donation of funds and set out to buy them drinking mugs filled with toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, face cloth, a chocolate and a small toy. As I arrived to attend the party, I was surprised to see a beautifully decorated table at the side of the room with special chairs and the seats of honor where they asked me to sit! We received a very heartfelt speech by one of the girls thanking us for all of our contributions. She told us how we had saved the lives of so many children at the school by what we had provided. How's that for God showing us the way?
Lamontville Zulu Primary School
Now 2 years later, I was back in a zulu school again. As I walked into the classroom with Yvette, I was surrounded by 34 gorgeous children all individually waiting to give me, a complete stranger, a hug. I felt like I was the visiting Queen!! It had been so long since I'd worked with the zulu children, and I was so grateful to be back. Yvette had organized a lesson on birds and how they are different from other classes of animals. We were to make a craft bird out of paper plates and paint. I enjoyed looking around the classroom and observing while she was teaching. I was intrigued by what was written on the board:
I am somebody.
I may be poor, but I am somebody.
I may be young, but I am somebody.
I may be on welfare, but I am somebody.
I may be small, but I am somebody.
I may make a mistake, but I am somebody.
My clothes are different, my face is different, my hair is different, but I am somebody.
I am black, brown, white.
I speak a different language but I am
respected,
protected,
never rejected.
I am God's.
I am somebody.
I felt like God wrote that message especially for me to see that day. I am continually amazed how God shows up in the fabric of every part of life in this country. Maybe it's everywhere in the world like that, but I only started really looking close when I moved here. Here the lesson had been taught to remember that THEY were somebody, and yet it was ME that was made to feel important, very respected and very protected that day. I hope that I can pay forward that feeling I gained through their abundant love and gratitude for my presence in their life that day.
It was with great excitement that we welcomed our friend Jessica out to South Africa for 3 months, and I decided it would be a good time to get back involved in some outreach work with her while she was here. One lesson I have learned the hard way is that you cannot do mission projects alone. Jesus instructed his disciples to go out 2 by 2 for a reason and dividing and conquering does not work in the mission field. It is imperative to have the support and mutual encouragement of your fellow worker as you encounter the adventures that come in the mission projects. It's also super critical for some great comedic value as you watch the hilarious blunders that always come with doing anything in Africa and you can reminisce about these years later when you are sitting on different continents remembering your past adventures.
Jessica and I headed out together with the volunteer coordinator Yvette for our first outing together to Lamontville a couple of weeks ago. I was excited at the prospect of coming along to help someone else, and to not be the one running the project. It turned out that Yvette needed more hands on deck for her school craft and lesson at the primary school next door, so I left Jessica to sing her phonics songs without me (although I'm sure she could have used the backup harmonizing I could have provided) and headed off to join the class of 6 year olds. As I was walking there, I was thinking about the last time I had been in a zulu school.
Happy's School for the Disabled
The first school I ever encountered was Happy's school for the disabled which I visited every Friday for about the first 6 months of our time in South Africa in 2009. We always came after the teachers had left for the day and Cam would join the kids age 13 and up for a Bible Study while my kids and I would teach the younger children a Bible lesson and play games. Let me repeat that.... My 4 year old Wyatt would disappear somewhere into the school grounds, while my 6 year old Ani would be off in the girls dorms pushing students in wheel chairs to our classes and chasing down Wyatt, while my 9 year old Shiloh would stand with me like a deer in the headlights wondering how we were going to teach 40 zulu kids with physical and mental disabilities without a translator. Needless to say, we learned something new every week, usually what DOESN'T work, and then made notes to try something new the next week.
I have this one very vivid memory of trying to belt out some of the Christian kids songs I knew- by myself every week solo - because of course, Ani was off chasing Wyatt and wheeling girls around, and Shiloh wasn't about to make a fool of himself in front of 40 kids, even if they didn't know what we were saying. I remember singing "Who built the ark-Noah, noah?" week after week and waiting for the response....... which would be met with dead silence for about the first 3-4 weeks. "Noah, Noah!" I would sing and dance and wonder if they spoke any English. By the end of the class I was hoarse and my voice squeaky and they must have been quite amused. It wasn't until about 3-4 months later, when a few musical volunteers arrived who had worked with these kids previously, that I realized this group had a repertoire! Out came the guitar and an awesome "Jesus love is a bubbling over, hallelujah!" I kid you not, out came the hand signals from some of the kids that I thought couldn't even move and these loud voices singing in ENGLISH and I was open mouth in shock! What an education to realize that you can't just waltz in somewhere and decide to dispense your dose of good works, service and teachings, but that you must spend day after day, week after week building the relationships with those people. We went back to Happy's school a few months ago after only being there 2-3 times in the last 2 years. A girl walked up to me and called me by name and told me she missed me. She remembered MY name after all these years and so many other people working with them since I had been there on a regular basis. God taught me so much through that moment and the children at Happy's School.
Christianberg School
My second experience with a zulu school came when we were working in the Clermont township on a wonderful feeding program at the local clinic. We had really been struggling with our food parcel distribution program, because we were losing most of our volunteers and would have a very small group of people to process the massive amounts of food that we distributed every month. As we were standing at our big pot ladling out butternut soup to the patients waiting at the clinic, a lady named Thabiso came by and asked us about or organization. She then mentioned that she was headmistress at a school down the road- Christianberg- that had a need for breakfast to be served to the children so they could take their HIV medications in the morning. Over 60% of the children were on HIV meds - a shocking figure to see in real life before your eyes. In our province, 2 out of every 3 people you meet will be HIV Positive.
As God would have it, this school was very close to our newly established Clermont church in her neighborhood and we had been trying to grow our Sunday School. This seemed to be directed by Him! We went and visited her school the next week. One of the challenges of a food parcel program is getting all the documentation for the orphans to prove their vulnerability (parent's death certificates, id book copies, etc.) so you are not defrauded. I use that term loosely as there are so many that need food in our area, we're just trying to target help to the most vulnerable ones. We walked into her office and she said, let me show you my files on my children. Every child had these documents in place and if they had missed school recently, a personal visit had been made to their home to see what was going on! We were so excited to see that God had solved our dilemma of knowing that the food we were giving the children was actually getting into their tummies, and not being stolen from them on the way home. Thabiso even said to us that she didn't want food parcels, because if she fed them at the school she would make sure they ate and not someone else. So our breakfast program started up and even during school holidays, she would feed the kids every day.
As we were walking around the school, I was surprised to see the sparse nature of the classrooms and grounds. Lessons were going on in each class in zulu as children worked from old worn books, with very little stationary. I thought of the long list of beautiful new stationary that I had recently bought for my children at their new school and how my kids had an amazing astro turf hockey field for primary school and this school had barely a field full of holes for soccer. As I looked in the next classroom, I saw one of the girls that I taught in the Clermont Sunday School and she waved at me and gave me a big smile. I was so excited to see someone I knew! This was a sign of confirmation that we were meant to bring our resources to this school.
Thabiso immediately hit me up with the question, "do you have any books? We will take any books at all, as we are building our children a library." I was very excited about her passion for books and we took a big collection from church donations to them. Some of the volunteers had initiated an after school program with the kids once a week and we were invited to bring gifts along for the children to their year end party. We had a generous donation of funds and set out to buy them drinking mugs filled with toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, face cloth, a chocolate and a small toy. As I arrived to attend the party, I was surprised to see a beautifully decorated table at the side of the room with special chairs and the seats of honor where they asked me to sit! We received a very heartfelt speech by one of the girls thanking us for all of our contributions. She told us how we had saved the lives of so many children at the school by what we had provided. How's that for God showing us the way?
Lamontville Zulu Primary School
Now 2 years later, I was back in a zulu school again. As I walked into the classroom with Yvette, I was surrounded by 34 gorgeous children all individually waiting to give me, a complete stranger, a hug. I felt like I was the visiting Queen!! It had been so long since I'd worked with the zulu children, and I was so grateful to be back. Yvette had organized a lesson on birds and how they are different from other classes of animals. We were to make a craft bird out of paper plates and paint. I enjoyed looking around the classroom and observing while she was teaching. I was intrigued by what was written on the board:
I am somebody.
I may be poor, but I am somebody.
I may be young, but I am somebody.
I may be on welfare, but I am somebody.
I may be small, but I am somebody.
I may make a mistake, but I am somebody.
My clothes are different, my face is different, my hair is different, but I am somebody.
I am black, brown, white.
I speak a different language but I am
respected,
protected,
never rejected.
I am God's.
I am somebody.
I felt like God wrote that message especially for me to see that day. I am continually amazed how God shows up in the fabric of every part of life in this country. Maybe it's everywhere in the world like that, but I only started really looking close when I moved here. Here the lesson had been taught to remember that THEY were somebody, and yet it was ME that was made to feel important, very respected and very protected that day. I hope that I can pay forward that feeling I gained through their abundant love and gratitude for my presence in their life that day.
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