Smile and Wave

This little boy was at Lisbon falls when we went on the weekend. His parents were there selling little trinkets to the tourists. He kept saying 'shoot, shoot!' Which is what they say when they want you to take their picture. I tried to get him to smile and wave at the camera, but he couldn't seem to do both at the same time.

Here a couple kids are chasing monkeys away from their food. The monkeys are in parks here the way squirrels are back home.

They were pretty funny... they would try and sneak up to the food. Wandering, rather non- chalantly toward the persons food. Looking at the sky, playing with the grass, but as soon as you turned your back they would scamper over to the food. If you turned back to look at them, they would stop right away, and look back up to the sky... kinda like "what?? I'm not doing anything, just enjoying the scenery..."

These are the Bourke's luck potholes, a strange formation of huge cylindrical holes that have been carved by decelerating river water with sand particles. A really beautiful area... and below, Lisbon Falls. A few of us took a trip there on Saturday, it was amazing.

Then it was back to work. Like I said before, there is no shortage of work.

In the mornings this week we have had team meetings this and in the afternoons I go to the orphan care home. At the care home I work with a few others with the school aged children. We do a little devotional with them, and have a prayer time, then help them with homework and do a little lesson in English.

Additionally in the mornings I have been working on putting together packages with clothes etc... as gifts for the village.

The gifts are so needed and appreciated. It amazes me how well they care for their clothes. Many of which have been donated.

This week I have also been working on building some webpages, facebook fansites, etc... so feel free to join our fansite on facebook!

I went to the AIDs clinic it was really interesting. A government doctor was telling us how it all got started, she had it on her heart, knew only too well the need but had no idea how she could ever be able to do it herself. One day she met a guy that took an interest in the idea. He told her to write up a business plan to see how much money would be needed... before she got that done, she heard from another person offer her land... at a very cheap price, she called the other guy up and said she had wanted to buy the land but didn’t know how to get the money and hadn't even got started on the business plan... He told her the check is in the mail! And the rest, as they say, is history... It services many thousands of people(more than double the population of the Cold Lake area) although the clinic is no larger than one you might see in in Cold Lake. It is a great ministry.

a few more pictures to tell the story.

Lula Care Certre

The Taxi Rank

K2 garden project

more pick'chuz!

the laws of nature are not invited
masoyi

ebony and ivory

a few more pictures from the other day...

locomotion

This is Grace again on Dave's behalf... it's easier for us to call him on a pay phone than for him to get the same information across on minimal internet access.

It has been a very different week from the last. Sunday I went to an Alliance Church... not necessarily associated with C & MA, but called "Alliance church". Afterward the Pastor invited me to his home in the village, it was really nice. We had lunch together, the church sevice was very different then I'm used to, everyone danced. Yep, EVERYONE - locomotion style through the entire building !

The week has been a little less interesting, because I have been sat in meetings most of the time. I am in a bit of an awkward position, I'm here longer than short termers who they normally send on work projects to various villages. But here a shorter time than long termers, so is it worthwhile to have me lead a project I would only be here 2 months for?

You could pray that God shows me clearly a defined role... just the right fit... God's fit.
Right now, it's a time of transition for most of the workers here. My roommate, an English guy who is very much like my cousin Dave, will be leaving for Mozambique. I'll miss him, he's been a great roommate and friend. A lot of the people I have gotten to know so far will be leaving within the next week or two, it feels like I'll be starting fresh trying to get to know people.

Tomorrow morning I will be going on some Home care visits, and there is a possibility that in the afternoon I will be visiting a large AIDS clinic nearby. So I may have a lot more to report in the next little while. Much more interesting than reporting about meetings anyway.
Until then...

a few "thousand words"

with the warriors

my good friend Mkhuleko with the warriors

at the orphanage

a little artist enjoying the sidewalk chalk

a lifetime in a week

This is Grace updating for David. Internet is a bit "iffy" right now, so he's given me a quick update over the phone. Praise God for phones. The picture is from Hands at Work-Africa's flickr photo site.

Sanibonani ! Hello!

It's night... I'm staying for a couple days, back at the team base... I'm looking out at the hills and they are covered by flickering lights... this is a traditional community of about 250,000, run by elders and is scattered across the mountains... it looks like there are thousands of candles lighting up the hills. there are also fires The people in the community are terrified of frogs and snakes, so they burn off the grass to make sure they can see them coming. This gives me a good view of the village.

It's strange to see all the involvement here from the US and UN and various other organizations. They are everywhere, and still seem to be missing some vital areas. Hands at Work is so different... going to the places of biggest need, with the least support.

Building the community through the churches there, so that when they are finished the work, the church can carry on ministering.

The poverty has been overwhelming.

Staying this past week in a village, in a small block "house" which is just like a rough shed, it was the lap of luxury compared to some of the homes around. Our garbage dump is cleaner in comparison to some of the areas here. I stayed with 2 boys whose parents have died of Aids, Mduduzi (M-du-du-zi) and Sibusiso(See-boo-see-so) The boy's sister Thuli would come by to make meals for them. Apparently men don't cook here.

Every meal was a type of powdered corn meal, mushed together and ground and arranged in a heap, you grab a little bit and form it into a ball that you then dip into a type of gravy like sauce.

The home had no running water, no electricity, one bed -which we all shared. It gets dark here about 5:30 pm... no electricity means nothing to do after dark. We had a few small candles which made the whole situation very strange... there were none of the normal "comforts"... but they did have plenty of cockroaches! but they really make do with nothing it makes me feel ashamed

how happy they can be with nothing and I'm constantly on the search for entertainment.

The lack of toilet paper + my left handedness + the cultural way of eating with only their hands + the idea of the "dirty hand" being the left - had earned me the name of "poop eater" from the two boys and a long discussion with them on why I wasn't in fact a poop eater...

I like their other nickname for me just a little better - "big show" after the WWE wrestler, because of my height. No they don't have a t.v. or anything, but that kind of stuff somehow gets around amongst their friends and the people here the kids love wrestling.

In the days we would go to the orphange, cooking for and feeding the children in groups... first the little babies, then the small children and then after school, the school age kids would come for food and we would feed them probably the only meal they would eat that day, and help with homework. We gave the kids some sidewalk chalk, they ended up grinding it up on the ground and using it to paint their faces. Pretty cute, really funny. We also worked with some locals to build cinderblock house for a couple of young boys because the house they were living in I'm sure most of you would'nt even allow your pets to sleep in.

I haven't seen too much wildlife here, apart from snakes. There have been some pythons and spitting Cobras and massive spiders, but the locals here get to killing those pretty quick!

I expected to see bicycles, but apart from vehicles. People walk - everywhere! It all seems to be uphill.

I've seen women carrying heavier weights on their heads than I think I could carry. I don't know how their spines handle it.

I walked by a boy, maybe only 5 years old who was washing clothes in what looked like a puddle of water and singing happily to himself. As I walked by he nodded to me and said "how are you, how are you?" probably the only English he knows. He was such a cute kid.

Greetings here are important. You are expected to say hello to everyone you meet and ask them how they are. Shaking hands with everybody in the room. I learned quickly Sanibona yebo, unjani... hello, how are you? And have probably already used it a hundred times.

On Sunday Mduduzi, Sibusiso, and I walked to church a couple miles from the house. Coming back from church, we passed by about 13 children - all of them started shouting 'how are you? how are you?" The older brother, Mduduzi said "they want to know how you are..." So of course I said "I'm fine, how are you?" - this earned me a type of celebrity status and the kids started following us back to the village.

These kids are amazing. The two boys I stayed with are awesome and they have such an amazing attitude. Most of the children I have met are not only orphaned, but unwanted... the children whose parents have died of Aids. Life is hard for them. It amazes me how they can be so happy and free, in spite of the stigma, despite the poverty. God has given them a spirit of joy, deep down, that carries them through.

Working with children it's inevitable you catch any colds that they have - this has been the case for Dave.

So please pray that David regains his health quickly, and is able to adjust to all the changes. Pray for these children and the work of "Hands at Work- Africa"

Safe and Sound

Sambo naan ,So I made it safe and sound, It's pretty crazy

and I'm pretty tired but good, you know you're in a different part of the world when you see hippo crossing signs instead of deer, today went and helped at an orphen care centre and this thursday go and stay in a child headed household a home run buy a child who's parents died

of aids there is a lot of poor and suffering here.and I'm a liitle overwhelmed so I do appreciate your prayers. hopefully I'll have more pictures soon and will be able to keep you more up to date. Dave.