Off to South Africa to build a house with National Urban Saints and Amor Ministries…
So what happened………….
The trip began at 4pm on the sunny afternoon of Friday 12th July when 3 mischievous lads (Matt, John and Tom) and 1 ‘Leader’ (Rich) departed by minibus from the hall to travel to Heathrow. On arrival at the airport, we met with the other groups and checked in to find a plane had caught fire and both runways were closed… great! Four hours later, after some disruptive fun including a bum shuffle race videoed by Matt, we made our way, finally, to the departure gate!
On Arrival at Johannesburg Airport, we met with Scott Congdon (Jordan’s dad) and Ladonna Barron both part of the Amor Team and boarded the coach bound for the Lion Park. At the park we had our first experience of South African food – boerewors (South African Sausage) with mashed maize and amazing gravy. After the Braai (BBQ) we got on the caged Land Rovers – not sure if we were caged from the animal or the other way round?! And saw zebras, ostriches, wildebeest, springbok, leopards, cheetahs and lions. We then went to the lion cubs enclosure where we were able to stroke the feline killing machines! Many pictures later, including Tom’s close encounter with a larger lion cub, we left the lion park to go to Ebenezer farm, in Delmas.
Up early the next morning for meeting the latecomers (including the infamous Peter Jeffrey) we went for our tour of Soweto led by Humphrey Birchenstock – Founder and broadcaster of Rainbow FM radio. After going round many famous locations linked with apartheid we hit the markets to practice our haggling skills before walked towards the most famous street in SA, residence of 2 Nobel peace prize winners: Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. After the tour we hopped back on the coach and travelled back to the farm where Pete managed to wangle himself his own bungalow complete with shower and toilet; there was no such luxury for us!
Day 1
We rose at 7am for an 8:30 start. On arrival of the build site we found polystyrene sections, a concrete foundation, 2 piles of sand and corrugated iron shack in which Kentlie Masilela (the woman we were building for) called home. We began work by one team cutting the polystyrene sections to size and cutting the wire that would connect them together whilst the other group marked the foundations ready for the walls. Monday was also Guildford’s day to run the local nursery, 100 meters away alongside another group, playing lots of games and telling the kids about the story of Zacchaeus. It was then we realised how little the children of Botleng have, but how happy they are to make the most of their possessions.
Each evening we had a meeting where we could worship God, and with talks on Joshua and the Israelites crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land.
Day 2
Having finished preparing the walls on Day 1, we began putting them into place on the foundation of the house. Friendships with other Urban Saints groups on the build were being forged, these would prove invaluable later on in the build. However Day 2 was a slow one, and progress seemed slow even though we did get most of the walls into place by the end of the day and fit the majority of the door frames.
Day 3
By lunchtime we had finished inserting the doorframes and had all 7 walls of the house in place. The next job was to measure and mark where the metal supports for the roof were going to end up. By the end of the day a large portion of the metal supports were in place and the windows had also been fitted.
Day 4
This day consisted of beginning the rendering, securing the metal beams, and beginning to assemble the roof. At lunchtime a local insurance company arrived and kindly did a braai for us, they then continued to help us by rendering a whole wall, mostly with their bare hands. Back at Ebenezer farm the American build team and their South African volunteers were challenged to a football match (they call it soccer but they’re wrong) and were beaten comprehensively.
Day 5
By the end of this day we had a first coat of render on the outside walls, rendering had begun on the inside and the roof had begun to take shape. At lunchtime an army of kids, both black and white Afrikaner, were led into Botleng by pastor Volker where they assisted us in our build.
This day was the last day for the group from the states so they challenged us to their national sport of American football… we beat them at this too. During Guildford’s second dessert an African choir called “Latter House of Afrika” came and sang for us, the Guildford group had the privilege of hearing them twice as we had heard them at the church service we attended on Sunday 14th July in Delmas.
Day 6
At the beginning of the day it seemed as if we would never finish but despite our initial doubt, God used us to complete the roof, 95% of the plastering and hand over the home to Kentlie. That evening after dinner a charismatic and inspiring pastor named Noma came and gave a talk in Zulu through a translator; which was loud, entertaining, and challenging. The ReBuild team then presented her with some flowers and a book, which she accepted very emotionally.
Nkosi’s Haven (HIV/ AIDS orphanage)
On Sunday 21st July we visited the orphanage on the way to the airport. We stayed for around four and a half hours. We played with the kids for around half this time. Pete and Matt ended up completely caked in face paint whilst Richard, Tom and John engaged the children in games involving parachutes, footballs and chalk (hopscotch). We then had a tour of the orphanage which was much more vast than any of us originally imagined it would be. Whilst we were there an ambulance and paramedic arrived and eventually had to take one of the children to hospital. This underlined why these havens are needed and why they must be supported.
Conclusion
After the trip to the orphanage we travelled to the airport where the Urban Saints groups had almost a six-hour wait before we were able to board the plane. We took off at around 10pm South African time to endure another 11 hours of “sleep”, films and airline food. We landed at around 8am British time. Before we landed we managed to cram in a pillow fight and a rendition of “lean forwards lean backwards”. This song was created on Whitsun camp 2013, and we taught it to the other Urban Saints teams in South Africa.
Matt – “The trip opened up my eyes to see how happy the people are for how little they have and it gave me a sense of what real community is like. I really felt God’s presence throughout the trip and saw Him working through our group.”
John – “The trip challenged me, as I saw whilst in the coach- on one side of a large road luxury houses with swimming pools, and on the other side a “township” which is really just a slum consisting of simple, inadequate residences with mud floors. Despite seeing these troubling things I still felt that South Africa is a great country that I will definitely visit, and hopefully volunteer in again.”
Pete – “This was a real win, win, win trip – we learnt so much, 3 families received houses and our trip really encouraged the largely white churches of Delmas to get involved in the Township. God worked in so many ways and there were some spiritual battles. Rich was amazing in running our build and was certainly God’s man in the right place. Matt, John and Tom worked really hard and also began to learn something about leadership.
For me it was great to see a project I had prayed about and kicked off some years ago in my time as National Chairman.”
