“What a joy it was to stand among this diverse group of people, representing every demographic and many different locales and marvel at how we are all knit together by God with one passion and purpose…”
Knowing Their Names
“We didn't know any South African Christmas traditions so instead we hastily cut the shape of a baobab tree out of two pieces of cardboard and slotted the pieces to make a tree. We wrote the first name of all the children in Zwelisha on pieces of card, tied them with a ribbon and hung them on the tree….”
He Changed Me ...
A Vessel For His Glory
I still remember the hues of vibrant rust colored dirt that coated my sandals as I looked down at my feet. I recall the blazing hot African sun beating down on my shoulders. I call to mind the enticing aroma of open air food cooking around me. Most of all I hold dear the sound of all the voices in unison singing praises to Jesus! Oh how I loved dancing with our brothers and sisters in Christ as we praised our Savior! Those beautiful memories still linger in our minds as if it were yesterday.
Our Part of the Wall - Kiwewe, DR Congo
Julia Essman, a mom from Munich, Germany is mobilising her child's school to care for vulnerable children in DR Congo. “Ever since I visited the classrooms of my son’s school, kids run towards me wherever I go, asking about the children in Kiwewe village and telling me how much they appreciate the work..”
Our Part of the Wall - Mngwere, Malawi
Jon Mycio, a student from London, Ontario, Canada is mobilising his friends to care for the poor in Africa. While Jon was serving with Hands at Work in 2011 he sowed in to communities in South Africa and Zambia and the experiences he had sowed something deep in him too.
Now his university Bible Study has committed to sacrificing student luxuries so that children in Malawi can have a better life.
Beauty of Grace
David Da Costa is a musician from Mozambique, living in Australia. Him and his wife, Carly, give time volunteering for Hands at Work in Australia. Inspired by stories of desperate African communities, they wrote this song and we are giving it to you now as a free download.
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Following her Heart back to Africa (CAN) (SA)
Christa Roby, a massage therapist in British Columbia, Canada, volunteered with Hands at Work for six months in South Africa in 2010. Two years later, she feels an undeniable pull to return. Read her reflections as she prepares to pack up her life in Canada and follow her heart, and God’s calling, to Africa.
"For me, it's harder to be away from Africa than it is here... It’s where my heart is. After being there so much and having that time with the people there, and seeing someone who has so little, but gives so much, it just becomes something you want to be a part of, something you want to share in...It's raw, it's innocent, and it’s a deeper sense of fulfillment."
Read the rest Christa's reflections on coming back to Africa in the Chilliwack Progress.
"I soon realized that making the decision and actually doing the follow-through are two very distinct acts. But no matter how big the effort to follow-through would be, I knew in my heart I would walk it out."
To raise money for her trip, Christa hosted a charity gala in her hometown. Read about it on the Hands at Work Canada Page.
Transforming Hearts: The Chongs in South Africa (CAN) (SA)
Florence and Paul Chong travelled with their three children from Toronto, Canada to South Africa in March 2012. For two weeks, they exposed themselves to life on the other side of the world. Here Florence Chong reflects on "the best experience they have ever had as a family and as individuals."
The Chong family's relationship with Hands at Work was sparked by the eldest of their children, 8-year-old Nathan Chong. Nathan decided that, in lieu of gifts for his birthday, he would raise support for orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa through Hands at Work. He raise $300 CAN for the organization, but not just that, he inspired his family to make the trip to South Africa to see the results of his efforts for themselves.
We had never thought about going to Africa, not even for a vacation. We had always financially supported missions in Africa, but we thought that going there was for the called passionate few.
Then God moved us by using our 8-year old son Nathan. It started with Nathan's 7th birthday party. Instead of receiving gifts, he raised a small amount of money for Hands at Work. From there, God led us into a friendship with Hands at Work. Eventually, God prompted us to take our three children, aged 3, 5, and 8, to visit the Hands at Work Hub in South Africa. Initially, we were hesitant, but God was increasingly clear about His intentions. We knew we’d better obey.
Global prayer and fasting: 2 & 3 December
As we near the end of the year, we invite you to join us for a time of being still, reflecting and interceding for Africa's most vulnerable: its orphaned and marginalized children. Globally, throughout eight African countries and five of the developed nations, the Hands at Work family will set aside 2 & 3 December (this week) to pray and fast.“Love must be sincere... Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need.” Romans 12:9-13
FASTING
Beginning on 2 December we begin our global fast focussing on the vulnerable children we serve across Africa. James Tembo, based in Zambia, shared the following earlier this year at the annual Hands at Work Celebration: “True compassion is burdensome and results in action. When [last] did we fast for the orphans?”
The timing is strategic: The 'silly season' goes hand-in-hand with busyness and end-of-year fatigue. Setting this time aside gives us an opportunity to maintain a healthy perspective and to deepen our dependence & trust in God.
PRAYER
You're welcome to join us as we enter into a continuous chain of prayer from 9AM on 2 December until 4PM on 3 December. ("South Africa-time" is GMT +02:00). On these two days will be focus our prayer on the care & nurture of Africa's children. We'll pray for their futures, the realizing of their dreams and their salvation.
Note: The Prayer and Fasting will happen in Africa on 1 & 2 December and in our global families on 2 & 3 December. The idea is to accommodate community involvement.
We look forward to your feedback on what has come out of your dedicated time of prayer!
Keep checking back: we will post notes on fasting and updates on the various countries we work in to help guide your prayers.
Cycling enthusiasts take community by storm! (SA)
On a hot day in September, a group of Church Unlimited cyclists took the community of Mpakeni in northeastern South Africa by storm. Church Unlimited has been partnering with a group of Mpakeni care workers called Siphamandla Home-Based Care over the last year. The Nelspruit-based church is one of Hands at Work's key partners in South Africa. Watch the video below to find out what the event was all about!
My-News.tv Mpakeni from Mario Kolbé on Vimeo.
Youthful Perspective (CAN)
Kristal Hoff is a high school teacher from Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada and has been involved with Hands at Work for the last three years. Her work in Malawi had inspired her to, upon her return to Canada, fight not only for the material liberty of school children in Malawi, but also for the spiritual freedom of high schoolers in Canada.
Some classes are held under a tree at this Malawi community school, a far cry from the school in LloydminsterIt all started when my feet were getting itchy. I had been in Africa for just over a year and a half [volunteering with Hands at Work] and then came home to teach at the high school [in Canada] I had attended: Lloydminster Comprehensive High School. My heart was still pumping hard for Africa and I just couldn't quiet myself about it. It's like that scripture where Jesus says if the people didn't speak, the rocks would cry out. I started just dreaming with a few teachers about the possibility of a partnership between the Lloydminster school and the Malawi community school. I dreamed up how it could work out: For the school to sponsor a group of 50 kids they would need to raise CA$9000 a year, which worked out to less than CA$1 per person per month. How easy! I had a few core teachers excited and then got the administration [of the school] on board.
Kissing camelsLloydminster is a very busy city with lots of big paychecks and lots of big dirty trucks. The dream was to see these kids see beyond the bubble of fast oil money in Lloydminster and begin to understand a bigger purpose for themselves. When I was teaching, I found that many kids have no appreciation for school anymore because they can easily quit and get a job on the oil rigs. I also found that many of the students I was teaching came from families that made it big in the oil boom and as a result never had to face suffering. It was interesting because when I thought of this relationship, I was more passionate about the transformation of the school and the student body in Canada than I was about the school in Malawi. It would be easy to find money for another source to help take care of the kids in Malawi, but I felt so strongly that it had to be these Lloyd kids.
Some people just don't count (NIG) (CA)
"Nigeria and the people in Ilaje who lost their homes recently are heavy on my heart. I can't stop thinking about them," Hands at Work volunteer, Kristal Hoff, recently wrote.
In a 2006 report, the World Bank identified nine Lagos slums requiring an urgent response. Hands at Work is active in three of these slums, including Ilaje which is notorious being perched on the edge of an ocean bay and extending out over the water with homes built on stilts.
Read Kristal's thoughts on the recent developments in Ilaje below.
In 2009 I had the opportunity to visit Nigeria, specifically a community called Ilaje in Lagos. I blogged about it here. Ilaje was fascinating because half of the people lived on the land and half lived on the water in these wooden shacks on stilts.
I recently discovered that the government demolished all the homes that were on the water, leaving many families homeless and hopeless. Some have secured shelters on land but many have left looking for shelter elsewhere.
This is My Story (SA)
Elvis Mahlanya, a self-portrait
Today Elvis Mahlanya, a strapping 22-year-old, is rather known as a passionate social change-maker, than an orphan. The product of the close relationships Hands at Work volunteers forged with him, Elvis shares his story below as only he can tell it.
No one can tell this, only me. I am Elvis, the eldest son of the late Sinah Mahlanya who was basically a single parent. She passed away in 2004 when I was just 15-years-old. In her absence I had to take over responsibility for my younger brother, Africa, who was just 13 and my sister Tebogo who was just 6 years old. I had to make sure that I could address their needs all by myself. Everything from fetching water down by the river and providing food for us became my responsibility. Most of the time I had to ask help from my family members or friends. I remember being scolded and shouted at by my own uncle as I tried to advocate for my brother who needed school shoes. His were torn in such a way that he could not wear them. Some days he just went to school barefoot.
Sipiwe's Story (ZAM)
Six-year-old Sipiwe poses for a photo in front of the Susu community school run entirely by volunteer teachers and staffSix-year-old Sipiwe lives with her grandmother in rural and remote Susu*, a community nestled in thick, African bush about 40km from the mining town of Kabwe in Central Zambia. Susu is an extraordinarily poor, under-resourced and spread-out community isolated from Kabwe and its education institutions and health facilities. It takes the residents of Susu about three hours to cycle to town to buy even the most basic of supplies.
But one thing Susu is not lacking in is initiative. Local leader, Sunday, with the aid of a band of volunteer care workers and Hands at Work, birthed new hope for the community: Susu Home-Based Care. In the short few years that the organisation has been running, Susu has started to transform. The community now boasts a profitable hammer mill, a vegetable garden watered with water extracted from the earth through a borehole and the beginnings of a three-roomed school building. (Undeterred by the absence of infrastructure, the community school – run entirely by volunteer teachers – currently has its classrooms in the church building and under trees.)
Running for a Purpose
James Moreland (in photo on right with friend) ran the Edinburgh Marathon in May 2011. At the age of 18 years, 1 day and 20 hours, he became the youngest person ever to have run the Edinburgh Marathon. Below is his story of about why he decided to do it and the trials and triumphs along the way.
Last November while sitting in a Saint Andrews pub on the east coast of Scotland, my friend and I made a deal to run the May 2011 Edinburgh Marathon together. Now, my friend was a runner; I was not. I kept myself reasonably fit—a 30 minute jog around St. Andrews would be more than sufficient for me—but forget about a gruelling 26.2 mile (42.1 km) annihilation around the Scottish capital!
I first heard about Hands at Work through my mum Judith who travelled to South Africa to witness the work out there. Seeing her return really compelled to help was actually quite infectious, and after reading through the Hands at Work webpage, I too came to really respect the work that is being done. To me it felt like a perfect demonstration of Christians showing others–especially the poor and needy–God’s love and compassion for them, putting into practise one of the two commandments Jesus highlighted: love your neighbour as yourself. It’s a brilliant display of Christian ‘brotherhood’ as people come together—local churches offering love and support and oversees volunteers using their giftings to serve. I can’t emphasize enough how inspired I was by Hands at Work and I found God really challenging me to give and serve more, which is ultimately why I felt running the marathon to raise money for Hands at Work was a perfect opportunity to support the work. So I would run the marathon for Hands at Work, and I would do it in less than 4 hours.
Teams!
As the northern summer is now in full swing, so is our busy season of teams and visitors. This week we’re featuring the Forge, a church partner from UK who is serving with Hands at Work in Zambia right now. Read about their experience here and follow them as they blog and tweet.
Have you recently visited Hands at Work? Would you care to share about your time with us? Comment on this post, connect with us over Facebook or one of our other social media and share with us and your friends about your experience.
Here are some easy ways how:
Facebook Fanpage – Become a fan, leave a comment and post your photos to our wall.
Facebook Cause – Join and invite your friends to do the same. Start a new fundraising goal and challenge your co-workers or classmates to be a part of bringing healing to vulnerable children in Africa.
Twitter – Follow George as he tweets. Re-tweet your favorites and spread the word about Hands at Work.
Flickr – Are you on flickr? Connect with us and we’ll share a thousand words a hundred times over.
YouTube & Vimeo – Took some video while you were here with us? Upload to YouTube or Vimeo and tag it: “Hands at Work in Africa”
16 June 1976 Student Uprising in Soweto (SA)
Hector Pieterson became the subject of an iconic image of the 1976 Soweto Uprising when a news photograph of the dying Hector being carried by another student while his sister ran next to them, was published around the worldWhen high school students in Soweto started protesting for better education on 16 June 1976, police responded with teargas and live bullets. It is commemorated today by a South African national holiday, Youth Day, which honours all the young people who lost their lives in the struggle against Apartheid and Bantu Education.
In 1953 the Apartheid Government enacted The Bantu Education Act, which established a Black Education Department in the Department of Native Affairs. The role of this department was to compile a curriculum that suited the "nature and requirements of the black people." The author of the legislation, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (then Minister of Native Affairs, later Prime Minister), stated: "Natives [blacks] must be taught from an early age that equality with Europeans [whites] is not for them." Black people were not to receive an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they wouldn't be allowed to hold in society. Instead they were to receive education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in labouring jobs under whites.
An excerpt from 16 June 1976 Student Uprising in Soweto
Is this the way to Amulo? (ZAM) (UK)
Leon Evans, a good friend of Hands and senior pastor at Zion Christian Centre in the UK, wrote about his recent trip to Zambia with Hands at Work on his blog.
"Is this the way to Amulo?" Sounds like a really annoying song that was out (again) a few years ago. Actually, it was what I found myself saying quite a lot in a car whilst bouncing on roads, that had more potholes than road, just outside Kitwe in the Copperbelt mining region in central Zambia.
My wife, Allison, and I had just left a conference hosted by Hands at Work, an amazing organisation - actually, more of a family - who support projects all across sub-Saharan Africa that are actively reaching and serving widows, orphans and vulnerable children. Now the conference was over and we were off to Amulo for a community stay: the chance to stay with a local household and spend 24 hours with a family.
Thank the Lord I knew what to say! (CA)
Hands at Work founder, George Snyman, is currently visiting Canada. He met up with Hands friend, seven-year-old Nathan Chong. Here he is pictured with George at the Global Outreach Conference in Toronto:
Nathan wrote to George:
Thank you very much for letting me be part of your talk today. It’s a nice picture isn’t it? I’m glad that the Lord gave me the right words to answer to your question: “Why did you do that?”
Read about Nathan's work with Hands here.