Rachel from Soul Action South Africa just posted this link on Facebook.
See if you can spot anyone you might have seen featuring in the photos I've already posted on here....?
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Soul in the City Day 14 - Goodbye South Africa
We woke up fairly early on Tuesday morning. Both of us wanted to get showered and make sure the remainder of our stuff was packed and ready to go. And there was breakfast to be had.
Or maybe not so much. Since both of us awoke with upset stomachs. Again.
Since Saturday, this had been one of my biggest fears, that it would happen on the day we were travelling home. I felt awful my stomach was churning and I was struggling not to get upset. Part of me believed that everything would be fine, but part of me was scared the other part of me was wrong!
The night before one of the folks from Soul Survivor had let me call Gail from Africa Cares for Life on her South African mobile to arrange to meet her at Durban Airport. There was no answer on the phone, so I had to leave a message with my own UK mobile to ask her to text me. Soul Survivor had been kind enough to arrange me to go on an earlier coach to the airport so I would have time to meet Gail before she had to attend a funeral.
Thankfully that morning she did get my message with my ETA to the airport and she said she would meet me there.
Before long it was time to get on the coaches. Betsi, Ruky and Laura from my team were on the same coach. There were tears as we began to say goodbye. And it was only when I got on the coach that I discovered that I had in fact met Linus' friend Richard as he'd gotten to know some of the folks on Jud & Betsi's team pretty well!
It was off to the airport. We got our stuff off the coach, and not knowing Durban airport at all really, I text Gail trying to explain where I was, and it got confusing! Laura waited with me, as we did a few Michael McIntyre impressions on his jokes about Scottish people - and Gail arrived! Yay! And thank goodness for my very hard to miss suitcase which made me easy to spot!
We went for a coffee, and it was just great to meet Gail and hear about the work she and others are doing in pregnancy crisis and pregnancy loss support in South Africa. Hearing the history of how it all started, and what is going on currently. I was truly inspired and wished so much that I could have stayed and seen it all with my own eyes. I was also thankful for Gail being able to tell me news on the head of the charity I work with - that she had been given days to live. Before I'd gone away she had been diagnosed with cancer and I was anxious to know how she was doing. While I'd been away I'd been praying blindly with no access to my e-mails I had no idea what was going on back home.
It was also great to share ideas and hopefully this can continue even though I'm thousands of miles away - the wonders of the internet!
After that we went downstairs so Laura could check-in her bag, and go find something to eat in one of the cafes. The airport was full of SITCers by this time, and it got to the point where we wondered the point of saying goodbyes as we seemed to bump into each other again.
After that everything is much of a blur. I remember waiting at the gate with Jud, Rach, Jason and some others. I remember sitting alone on the plane to Jo'burg and feeling so ill throughout the whole flight. It took all self control not to be sick.
I remember wandering the shops in the departure lounge with Jud and Rach in Jo'burg and asking the Kettering crew to make sure she didn't get lost in Heathrow this time. We ran to the gate where the guys on the Virgin flight were boarding...said goodbye to them. Then walked to ours where there was a wee cafe where we all tried to get rid of what remained of our South African Rand. I was incredibly nervous about feeling ill and all of us were upset about leaving South Africa, some parting with friends we'd made that perhaps we'll never see again for a long time to come.
I was relieved when we got on the plane to find that I had spare seats beside me, and that I had 3 SITCers behind me. Joanna who I'd met on the first night in Durban came to sit beside me. Knowing I was surrounded by people who don't get travelsick was a huge comfort and I immediately relaxed and felt so much better for it.
Soon we were taking off, Joanna and I were trying to synch our TVs so she could use my sound system thing since the one in her seat didn't work.
As we got closer to the UK, as much as I was sad to leave South Africa, I was excited to be going home and seeing friends again. I wanted to know what had been going on while we'd been away, and I was also desperate to be able to eat properly again!
Or maybe not so much. Since both of us awoke with upset stomachs. Again.
Since Saturday, this had been one of my biggest fears, that it would happen on the day we were travelling home. I felt awful my stomach was churning and I was struggling not to get upset. Part of me believed that everything would be fine, but part of me was scared the other part of me was wrong!
The night before one of the folks from Soul Survivor had let me call Gail from Africa Cares for Life on her South African mobile to arrange to meet her at Durban Airport. There was no answer on the phone, so I had to leave a message with my own UK mobile to ask her to text me. Soul Survivor had been kind enough to arrange me to go on an earlier coach to the airport so I would have time to meet Gail before she had to attend a funeral.
Thankfully that morning she did get my message with my ETA to the airport and she said she would meet me there.
Before long it was time to get on the coaches. Betsi, Ruky and Laura from my team were on the same coach. There were tears as we began to say goodbye. And it was only when I got on the coach that I discovered that I had in fact met Linus' friend Richard as he'd gotten to know some of the folks on Jud & Betsi's team pretty well!
It was off to the airport. We got our stuff off the coach, and not knowing Durban airport at all really, I text Gail trying to explain where I was, and it got confusing! Laura waited with me, as we did a few Michael McIntyre impressions on his jokes about Scottish people - and Gail arrived! Yay! And thank goodness for my very hard to miss suitcase which made me easy to spot!
We went for a coffee, and it was just great to meet Gail and hear about the work she and others are doing in pregnancy crisis and pregnancy loss support in South Africa. Hearing the history of how it all started, and what is going on currently. I was truly inspired and wished so much that I could have stayed and seen it all with my own eyes. I was also thankful for Gail being able to tell me news on the head of the charity I work with - that she had been given days to live. Before I'd gone away she had been diagnosed with cancer and I was anxious to know how she was doing. While I'd been away I'd been praying blindly with no access to my e-mails I had no idea what was going on back home.
It was also great to share ideas and hopefully this can continue even though I'm thousands of miles away - the wonders of the internet!
After that we went downstairs so Laura could check-in her bag, and go find something to eat in one of the cafes. The airport was full of SITCers by this time, and it got to the point where we wondered the point of saying goodbyes as we seemed to bump into each other again.
After that everything is much of a blur. I remember waiting at the gate with Jud, Rach, Jason and some others. I remember sitting alone on the plane to Jo'burg and feeling so ill throughout the whole flight. It took all self control not to be sick.
I remember wandering the shops in the departure lounge with Jud and Rach in Jo'burg and asking the Kettering crew to make sure she didn't get lost in Heathrow this time. We ran to the gate where the guys on the Virgin flight were boarding...said goodbye to them. Then walked to ours where there was a wee cafe where we all tried to get rid of what remained of our South African Rand. I was incredibly nervous about feeling ill and all of us were upset about leaving South Africa, some parting with friends we'd made that perhaps we'll never see again for a long time to come.
I was relieved when we got on the plane to find that I had spare seats beside me, and that I had 3 SITCers behind me. Joanna who I'd met on the first night in Durban came to sit beside me. Knowing I was surrounded by people who don't get travelsick was a huge comfort and I immediately relaxed and felt so much better for it.
Soon we were taking off, Joanna and I were trying to synch our TVs so she could use my sound system thing since the one in her seat didn't work.
As we got closer to the UK, as much as I was sad to leave South Africa, I was excited to be going home and seeing friends again. I wanted to know what had been going on while we'd been away, and I was also desperate to be able to eat properly again!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Soul in the City Day 13 - We're going on a rhino hunt
Monday was a 'day off' and we were headed to Tala Game Reserve to see some safari animals. This particular outing had been highly hyped up, as Tala is apparently Mike P.'s favourite place in the whole world.
And my Team got a very special treat that was organised by the lovely Chrissy...a proper breakfast at the hotel down the road where some of the delegates plus the Soul Survivor team were staying. Even though it meant I would have less of a lie in, Ruky and I were still excited about the prospect of not having to get up before 7.
At 6 a.m. we were woken by the cleaners right outside our door - laughing and shouting towards each other LOUDLY. And that was quickly followed by the sound of drilling as workman started digging up the road right outside our window around 6.30 a.m.
Both of us groaned and I think the words 'Shuuuuuuddddduuuppp!' may have came out of our mouths before pulling covers over our heads and practically crying into our pillows at the ruining of our sleep. I eventually got up (after hitting the snooze button a couple of times) and had to laugh at Ruky's anger at the cleaners and noisy roadworks and her vain attempts to get back to sleep. it just wasn't going to be allowed to happen.
Breakfast was amazing....fresh fruit, pastries, french toast (and lots of meaty things I can't eat), freshly made waffles, REAL fruit juice. We felt seriously blessed and grateful. We found out later that we hadn't even been charged - a member of staff at the hotel told Chrissy 'no need to pay'. Wow.
Then it was off to Tala. Except we were without our teammate again as she was still unwell. So we ended up with a guy who works for Soul Survivor joining us. Poor guy...basically stuck in a combi full of hyper girlies.
When we reached Tala there was some waiting around (which we took as an opportunity for some photo taking) I found 'Team Cool' (they were difficult to miss with Timba's loud music) and Kylie who had Mike P. in her combi.
We found the hippos (and lost the other half of Team 23 when their combi went a different way) and I managed to drop my camera case which we had to rescue. Oops. Then it was off to try and find rhinos.
I think we found just about every other kind of safari animal, and then we realised we were on a track that wasn't very suitable for our combis. We basically got stuck, and ended up having to get out the combis to walk up the track so that Tamba (who is an ace driver...quite possibly The Stig's African cousin actually) rescued the 3 combis and did some stunt driving to get them unstuck.
Still no rhinos, and our combis got stuck again. This time, right next to the electric fence. Hannah got some crazy footage of our combi wheel spinning in a stream bit as they accelerated up the hill (after we advised our driver, V. that he might want to try starting in 1st gear....) and almost lost control and squashed some people in another team.
We had to jump over the stream (great when you're wearing flip flops or a skirt....) and then we managed to get our combis safely back to a better track. And still no rhinos.
We stopped for a toilet break and ice lollies.
and then we went on the look out for giraffes. They took a while to find, not helped by our track being blocked by Zebras. We also warned the other combis not to go down the track we had to look for any animals.....'Your combi will get stuck' we told them....
We found a giraffe (and Rachel had to do some combi directing as there was basically a ditch in the middle of that particular track). We had another toilet stop and were then told that Tala had given us all an official warning that the next person seen out of a combi would be given a R2000 fine (about £200) on the spot. Gulp.
And then....finally.....we found the rhinos!!! Yay!!!! (and also had to yell at a certain team to get back in their combi...honestly...) and then we got word that a certain Soul Survivor Director and I'm guessing Kylie and the rest of her team too were stuck. On the road we told them not to go down.
We were very nice and waited till we knew that the park rangers had managed to rescue them before we left. And were very thankful to find that we were on the late departure to Vineyard - especially as we only had about an hour to shower (we were all manky and covered in dust) and get dinner.
It also gave me a chance to sort out departure times, check in to my flights (sob) and text Gail as I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to meet up.
Vineyard that night was bittersweet. It was a great celebration and we were all laughing and cheering as Freddie managed to get Mike P. to do 'Stavros Flatley'. And there was time for prayer ministry and I was so thankful to be able to give and receive and also catch up with Kylie and we were able just to share what God had been doing with each of us while we were in South Africa.
And then it was home, and we had to pack our suitcases for our departure in the morning.
And my Team got a very special treat that was organised by the lovely Chrissy...a proper breakfast at the hotel down the road where some of the delegates plus the Soul Survivor team were staying. Even though it meant I would have less of a lie in, Ruky and I were still excited about the prospect of not having to get up before 7.
At 6 a.m. we were woken by the cleaners right outside our door - laughing and shouting towards each other LOUDLY. And that was quickly followed by the sound of drilling as workman started digging up the road right outside our window around 6.30 a.m.
Both of us groaned and I think the words 'Shuuuuuuddddduuuppp!' may have came out of our mouths before pulling covers over our heads and practically crying into our pillows at the ruining of our sleep. I eventually got up (after hitting the snooze button a couple of times) and had to laugh at Ruky's anger at the cleaners and noisy roadworks and her vain attempts to get back to sleep. it just wasn't going to be allowed to happen.
Breakfast was amazing....fresh fruit, pastries, french toast (and lots of meaty things I can't eat), freshly made waffles, REAL fruit juice. We felt seriously blessed and grateful. We found out later that we hadn't even been charged - a member of staff at the hotel told Chrissy 'no need to pay'. Wow.
Then it was off to Tala. Except we were without our teammate again as she was still unwell. So we ended up with a guy who works for Soul Survivor joining us. Poor guy...basically stuck in a combi full of hyper girlies.
When we reached Tala there was some waiting around (which we took as an opportunity for some photo taking) I found 'Team Cool' (they were difficult to miss with Timba's loud music) and Kylie who had Mike P. in her combi.
We found the hippos (and lost the other half of Team 23 when their combi went a different way) and I managed to drop my camera case which we had to rescue. Oops. Then it was off to try and find rhinos.
I think we found just about every other kind of safari animal, and then we realised we were on a track that wasn't very suitable for our combis. We basically got stuck, and ended up having to get out the combis to walk up the track so that Tamba (who is an ace driver...quite possibly The Stig's African cousin actually) rescued the 3 combis and did some stunt driving to get them unstuck.
Still no rhinos, and our combis got stuck again. This time, right next to the electric fence. Hannah got some crazy footage of our combi wheel spinning in a stream bit as they accelerated up the hill (after we advised our driver, V. that he might want to try starting in 1st gear....) and almost lost control and squashed some people in another team.
We had to jump over the stream (great when you're wearing flip flops or a skirt....) and then we managed to get our combis safely back to a better track. And still no rhinos.
We stopped for a toilet break and ice lollies.
and then we went on the look out for giraffes. They took a while to find, not helped by our track being blocked by Zebras. We also warned the other combis not to go down the track we had to look for any animals.....'Your combi will get stuck' we told them....
We found a giraffe (and Rachel had to do some combi directing as there was basically a ditch in the middle of that particular track). We had another toilet stop and were then told that Tala had given us all an official warning that the next person seen out of a combi would be given a R2000 fine (about £200) on the spot. Gulp.
And then....finally.....we found the rhinos!!! Yay!!!! (and also had to yell at a certain team to get back in their combi...honestly...) and then we got word that a certain Soul Survivor Director and I'm guessing Kylie and the rest of her team too were stuck. On the road we told them not to go down.
We were very nice and waited till we knew that the park rangers had managed to rescue them before we left. And were very thankful to find that we were on the late departure to Vineyard - especially as we only had about an hour to shower (we were all manky and covered in dust) and get dinner.
It also gave me a chance to sort out departure times, check in to my flights (sob) and text Gail as I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to meet up.
Vineyard that night was bittersweet. It was a great celebration and we were all laughing and cheering as Freddie managed to get Mike P. to do 'Stavros Flatley'. And there was time for prayer ministry and I was so thankful to be able to give and receive and also catch up with Kylie and we were able just to share what God had been doing with each of us while we were in South Africa.
And then it was home, and we had to pack our suitcases for our departure in the morning.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Soul in the City Day 12 - The trumpet sounds!
My stomach was still churning when I woke up the next morning, but it behaved itself for the most part.
But reaching Rachel's room to meet everyone to head to church, I was informed that one of my teammates was in hospital as she'd been ill during the night and had been going from hypoglycaemic to hyperglycaemic...we were gutted not to have her with us for that final Sunday.
Church that day was incredible. And funny.
Once again we sang songs in 3 languages, and during one, we suddenly heard a 'tooting' noise - someone had brought a trumpet/horn thing and starting, well, playing it during the worship from the middle of the congregation.
We got a shock as the first thought that pops into your head when you hear that sound, randomly, during a time of singing is 'Um, is it time for the second coming?!?!'
Some incredible things happened as people were healed in that meeting, and we got a shock when a pretty elderly member of the church (she was in her 70s) fell backwards and was lying on the floor, experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit! Not something you see every day.
While she was lying on the floor, and others were being prayed for, came the announcement that made all the Brits crack up as the pastor of the church asked if 'the band could come up and tinkle on the stage'
Me being, well, me - I couldn't hold in my giggles, and had the 3 Finnish team members next to me, who didn't understand what was funny. So I had to explain in whispers to them 'um...to 'tinkle' in the UK means to pee'
All part of the fun of being from different countries and language differences! I was told by Teemu and Anna that the word for 'goosebumps' in Finnish is literally translated as 'Chicken skin' after I asked Teemu how he wasn't cold sitting in his t-shirt while we all had long sleeves and he showed me his arm and told me 'I have chicken pox'. Hee hee.
After church, I discovered that Gail from Africa Cares for Life wasn't there, but Carl from Seed of Hope got her on the phone so we could exchange numbers. It was difficult to arrange to meet as Soul Survivor had strict rules about not going anywhere without the rest of the team and so on. Rules I could understand were for all the delegates' safety, but were slightly frustrating for a 25 year old woman used to her independence!
Then we used our last hour to head down to the beach with the Oasis team one last time. We all ran straight towards the ocean, and Xolani was great getting some passers by to take a photo of the whole group with Teemu's camera. Hopefully it's a good photo of us all! The ocean was as warm as ever...love that Indian Ocean, shark infested though it may be...!
We had a couple of hours free time that evening, which Rachel, Chrissy and I used to visit the supermarket, check out the market and get some food down on the beachfront. Yay for chicken burger and sprite, I felt a ton better with food inside me that I wasn't allergic to!!!!
That night we had a laugh at dinner with the overenthusiatic waiter who kept taking away Chrissy's plate just as she was about to eat her last bite off of it, plus reconstructing the trumpet sounds and giggling about bands 'tinkling on the stage'. I think we were all a bit hyper, plus happy to have our teammate back with us having been discharged from hospital.
We had a time of testimony and of singing together that night in the hotel. Yes, I did go up and share testimony in front of 350+ people about the amazing networking forces of God putting me in touch with Gail, but also about His strength. The previous 12 days had most definitely not been on my strength as I had fallen over, pulled tendons in my knee and struggled with not-working-so-great digestive system! Not to mention all the stuff leading up to going like lost references, expensive flights, lack of money, getting ill while trying to have my vaccinations done, my 3 sets of rejected passport photos and so on.
I spoke to Rachel from Soul Action and Louise from Soul Survivor and they were brilliant in supporting me to find a way to meet Gail before I left South Africa...
...and we were going on safari in the morning...!
But reaching Rachel's room to meet everyone to head to church, I was informed that one of my teammates was in hospital as she'd been ill during the night and had been going from hypoglycaemic to hyperglycaemic...we were gutted not to have her with us for that final Sunday.
Church that day was incredible. And funny.
Once again we sang songs in 3 languages, and during one, we suddenly heard a 'tooting' noise - someone had brought a trumpet/horn thing and starting, well, playing it during the worship from the middle of the congregation.
We got a shock as the first thought that pops into your head when you hear that sound, randomly, during a time of singing is 'Um, is it time for the second coming?!?!'
Some incredible things happened as people were healed in that meeting, and we got a shock when a pretty elderly member of the church (she was in her 70s) fell backwards and was lying on the floor, experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit! Not something you see every day.
While she was lying on the floor, and others were being prayed for, came the announcement that made all the Brits crack up as the pastor of the church asked if 'the band could come up and tinkle on the stage'
Me being, well, me - I couldn't hold in my giggles, and had the 3 Finnish team members next to me, who didn't understand what was funny. So I had to explain in whispers to them 'um...to 'tinkle' in the UK means to pee'
All part of the fun of being from different countries and language differences! I was told by Teemu and Anna that the word for 'goosebumps' in Finnish is literally translated as 'Chicken skin' after I asked Teemu how he wasn't cold sitting in his t-shirt while we all had long sleeves and he showed me his arm and told me 'I have chicken pox'. Hee hee.
After church, I discovered that Gail from Africa Cares for Life wasn't there, but Carl from Seed of Hope got her on the phone so we could exchange numbers. It was difficult to arrange to meet as Soul Survivor had strict rules about not going anywhere without the rest of the team and so on. Rules I could understand were for all the delegates' safety, but were slightly frustrating for a 25 year old woman used to her independence!
Then we used our last hour to head down to the beach with the Oasis team one last time. We all ran straight towards the ocean, and Xolani was great getting some passers by to take a photo of the whole group with Teemu's camera. Hopefully it's a good photo of us all! The ocean was as warm as ever...love that Indian Ocean, shark infested though it may be...!
We had a couple of hours free time that evening, which Rachel, Chrissy and I used to visit the supermarket, check out the market and get some food down on the beachfront. Yay for chicken burger and sprite, I felt a ton better with food inside me that I wasn't allergic to!!!!
That night we had a laugh at dinner with the overenthusiatic waiter who kept taking away Chrissy's plate just as she was about to eat her last bite off of it, plus reconstructing the trumpet sounds and giggling about bands 'tinkling on the stage'. I think we were all a bit hyper, plus happy to have our teammate back with us having been discharged from hospital.
We had a time of testimony and of singing together that night in the hotel. Yes, I did go up and share testimony in front of 350+ people about the amazing networking forces of God putting me in touch with Gail, but also about His strength. The previous 12 days had most definitely not been on my strength as I had fallen over, pulled tendons in my knee and struggled with not-working-so-great digestive system! Not to mention all the stuff leading up to going like lost references, expensive flights, lack of money, getting ill while trying to have my vaccinations done, my 3 sets of rejected passport photos and so on.
I spoke to Rachel from Soul Action and Louise from Soul Survivor and they were brilliant in supporting me to find a way to meet Gail before I left South Africa...
...and we were going on safari in the morning...!
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Soul in the City Day 11 - Beam me back to Scotland Jesus
If there was one day during this fortnight where I really just wanted Jesus to beam me back to Scotland or hand me Dorothy's shoes so I could do the whole clicking of the heels 'There's no place like home'....Day 11 was that day.
I'd had my knee bandaged up the night before by the team nurse - she'd also given me some arnica cream my badly bruised knee and shin. The last day of projects was Saturday, and we were ending our week with the Seed of Hope/Oasis team with a football tournament at the new church building site in Bheukuwandle.
Can I just say that I was playing football. And I got covered in mud doing it too.
Actually, maybe I need to correct that statement. I attempted to play football.
After my team got knocked out after our second round though, I began to feel really unwell. I drank water, but my stomach was not a happy stomach again. And of course there were no toilets at the football field. Luckily someone from the church saved all the girls who needed to use the bathroom. I ended up having to take more tablets. All the way back to the hotel, I was feeling sick, and once again I was running to and from the bathroom.
Ruky and I prayed again, and I sent texts home again. I was so miserable, but I got in the shower, because I wasn't going to miss the final city wide celebration at Glenridge Church. Lots of the guys from Seed of Hope were going to be there, and we knew this was going to be our saying goodbye to many of them who wouldn't be at church the next day.
Armed with a bottle of water and my dry toast I joined my action team to go to Glenridge. And it really was a celebration. But I was struggling.
I went forward for prayer ministry - for healing and in reference to 'a situation I was going back home to'. Let's just say it was not good, and though I had 2 lovely people praying for me, what they were saying was definitely not from God for me. It actually got a little bit hurtful - Jason saw me first as I went to look for Kylie for advice about it, and I ended up in tears, and then totally broke down sobbing all over one the girls in the other SITC team based at Seed of Hope. We ended up praying for each other.
On return back to the hotel, we went to dinner where I met one of the women who had prayed for me - very awkward - and yeah...it just wasn't good.
After dinner I went with my team to get ice cream at Suncoast, but began to feel faint, dizzy and very sick. I ended up just sitting on the floor, holding back the tears.
I was so grateful to go back to the hotel and speak to Steve and Andy about what had happened, drink some apple and ginger juice which calmed my stomach slightly (or at least in stayed in there!!). After that I felt a lot calmer and had a lot more clarity about it all. We were all in agreement that it was good it had been me and not one of the younger members of the group that had gone up. And we were then able to share, have a laugh and joke around.
Afterwards, Ruky and I were able to laugh about it all (Ruky actually messaged me on facebook a few days ago to say that it popped into her head and she couldn't stop laughing!). We were able to chill out a bit that night, and I think we needed it really.
I am so thankful for my fantastic roommate! :-)
I'd had my knee bandaged up the night before by the team nurse - she'd also given me some arnica cream my badly bruised knee and shin. The last day of projects was Saturday, and we were ending our week with the Seed of Hope/Oasis team with a football tournament at the new church building site in Bheukuwandle.
Can I just say that I was playing football. And I got covered in mud doing it too.
Actually, maybe I need to correct that statement. I attempted to play football.
After my team got knocked out after our second round though, I began to feel really unwell. I drank water, but my stomach was not a happy stomach again. And of course there were no toilets at the football field. Luckily someone from the church saved all the girls who needed to use the bathroom. I ended up having to take more tablets. All the way back to the hotel, I was feeling sick, and once again I was running to and from the bathroom.
Ruky and I prayed again, and I sent texts home again. I was so miserable, but I got in the shower, because I wasn't going to miss the final city wide celebration at Glenridge Church. Lots of the guys from Seed of Hope were going to be there, and we knew this was going to be our saying goodbye to many of them who wouldn't be at church the next day.
Armed with a bottle of water and my dry toast I joined my action team to go to Glenridge. And it really was a celebration. But I was struggling.
I went forward for prayer ministry - for healing and in reference to 'a situation I was going back home to'. Let's just say it was not good, and though I had 2 lovely people praying for me, what they were saying was definitely not from God for me. It actually got a little bit hurtful - Jason saw me first as I went to look for Kylie for advice about it, and I ended up in tears, and then totally broke down sobbing all over one the girls in the other SITC team based at Seed of Hope. We ended up praying for each other.
On return back to the hotel, we went to dinner where I met one of the women who had prayed for me - very awkward - and yeah...it just wasn't good.
After dinner I went with my team to get ice cream at Suncoast, but began to feel faint, dizzy and very sick. I ended up just sitting on the floor, holding back the tears.
I was so grateful to go back to the hotel and speak to Steve and Andy about what had happened, drink some apple and ginger juice which calmed my stomach slightly (or at least in stayed in there!!). After that I felt a lot calmer and had a lot more clarity about it all. We were all in agreement that it was good it had been me and not one of the younger members of the group that had gone up. And we were then able to share, have a laugh and joke around.
Afterwards, Ruky and I were able to laugh about it all (Ruky actually messaged me on facebook a few days ago to say that it popped into her head and she couldn't stop laughing!). We were able to chill out a bit that night, and I think we needed it really.
I am so thankful for my fantastic roommate! :-)
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Soul in the City Day 10 - Goodbye to Kids Club
Ruky and I were doing our utmost best not to cry at the very thought of Friday.To being saying goodbye to all the kids at our respective holiday clubs was heartwrenching to say the least. Though the thought of going back to the UK filled us with hope of food (Ruky had already called her sister to ask that she have a big bowl of salad waiting for her when she got back), neither of us wanted to be leaving Africa either.
Friday morning was all about the clean up for us at Dr Made. Have you ever tried to clean windows covered in fingerprints from hands covered in putty, grease, bird poo and general dirt with cold water and old raggedy t-shirts? Yeah, it doesn't work too well!
There were also a couple more panes of glass to be fitted. Anna was helping me by holding the window open while I did the puttying, when Chrissy came running in saying
"There's a car coming for you to take you back to Seed of Hope, a pregnant woman has turned up in lots of pain, so they want you to help - I'll come with you"
It was a scary moment, and I felt awful for Anna to be put under so much pressure - especially as she was tired and she's not an obstetrician. A concern was that this woman was in labour - we didn't know.
I went over the English for pregnancy-related terms (placenta, contraction etc etc) as English is not Anna's first language, and we prayed together. Lucy then came and took over as Anna and Chrissy were sped to this woman.
Thankfully, the woman was not in labour, and they had a doppler so Anna could check the foetal heartbeat. They were able to find out the cause of the pain and give her a prescription for it. Phew!
Once we had the place as spick and span as we could get it, we packed up all the stuff into the buckie (once we'd got some group photos, and had some fun with the paint rollers...hee hee), had lunch and had our final holiday club.
We had our songs, and some bracelet making. Lots of carrying children, more basketball and then a huge group photo before we had to say goodbye. The kids had made cards, and the wee girl (the one in my Twitter profile photo) took the one she made and while we were singing songs she stuffed it into one of the pockets of my trousers while I wasn't looking. I looked down and she just smiled up at me, saying nothing.
A lasting memory was having to leaving her sitting on a seat all on her own, as she'd been falling asleep in my arms. As I tried to go out the door some of the boys grabbed onto my arms and hands and weren't letting go.
We went to Vineyard that night, but I don't remember much about it. I can't remember who I sat with, or who spoke, or well, anything about it really.
I just remember going to bed thinking about the kids who would be going to school on Monday, and that we wouldn't be at Seed of Hope anymore. And that made me feel very, very sad.
Friday morning was all about the clean up for us at Dr Made. Have you ever tried to clean windows covered in fingerprints from hands covered in putty, grease, bird poo and general dirt with cold water and old raggedy t-shirts? Yeah, it doesn't work too well!
There were also a couple more panes of glass to be fitted. Anna was helping me by holding the window open while I did the puttying, when Chrissy came running in saying
"There's a car coming for you to take you back to Seed of Hope, a pregnant woman has turned up in lots of pain, so they want you to help - I'll come with you"
It was a scary moment, and I felt awful for Anna to be put under so much pressure - especially as she was tired and she's not an obstetrician. A concern was that this woman was in labour - we didn't know.
I went over the English for pregnancy-related terms (placenta, contraction etc etc) as English is not Anna's first language, and we prayed together. Lucy then came and took over as Anna and Chrissy were sped to this woman.
Thankfully, the woman was not in labour, and they had a doppler so Anna could check the foetal heartbeat. They were able to find out the cause of the pain and give her a prescription for it. Phew!
Once we had the place as spick and span as we could get it, we packed up all the stuff into the buckie (once we'd got some group photos, and had some fun with the paint rollers...hee hee), had lunch and had our final holiday club.
We had our songs, and some bracelet making. Lots of carrying children, more basketball and then a huge group photo before we had to say goodbye. The kids had made cards, and the wee girl (the one in my Twitter profile photo) took the one she made and while we were singing songs she stuffed it into one of the pockets of my trousers while I wasn't looking. I looked down and she just smiled up at me, saying nothing.
A lasting memory was having to leaving her sitting on a seat all on her own, as she'd been falling asleep in my arms. As I tried to go out the door some of the boys grabbed onto my arms and hands and weren't letting go.
We went to Vineyard that night, but I don't remember much about it. I can't remember who I sat with, or who spoke, or well, anything about it really.
I just remember going to bed thinking about the kids who would be going to school on Monday, and that we wouldn't be at Seed of Hope anymore. And that made me feel very, very sad.
Friday, 31 July 2009
Soul in the City Day 9 - It all gets a bit hazy from here!
This is where the evenings seem to mingle into one, so sorry (again) if I've not got things quite right.
Thursday morning was more windows and lots of painting! And also trying to get paint off places paint wasn't supposed to be. We all got to wear some rather fetching bin bags too. We also had shovelled all the ash we could, and we had to finish spraying it with water and rollering it.
Rollering is fun - the only problem is that the roller gains momentum, and my upper body strength is round about scale of 0. So some people had to rescue me when I had to roll backwards...!
The kids took my camera that afternoon as we skipped, hoola hooped (or in my case tried to hoola hoop). Some of them can hoola with 2 hoola hoops at a time. I was very impressed with their hoola hoop skills.
Yes, the wee girl found me and wanted carried about all afternoon. And she once again fell asleep in my arms. When it came to leave the kids were gripping onto us, not wanting us to go. They held onto me (and others), and some of them even came running out and onto the combi.
That was tough. We kept saying 'we'll see you tomorrow' but we were so aware that this was the last time we could say that to them. Because the next day would be our last at the Kids Club.
In the evening we were at Vineyard again, and I caught up with Kylie (who I know from my home church, MBC). During the worship, my knee began to get sore again (grrrr). I took some videos that night of some of the songs we learned. I also went up for prayer. To be honest I can't remember what it was for now, but standing was not a good idea. I couldn't put my weight on my right knee, and my left leg was getting sore because I was putting weight on it all the time.
Eventually I turned to the person praying for me, apologised for fidgeting and confessed I was in pain. We sat on the floor and she prayed for my knee. And then left.
Fair enough.
Only....my knee wasn't better. And I couldn't get up off the floor. Meanwhile, people around me are crying, sobbing, one falling backwards etc etc. I felt very silly and didn't really know what to do!
Thankfully, Leah came to the rescue, and she came over to see if I was ok - I explained and she helped me up, and I limped back to where Kylie's friends were. I was having a 'stand up/sit down' deliberation when I noticed a woman wearing red.
And woooooshhh....the memory of what God showed me and the word God gave me while I was lying on a floor in Watford came flooding back.
Is this the woman God?
I was pretty certain the answer was yes, and I asked God to give me more info.
I had a quick chat with Kylie after the worship was over to see whether she thought I was hearing from God, and whether I should share my random word, possibly from God with this person who I didn't know. Kylie told me I should, and offered to come with me, because in truth I was totally embarrassed and was terrified it would just seem really weird, or worse be totally irrelevant.
I know a couple of you asked me about whether I met 'the woman' after I blogged about the training day in Watford. So here's what I can tell you...
I was given 2 pieces of information that day - 1. a picture of an African woman wearing red 2. a word had never heard that I thought was somebody's name.
I got the 2nd part a little bit wrong as it wasn't a name per se...I had asked Calvin, Ntuks and our driver about this word (and tried to say it...ha ha) on our first day at Seed of Hope. They told me that the word was 'Themba' and it was a Zulu word for 'hope'.
I won't explain what else God said, because that's personal to woman I told about it. Thankfully she received it well, and asked Kylie and myself to pray for her. Which we did.
A breathed a huge sigh of relief. And thought...wow...God you are awesome.
And then on my way back to the combi I tripped over nothing outside Vineyard Church...! Thankfully Kylie caught me before I fell and added to my cuts and bruises (thanks hun!).
Thursday morning was more windows and lots of painting! And also trying to get paint off places paint wasn't supposed to be. We all got to wear some rather fetching bin bags too. We also had shovelled all the ash we could, and we had to finish spraying it with water and rollering it.
Rollering is fun - the only problem is that the roller gains momentum, and my upper body strength is round about scale of 0. So some people had to rescue me when I had to roll backwards...!
The kids took my camera that afternoon as we skipped, hoola hooped (or in my case tried to hoola hoop). Some of them can hoola with 2 hoola hoops at a time. I was very impressed with their hoola hoop skills.
Yes, the wee girl found me and wanted carried about all afternoon. And she once again fell asleep in my arms. When it came to leave the kids were gripping onto us, not wanting us to go. They held onto me (and others), and some of them even came running out and onto the combi.
That was tough. We kept saying 'we'll see you tomorrow' but we were so aware that this was the last time we could say that to them. Because the next day would be our last at the Kids Club.
In the evening we were at Vineyard again, and I caught up with Kylie (who I know from my home church, MBC). During the worship, my knee began to get sore again (grrrr). I took some videos that night of some of the songs we learned. I also went up for prayer. To be honest I can't remember what it was for now, but standing was not a good idea. I couldn't put my weight on my right knee, and my left leg was getting sore because I was putting weight on it all the time.
Eventually I turned to the person praying for me, apologised for fidgeting and confessed I was in pain. We sat on the floor and she prayed for my knee. And then left.
Fair enough.
Only....my knee wasn't better. And I couldn't get up off the floor. Meanwhile, people around me are crying, sobbing, one falling backwards etc etc. I felt very silly and didn't really know what to do!
Thankfully, Leah came to the rescue, and she came over to see if I was ok - I explained and she helped me up, and I limped back to where Kylie's friends were. I was having a 'stand up/sit down' deliberation when I noticed a woman wearing red.
And woooooshhh....the memory of what God showed me and the word God gave me while I was lying on a floor in Watford came flooding back.
Is this the woman God?
I was pretty certain the answer was yes, and I asked God to give me more info.
I had a quick chat with Kylie after the worship was over to see whether she thought I was hearing from God, and whether I should share my random word, possibly from God with this person who I didn't know. Kylie told me I should, and offered to come with me, because in truth I was totally embarrassed and was terrified it would just seem really weird, or worse be totally irrelevant.
I know a couple of you asked me about whether I met 'the woman' after I blogged about the training day in Watford. So here's what I can tell you...
I was given 2 pieces of information that day - 1. a picture of an African woman wearing red 2. a word had never heard that I thought was somebody's name.
I got the 2nd part a little bit wrong as it wasn't a name per se...I had asked Calvin, Ntuks and our driver about this word (and tried to say it...ha ha) on our first day at Seed of Hope. They told me that the word was 'Themba' and it was a Zulu word for 'hope'.
I won't explain what else God said, because that's personal to woman I told about it. Thankfully she received it well, and asked Kylie and myself to pray for her. Which we did.
A breathed a huge sigh of relief. And thought...wow...God you are awesome.
And then on my way back to the combi I tripped over nothing outside Vineyard Church...! Thankfully Kylie caught me before I fell and added to my cuts and bruises (thanks hun!).
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