Friday and Saturday, March 12 & 13, 2010
Our team met at the KC Airport at 8:30 for a flight leaving for Dulles at 11:30. Our team Leader is Judith and our team members are Reed, Irene, Brad, Dion, Lonnie and Gary. Everyone showed up dressed appropriately with their passport. So far so good.
We board the plane and make our connection in Dulles. The next stop is Dakar, Africa. This is a city on the north western side of Africa. The plane sits 9 people across and it is called an Airbus 340-360. We are fed regularly, but it is typical airline food, the best items are the rolls, cheese and dessert. The flight from Dulles was about 7 hours.
The sun is rising; it is 7am in Dakur and 1am KC time. Our plane pulls up and parks directly in front of the Dakar airport. A few more passengers board and we are ready to take off. Off to the right of the plane we see a huge monument. It looks like people holding up a flag. This statue ended up being a $30 million statue depicting African Renaissance. It is 52 meters high. It is a “bare-chested man that is pulling a wife and baby out of a volcano”. The statue is meant to “symbolize a bright new day for Africa” but has created a lot of controversy to spend $30 million on a statue in the midst of poverty.
As we roll toward the runway, we see a person walking about 50 feet from the plane on a road, we also see cars driving around, there are no fences or barriers, this gives the impression that there is not a lot of security and that we are in a remote area. We turn on the runway and make a U-Turn. You would never guess that this was an International airport and that it was used to land the space shuttle or that Dakar has a population of 3 million.
Before we leave for Johannesburg, the flight attendants walk the isles of the plane with aerosol disinfectant to kill germs. Cover your eyes and mouth is the warning from the flight attendants. We fill our time with reading, movies, music, sleeping and of course eating. We arrive in Johannesburg about 5pm; we have a little wait before our next flight to Durban. We finally arrive in Durban at 10pm. We have now been in transit for about 24 hours. At the Durban baggage claim, one of the passengers, who is a teenage soccer player comes to our group and asks if we have misplaced a passport. Dion checks her bag and find that her passport is missing. The soccer player had turned it into the Baggage Claim Office. This gal was an angel! What a blessing!
At the airport we are greeted by Nonhlanhla, Albert, Natu and Bongani. Nonhlanhla and Natu are the Methodist lay-pastors for Thornwood Methodist Church, Albert is a lay-pastor for Nazareth Methodist church and Bongani is our driver. Bongani owns the bus and is a member of Nazareth Methodist Church. We load up and drive to Tre Fontanne.
Tre Fontanne is our accommodations for the week. It is rated as a 1 star facility and is run by Catholic nuns. Tre Fontaine is one of the buildings on the property of the Monastery of Marian Hill. Other buildings on the property include a Chapel, Cathedral, beautiful gardens, monastery, school and St. Mary’s hospital.
Judith, Dion and Irene share a room. Brad and Reed share a room and Lonnie and Gary share a room. We all go right to bed; we are tired and need to leave by 7:15am to attend the 8am service at Nazareth Methodist Church.
Our first day in Durban starts off with coffee from the balcony. This ends up being the morning meet up place before breakfast. What a view! We are surrounded by green. There are blooming trees with purple, pink and orange flowers. You can see the pool from the balcony. No swimming suites or shorts were allowed on the trip so we just enjoyed the view of the pool. A lady comes out to share with us that the cactus in front of the balcony is blooming. This particular cactus only blooms once and the bloom dies. On this first day of our trip we have 2 blooms. This feels like a special greeting for our first day.
SUNDAY, March 14, 2010
Breakfasts at Tre Fontanne consist of eggs, toast, tomatoes, cheese, fruit, crème of wheat or oatmeal and yogurt. A couple of days we had bacon or sausage. After breakfast we load up in Bongani’s bus and head to the church. We are greeted by Ian France, the Pinetown Methodist Church pastor. Ian is also responsible for Nazareth Methodist Church. He asks us to sit in the front row. People are rolling into service and taking seats as the “Americans” are displayed on the front row. Off to the right are seats for the children and on the left is where the men of the congregation sit. We are surrounded by a few ladies in red jackets with white collars. We find out later that this is the Methodist Women’s Minyana group. These women have taken a spiritual training to earn the right to wear the red jacket. A young woman would wear a blue skirt and chapeau with a white shirt. There are 2 young ladies dressed this way, they are Fundi and Nwambsi.
The service starts and Ian shares that life is not about separation of white and black that we are all mixed together. He asks us to spread out among the congregants. Gary and Lonnie sit with the men. Judith, Irene, Brad and Reed mix in with the main section of the church and Dion sits with the kids. We enjoyed plenty of singing in the Zulu language as the people sitting next to us shared their hymnals. During the service we were given an opportunity to share about ourselves and our families with the congregation. After we introduced ourselves, everyone said “Shine”. This was like saying nice to meet you. The service ended with Ian walking in a circle around the room, forming a reception line. By the time everyone was in their place in the circle, we had shaken everyone’s hand and the final blessing was given.
After the service everyone loaded up in vehicles to go on home visits. We visited 3 women that were part of the Women’s Minyana group. The first was a woman who had a stroke and her daughter took care of her. The van was parked along the road and we all walked down and back up a driveway that was overgrown with weeds on each side. The house was made of cement blocks with a tin roof and only 2 rooms. We all piled into this small space, sang songs and Judith led us all in prayer. There were 30-40 men, women and children involved with the visits. Afterwards we shook hands, walked back down the driveway, loaded up into vehicles and went to the next home.
The next home was another woman that was not feeling well. Judith prayed at this location, we sang, shook hands and loaded back up in the vehicles for the last visit. The last visit was a little old woman that was paralyzed and bedridden. She was happy we were there but disappointed that she could not dress in her red coat and white collar. She looked weak but she was happy we came by. Dion prayed at this location, we sang and shook hands then loaded back up in vehicles to go back to church for lunch and socializing.
The purpose of the lunch was to be able to connect with each other. We had fried and baked chicken, finger sandwiches, fried pastries with meat inside and cookies. Refreshments were Tea, Green Crème Soda, Red Soda and fruit juices. At lunch there were a few precious moments. Ian’s wife came to lunch and she is 36 weeks pregnant. Ian and his wife have 2 boys, 3 and 6 and are expecting a girl. Reed showed two little boys how to ball up their fists hit each other’s fists and then open up their hands like they had blown up on impact. Brad went over to the Minyana women and asked for a picture. The ladies were delighted with the photo opportunity. Gary got a picture with the Minyana women and was teased about having 4 wives. Dion and Irene got a picture with Bongani and the joke was he had 2 wives. The truth is he already has a wife and 2 children. He has no interest in more than one wife because “they are too expensive”. After our lunch and visit, we changed clothes to go to the beach. Albert, Albert’s daughter, Fundi and Nwambsi came with us to the beach.
There is a lot of excitement in Durban about the 2010 World Cup in June. For the event there was a brand new stadium built called the Moses Mabhida Stadium. We drove down and walked around the stadium. It is all white and very contemporary. There is a lift that arches over the stadium. It was down for maintenance but when it is running people can pay for a ticket and ride over the top of the stadium. People can also buy tickets to bungee from the top of the stadium. From the new stadium you can see the old stadium. It proudly advertises its allegiance to ‘The Sharks” which is the Durban Rugby team.
Our next stop was the beach. In Durban, everywhere you go you see road construction and the beach front was no different. Bongani parked the van and we walked out onto the beach. The sand had dark specs in it, Judith shared that this was oil from the refineries off the coastline. Part of our group walked out on the pier and the rest walked down to the water. We rolled up our pant legs and stuck our feet into the Indian Ocean. It was a joy to feel the cool water wash over our feet and watch the waves and surfers. Afterwards we found a place to sit and relax. Several of us laid back for a little snooze. We could feel the time change catching up with us.
After about an hour we all loaded up in the van and went to a place called La Sharka. This is a location on the beach that includes an Ocean Water park; this is like their Disney World with shopping and restaurants. The shopping was expensive at this location, so we just window shopped. For dinner, we enjoyed a view of the ocean from the patio of the Fish Market restaurant. We had fun with Judith, she ordered the Seafood Curry. Judith has a rule about not eating anything that has a head. When her dish arrived she had prawns in her curry with their heads and whiskers still attached. We were all proud of Judith for eating her prawns. The heads and whiskers were carefully removed and laid to rest in a dish with a napkin covering it. After dinner we loaded back up into the bus and went back to Tre Fontanne for a cup of coffee out on the patio.
MONDAY, March 15, 2010
At breakfast we met Sister Dagmav; she works in the office and agreed to open the gift shop for us. Before we loaded up on the bus, we got to take a look at all the crafts. Purchase of these crafts go directly to the poor.
Our first stop was to the Pinetown Methodist Church, when we got off the bus we were greeted by Ian and Ulinda. There are 3 ministers based out of Pinetown and they each have responsibility for a smaller church. Our first scheduled event was an orientation presented by Ian. The primary issues of the circuit are the recovery from apartheid and dealing with the concerns of AIDS and poverty. The churches of the Clerpine circuit range from 50 to 880 members.
After the orientation, we went for a tour of Phakamisa. This is a training school for pre-school teachers. Their focus is to show the teachers how to use what they have in their environment to make toys and learning aids for the pre-schoolers. For instance, used pantyhose make the balls, coat hangers and peanut butter jars with jars can make a rolling toy and lids and fabrics are strung together to make a doll. The teachers are also taught basic classroom facilitation, cooking, sewing and gardening. After receiving this training teachers have the basic knowledge to move onto more advanced training. The program has had women come from more than 100 kilometers away to get the training. The training is recognized as a qualification for being hired at a pre-school.
The next visit was to Steve’s Kitchen. We walked down a hall lined with bags of bread and into a kitchen made up of 2 rooms. There was a window and outside the window there were people lined up for a meal. Steve’s Kitchen takes place in a small area and there is a lot of activity going on at once. On any given day they will feed from 17 to 150 people. If recipients have money, they pay 30 cents for a large portion of soup, bread and a sweet cake. If they do not have money they receive a smaller portion. Super markets supply Steve’s Kitchen with expired meat vegetables and breads. They have 1 paid person and the rest are all volunteers that receive a meal to take home to their family. The people that come to the Soup Kitchen are people that come in from the country for work. They hang out at areas where they are picked up for work, if no work is received they come by Steve’s Kitchen for food. The food is served until they run out.
Sizanani, a sewing school that was started in the 1980’s, teaches women and a few men how to sew. This training is available for people that are not cut out for higher educations but are seeking a skill to make a living. Susan is the coordinator for the project. There is a small fee to pay to attend the school. In the school, students start out with sewing a cushion then they progress to school uniforms. There are also advanced training for Fashion design and Interior Decorations like curtains and table clothes.
After the tour of the Pinetown Outreach programs, we walked up to the bank to exchange dollars for rand. The exchange was about 7 rand for each dollar. We waited in line a long time before the exchange was made. A few people had dollars that were not accepted because they were in bad shape. We walked back to the church and loaded back up in the bus and left for the Hillcrest Aids Center.
Hillcrest AIDS Center was established in the 1990’s to address the needs of critical case AIDS patients. Aids is an “under the carpet” subject. For someone with AIDS there is a lot of hurt and pain, they are socially outcast and they feel alienated by the church. Hillcrest comes from the perspective of unconditional love and that no one “asks” for AIDS. Education is one of the initiatives of the center; a representative from Hillcrest goes to schools and organizations to teach life skills in order to create a behavior change.
33-42% of the South African population is infected with the AIDS virus. In the current system it takes 6-8 weeks to get blood results. Finding out quickly if a person has AIDs is critical because you can not cure AIDs; the only course of treatment is to slow down the progress of AIDs. Hillcrest works with clients to get tested and determine if they need treatment. They help with the overload on clinics by sending on the people that only need treatment.
In 2006, Hillcrest rented a ward with 12 beds from a local hospital. The intention was to help people that were originally admitted to die. After a while they realized that not everyone died; that with love and care people can and will get better. Their current statistics are 42% die and 58% improved and survived. Today, they have a building with 24 beds on their own property that was built by first making the commitment and then moving forward in faith. They did not have all the money for construction in the beginning but somehow it all showed up when it was needed and the project came in under budget. In December 2010 they almost had to close down the doors and they received an unexpected donation from Resurrection that kept the doors open.
Hillcrest has several outreach programs to support patients and the clinic
- Training to teach patients and their families how to grow there own food.
- A plant nursery that staffs 6 AIDS patients and sells plants to the community.
- Thrift shop where families affected with AIDS can purchase a bag of donated clothing at a low price and then make money by reselling the clothing.
- A sewing and bead work ministry where people are taught how to sew or do bead work. The families affected with AIDS now have a skill where they can create items that are sold in their store or in the community. This program provides income to over 180 crafters. Hillcrest has a crafting retail store where the products are sold; 2 million Rand (around 285,000 dollars) goes back to the crafters.
After making purchases in the Hillcrest Craft store, we all loaded up in the bus to head to Pot & Kettle. As we drive by all the people walking along the street, there was a realization that every 3rd person we passed had the AIDS virus. This was mind blowing.
The Pot & Kettle restaurant had a beautiful view of the mountains. The food was plentiful and good, the best part where the fries. Bongani and Albert enjoyed a Brewmeister Grape Drink. This is a popular beverage that is carbonated juice. After lunch we went to Hillcrest Church.
The church originally started having service under 2 trees, they are now having service in a 60 foot shipping container. The roof and walls are paneled with wood. We are lucky it is a cloudy day; we can imagine how hot this container would be in the South African heat. After tea, cookies and finger sandwiches, we loaded up to go see the site where they are building their church. The church will be located on a hill and will overlook a valley and lake. The capacity will be 175 people. Jackson is the main pastor for Hillcrest church and Chris is another pastor. We all gathered together on the lot and prayed success with the building of the new church.
Before leaving Hillcrest we drive down to a little park along side of the lake that was created by building dam. We see 3 Zebras in a fenced in area. As we drive through rural areas, there are cows, bulls, goats and chickens in or along the road. There are times when our driver has to beep to get them out of our way. There are no fences to divide properties because the King owns all the land. To build a house you must first get permission to use the land and then you can build your home.
Back at Tre Fontanne, we had a nice dinner followed by Devotions.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Today we worked all day at Nazareth Methodist Church. We arrived at the church at 8:30. Judith was happy to see Lonnie and Gary speaking with Harold (our Fearless Leader). Harold’s job was to coordinate our construction efforts. After discussing the day’s activities, Harold and Lonnie went to the hardware store and the rest of the team stayed to remove old caulking from the exterior windows.
Fundi and Nwambsi joined us for the day. They were a delight to work with. The team finished removing the caulk by 9:30. At 10:30 we had “Tea Time” (we learned to LOVE Tea Time). After enjoying tea, crème soda, cookies and finger sandwiches, Harold and Lonnie returned from the Hardware store. They brought us paint, putty and other items that were needed. We all got busy with the putty. No caulk could be found at the hardware store, the only thing they could find was “silly” putty. Working with putty was a “delightful” experience. We had to take small pieces and roll it in our hands into little balls and then mold it into the edge of the window frame. Our hands became the beautiful color Terra Cotta. This was certainly an opportunity to grow in our appreciation for caulk.
The next project was to scrape and then paint the exterior of the church. The color of the church went from terra cotta to crème. Each team member seemed to find their niche. Scaffolding was setup and Harold and Reed started painting from the top down. Judith, Fundi and Nwambsi started painting the front entrance. Gary and Dion worked on the front side of the house. This would be the side that the sign would be hung for the church. The sign was a gift from Rev. Ulinda and her husband. It had been presented to the congregation at the Sunday Service we attended. Reed and Irene became expert down spout cleaners, using turpentine to remove terra cotta paint from white pipes.
We were all excited about “Tea Time” at 3pm. We worked one more hour and then headed back to Tre Fontaine to clean up, have dinner and meet for devotions. After dinner we went to a small group from Pinetown Methodist Church for a Bible study. There were about 20 people at bible study. Everyone had a chance to introduce themselves. Afterwards we had tea and cake. By the time we got back “home” we were all ready to crash.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Today started out with a visit to Mariannridge Daycare. Our team was prepared with smiley face stickers that said “You are a Gift to the World”. There were 82 children from 3-5 years old. Our experience started out with them singing about 5 delightful songs led by the teachers. Afterwards each of us started mingling with the children. We would lean down and say you are a “Gift to the World” and put a sticker on their shirt, hand or cheek. It was interesting, the children where a little cautious of us but when we started talking to them, we noticed that they were touching our skin. They wanted to know what we felt like. All these big brown eyes, beautiful brown skin and white teeth smiling at us. After awhile, we were led out to the playground. “Push me”, “Lift Me”, “My Turn” the children were a lot of fun to play with.
Our next stop was Thornwood Church. We visited their Drop-Off Center. There were about 5 children that had been dropped off by their older siblings. These children did not have parents because they had passed away from AIDS. The older siblings were in charge of raising their younger brothers and sisters. Judith won over all the children, except one, with her camera. The one that cried was frightened by the flash.
Everyone loaded up in the bus and off we went to KwaNdengezi Church. Our first outreach visit at this church was the Siyanakekela Center. This is a center for handicap kids to come once a week for fellowship, crafts and lunch. Afterwards we went to visit the pre-school. We went into a shipping container that had 70 little kids from 3-5 years old sitting quietly. Each child had brown uniforms. We introduced ourselves and handed out stickers. Gary was the last person with stickers; he had 3 stickers and 6 kids. He was trying to figure out how he was going to divide up 3 stickers among 6 children. Something told him to check his back pocket. It was just like the multiplying of the fishes and the loaves. Miraculously 1 more sheet of stickers showed up. All the kids and the remaining teachers ended up getting stickers.
We were all led into the church. The children sang us songs. The finale was led by a delightful young girl that got up in front of the whole group and led the children in a song. It involved putting thumbs up, shoulders up, chest out, legs bent, bum out, shake your head, turn around, tongue out and singing. After they were done, our mission team was asked to perform for the children. The little girl led all the adults in the same song that the children had performed. It was fun being a kid for a change. The children received a treat and then they went back to their classroom. The adults remained to enjoy a lunch of Mutton Stew (Curry), rice and crème soda.
When we left, the children were all playing in the courtyard. We waved good bye and loaded up in the bus and went the Nazareth Church for an afternoon of work. We started on the second coat of crème colored paint and then started painting the bottom 3 feet of the church the terra cotta color.
As always “Tea Time” rocked! The church ladies were a gift to our team. They helped us get through the warm afternoons and steady work. We all wanted to accomplish all the tasks on the list, so we diligently stayed on task. We finished up at 4pm and went back to the Tre Fontanne, took a shower, had devotions and then loaded back up in the bus to go back to Mariannridge Church for dinner and Bible study. During Devotions we talked about how we were holding up. Our team came to an agreement that it would be a good idea to cancel the Bible study for Thursday night. We were all feeling the strain of the busy schedule that went from 6am to 10pm.
At Mariannridge we enjoyed a feast provided by the parishioners. This church is mainly mixed parishioners, meaning that they are a mixed with black and white races. The people we visited had no issues with relating to the people of their society as “black” “white” or “mixed”. With 93% of the people in Durban being black, we were the minority. There were about 50 people that came together for dinner, fellowship and Bible study. We had a great meal that included 5 types of meat, lasagna (made with maize) salad and a variety of side dishes. Desert was pudding with fruit. After the meal we went around the circle and everyone introduced themselves. The person that held the vision for the church back in the 1970’s was introduced. With the introductions we notice that the people had names we could relate to like Desmond, Debbie and Jake. This is due to their mixed race. After introductions, Ian led the Bible Study. The topic was about the Ark of the Covenant and the New Covenant. The Bible Study was wrapped up with prayer and singing in English and Zulu.
There was a lot of warmth with the people of Mariannridge. We felt the strong sense of commitment and love for their church and community. Their welcome was heart warming. As with all the other locations we visited, people were very open with their appreciation for Church of the Resurrection for all their support. After saying Goodbye, we loaded back up in the bus and went back to Tre Fontaine.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
This is our last day in Durban. After breakfast we had an hour of free time to walk in the garden, enjoy the terrace view and shop for souvenirs. We loaded up in the bus and Bongani drove us to the Emmaus Methodist Church. We got there early so we drove around the community for awhile. When the church was opened, Judith shared all the work the previous mission teams had accomplished with the church. After the tour we loaded up and went back to Nazareth Methodist Church. We were ready to get to work. We finished painting, staining windows, fixing the kitchen plumbing, cleaned windows, cleaned up the paint mess on the tile, cleaned up the yard, hung the sign, hung a shelf in the kitchen and cleaned the PVC pipes. We were proud that we had accomplished everything on the list. We ended the day with “Tea Time” and pictures.
We returned to Tre Fontanne for a laid back evening of cleanup, Devotions, packing and visiting on the veranda.
Friday, March 19, 2010
We got up at 5am, had a light breakfast and loaded up on the bus to head to the airport to catch a flight to Johannesburg. We were greeted by Richard Bosart who would be our Safari Tour Guide. There was a little challenge with one piece of luggage that did not arrive on-time. It all got straightened out and off we went. Richard had an 8 passenger van with a trailer. We loaded the luggage in the trailer and went to Richard Bosart’s house to store the luggage trailer in his garage. All we needed was an overnight bag for the Safari. We drove about 3 hours to Pilanesberg National Park. The park is a volcano that erupted 1.3 Billion years ago. All the animals in the park are sustained naturally by the park.
After a bathroom break and taking care of entrance fees we started driving through the park. We drove through the park for about 5 hours and searched for animals on both sides of the van. We joked with each other that if we did not spot an animal that we would be kicked out. Before the safari started we were told there were only 2 rules 1) don’t get out of the van and 2) Don’t put any body part outside of the van. By lunch time we had seen wildebeests, giraffes, black and white crows and impalas. For lunch we had tuna and pimento cheese sandwiches and Pringles, compliments of Richard our Safari Guide.
To describe the terrain, we were surrounded by the edges of the dormant volcano; there were grasslands, with bushes and trees. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine. Throughout the park there were a few substantial bodies of water. The highlight of the afternoon was seeing the elephants and the rhinos. We were driving along and between the trees we saw the head of an elephant. We stopped and got to witness 3 full grown elephants and 4 little elephants. When it was time to leave one of the “teenage boy” elephants tried to scare us. Richard shared that the elephant was trying to show us he was tough. After a bit of a drive we came to the rhino mud hole. There were 4 female rhinos lounging in the mud hole. A short distance away, the male rhino came trotting along to check things out. All the ladies got up out of the mud hole and collected a short distance away. The male was checking us out to see if he had any business he had to take care of. He was going to protect the ladies if needed. We were about 20 feet away from the female Rhinos. They were HUGE. There was no doubt that if they wanted to, they could knock over our vehicle.
We kept driving and we saw spring bucks, egrets, wildebeests, jackals, mongooses, African darters and baboons. The closest we got to seeing hippos was from the lakeside look out hut. They were out in the middle of the lake and would come up periodically for air and then go back under water.
We drove to the resort and checked in. Our rooms were wonderful; they had a thatched roof, TV, kitchenette and air conditioning! Jack provided us a wonderful dinner of chicken, vegetables, salad and a delightful ginger cake with caramel syrup. After dinner we enjoyed 2 days of Devotions and then went to bed.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
In the morning we woke up and outside the sliding glass door we saw about 30 impalas outside grazing. They were a beautiful sight to see. Before breakfast, we loaded up in the van and drove around the park for a few hours to see more animals. We saw a bunch of monkeys on an electrical tower, impalas, zebras, wart hogs and giraffes.
At 9am we went to the resort and had a delightful breakfast buffet. With a satisfied appetite we loaded up and drove back to Johannesburg. There was a bunch of construction as we came into town and we were starting to get a little concerned about our time to get to the airport. No problem, time for a prayer! It all worked out. We went by Richard’s house to pickup the luggage and arrived at the airport with time to spare.
Reed and Brad left to catch their flight to Cape Town. They were going to stay one more week in South Africa. For the rest of the team, we had some time to do a little shopping and relax a little before the flight. We were all happy to be heading home. It took 26 hours to get home. Sleeping, watching movies, reading, visiting and, of course, eating helped to fill the time. 10am, Sunday, March 21, 2010, “There is no place like home.”
