Friday 21 July 2017

Friday 21st - Share


Over the last couple of days, I’ve spent my time with this young girl who was living with just her mom because her dad left them when she was just a baby. She was amazed by the colour of my hair and immediately wanted to braid it. We spent the day talking and getting to know each other’s different lifestyles. She had the biggest smile on her face and had the most amazing laugh when I couldn’t pronounce their language properly. We taught each other different games and handshakes and I feel as if she really is a friend. She started to touch my hand and she said my skin was beautiful and her skin wasn’t because of the colour. This broke my heart. She was saying how she eats with her hands and we can eat with cutlery; She thought she was below me. I then told her no matter what colour your skin is you are beautiful and I am not better than her and her face lit up. I could feel the love fill her face and for me being able to make her feel important, made me so honoured and I am so happy to have been able to connect with her.

Love Molly

When we arrived in the community, the children had already had their peanut butter and jam sandwich with a cup of tea, for breakfast. They were all in the life centre and had started their worship. This consisted of worship songs, reading passages from the bible and most important the sharing of the benefits they had gained from the Marantha workshops.  The care givers and the children shared how they felt supported by each other, the church and the work that is done at the life centre. Many of the care givers said how grateful they were for this support and the fact that they didn’t feel alone anymore.  I helped prepare and serve the food for lunch. Chicken soup, rice and beetroot.  After the children had eaten, tea and biscuits were given out while the team prepared some activities for the Maranatha workshop. With Floyds help, one of the service centre workers, we organised sack races, football and we got the children to put paint on their hands and place their hands onto a piece of paper, we then wrote their name under their hand prints.   I got everyone to sign my top as it is a great memory that money couldn’t buy. I connected with most of the children, especially the older youth leaders. Three lads who worked so hard in the community with the younger lads, helping them to understand their sins and follow the way of God.  It was sad that I had connected with these children over the past 3 days and we had to leave.

Love Bobbie

Today was the last day in the second community that we visited and it has been one of the best

feelings that I have ever experienced. The atmosphere that the team experienced within the Maranatha workshop was absolutely incredible. Everyone was so positive and happy and to see the smiles on everyone’s faces was the best feeling in the world. Everyone within the community has such a strong and positive belief and they have so much faith that he has a positive effect on everyone else and all in all this makes the whole community a very positive place. Also, I believe that the community seeing the team really take part with the singing and dancing made the atmosphere a lot more positive. When you think of Africa you have a stereotypical view of it and although that some things are similar that we thought it would look like, there is a lot more positivity and a lot of faith which is so good to see. I believe that there are a lot of problems that need to be solved within the African communities but to see the people’s faces light up when you say that you are from a different country and you want to know what their story is so that you can tell people back in another country is one of the best feelings ever and it makes our team a lot more positive and happy.

Love Jack