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!

Day 4 - Siyathuthuka

Thursday 

We met at 8am for breakfast with the team together. After this the room had a discussion about their time so far and then we left for the Siyathatuka village. After meeting and greeting the mother of the house we put ourselves to work. Jessica, Claire and Adam started on the vegetables and the others, helped sweep and wash the community centre floor whilst Chris was commanded to 'run man run' by a little girl of no more then 2 years old.

We all gathered in the shade as it was extremely hot and sunny today, Floyd prayed for us and our journeys to people's homes that were to take place this morning. We divided ourselves into 4 groups. One group was to stay behind and cook whilst the others went into the community.  Below are a summary of our stories we heard this morning:

Adam, Alex, Dave, Floyd

When we arrived at the first house nobody was home so we swiftly moved onto the next home. It was a long walk down a very dusty track and it was very hot and sunny. We met the grandmother of the house who was the care giver for 10 children. Whilst there she taught us how to crack peanuts and showed us her garden and the vegetables she was growing there. We complimented her garden and she was thankful for that. Before we left we prayed for her health, as she was poorly and for her family. 

Alice, Jessica, Claire

The first house we visited was a 14 year old girl who lived with her mother, brother, two siblings and the brothers little baby in a tiny one room house. The mother had moved from Mozambique and although has a passport has no South African ID card, this meant that they do not have any access to government funding for their family. The mother had recently started working in a school kitchen for a few hours a day but the oldest brother was still looking for work.

The second house was much larger and belong to Freedom and her family. Her father had died when she was a baby and her mother passed away when she was 6. She now lives with her aunt and uncle and their two children. A couple of months ago she went 'off the rails' and was disrespectful to her aunt, went clubbing, was sneaking out and cutting her clothes short. After the children's camp with Hands she has turned her life around and is now a youth worker at the care point and studying hard at school. She wants to become a lawyer. 

Chris and Nick

We went to the house of 3 boys and their sick mother. One of the brothers had stabbed another brother on his arm and so it was all bandaged up. The mother wasn't there and the boy that stabbed the other had run away. Both boys had been excluded from school for one year. The care worker gave the boys a serious talking to about their behaviour, fighting and the consequences of their actions. Before we left we prayed for their mother and that God would help them to resolve their differences more peacefully. 

Alison, Alice, AJ

When we had finished cooking we also went on a home visit. We went to see Tulua but we were met with her brother instead as she was at school. Her brother and father both work and live in Johannesburg and occasionally come home to see her. Whilst they are away she is cared for by a home care worker as she is only 13 years old. Their house was unsafe and Tulua felt very vulnerable so Hands at Work put a new front door on their house to enable her to feel safer. We prayed for the brothers health and Tulua's grades at school.

 

The afternoon was filled with playing football with several children and washing up the lunch plates. Comparing this care point to the others we had seen it seemed a lot quieter and less organised. The children get out of school later on a Thursday and go home to change before coming to the care point, meaning they arrive a lot later.

On our way home we stopped to get chicken dust (a roadside cooked whole chicken) which everyone loved. We stopped at the shops to get some food ready for our trip to Kruger on Saturday. After dinner we had a debrief with Charissa, Herman and Dan and we chatted about our day. We had a few concerns about the lack of care workers that were at the point today along with the small amount of children, however Dan explained the care point in much more detail. He described the situation in Siyathatuka and how it had been through a difficult patch but gradually building it back up again. The main point we learnt was that the care workers themselves are often in the same situation as the children who come to the care point, and in times of need have to find paid work to support their family. We were very thankful to Dan for explaining the situation and are now looking forward to going back there tomorrow.

Day 3 in the community - another visit to the "Share" community

Wednesday

We woke up on Wednesday morning at the Wits Rural Facility just across the boundary in Limpopo province, to visitors in the form of Impala and Monkeys. We swiftly proceeded back to the community of Share via Pick n' Pay for a delightful and varied breakfast consisting of chips, vegetable salad, mine pies, chicken pies, sausage rolls and Black Forest gateaux amongst other delights.

We arrived at the care point early and Jackie our Hands at Work representative used the time to go through what is know as the "Hands at Work Wall". This is based on the book of Nehemiah in the Bible. This tells the story of Nehemiah rebuilding society. Jackie put a chair in the middle of our group and asked us to imagine it was a child in the community in which we were visiting. We named the child Kwame and decided that he was 6 years old. Jackie then challenged us to think about how Kwame was vulnerable, we replied that perhaps Kwame was short of food and hungry, or that perhaps he had been abused, or had been exposed to something when he was young. We also thought that Kwame had perhaps lost his parents to AIDS as many children in the community had.

The Hands at Work Wall attempts to put a wall of safety around these vulnerable children by ensuring that the children get a wholesome meal once a day, that they have access to education and a secure place to live. The latter may be with relatives or friends. The care workers in the community support this model by being 'with' the children. We have seen this first hand and in action, as we have walked around the community with these workers and seeing them in relationship with all the families just as they walk down the street and visit people's homes.

The foundations of this Wall is Christ, with a layer above of the local church leaders and above that healthy community leadership. Not all of the community are Christian but the children who come along to the care point experience a strong Christian presence amongst the Care Workers and their support network.

To our surprise the children arrived early after having only a half day of school. The reason for this was unclear but a popular theory was that this had something to do with a sports day. This gave us some time before our home visits to play with children.

After praying, worshipping and some dancing with the Care Workers and children we left the Care Point in small groups for our home visits;

Alison and Claire met a family consisting of a mother and three children - the father had disowned them. The youngest son lived with the mother and the oldest son and his wife had just moved in to help support her and the youngest due to the mothers severe sugar diabetes.

Alice, Alice and Alex met two children who had lost their parents six years ago and now live in a government home that was built for them along with their Aunt. One child wanted to be a policeman while the other wished to be a doctor of animals or as we would call it a Vet.

Adam, AJ and Nicholas visited a 16 year old who unfortunately was unable to visit the care point today as he was at the clinic. We went to his home to show support and pray with his grandfather. The boy came back and we prayed for his health. He challenged Adam to a dance off which he then decided he was too unwell for when in a shocking turn of events Adam accepted the challenge. He then revealed his least favourite subject in school is mathematics (we could relate to this!) and shared his dream to become a fire fighter.

Jessica, Chris and DJ visited a mother, who lived with her three sons, in a small home with a compound and a small garden. She had a few chickens, some cattle and a small vegetable garden where she was growing lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, papaya and other plants that we couldn't identify. Jessica remarked after our visit that she saw this as a real answer to pray, as it was not many years ago that the mother was really struggling with a home that wasn't big enough and no source of self sufficiency. Hands had helped her to rebuild her house and had supported her to achieve what she currently has. We also met one of her sons who kindly showed us his maths book, which was full of good marks and then he proudly showed us his school report with marks in all subjects above 60%. He dreams to become a pilot.

At the end of each evening we sit down for a de-brief with one of the Hands staff. This evening we sat down with Herman (He's great!) and reflected upon our experiences of the day. We reflected on how much we had actually learnt from the people of Share, so much sense of community and support, when most of us had never spoken to our neighbours. The care workers would stop and talk to everyone in the street checking that they were OK and catching up. We also all agreed how powerful the reaction to us just coming and listening to people's stories was and how this meant the world to them, this created a range of emotions and a feeling of empowerment and responsibility.

Without exception, we are all learning so much from these people, who have so little and yet give so much to each other, their community and to us. Jessica summed our feelings up by pointing out a poster on the wall that says :-

"It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for" - Ephesians 1:11

A day in the life of Chef Dave!

Tuesday - cooking at "Share"

I stayed behind at the care point whilst the others went to do home based care.  So I helped two of the care workers prepare the food, this started off by starting the fire in their kitchen which was a brick built building with a door, small cap between the roof and the walls with very little ventilation.  To get the fire started they gathered some plastic bags stuck in the wire fence surrounding the care point, rolled them up and lit them.  Within minutes the kitchen was filled with a thick smoke and the heat began to rise from the burning wood on the floor.  We then placed one of the big metal cauldrons on the fire, which took two of us to lift and filled it with water to cook the maize meal called 'pap'.  Whilst the water was boiling we began to prepare the rest of the food, we cut onions, potatoes, carrots and placed all of these in another smaller cauldron to cook. Once they were cooked we added soya mince along with beef and onion flavouring.  We added the maize meal to the now boiling water and began to stir, the spoon we used was a meter in length and made from wood.  As the maize began to cook it thickened and became very hard to stir, so with the combined smoke, heat and physical hard work of stirring the pap it made me realise what a job these care workers have to do and how much respect I have for them. I will think of these care workers next time I put a ready meal in the microwave and press the on button..once the food was ready the children all lined up and we dished the food out.  The smiles on their faces as they received their food made it all worth while - knowing that this may be their only meal that day too was rewarding.

Day 2 in the community - the community of "Share"

Tuesday

We began the morning with the men preparing breakfast and the women eating and then going to morning prayer. Morning prayer involved a gathering of the women which began by the leader asking what prayers and praises we wanted to share, then reading a couple of bible verses (John15 V5-8) which prompted discussion and led us into prayer about the thoughts which we shared at the beginning of the session. We all focussed around the idea of obedience and being committed followers to God's word. 

After the women's prayer meeting we began the two and a half hour journey to Share, stopping on the way for fat cakes (Fetcok's) which are South African doughnuts!!

 When we arrived at Share we were welcomed by the care workers at the care point and we were able to communicate a greeting in their language as we'd learnt a few phrases on the bus journey. As soon as we had arrived, we began to congregate in the small room which was at the care point and to introduce ourselves to the care workers by sharing our name and one thing which we dislike, as an icebreaker. After this we read from the bible (Matthew 23 V24-28) and had a discussion regarding our thoughts, which was followed by dancing and singing. Our community support coordinator told us that when we went to take part in the holy home visits that it would be better to be fully present at one home rather than to visit many and not give them the time they need. We were then assigned to groups of around 2 or 3 people including one of the care workers and then began our holy home visits. David stayed at the care point to cook the meal for the children once they had come out of school. 

Below are our own experiences and encounters of our home visits. 

Jessica and Adam:

We visited two homes on Tuesday with our care worker. The first was an elderly couple living with their youngest son who was 14 - he was at school when we arrived. The father was particularly ill, he had a muscular disorder in which if he stopped using his muscles they would seize up. There was a clear language barrier however it was good to spend time with them and they were very grateful that we had visited. Oursecond home was another elderly gentleman who lived with his grandson. We had a brief visit, which included us sharing information about ourselves, our families and where we had come. We prayed for him and his household before we left.

Claire and Alice P

We visited Sarah's house who was the youngest of 3. When she was just 6 years old her mum locked her and her siblings in their house alone for 2 weeks. The children were found by a neighbour and had kept themselves alive by eating their own faeces. They were barely alive and went on to live with their grandma, this was 8 years ago. We spent time with her grandma sitting in her porch and listening to her story. The 

language barrier was huge but she appreciated us listening and spending time with her.  To get her through the day and difficult times she drinks her 'happy drink' and sniffs tobacco. This made it really clear that the trauma that her grandchildren had been through was still hurting today and her heart hadn't healed. She had not been to church for 4 years so we bought church to her - the care workers led us in a song and then we prayed for her, Sarah, their health and her family. She was thankful to us for praying and bringing church to her and she demonstrated this by clapping her hands and shouting hallelujah.

Alison, Alice and Nicholas

When we met to our home visit we met a mother of 3 who lives alone and is unable to find work due to a lack of jobs and the isolation of the area. In order to survive she makes reed rugs and sells them in the community and while we were there she showed us how she makes them and we were given the opportunity to make a rug with her. This was a rewarding practical experience. She has 3 children, two older daughters and a younger son. She spoke with pride of their dreams which included being a pilot, charitable accountant and a police officer or soldier. Towards the end of our visit we were prompted to pray for her, her family and their household.  This was a privilege. Leaving them behind felt strange since we knew their dreams for the future but we took comfort from the knowledge that they would be visited again soon.

Alexander, Chris and AJ

We visited an extended family in the grounds of their homes, we were visiting this family because the Uncle was caring for two orphaned children. The family consisted of the two children, their Uncle, his wife and children, the uncles Sister who was also orphaned and her children. The two ladies present at the visit, were nursing two young babies and we were quick to comment, well Alex was, on how cute they were. This resulted in Alex being handed one of the babies to cuddle, which can only be said to have made Alex's day. One of the ladies was sitting on an old water holder with a hole in it yet they gave us their only seats. Whilst this family had experienced a lot of suffering in their lives, there was a lot of joy and laughter during our visit with the care worker, which can only highlight the strength and trust between the family and their care worker and it was an honour to witness this. Whilst we were sitting talking to the family, one of the children returned from school and after hugging each of the babies, he politely introduced himself to us, again with a wonderful smile on his face. The care worker asked the ladies what they wanted us to pray for, they replied that we should pray that they find jobs and that their children did well at school, particularly the niece who has been struggling at school recently. We prayed for the family and thanked them for welcoming us into their homes, it was a privilege.

Once we'd returned from our home visits we played catch and football, and then we gathered together with the children; this included worship songs and prayer. David, as well as the other cooks, began serving food to the children which was Pap with potatoes and stock. We joined the children and care workers in this meal. It was most of our first experiences of eating Pap. Once we'd finished eating, we washed our dishes, said our goodbyes and left for our overnight stay in Wits as we were returning to this care point tomorrow. 

Day 1 in the community!

Monday

For the boys the day started at 7am with morning prayer. This was an encouraging session as we all shared our concerns and positive feelings with someone we had never met before. The girls were busy preparing breakfast ready for 7:30 when the boys returned. Breakfast included some yummy rusks (which were dipped in tea) yogurts and a selection of cereal. 

This was followed by a morning meeting at 8:00 where everyone from the Hands community gathered for morning worship. The meeting started with some general announcements followed by several birthdays and the learning of a new happy birthday song. Next followed some time to say a touching farewell to one of the members who was leaving after serving for one year. The worship closed with some prayers and several African songs. 

Orientation was scheduled for 9am and whilst we were waiting outside DJ and AJ were lucky enough to see a monkey, the rest of us had to settle for a lizard! Herman and Charissa met us and talked through some keys things we needed to know for our time here and in the communities. Serving with open hearts and being prepared to listen to people's stories were the key things we needed to take from the orientation. Before we headed out to Mluti, we had a packed lunch to prepare us for the afternoon. 

At 12:00 we left for the community of Mluti. On the way we had to stop off at Pick 'N Pay as one of the care points had run out of food, so we delivered a cheque... this meant that those children could eat today. 

Upon arrival to the care point, we met the mother of the house who welcomed us and taught us some Swati phrases. 

Sawubona = hello

Kunjani? = how are you?

Kulungile = I'm find

Ngiyabonga = thanks 

We then learnt a couple of songs in both Swati and English. The children arrived gradually, first a boy who was unwell and had been taken to the clinic by his older sister and then the others arrived. At first the children were a little shy but when presented with a basketball, skipping rope and some marbles we all soon become good friends. Skipping in Mluti is much faster than in England and Alice and Claire were not quite up to scratch, so were shown how to do it by the mother of the house. Just before dinner we all made a circle and sang and danced to praise Jesus and thank him for the meal they were about to eat. Alice and AJ served up the pap and beans, the children lined up in height order, meaning the late comer who happened to be the shortest got straight to the front of the queue. We filled their bowls up to the top as it was their only meal of the day and they did not leave a single piece of rice in their bowl. The children waited for clean water to wash their hands and for siblings to arrive to share their food. After all the children had eaten and had enough food the care workers were then able to eat what little was left.

After dinner we played some more games. They particularly enjoyed playing with our parachute and learning some hand tricks.  A couple of boys were also extremely interested in Alice's camera, even digging into her pockets to find it, leading to some hilarious pictures. One girl we met was twelve years old and she goes to the care point every day with her sister. She attends school and enjoys going despite hating maths and hopes to become a teacher of English and Geography. Her courage and determination was inspiring and we were taken aback by her mature conviction at such a young age.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day and when we were told it was time to say goodbye found it particularly sad to leave as we had made a connection with the children. On the journey home, we were struck by the contrast in wealth and way of life throughout the area, with people living more lavish lifestyles with high walls surrounding them next to others living in more basic homes. We stopped on the way home for slaap chips, the brilliant piri piri option was a huge hit with the boys. 

We were all amazed with the joy in the children's hearts, this was infectious and we learnt so much about living and supporting each other as a community, even when you have very little yourself. This was a very humbling encounter for us and it demonstrated that we do not need a wealth of possessions to be happy - a ball provided more joy for us in one afternoon than Saturday night TV. We are looking forward to joining the care workers tomorrow morning and visiting people's homes. 

Watch this space to hear more of our memories.

 Here are some pictures from visting and working in the community.

Jo'berg to White River!

Sunday

Our journey continued following Johannesburg with a stop at Alzu Service Station. Following the tiring journey, everyone quickly fell asleep in the minibus and slept for a good two hours until arriving at the service station. Here, we saw some of the African wildlife... rhinos, zebras, buffalo and ostriches! 

After another two hours in the minibus, we arrived at Hands at Work's base outside White River. We were given a hospitality orientation before being handed our keys and finding our rooms. We then went on a delightful tour of the village, as lead by DJ, which encompassed everyone and everything!

Our dinner was then prepared by us all and Chris and DJ cooked on the brie... that's like a BBQ- which was delicious. The evening continued with the sharing of stories and emotions, and Alice and Adam wrote the blog. Some people then went and showered and we all managed to get an early night at 8 o'clock. Everyone had a really good night's sleep (except DJ due to Chris's persistent and loud snoring!) and were refreshed from the joys of bed!

Here are some photos of our stop at Alzu and our first night in White River.

The first adventure!

The first adventure! 

We all met in the chapter house at 11 o clock and had a cheeky doughnut! 

We met our drivers and packed up our cars after we had taken our all important malaria tablets! We then had a joint picture and said our goodbyes, got in the cars and left for the airport. 

It took a long time to get to the airport but we were thankful to those that gave us lifts. We unpacked said our fond farewells and took up residents in the terminal! After two hours we joined the queue for dropping off our bags behind 90 students from a school in Pocklington on a sports tour. They noticed our Hands at Work T-Shirts and informed us that they had sponsored the charity as part of their tour! 

Unfortunately when Adam tried to check in he was unable to as there were a few with his important documents not signed and verified by a solicitor which was the issue (contrary to the information we had been given by BA and the embassy) so the mad dash to get Adam to Africa began! Dozens of phone calls and conversations later with managers, parents, vicars and various others it was decided that the majority of the team would continue through security! After a few frantic calls to Biggleswade and the very kind help of Steve the Solicitor the documents were signed, stamped and 

en-route to be delivered by hand to Terminal Five! 

The nervous wait had begun. Alice and Adam had booked standby seats for the 9:20pm flight and the others all departed on the 7:10 flight - who would know when we be reunited! 

Over to Alice and Adam....... 

To pass the time we tucked into delicious Tapas and awaited the delivery of the all important documents.... 

7:30 came (an hour before check in closed) and Adam ran to meet his parents and 

retrieve the documents... Then we began to wait some more....

Although on standby seats we were not able to be confirmed until 8:35 when check in officially closed..... The Penwrights waited with us and entertained us with stories of fishing and sheds! We tried to confirm our seats a number of times but simply told that it was "Going to be tight"! 

8:35 came, documents had been checked and the all important phone call came through... They said that we could now go airside and presented us with our boarding passes... After quick goodbyes we legged it through security, across the terminal, on 

a train and then to the gate.. We had made it!!!

Finally we boarded the plane, found our seats and went for a wee!! Movies were watched and food was eaten and then sleep was had!! 

Meanwhile on Flight BA0055, the rest of the team were tucking into some delicious Vegetable Lasagne and passing the time away with movies and chatter... They did not know whether we had made it onto a flight or were on our way home back to Biggleswade! 

Morning came and the majority of the team landed in Joberg, passed through 

security, picked up their bags and sat and waited in the Spur cafe for the imminent 

arrival 2 hours later or maybe longer of us.....As they landed we were waking up to our delicious English Breakfast and cup of tea! 

The next challenge then began - passport control in South Africa for Adam..... Would we get through or would we be back on a plane to London.... We queued and queued and queued and finally we went up to the desk... After a few questions and clarification of documents we were through and into South Africa but there was one more challenge to overcome.... Would Alice's bag be on the carousel, still at Heathrow or on the original flight!! 

Good news came as both cases appeared round the corner and now we could go and be reunited with the rest of the team! Our South Africa adventure could now begin!

Here are some photos of our wait in Heathrow and journey over to Joburg.

Commissioning Service

Commissioning Service - Friday 24th July 

Last night our adventure began with our commissioning service.

There was a large turnout including the Bishop, Nick Laurence from Hands at Work and Dean Pusey our diocesan youth coordinator.  

This was the first time the whole team had been together, and we bonded immediately over discussions of where we could use the toilet while in the community! 

We enjoyed music played by our scratch band, and sang song especially chosen by the room.

The service started with communion and concluded with an anointing where the Bishop crossed each of our hands with holy oil followed by the declaration of the rooms dedication to the cause. 

After the service we shared tea and biscuits with the congregation and then we reserved our seats for Saturday's flight, taking us another step towards the exciting leaving day.