Who We Are
Blessed to be a Blessing, One by One.
The Australian involvement with Hands at Work in Africa started in a very small way - a couple, and a church, then another volunteer.
13 years ago a retired couple (Sal and Robyn from the state of Victoria) stumbled across George and Carolyn Snyman’s work seeking and serving the poorest of the poor - showing Jesus' compassion and the Heart of His Father. A few years later, a young woman somehow learned of Hands at Work, and went on a short-term visit. Her father Shane was a pastor of a church that started sending teams over to visit a Hands at Work community each year, and to send support for that community from the members of the church.
In the midst of these small advances we made two exciting discoveries:
Firstly, as we worked and gave, God was doing a deeper work. As we worked, He worked. As we gave, He gave back. We discovered that we could not look on our time, talents or treasures the same way anymore. They were given to us to share and serve with. God had blessed us, so we were compelled to bless others.
Secondly, as we served, we learned that our little sacrifices were multiplied over and over in blessings that couldn't be measured in dollars or days. We saw glimpses of glory. We saw Africa's communities more clearly, and we saw our own communities more clearly. We witnessed the servanthood and amazing, powerful faith of local African Care Workers, grandmothers, and the Hands at Work community living in Africa. We discovered our own poverty of soul here in Australia, and the poverty of fractured families and broken communities. We discovered that we need compassion as much as the poorest grandmother or orphan. We discovered the beatitudes of Jesus. We discovered that our affluence camouflaged our poverty. We therefore felt strongly called to address the poverty in our own communities and in Australia and in our own hearts and lives.
These discoveries, of course, changed everything. Through God’s transformative work many long and medium-term volunteers, mission teams, and hundreds of orphaned children are being supported and cared for each year.
We have learned from Hands at Work’s decades of experience how to help Africa without hurting Africa. We work closely with Hands at Work to provide relief for the poorest of the poor, and we coordinate a framework of development that lifts these communities towards independent care of their own orphaned and vulnerable children.
Our Australian Hands at Work community continues to grow, one by one, family by family, church by church. We invite you to join our community and come on our journey with us. We are just getting started!
We invite you to experience our Father's heart, blessed to be a blessing, one by one. We are ordinary people, called to live extraordinarily because we have an extraordinary Father. We invite you to "come and see”. - John 1:46