St Andrew’s, Biggleswade, has been partnered with the community of Mafambisa since 2016, and as a church we aim to send a team regularly to support and walk alongside the brilliant Care Workers and children.
As well as spending several days with our partner community we were also privileged to be able to visit one or two other Care Points over the two weeks that we were in Africa.
This year’s team consisted of six adults and five young people. We visited Care Points in the Clau-Clau region, mainly Mafambisa but also Mluti, and then, during our second week, travelled north and visited Care Points in the Bushbuckridge region, staying at the Wits University Rural Facility.
We were struck, particularly this year, by the importance of teams and of maintaining a close relationship with the places that we have visited previously. At Mafambisa one of the Care Workers confided in Alice because she recognized the support that had been given to that community over the last few years, and the inter-relationship between the young people in the team and those in each of the Care Points that we visited also stood out.
In Mluti the use of a Bluetooth speaker in a worship session at the Care Point attracted the local school children who were on their way home. It turned into quite the community event!
In Pfunani a bond was built between our young people and two of the older teenagers from the community. Engaging together over the two days, the young people put on a dance show to honour the relationships that had been created.
In Seville B the group spent over an hour by the roadside in discussion with the local chief, who shared the challenges that he faced as leader of that community. He challenged the group to come up with solutions to many very difficult questions.
It was a team visit based upon both renewing relationships and building new ones. We came away realising the value and importance of team visits and, at the same time, humbled by the great people we had met, all combined with an increasing desire to serve the communities that Hands at Work supports!
Chris and Alice Parker and the Biggleswade Team