called to be his hands and feet.....

there are some days, and even some weeks, when you feel so overwhelmed by the plight of literally thousands of people who live in our town that you really do wonder what difference we are really making in the grand scheme of things.

I have had many such days since first visiting grabouw back in 2006 and even more since our move out to set up the village of hope in october 2008. there aren't many times when I actually get time to compile my thoughts however looking back through this blog I did managed to capture the thoughts of one of those days in may 2012, have a read of that post by clicking on this link, and today was another one of those days and I will try to put into words the type of day it was.

the day started in pretty much the same way as normal weekdays, we all met together at 8.15am at our team meeting where we discussed the things that we were involved in from yesterday and prepared ourselves for the day ahead, asking God to guide us as we complete the jobs that needed to be done to ensure we run a productive and well governed project, however it wasn't until around 3pm that I ventured out into the community to pick up one of our sports mentors who was going to help shana run our netball outreach in the iraq informal settlement....and that's when stuff started to impact me.

after the morning meeting most days I seem to be running from one meeting to another, completing a report for some funder or another or replying to an urgent email from a colleague who needs answers to a question, however this afternoon as I dropped the mentor at the club in one of the poorest communities we work in I stopped to talk to a lady who had called my name.

after getting out of the car, making sure I didn't step in anything untoward! and having a quick chat with the xhosa lady who had called to me I noticed a young girl sitting in the doorway of her house, a small tin shack, around 3 meters square with no water or electricity, she seemed to be caring for a small child and it wasn't till I approached her that I noticed a dilapidated wheelchair standing outside of the home.

it turns out that this young girl is 13 years old and can't walk, she seemed bright enough in herself but to see her shuffling around on the mud floor of her home compelled me to pray for her, asking God to restore all that was broken in her life, not only her physical condition but anything that was causing her to miss out on the life that God had originally had planned for her.

looking back at this interaction I know that this young girl was one of many who I passed today, but it was only when I stopped and took some time to understand her life, showed the love that Jesus calls us to show towards our neighbours that I was able to be the hands and feet of Jesus to her this afternoon.

I didn't have all the answers but within 10 minutes I managed to make a phone call to a local school who takes in children with physical problems (I am hopeful that this will be one of the answers to our prayers) but the best part was that I was able to pray with her and ask God our father to restore her and I just spent time sitting with her, engaging with her, even though we couldn't speak the same language.

its only when reflecting on what impacted me most that I realise that my (or even your) calling isn't to save the whole world, country, province or town, its literally to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but what does that mean I hear you ask?

well Jesus was both fully human and full God, here on earth he was only able to impact communities one or two people at a time (OK I know he feed both 5,000 and 4,000 people with some loaves and fishes but most of his ministry was to individuals) and that's what I was able to do today.

it was still a hard day, the sights, sounds and smells that surround us impact us in ways that you can never know unless you have visited but as I sit here typing this post I feel that although it was a tough day God was with me and pointed me towards that young girl who he so cares about and who's story I shared with you.

food need outweighs flashy headgear!

happy but hungry mentors

late last week i was able to bless two of our sports mentors with a wonderful gift that was donated from our latest team who visited us from the united states. the gift was a sports cap with built in flashlight which is not only a cool accessory, maz has one so as not to wake me when she is reading at night!, but will make such a difference for our two mentors as they struggle to complete their school homework in their dark and electricity free tin shack in the iraq informal settlement in grabouw.

delivering our life skills in iraq informal settlement today

the boys were very pleased to receive this gift but once i had presented them with their cool hats, see photo, they asked if there was any way that i could help them out as they didn't have any, yes any, food in their home for that evening meal..........it suddenly stuck me that although they received a $30 cap which would help them in the future their immediate need was to put some food on the table!

engaging with their peers, so cool!

as a charity thembalitsha don't encourage us to provide hand outs, we are seeking to provide new hope via empowering people to a place of self reliance but what could i do, what would you do?, leave the boys with a wonderful new cap but with empty stomachs?......no i took them into town and purchased a few tin cans of meat, some eggs, fresh milk, sugar and paraffin to lite the stove, God calls us to love our neighbours as ourselves and i couldn't face the thought of leaving them with nothing knowing that my cupboards were full of food and a nice cauliflower cheese bake that maz had made for me to microwave as she was out for the evening!

today those two same boys were back helping with our sports outreach, they told me that their hats were great and that they could now read some of the educational magazines i had left with them, and that their mother had received her pay cheque and they had some food for their family....at least for this week!

helping with some electric homework!

one of our sports mentors (rasta) with a
well worn soccer ball...anyone willing to help?

what started out as a simple visit to our sports mentors to inform them that the rain had washed out any chance of running our sports outreach in the iraq/zwelitsha informal settlement this afternoon turned into an opportunity to help two young school girls with their homework.

after chatting with the guys around a very warm wood fire about the need for some more footballs to be donated for the sports outreach over a cup of ricoffe i was asked to take their sister and a friend to the local library to enable them to do their homework, when enquiring as to what their homework was about i was told that they needed to find out about electricity.....some what ironic that the tin shack that they live in doesn't have access to electricity, or basic sanitation for that matter, but i thought that it could be an opportunity for me to take them to visit the very local, and even more ironic, water turbine powered electricity plant which lies around 2kms from their home.

chilling round an indoor fire with coffee

the girls enjoying a coffee at the visitor centre!

so we made the short trip to the palmiet dam power station, run by eskom, the same company who have completed our recent upgrades at the village of hope, and after a few minutes we made ourselves welcome into their 1st world visitor centre where the girls were presented with a pack of glossy brochures informing them about how electric is made.

back home with their info packs to help with their homework

we were also shown a short video giving some depth to the setting up of such a power station in one of the worlds 6 floral kingdoms, the cape fynbos, under the kogelberg biosphere....all this was a little overwhelming to the two girls who had only asked for a lift to the library where they would have had to scan books and paid for photocopies of info which really was on their (and their school mates) doorsteps, after a cup of coffee at the centre we returned to their tin shack, to a warm fire but alas no electricity for them to enjoy!

sometimes one has to just connect a few dots to make the day for people, if only we would take the time to do this (even me sitting here in south africa, a missionary to this land) for our fellow man.

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.

new wholehearted video shoot

set up day 1 in waterworks

as part of our fundraising drive for the work that thembalitsha is doing in grabouw, via thembacare and village of hope, and the wider foundation with the other 5 projects in the western cape, we are once again partnering with the amazing south african band from somerset west called 'wholehearted', these guys filmed a music video with us last year (see youtube link here) and they have been visiting us and the communities that we work in to shoot a new video for a song that will be used to tell the story of the day to day lives of thousands of people in our town and other such towns like grabouw throughout south africa.

red ballons on some homes used to tell part of the story

yesterday afternoon and all day today we have been filming in the waterworks informal settlement, using everyday people to tell their everyday stories, we also shot part of the film with the soccer club that we run in the iraq informal settlement and also had help from the careworkers and house moms at thembacare and the village of hope.

soccer outreach with the kids in iraq

we were blessed to have the support of the whole community where we were filming and they were very keen in appearing in a film that will be used to support the work that we are doing to bring healthcare and education to literally hundreds of people like them, be they family, friends or neighbours.

as soon as the dvd is released we will be posting it on youtube for you to view but as you can see we have posted a few photos showing the filming and the team who are sold out to make a difference in the very lives of the people who appear in the dvd.

how to make someone's day.....provide them with candles and matches!

barbara and our good friend
outside his small home

you may remember the story about a young 16 year old boy that has become a great friend to me, read the short blog post from december 2010 by clicking here, well yesterday, via some funds that were donated from a generous guy in england we were able to bless this local teenage boy with some basic supplies.

the photos show barbara wood, from aylesbury, southcourt baptist church, with this young guy both inside and outside of his small wooden shack in the zwelitsha (iraq squatter camp) here in grabouw. this guy is such a blessing to me, as he helps me to translate to the younger xhosa speaking kids at our sports outreach each tuesday afternoon.

you couldn't imagine the delight in
receiving a couple of candles and a few matches!

he was so happy with his parcel, which included some tinned and dried food, as well as deodorant and much to his delight some matches and candles. we (thembalitsha/thembacare/village of hope) don't normally hand out support in this direct way, as it can create a culture of reliance upon us to provide, which is obviously unsustainable and doesn't empower people to help themselves, however there are some exceptions to every rule and it was such a humbling experience to know that these few supplies will help this young guy not only to have a fuller stomach and less body odour but also light for him to do his homework in these dark winter evenings!

winter arrives with avengence

family sit around fire and potjie

on tuesday afternoon we were basking in temperatures in the high 20's and could hardly imagine that within two days we would be sitting with frost on the ground and the need of a fire to keep warm. not only have the temperatures dropped but the amount of rain, falling as snow on the high mountain tops that surround the village of hope and the town of grabouw, has washed away the roads and caused some homes to become very unstable.

this community sits with a real conundrum, the winter weather which is much needed by the local farmers to send the apple trees and vines into hibernation comes at a price for those living in the townships and squatter camps, these people who live in little more than 'garden sheds' with no electricity or even basic sanitation have a tough time even in the summer months. it is hard to imagine how these people survive these harsh days.

there were many who left without soup today

we are able to do a little bit to help, every friday we collect soup from a local restaurant and next week we are going to be distributing some of the children's clothes that we have been sorting from the donations we receive. however today there were so many people, especially children that we had to turn away from the soup run, to see their eyes full of joy turn to sadness is so tough.

if you would like to help us make a real difference to those either affected or infected by HIV, AIDS and TB, as well as supporting the children in the poorest of the poor communities then please get in touch.

finding new rest

as part of one of our dutch (HAN) university students thesis he needed to find out what difference the sports outreach that we run in the community had made to the young people that we work with, so this morning we (me and bart) spent an hour interviewing a couple of the boys that we work with in the iraq squatter camp.

the area is made up of small tin shacks with limited access to running water, no basic sanitation and no electricity, the local municipality has been encouraging people to move their homes to a new area, slightly nearer to town (like 200 yards!) but on what will become 'serviced' plots...that basically means that they will have a stand pipe within walking distance, access to a toilet, which they will share with another 12 families, but still no electricity.

people have slowly been moving their homes to this new area, and whilst chatting with the boys this morning i found out that the local community have named the place zwelitsha (or new rest)....whilst the name is somewhat better than iraq i still wonder how anyone can call that place 'rest', but for those few families that's what it is and we are constantly challenged by the resilience of these people who live in the most desperate conditions in the world.

the photo shows a small boy who was desperate for me to take a photo of him reading his bible in his new home at new rest!

homes for sail.....take 2

see previous story here.
once again we have been blessed with the provision of two sailing (yacht) sails from our friend mike in somerset west, and once again we have blessed another family in the iraq squatter camp, grabouw, with a new roof.


photos show arron, our eldest son chris and chris' father-in-law paul smith taking a morning to cut and install the sail.

christmas in the squatter camps

i don't think anyone can really appreciate the poverty that surrounds our town until they have visited the poorest of the poor, not just on some township tour but walking, talking, sharing time and conversation in the very homes of the thousands of people who live in some of the worst conditions in the world. the contrast between the have and have nots is somewhat brain challenging but God has provided us with a platform to not only help but really engage with these people.

on fridays we are provided an amazing pot of soup from our local resturant (the rose and bull) which we normally share with a local soup kitchen that cares of the needs of a small number of people in the rooidakke informal settlement, however last friday (christmas eve) the centre was shut but we still had the soup to give out...therefore rob (house) called me to see who we could bless with it.

we made our way to the iraq squatter camp, which sits above rooidakke, in my bakkie and encouraged everyone to go and collect their pots where we then ladled out soup into litrelly hundreds of bowls...it was an amazing sight to behold as the rains fell on the tin shacks people were blessed with hot soup, full of meat for their christmas eve meal...

i thank God for the opportunities he places for us to be his hands and feet in some of the most shocking places of this amazing country of south africa.

when all hope is lost, there's still hope in Jesus!

it's five years ago today since i first stepped foot on south african soil, a lot has changed since then and having moved over full time two years ago i have meet some amazing people, these could be white vineyard owners, coloured community leaders or simple black children who capture your heart with their stories and smiles.

no one has captured my heart more than a 15 year old boy who has been regularly coming to our sports outreach in the iraq squatter camp in grabouw, this young lad has provided me with endless hours of laughter, his ability to translate my bible stories or soccer training to the younger children has enabled me to build into many many children's lives.....however his life story is one that would keep me awake at night as the wind and rain pour down on my tiled roof, whilst he only about 1/2 a mile away from my home contends with the same conditions in his small tin shack.

only last week when we were chatting about how the local people have accepted me (us VoH) into their community did he really share the truth about his life, the hardships he faces each day as he lives away from his mother due to her new boyfriend not wanting to help her children from another marriage.....

....not only does he care for himself, cooking, cleaning, collecting water, but he also walks to school each day to gain the education to change his life. when i asked him how he coped he replied that 'well i pray to Jesus every night like you tell me Tim, and he helps me when i feel sad, or lonely or scared'.....

there's not much hope for the likes of this guy, but his only hope is placed at the feet of Jesus.

help with a home

around 1000 people live on a deserted mountain side in grabouw which used to be a pine plantation, this area called iraq has one standpipe and no electricity. the local municipality are currently completing some much needed work to bring basic sanitation into the area but the people living there have been asked to move their own houses to an area slightly (like 200 yards) nearer to town to be nearer to the water!...this is no mean task with no transport, tools or materials.

thembacare make frequent visits to iraq and have a number of people who they are caring for, ensuring that they continue to take their medication, one of these patients is a very sick man (in his 30's) and he was asked to move his home to the new site. we (village of hope) were asked if we could help.

as we had some willing volunteers around we made a visit to the 'home'(a small tin shack)but it was clear to see that this simple structure was in no fit state to be moved....


..what to do?...well with some funds that were donated by the Tim Berger mission team we purchased a brand new wooden home (ok we would call it a shed but to the man and his young nephew this was to provide some welcome comfort in comparison to their previous structure).

there is always a dilemma in how we best hope those in need, we face poverty and disease day in day out but there are some cases which touch your heart and therefore after long consideration we felt that we should bless this man, you should have seen the look on his face as the lorry came along with all the materials, the home was installed and we shared a smile as he stepped over the thresh hold of that 'home'.

as i said this isn't something we make a habit of doing, handouts make people reliant on charity but if you would like to help us bless more of those 'one off patients', or those who have lost a home to fire (which is also a frequent problem) just make a donation of around £600 and we will tell of more stories of hope.

(the photo shows the new home (light orange) against a backdrop of other shacks and the wonderful grabouw valley in the background)

birthday smiles

today emily and i visited one of the girls we work with in iraq squatter camp to celebrate her birthday, emily, issac and rosie had made a cake, which went down very well.

photo shows emily, the 13 year old girl and the birthday cake.

english homework....

yesterday as i visited the homes in iraq (squatter camp, grabouw, south africa) which had been blown down by the wind i popped in to see some of the other children that we work with in that community.

there is one special 9 year old girl who has captured all our hearts at the village of hope, she lives in a two roomed tin shack with her mother and baby sister, as i visited them yesterday i was somewhat shocked by the sight i saw. the girl was sitting with her A4 pad doing her english homework, whilst her mom kept warm under the covers of the only bed, which had been moved into the living area as the bedroom roof was rattling around and leaking in the rain which was pouring down. her two year old sister was calling my name as we sat and chatted.

no broadband bitesize revision from the bbc to help here, just pen, paper and a willingness to learn in the most difficult of circumstances......and with a smile on your face as well!.

photo shows girl doing english homework, mother in bed and baby sister in their two room tin shack.

more issues for shack families

south africa has it's share of good weather but sitting on top of the mountains grabouw also has it's share of rain and when it rains it really rains, unfortunately with the rain and change of season comes the wind...

...many of the people in grabouw don't have the secure brick built structures and tiled roofs, in fact thousands of people live in little more than small sheds made from broken pallets, tin sheets and old pieces of wood..

...on tuesday night the wind blew and blew and when i went to run the soccer outreach in iraq (a local squatter camp, where many of the seasonal apple pickers and their families live and not just for the picking season but that is where they have built their family homes!) three of the 'tin shacks' had had their roof's/tin sheets/plastic sheeting ripped off and the local church (also a tin/wooden structure) was providing a home to the women and children who were affected.

spare a thought for these families who have now got to rebuild not only their roof's but also their lives as many of their possessions were damaged by water, what with the heavy rains that also swept through the settlement.

photo shows three of the boys who attend my soccer outreach standing outside one of their homes which lost it's roof.