Maintenance Day

Thursday

A very different day was in store for us as we woke up this morning. Our programme showed us as doing maintenance at the hands hub. We soon found that the task we were to do was leaf clearing in front of the building, this may sound strange but remember we are in winter here. It reminded us of leaf clearing at church in November except the leaves here were crisp and dry rather than wet and soggy in England. The team got stuck in and did a great job of clearing the whole of the grass area in front of the buildings, there were a lot of leaves.

Herman who is the head of the maintenance team thanked everyone and then said he would take us to a nearby lake on a banana plantation where we could swim. We all jumped into his pickup and headed off up the road. Some of us swam some of us watched, some of us swam right across the lake, some of us found that we had leaches on our feet, and frantic cleaning of feet took place.

We were all now conscious that we are nearing the end of the trip and will soon be heading off to Johannesburg to catch our flight. After having our lunch we went to Hermans and Charissa house for our final de-brief. Charissa asked us to share our highlights, some said it was the worship sessions in the African communities, some reflected on the simplicity of the play that we shared with the children, so much fun without an electronic devise any where near, some reflected on individuals, the joy that people greeted us and invited us into their homes, the joy that they had to tell us their stories and just how positive and full of joy people are in some of the poorest communities. We thanked Herman and Charissa for their care of us as hosts.

George and Carolyn Snyaman joined the team in the chapel for a few words of encouragement, at the end of our visit. George encouraged us to share with those back home, not to be selfish and hold onto the experience. He also encouraged us to take example from the communities, having joy in our hearts, sharing in each other's troubles, living as community and caring for each.

Our day finished with a bring and brai supper which is very similar to a bar-b-q, everyone from the hands community was there and every family brought something to cook on the grill. It was now time to check in for our flight - nothing is that simple. Because Adam and Alice had been split from our booking on the outward flight, they were no longer on our booking for the return flight. We searched the Internet with to no avail and so had to ring BA in London. They found the outward flight for Alice and Adam but told us that there was no associated return flight. We held our breath whilst they searched our return flight and to our relief confirmed that they were on the flight but now under a new booking reference.

Tomorrow morning is a Hands Worship session where our young people will share some of their experiences of the last couple of weeks before we start our 4 hour trip to Johannesburg.