Day 5 - Siyathuthuka

 Friday 

 We started the day with joining the rest of the Hands at Work team in Community Prayer at Siyathuthuka. Care workers, care givers and other members of the communities joined us for singing, dancing and encouragement to the community and care workers of Siyathuthuka. 

 After some lively and energetic African singing, Dan from Hands at Work led us in a thought for the day. It was based on Acts 3 and 4 - the story of Peter and John. We started by teaching the community the well known Sunday School song of Peter and John followed by the retelling of the story with dramatic interpretations along the way. The five main points of the story that Dan pulled out were....

1) What you think you want isn't always what you need... But God knows what you need

2) To really listen intently to a person when engaging with them...

3) You can only give what you have... 

4) Start a relationship with an action before preaching at them

5) Pray for Gods courage to share his love 

Dan also asked whether anyone was wounded, broken or needed prayer and asked us if we felt this way, to stand up and to draw a line in the sand to be healed. He explained that this may not be an instant healing, but a gradual process in which we will become closer to God. I (Jessica) decided that I wanted to stand to ask God to support me in my decision to begin a closer journey with God. My realisation that I have been called to serve God in all parts of my life has suddenly become clear and this morning's worship session is just the beginning.

The rest of the morning was dedicated to encouraging and treating the Care Workers. After a quick dash to the shops for hand cream, we began to pamper the ladies using the cream and nail varnish kindly donated by Angela (Jessica and Alison's Grandma). The boys took to massaging the ladies feet whilst the girls painted their nails. The ladies were so pleased with the results that they took photographs of them on their phones.

One of the care workers (Freedom's Aunt) whose house we had visited yesterday was so thankful that she braided our hair. It took minutes but looked amazing!

 

 After the pampering session we prepared for the Kids afternoon that was to come... Alexander and DJ watered the vegetable patch and used the saw to cut off branches that were too low. We prepared dinner for the children and then ate ourselves so that we could be ready for when the children arrived. 

 

The children began to arrive and the games began. Nail painting, throw and catch, football, netball and parachute games happened including the new game we had learnt at "Share" called Impala, Impala, Lion! Next it was time to get the children in the Care Point for worship, a thought for the day and prayer before dinner. Today this session was led by Adam and Alice. We opened with singing "We are marching in the light of God" led by Adam and all the children joined in with the actions of clapping, singing, dancing and finally marching. It certainly blew the roof off.

Adam and Alice then led us in a thought for the day. It was based on Jude 1 v 17-23. Adam and Alice shared four main points with us that were translated along the way by Audrey. 

1) We have doubts and how to overcome those

2) Being afraid to talk to others about our faith 

3) A fear of the future and how to combat the unknown

4) A worry of not sharing Gods Love with others 

They finished off with praying for the children and the community before sharing the verse from Jeremiah 29 v 11 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope for the future." 

Just before dinner, we said the Lords Prayer together. The community in Swati and the team in English. We then served dinner to the children who sat inside today due to the wind blowing the dust around the yard. We said our fond farewells and headed for home.

 In our de- brief Alice shared the following story from today...

Freedom whose house some of us visited yesterday joined us at the care point today. She is a youth leader there and if you remember from yesterday lost both her parents by the age of six and now lives with her Aunt. She had recently "gone off he rails" but had now turned a corner and was a very helpful, mature and articulate young lady. Today Alice had the priviledge of hearing her story. Alice painted her nails and then she began to open up and share the story of how her parents had died when she was young and she was astonished by the love that others had for her and how grateful she was to those that care for her. The sadness of the death of her parents was still very evident but she still had amazing aspirations and hope for her future which was inspiring. We are learning the importance of being vulnerable towards those you trust and sharing our stories. Alice was moved by hearing her story but it was bought to life by a hug at the end. Herman told us that we should treasure these God moments during our time here and asked us to think about how we are going to use what we have learnt in our lives when we return. 

To conclude our debrief session, Herman - our host- asked us a question "If we had not come to Hands at Work, what would our group relationship be like?" This is something all the group, particularly The Room, found interesting to think about. We concluded that our group would not be anywhere near as strong as it is, particularly as we have all become vulnerable and shared our high and low points with each other - almost like becoming another family!