humbled by their joy....

this afternoon i had the pleasure of attending the latest presentations by the dutch sports students who have been serving with us over the last 5 months, and i will post about their wonderful help and support tomorrow as i have a further post to share about the other experience i had after enjoying their presentation.

keeping the home fires burning!

for those of you living in the western cape you will know that we have been hit by a severe storm which not only bought some much needed rain (for some) but high winds which i'm not sure any of us really wanted, save a few mad suffers who might benefit from the waves over the weekend! this type of weather is not unusual for this time of year in the cape but when it comes after a week of temperatures in the mid 20's with sunny hot days then its a bit more of a shock.

during the presentations from the dutch students we were battling to hear what they said due to the wind and rain, but once outside the full force of the storm really hit me. we were due to be running our sports outreach at the two farm clubs this afternoon which follows the weekly update/download and sports planning meeting but seeing as though the weather was so bad i had to let our sports mentors know that not only the sport but also the meeting had been cancelled.

happy family after a simple act of kindness

upon arriving at the home of one of our mentors, whom he shares with his brother and sister who are keen members of our sports club in the iraq informal settlement, i found the family huddled around their fire, and who can blame them, however this fire was set in an old metal bath tub which was full of simple wet twigs and with no chimney the single room which has no windows but an open door was full of eye streaming smoke.

after discussing the situation about the weather and the lack of the meeting or sports this afternoon he informed me that the tin sheeting which makes up the roof, and also most of the sides of his home, was leaking, the wind blowing the horizontal rain not only through the roof but also the walls too.

following my blog last monday about the different situations i found myself in, entitled some days that bite back, which can be read by clicking on this link, a friend from our elgin united church offered to help out with some tin sheeting which he had laying around.....we are hoping to get out to sort the roof of one of our helpers from rainbow smiles early next week, which i admit is a little late for this bout of rain, but this afternoon i thought that it would be a blessing to our sports mentor and his family if i could at least make a few of those sheets available to him.

preparing the fire outside

i returned to the village of hope only to find that the sheets we had been blessed with were a different profile to those already on the boys home, so instead of taking them i gathered together some old sail cloth and a few heavy blocks for them to make a hasty repair which might enable them to patch the worst leaks, which as always appeared over their beds!

i also picked up a basket full of dry wood so as to bless them with extra fuel which wasn't green and therefore wouldn't give off the smoke which really made my eyes run....it wasn't much but i think they were pleased with the thought.

whilst i was on my return visit with my simple supplies i saw the father of another family making a fire in an old paint pot, which he was carrying in with a stick into their tin home, upon inspection they invited me in for a coffee, which was much appreciated, we sat huddled around this fire, again with much smoke, and shared stories which made us all laugh, due to my lack of xhosa and their lack of english.

taking the fire into the home, a risky business!

after taking their teenage daughter down to the local spazza store to buy a cabbage to make up their 'watery' soup i left them to their lives whilst i came back to mine feeling very humbled by the joy that i had experienced during my hour or so spent in that wonderful little community.

i can't say that i did much and i know that there are literally thousands of others in our community with the same if not more immediate and desperate needs but i was able to bless around 10 people and if i only achieved that with a smile, which i hope showed them that not only myself but Jesus cared for them, then i sit here a little happier than i would have done if i had i turned a blind eye and gone home to sit in front of my warm fire complete with chimney.

personal note:- i don't want to belittle anything that has gone on in the past in this wonderful if not challenged country and i know that some of my forefathers may have had a lot to do with that, i can take that on the chin and only apologies for that on their behalf, but i would challenge anyone currently living in south africa not to be touched by the stories that i share on this blog. we might not look the same or even speak the same language, but surely we can't ignore the fact that Jesus calls us to love our neighbours as ourselves. 


it seems hard to cast everyone under the same banner because of things that have happened in the past, or even now as we sit here reading this blog, but we will never build up the trust and relationships that must develop if this country is to move forward so lets start somewhere cause to blame the past is so yesterday!

yes the people i shared the afternoon with do have their own homes in the transkei (eastern cape) and yes they have chosen to come to grabouw to seek employment offered by the highly labour intensive apple production, but none of them was complaining about their lot, they weren't asking for a hand out but seeing their plight i offered a helping hand to make their situation a little easier.

the thembalitsha foundation offers hope through health, education and training, we seek to develop people to a place of self reliance, but there are some days where one is called just to give of themselves and from the wealth that we have, be that financial, education or time, and that's all i did today and i would challenge you to do the same too.

so for any of you reading this with an internet connection, which should mean that you have electric power, a roof over your head with a fire and a chimney, which will also probably mean that you have a fridge with some food in then please don't tell me that you are cold, tired or hungry, cause i have met some people today for whom that is really true and they're not complaining!....

....i was spending some time thinking of how i should end this post, please don't hear this as a triad from some self righteous religious nut who thinks he has got it all sorted and therefore you should totally understand where i am coming from. no i am an ordinary guy who has to daily die to self, putting the thoughts of others first and asking God for wisdom, understanding and knowledge to cope with all that i am faced with everyday.

what i would like to finish with is the thought that those of us who try to follow Jesus and his teachings, becoming 'little christs' to this world, surely have an understanding that it's not great to be the one who casts the first stone and yet its us that so often we sit in judgement of those who seem unable to help themselves whilst sitting with all the power known to man in the universe at our disposal.

we can chose to look the other way, to have such an important diary of important things that need to get done, including racing to an event at church where we have been given a word to encourage others but fail to stop to help those along the way, or we may be the worship leader who is called to usher the people into the presence of God via song and liturgy, but yet be so busy that we miss what God has really called us to do.

as i see it God gives us ample opportunity to serve those in need, indeed james tells us in God's word to us that true religion is found in feeding the widows and the orphans, or maybe as Jesus would say 'to love our neighbour as our self', 'to go the extra mile', 'give one of your two coats', or pounds, to those without, this i believe is our chance to see God's kingdom come through us and that is what i find hard to accept when we can become so consumed by self that we miss God's call on our lives.

heart breaking again and again...

working and living in south africa is never dull and just when you think you have seen it all life comes up and kicks you in the teeth again........even though we are working in some of the poorest areas of grabouw, and indeed south africa and see life in all it's different elements via our village of hope and thembacare projects.

boys mom, in his school shoes
with remnants of their home behind

today we resumed our sports outreach programme at iraq informal settlement, one of the seven different areas where we work each afternoon, and although i had heard that one of our boys families had been affected by a shack fire over the weekend i was unaware of the devastation that it caused.

it wasn't until the end of our sports session that he mentioned that he and his family had lost almost everything in a fire which not only burnt down his whole home but as his older brother had been in the home when it hit and he had been killed.

the only things that the family managed to save were a single divan bed, an old single bedstead, a small kitchen unit and the boys shoes, upon further questioning i found out that he hadn't gone to school today as he had lost all his school clothes, books, pens etc and couldn't attend without them.

creation of a new home.....to house 7 people!

my heart was moved to go and purchase him some replacement uniform, a shirt, jumper, jacket and trousers but this seemed so little when i took them to him and saw the effects of the fire for myself. the sight of his mother digging the foundation to the new home, which they had constructed out of a simple timber/tin structure, in his school shoes nearly bought me to tears.

the family has been supported by the local community who have helped with the building of the new home, in the downpours that we experienced over the weekend, and they, his mum, dad, sister and three other siblings (7 in total) have been sleeping with neighbours, however they will be moving into their 'new' home tomorrow.....

i'm not sure why i was so shocked, i have seen the effects of a fire on more than one family before, i have seen poverty, death and disease on a number of occasions.....maybe it was due to the fact that none of this will be reported to the wider world, be that via the wider TV and internet media or a simple mention in a local newspaper.......maybe it was the fact that if it had happened in a western home or town at least it would have bought up a topic of debate about the dangers of living with open fires/paraffin stoves in our homes.....

...or maybe it was the realisation that this wasn't the only event that affected this small and tight knit community this weekend that went unnoticed, be that someone dying of AIDS in their home alone, a child being abused but an alcoholic relative, a baby being born into a family living below the bread line, the list could go on and on and that is why i think i feel so bad.........

.......yes we were able to do our little bit but.............there's more to it than that and that is what i'm  battling with.

happy to help.....

simple bottle tops,
used as washers on the plastic roof

yesterday morning we received an early morning call to inform us that there had been a fire in one of the informal settlements in grabouw. these are areas where some of our children come from, where we run sports outreach and where our thembacare palliative home based carers work day in day out and we were more than happy to help out where we could.

with the support of a few of the congregation from the elgin united presbyterian church who donated some funds we were able to purchase some basic items to help reestablish the two families who had lost everything in the fire. the more immediate needs of food etc were provided by the local community who rallied round to help their neighbours but with the money we collected we were able to buy a small stove, buckets, crockery, cooking utensils and we were able to make good use of the volunteer mattresses which we had recently replaced to ensure that the families (of 8 people) could sleep off the floor.

friends helping to rebuild.
see burnt tree in foreground.

it was amazing to see how well the men had done, rebuilding their simple timber structure home, which was covered with black plastic sheeting and insulated with card board. the municipality had provided some basic building materials but much of it was made from locally sourced materials....like the washers that were used to stop the nails pulling through the plastic sheeting, (see the photo showing the 'bottle top washers').

we know that we only provided a part of what is needed to ensure these families get back on their feet and we need to continue to support this and other families like them, we are happy to have put them in touch with other like minded NGO's (charities) who will be able to help them in other ways, such as sorting their ID books which were burnt in the fire and other important documents that may take months to replace but are required to enable people to live each and everyday.

mom's plea as home burns down

we have had a sms (text message) from a mom of one of our 'discharged' children to say that her tin shack burnt down and she is now staying with neighbours. the winter weather, wind and rain has returned to grabouw and people are struggling just to keep warm.

this mom lost everything in the fire, clothes, food, bedding etc, these people have such tough lives anyway without this kind of thing bringing more pain and misery to their lives. we (voh) will be helping out where we can with a small food parcel and some new (second hand) clothing but this type of event is a daily burden that we face....please stand with us as we seek the best way to help those infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB.

mel starts a fire and a blog!

our new volunteer, mel kidd from dallas, is really getting into things here at the village of hope, with rob and arron away for a week (rob in jo'burg and arron off in uganda with big shot cricket) there was a need for someone to step up to the plate and become 'the firestarter', mel took up that mantle and started her first ever fire last night!....(see photo)

mel also started a blog where she is going to be keeping her friends, family and the wider world updated with news of her year with us on the project...please follow her (click on this link to go to her site)

40 homes burnt to ground in waterwerks

last friday night around 40 homes in the waterwerks squatter camp in grabouw were burnt to the ground. the fire, which seems to have been started by an overturned paraffin stove, swept through the area so fast, due to the high winds, that people were unable to protect their limited property and most people lost everything that they own.

the village of hope team, boosted by matt walker and the other walker boys (josh and arron) along with rob, emma podmore and jenny jiggins, were amongst the first on the scene in the morning and helped with the rebuilding of the homes....we must say that the assistance we offered we very limited and even five days after the event people are still struggling to obtain enough material to rebuild their homes.

the photo shows a blind grandmother and her granddaughter sitting in her part rebuilt home, she lost everything and you can see the remnants of her bed in the foreground!

after another fire

on thursday evening i was contacted by a member of the local community letting me know that around 20 homes (shacks) were on fire, there was nothing we could do until morning and as soon as we woke we contacted the people on the ground to see what we could do. rob and the team (along with trondor, our norwegian volunteer) went along to share out blankets and clothes to those affected. trondor has posted an excellent item on his blog (you will need to use google translator to convert from norwegian to english) which you can read.

sadly not only were homes burnt to the ground but a young girl visiting her grandmother was unable to get out of the shack quick enough and she died at the scene, unfortunately she was a friend of one of the elder girls who live with us on the village of hope, who's home was also burnt down at the same time, it was a real blessing that she was stopping with us at the time as she might also have been affected by the fire.

please pray for those who have lost their homes and also the wider community as we seek to help those affected in a practical way.

first real fire of 2010

we have been watching the first real fire to hit grabouw this year develop over the day and this evening i took this photo, for those of you who know the town it seems that it started in or near iraq squatter camp and with a north west wind has moved down the hill towards pumesa's home in zola/rooidakke.....please pray with us for those people already affected, the fire service who are busy trying to bring it under control and those whos homes are at risk.

the fires have gone

as you may be aware, the mountains that surround the town of grabouw and other towns towards cape town, including sir lowy's pass, have, for around 16 days, been covered in bush fires..the village of hope lies on the slopes of these mountains, in fact there are no other properties in between us and those mountains and at some points we were very close to the fires....the fire departments have been very busy trying to control these, using conventional firefighting methods as well as calling in helicopters to douse the flames at certain times.

we want to thank God for his protection over us, the farm and the towns that could easily been affected by this awful natural disaster, today as we took our early morning prayer walk there were no signs of the fires and we want to thank you guys for praying for us too