after the holiday

Once we got back from the holiday it was back to work so I have been going to pregnancy crisis centre every morning, mixing it up with hospital feeding on a Thursday and the rest of my afternoons have been filled with videoing for a DVD mike and I are making about our trip. We also went to watch die hard and transformers [both of which I recommend – especially if you can get a ticket for 10rand!]

The weekend after our holiday [so we had barely got home] the Oasis Team was invited to PCF church camp in Port Shepstone, which is on the coast 2 hours form PMB. It was Friday to Sunday and our job was to be in charge of the kids. I wouldn’t call myself a children’s worked but I embraced this challenge and got excited about the activities we had planned. We arranged a wide game style game, with different giving different tasks and then the teams got a puzzle piece on completion of the tasks. These were then put together to give a code which then de-coded a bible verse. The following day we did a standard bible teaching session [with a twist that included marshmallow and spaghetti towers, toilet paper mummies and making crowns]. It went really well and I turned out to actually enjoy trying to look after and teach over 30 children. It was a fun weekend and it was nice to have a change and serve in a different way. It was really nice to go back to NCF on the Sunday evening after the weekend away, as we hadn’t been since before the holiday and people had missed us and they were really interested in what we had been up to.

The following week was pretty much the same along with doing bits and pieces at the community care project [like visiting schools and going into the communities]. Friday of that week was AIDS prayer meeting which is probably my favourite Christian event here; as it is a no gimmicks service where God seems to really move. At the end of the prayer meeting I was whisked off to visit a school in the community to sit in on an abstinence talk that Michael from PCC was giving. This was probably the fist time I have felt intimidated in my trip, the school was in a township and crowded full of teenagers who were laughing and pointing at me [most likely because I was white!] Michael gave the talk in a hall packed with girls who were sitting on random arm chairs and broken seats and the rest standing because the school was so poor. I have also been really enjoying doing computer lessons with Mum Doreen [the cleaner at PCC] she is an amazing Zulu woman and here managing to type and letter on the computer by herself was a real achievement.

On the 3^rd August the new summer team arrived, there are 5 of them, four from Oasis and one Australian. They are here for a month (leave a week after us) and are focused on helping Gateway in a practical way, mainly painting at the moment. It was nice to have people from home to talk to and finding one was from Wallington was also cool! That Saturday we went with Dean, Grant (and brother, Kyle (and brother) went down to watch a rugby match in Durban. I was looking forward to a good read of a magazine and some dairy milk I had brought and the excitement grew even further when I was given a free flag! The weather started chucking it down [probably the 3^rd time it has rained in our trip] a got soaking but it made me feel nostalgic about home.

Thursday the 9^th August was women’s day here so everyone had the day off (so hospitial feeding was off so it was nice to have a lie in!). We decided it would be good fun to take the Duduza kids out bowling. It was so funny, Sponiso ran half way down the lane, threw the ball and then just laid face down, a man had to come and ask him to move! I was pleased that not too many children beat me and then went to buy ice creams. This was a ‘special’ experience with more ice cream going on the ground and clothes rather than in mouths. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Veronica also came with us who is one of the Foster mums at Duduza, she got really into it, getting excited when she knocked down the pins, doing a little dance.

Afterwards I was really excited as I got to phone my sister while she was on hill house camp! I’m proper gutted to not been going this year so it was nice to hear from her. We then went back to bowling because the 20’s at church were having a social there, stayed for an hour and then mished it to Benson and Beatrice’s house for dinner. I was very excited about this because they are actual legends, and then when Jabu turned up as well it was like all my dreams had come true.

Gateway also gave everyone on the Friday 10^th a day off, so we all got a long weekend. This was particularly good because it was Anna’s birthday. We went out for breakfast at ‘Bean scene’ and she took all her present there to open. We then got ready to have a picnic at the botanical gardens where we were also joined by some friends from NCF. It was lovely to have a picnic and it really felt like summer. In the evening Anna wanted to watch Bourne Ultimatum at the cinema so Dean and Joe joined us and it was a really good film, especially seeing as I haven’t watched the other two. It was pretty much just a day of eating – my favourite kind of day.