Adam Penwright

Hi, I'm Adam and I'm part of the group of 11 travelling to South Africa in, what is now, less than 3 weeks! It's really exciting that the trip is so close as we've been organising it and planning it for a long time; it will be great to see our ideas come to fruition. I've never been anywhere as far away as South Africa so working with 'Hands at Work' will be a completely new experience for me that I hope will come with many new challenges, it should be an inspiring and memorable trip for everyone involved.

I've recently finished my A Levels at Stratton Sixth Form where I studied maths, music and history. I'm hoping to read maths and music as a joint honours degree at university, and am planning to start this September. I'm hoping to go into teaching after this, to carry on learning everyday and to pass on what I've learnt to others.

I attend Biggleswade Baptist Church and am also a member of 'The Room', both of which have strengthened and encouraged my faith and understanding of Christianity over the past few years. It's been exciting to see what was originally just an idea, grow into this trip and we have an awful lot of people to thank, for supporting us financially, through prayer and through guidance in practical planning and organising.

It's difficult to comprehend the massive HIV/AIDS crisis that is affecting so many people across sub-Saharan Africa. When there are an estimated 53 million orphans living in Africa (Unicef - 2006) we are going to have a virtually non-existant impact on the lives of the vast majority of these children. But that does not mean that this is an issue too big or too difficult to solve. 'Hands at Work' say that on average it costs only 50 pence each day to provide a child for everything they need. This is a tiny amount of money but would completely change a child's life.

Galatians 5:13-14 says this:

"It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom."

I hope that through our trip to South Africa we demonstrate this. 'Hands at Work' believe that we should aim to serve God, serve those that the charity are caring for, and serve those already working out in Africa. We are not going to South Africa to directly save 53 million orphans, but rather to support and hopefully expand the amazing work already going on.

The next few weeks are going to be an unforgettable and amazing experience, unlike anything I've done before. Travelling to, and working in, South Africa will be challenging but I can't wait for it all to start. Thank you for all of your support so far and I hope it'll continue during the our last bit of time preparing in England, and during our time in Mpumalanga.