40 Days of Prayer
Hands at Work
Meet Mwete

Raising a large family isn’t easy but Mama Safi isn’t alone in caring for Mwete. He has a bigger family of support at the Care Point, with the Care Workers and the other children.

Meet Mwete

Hands at Work in Africa

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From a Small Church (UK)

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George and Sheila Green came to visit Hands at Work in Swaziland in 2007. An organic relationship of prayer and support has grown from there with their church, Hands at Work and a small community of women and men caring in Swaziland. Recently George Snyman from Hands at Work was able to visit and encourage their rural church: St John’s in Heath Hayes, Staffordshire, UK.

Below is George Green’s account of their story.

For two years now, our small church in Staffordshire, UK, St John’s Heath Hayes, has supported Hands at Work in Africa, with a particular interest in one community based organisation in Swaziland: Asondle Sive Bomake (ASB). This relationship developed when my wife, Sheila and I visited their community and worked briefly with their coordinator, Nomsa Lukhele.

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Let it Rain (Zam)

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A cool rainy morning is not uncommon in Kabwe, Zambia during amayinsa (rain season). Yet the gloomy sky does not affect the excitement of the hard-working care workers of Shalom HBC from preparing for the activities of the day. The anticipation of this project is great; today 50 children being cared for would be receiving a meal for the first time from the new feeding program. Morning finds eager care workers cleaning the church that will be used to facilitate the program. The work continues even though the rain drizzles down. Everyone knows the grim conditions that many of the innocent orphans face every day. This one meal a day, most likely the only one given, will provide these young vulnerable ones with their daily bread. With this understanding so vividly imprinted on their hearts, the workers together share the load of the day.

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Zambikes Testimonial- Melody (Zam)

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Melody is a 16 year-old orphan living in Magandanyama shanty compound on the outskirts of Kabwe. Her mother, Twas a patient of Makululu Home Based Care until she died on the 23rd of November 2003. At the young age of 11, Melody was left to look after her 2 little sisters and 3 brothers. Although forced to drop out of school to find work in order to survive, the earning was not enough to buy food and other needs.

In January 2007, Melody began selling her body on the street and became deeply involved with friends who were a bad influence on her. But when she became bedridden by TB in 2008, the team of childcare workers from Makululu HBC were  there to support her with visits, helping her with things such as buying charcoal, mealie meal, relish, washing plates, fetching water, cooking her food, and bathing her daily.

In January 2007, Mary began selling her body on the street and became deeply involved with friends who were a bad influence on her. But when she became bedridden by TB in 2008, the team of childcare workers from Makululu HBC were  there to support her with visits, helping her with things such as buying charcoal,

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Barriers (Zam)

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Jessie Monarch is from Kentucky in the US and volunteered with Hands at Work for the last year, serving in South Africa and Zambia.  The following is her account of her first trip to see the work being done in Mulenga, a poor community in Kitwe, Zambia; a work led by James and Sukai Tembo since 2004.

“How many children do you have?” I asked him as we passed through the solid metal gate guarding the entrance to his “mansion.”  I knew he called it that, always following the reference with a carefree laugh, to warn us of the simplicity of his lodgings.

“You will see,” he said with a grin.  In the brief stint of our acquaintance he had used this phrase to answer almost every question I had concerning his work, as if believing to revive the sense of mystery and anticipation so often lost with age and life. 

When we exited the car, he immediately pointed across the yard and a large field to Mulenga.  As he enthusiastically pointed out the house from which the twenty orphans are fed daily amongst the mass and spread of huts far in the distance, we pretended to know exactly which hut he was pointing to.  It didn’t really matter; we knew the beautiful work he was doing there, we knew the beacon of light that house was in the sea of darkness surrounding it and in the lives of the children

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2010 Conference Dates

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In the past we have done two conferences, both in South Africa.  An Africa conference with our African service center partners and an international conference with our African partners and many international churches and donors as well. 

This year instead of having the conferences in just South Africa we will be holding four regional conferences that will be open to anyone interested in attending.  The Hands at Work family is growing at a rapid rate which means that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get everyone to South Africa.  This means we can bring the conferences closer to home for the Service Centres involved, also allowing our international visitors flexibility and possibly allow them to attend in the country of their interest. In the past we have only been able to have a very small number of community based organizations (CBO) representatives present.  By holding regional conferences it will also enable greater CBO participation and give more people exposure to the vision of Hands at Work. 

The conference schedule is as follows:

South Africa & Swaziland | March 24-27 | Hands at Work in Africa near White River, South Africa

Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo & Malawi | April 15-18 | Luanshya, Zambia

Mozambique & Zimbabwe | April 22-25 | TBD

Nigeria | May 20-23 | Lagos, Nigeria

We are excited about the new opportunities that hosting regional conferences will bring.  All are welcome to come and be a part of the different regional conferences.  If you are interested in attending or helping fund the conferences please contact us at info@handsatwork.org. 

View more of last year's conference in photos

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Putting Her Gifts into Practice (Zam)

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Christa Roby—from Chilliwack, British Columbia, in Canada—has been volunteering for Hands at Work in South Africa and in Kabwe, Zambia. A registered massage therapist, Christa had no idea when she applied to volunteer with Hands at Work whether her skills would be useful in Africa, but she came with an open heart to serve.  Since October 2009, Christa has trained volunteer care workers in 12 villages in massage therapy.  Care workers are being empowered when they see the impact they can make in the lives of their sick friends and neighbors with only their hands.  Read more about a home visit Christa made with volunteers from Katondo Home-based Care in Kabwe, Zambia.

“Peter had a stroke in Feb/07 and had lost function of the right side of his body.  I asked Floyd (one of the volunteers) to begin with working on his back while I worked with the right leg.  I showed Floyd how tight Peter’s hamstrings had become and also how to assist them in relaxing.  Peter explained that he is only able to move around on his back.  I was confused, so he took the opportunity to go to the washroom and show me.  From his bed he lied on his back and

Let Us Give (Zam)

 Written by Sheila Mwanza, eighteen years old and a volunteer teacher in Mulenga community school near Kitwe, Zambia.  As Sheila volunteers her time to teach primary school students who cannot afford to attend government schools, she finds herself learning and growing as well.

Moses is 6 years old and is in my class at our community school in Mulenga. Both of his parents are dead. He lives with his grandmother who does not work and is not able to take care of him.  Moses’s parents both died of HIV/AIDS. They left three children, Moses and his two brothers. The other two brothers, one who is blind, live with their uncle. I’m afraid that Moses, the youngest in his family, is also infected with the same disease as his parents, and I would not be surprised if I was told that he has tested HIV+.

Can you imagine a 6 year old child having to start taking ARVs and then be on them for the rest of his life?  Like all of us, this child could not decide for himself into which family he would be born. But God decides in which family we should be born, and does not make mistakes. He puts us into a family of his choice for a purpose.

Join George in Cape Town

Sunday, 18 Oct Tableview Assemblies of God (Services: 8h15, 9h30 & 11h00)

Sunday, 18 Oct Edge Church (Service: 18h00)

Tuesday, 20 Oct Common Good Foundation Insights Evening, Common Ground Café To all interested in HIV and rural social development issues and to all seeking social justice. Arrive between 18h00 and 19h00 for fellowship, cappuccinos and finger food. Guest speaker, George Snyman will begin at 19h00 and we’ll open the floor for questions afterwards.

Thursday, 22 Oct Preferred Future Connect at Life Church, Sea Point (10h00-13h00)

Sunday, 25 Oct Urban Edge (Services: 8h30, 10h30, 18h00)

A Battle for One, Toyota School (DRC)

Katherine Callaghan is a nurse from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  She volunteered in the DRC for one month in April 2009

Stepping onto African soil is something that I’ve always wanted to do at some point in my life.  In April this dream was fulfilled, serving with Hands at Work in the dusty soil of Congo.  My time there in Africa had been challenging and inspiring, a time of restoration and discovering beauty.  

Hands at Work sent me and another volunteer, Dayla, out to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and we had the honor of seeing and sharing in the work that is being done day in and day out. One day during our time in the Congo exemplified this service, so let me share it with you. We were given the opportunity to go to a school run by volunteers of the community based organisation in the city of Likasi called Toyota School.  It had been arranged that we would spend a morning with the children and volunteers, playing games and teaching Bible stories.  The school teaches grades one, two, and three and has over two hundred children from the Toyota community, all of whom are orphans or children in a vulnerable situation. The school is run by volunteers from the community who invest in, build up, and serve these children simply because it is what the Bible says and it is what God has called them to do.

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Advocating for Kennedy (ZAM)

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Kennedy Kashiwa, 14, has faced many obstacles. Following the death of his parents, he and his older sister moved in with their grandmother who had no steady source of income - an uncomfortably common story in the impoverished communities surrounding the city of Kabwe, Zambia where Kennedy lives. But Kennedy has faced more adversity than most. At the age of 7, the young boy fell from a tree and, because there was no money to seek treatment and no access to aid for health purposes, he lost his ability to walk. Kennedy couldn’t attend school for a long time because he had no means of getting there.

Recently, concerned care workers communicated Kennedy’s story to a donor in Canada, Visionledd. Now, Kennedy has been given a wheel chair and can attend school and, though the setbacks have placed him at a grade 4 school level, Kennedy has strong aspirations to complete his education.

Kennedy is regularly visited by local care workers who monitor his health and provide food parcels. The donation of a wheelchair has made an immeasurable difference in Kennedy’s life. Because of the love and encouragement of local care workers, Kennedy has hope once again and dreams of one day visiting specialists to help him walk again.

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Why My Little One...

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A poem written by June Vorster after the God revealed His broken heart for the plight of the orphan and the widow. She is a 70 year old living in South African who recently met George Snyman when he spoke at her church. She shared this poem with him and now we share it with you.

I see you sitting all alone and forlorn,
Why my little one?
Your clothes are all tattered and torn,
Why my little one?

I see the emptiness in your dark brown eyes,
The sores on your legs covered with flies,
I see your thoughts and feel your shame,
I cry when you cry, I feel your hunger, your pain.

Makululu Shanty (ZAM)

 Wrtten by George Snyman, founder of Hands at Work.

As my bus entered the outskirts of Kabwe town in Zambia, I remember staring out of the window and seeing the terrible slum for the first time. “Why have I never seen it before?” I wondered, and the next day asked Eric, the Hands at Work representative, about it. Eric’s words still ring clear in my mind to this day.He said, “George, not even the Catholics work in that area!” I understood what he meant – if the Catholics don’t work in an area, then nobody will work there. Seeing my yes, Eric knew what was about to happen next! And the next morning we entered Makululu. I wanted to know why Makululu existed and what made it such a difficult place.Eric and other community leaders explained to me that when President Chaluba came into power in the nineties, he launched a huge initiative to privatize the country’s mines and most of the factories. The whole exercise went horribly wrong for a number of reasons, and most of the deals were characterised by huge corruption. Within a year, most of these mines and factories closed down completely. It had a devastating impact on cities like Kabwe, and overnight thousands of people lost their jobs and houses. Adding to this, many rural people left their homes after a series of bad crops and flooded the bigger towns like Kabwe looking for work – all of these events contributed to the mushrooming of people in the informal settlement called Makululu.

The first day we walked the roads of Makululu there was no clinic, no government school, no government services like police or social workers, and no NGO activities. I was overwhelmed by what I saw: children in the streets trying to sell paraffin in small

Dare to Care; One Man's Experience (NIG)

In October, 2008 Mark Zweigenthal, a youth pastor and a friend of Hands at Work living in Johannesburg, spent a week in Lagos, Nigeria visiting the Hands at Work team and its local partners working in the slums of the city of 18 million people. Here is a record of his experience.

Leaving my home in Johannesburg, South Africa I was completely unaware of the adventure that awaited me in Lagos. Having been previously to Uganda, Zambia, as well as on many mission trips within South Africa I thought I had a good idea of what I was in for-until I stepped off the plane in Lagos and was confronted with a crisis of new proportions. I can honestly say that this week in Lagos wrecked my life (in the best way possible).

It’s fair to say that we live in a world of complete contrast, a contrast between the rich and the poor, oppressed and free, and a world where injustice wreaks havoc and materialism reigns. In my trip to Lagos I got to see how the other half live, love, and deal with this ever increasing poverty gap. A hugely humbling and eye-opening experience, one which I will never forget.

I do not believe that one can actually understand the crisis in Africa until one has touched it and shared the pain and challenges of the people who deal with it everyday. During this week I got the opportunity to experience this situation in a very unique and challenging way. I took part in many different aspects of the Hands at Work project in Lagos. All of which affected my life hugely.

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This Year Living Truth Broadcast

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Shooting went well for this years Living Truth telethon to raise funds for Hands at Work in Mozambique and Zimbabwe! We’re really excited to share this event with an even wider audience of Hands supporters this year. Dates for broadcast are as follows:

  Oct 11 Mozambique update and stories
  Oct 18 South Africa update and new Zimbabwe stories
  Oct 25 Malawi

You can check out www.livingtruth.ca for specific broadcast times. Please send this on to your friends at home who have the opportunity to watch.

Thanks for your interest and support of this exciting event!

 

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The Pulse Of Africa (DRC)

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The pulse of Africa is felt in six-year-old Lebo. She carries a story of brokenness in her heart but fights back with a strong and resilient spirit. This is the tension that exists within Lebo and within Africa. Lebo's mother and father died of AIDS when she was only a baby, and left her with the same disease, which is slowly claiming her life. There is no access to affordable treatment for AIDS in her community.

 Lebo lives, along with her brother, sister, and elderly grandparents, in the city of Likasi. They stay in a one-bedroom brick home that has neither electricity nor running water. Lebo’s grandfather worked in a copper mine for thirty years before being forced into mandatory retirement in 1995; he now stays at home most of the time and takes care of his wife, who is blind and requires assistance with basic tasks.

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Hard endings, exciting reunions, big decisions

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Alisha Volkman, a 25 year-old from Alberta, Canada, has been volunteering with Hands at Work for the past year, serving mainly in Kabwe, Zambia with Emily Osborne, from USA. What follows are her reflections on her time in Zambia and South Africa as she prepares to make her journey “home” again.

As things wrap up for Emily and I here in Zambia, every day has been full of, oh just full of so much! As our time is coming to an end it feels like I am meeting more and more people all the time. Many relationships around me are just peaking, and with each day I am finding it harder and harder to leave.

I'm now at a point where I have absolutely no idea what is next. All these years I was always just headed in a direction to come back to Zambia. And that I have now done. Now what? Now where? I know many people come through Hands every year. Many are impacted, and many make an impact. Some stay. Many move on. Where do I fit?

I LOVE Zambia! I have officially classified myself as a white Zambian. In so many ways I just feel like I belong. My heart is here with the people. I can't help but cry when I think of being away from this place for too long.

I want to go home although I don't want to leave. I have a feeling when I get there I will be again saying, “I want to go home.”

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Nurses Mission Trip To Africa

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Update 7 from Nurses for Africa on Vimeo.

This month, 16 nurses from Rosewood Care Centers in Missouri and Illinois, USA travel on a mission trip to the Republic of Zambia, in Southern Africa, a land plagued by extreme poverty and a disproportionately high number of HIV/AIDS cases. They will be encouraging the work and the people in Hands at Work in Africa’s local community based organisations.

We invite you to follow alongside the Nurses for Africa via thier journal, which will document the experience via blog entries, photos, videos and more.

For more information, please visit:  http://www.nurseforafrica.net

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Standing through the loss

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Jan and Mado are two women who are overcoming the odds in the community of Likasi in (DRC), Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are two women who are using the power of friendship to survive and they are two women who live out love in action daily. Both Jan and Mado are widowed and, years ago, found support in each other when their lives began to crumble and fall apart.

Mado’s husband was killed in 2003 in a mining accident and left the family without a source of income. Consequently Mado and her seven children were evicted from their house. The family sought refuge in an abandoned school house where they still live to this day. It was during this period of grief and crisis that Mado found a true friend in Jan. Mado says that Jan was one of the only people who saw her through the pain of loss.

Jan’s story is similar in pain and tragedy.

Spotlight On Orile (Nig)

 

Pastor Chris lives with his wife, Faith, and two small children in the back of his church in Lagos, Nigeria. This is in the Orile community, a huge sprawling slum crisscrossed by murky canals and littered with multifamily slum homes and rubbish everywhere you can see. It is part of Lagos, but it is its own community within the enormous city of 17 million people. There are no government schools, no hospitals in Orile; there are many churches, but none working together to make any impact for the poorest children in the community. Many of the children in Orile are not in school; malaria is at epidemic levels because the canals regularly flood, filling the homes and leaving stagnate, black swamp water standing in the dirty streets and plugged drains. In one entire section of the slum, located between a canal and the railroad tracks, abandoned babies, the products of the scads of sex workers conducting business in the slum, are left to die.

Last year Pastor Chris attended a pastors training series facilitated by Hands at Work’s coordinator in Lagos, Rex. Chris now says he was deeply challenged by Rex’s call to care for the poor and by the example Rex was setting in his own community within Lagos: Ilaje.