A Month In...

SO i have been here for a month now, it feels like it has been a really short time and a long time all at the same time!
It certainly hasn't been how i thought it would be. I didn't really know what to expect when i came out, but this month has been so interesting, a great one but very different to how i expected it to be.
I don't really know where to start...

Well firstly work at Khanyisa is going well, not really doing much with myself and struggling to stay busy but i am sure with a bit of time i will get in the flow and settle in there a bit more.

On Thursdays i have been going across to HCC a church in Somerset West where I did my unofficial FP. I am really loving being over there and have been doing some really exciting stuff that i never thought i would have the opportunity to do on this trip!
I went to Somerset West for a meeting a few weeks ago to chat about community development and family support in Lwandle; which is one of the Townships on the border of Somerset West. It was a really positive meeting and there are some very exciting prospects for future work there, though at this point I'm not sure where and when and if i fit in, but know God will let me know when i need to!
At this meeting i met a really great girl called Jude who is doing FP at HCC, we got on really well and found that we both have pretty much the same passion and vision for community development and family support. SO we are getting together on Thursdays to look into what is already going on in the community and have been doing some filming and stuff of some of the projects going on there to maybe put together some info packages for them to send off for funding or just to help raise their profile. We have been meeting with a guy called Lunga who has started a music production/recording studio called Pozi Productions in his shack...its so cool!!! the music they are producing is such good quality! i never thought id end up hanging out in a hip-hop recording studio ever let alone in a township! i love it!!!

This Tuesday i went to help at a group run at Jubilee church in Cape Town that is for mums and their kids in the local community, it is a bit of discipleship, life skills, fun and relationship all in one. It is really great to see stuff like this going on, the women really appreciate having somewhere like it just be and forget their troubles for a little while. I was looking after a little boy of about 8months who lives under a bridge with his mum, he seemed pretty ill with a really rattly chest, i can't imagine the stress his mum is under, they are desperately trying to find her a shelter to stay at but because she is not involved in drugs or a victim of domestic violence it is very hard...which is crazy, she is trying not to get involved in bad things so she can care for her son but that is stopping her from getting the support she needs! Winter is closing in, its been cold and stormy this week and my heart breaks for people like them who have no shelter...not even a shack!
I am going to be going to that group every week which i am really excited about, it is a great opportunity to build relationships and also to learn.

On Mondays and Wednesdays i have been at khanyisa helping with two groups that are run there, Mondays it is teenagers, and weds it is younger children. I have a bit of a fan in the teenage group, a boy who is trying to convince me he is the best and calls me Rebekah Malope (she's a south African gospel singer)... its hard to know what they are saying about me all the time as they speak in Xhosa allot, and i am sure i am the butt of allot of jokes but relationship does seem to be being built and i had fun whipping there butts at Foosball! I did the talk at the kids group on Wednesday too which was cool, did a story about Jonah and God's grace for people and how He looks after us even when we stray from Him or are disobedient, it went well though i really want to find some good resources to use.

So its been interesting in that i am doing a bunch of stuff i didn't know i would be doing, its very exciting to just go with the flow and see where it takes me, but it is a little slow paced at times, but maybe that is what i need as i haven't really been in pain since i have been here, its there in the background and rears its head sometimes but it hasn't stopped me yet! so i am really thankful for a more chilled schedule, even though it is quite full its at a slow pace!

Its been so great to catch up with so many good friends over here, since first going over to somerset west a couple of weeks ago i have had so much opportunity to meet up with people and have had such a warm welcome back from everyone. allot has changed there and i always find change strange, many people i love dearly aren't there anymore, they are all off having their own adventures, and the church has also changed allot. But it is clear to see that God is doing something there and that even though its been shaken allot His foundations never fail.

I have gone though a real whirlwind of emotions this last month. At first I felt frustrated with the situation here and then felt overwhelmed with the injustice of it, then frustrated again...but have come to see that there is such a vast amount of poverty and issues that no matter how much stuff people do here there will always be too much need for things to cover, however that is where it is important to trust everything to God, especially the big tasks, because He is bigger, and I know He has a plan for this amazing country and He will have His glory so i can just trust in that!
Also God's been speaking to me more about how poverty and many of the issues of poverty are global issues. Some people may live in shacks and some in council houses, but allot of the issues like education, young pregnancy, low self esteem and low motivation, poor health and stress are there in both. It has made me even more keen to get stuck into Holbeck and other deprived areas in Leeds and elsewhere in the future. Its important to know that God has a heart for the poor...whether it be the obvious poor such as many people in south Africa or the homeless or the more hidden poor like those who live in council estates or run down areas.

SO that's been this month...exciting to think i still have 3 to go, it feels like time is going to fly by though. But the whole time I am just getting so amped to come back to Leeds....but loving every minute of being here too....which is such a great place to be in! God's been very good to me in that :)

Its really turning into winter now...its been stormy and rainy and cold all week...the wind is hectic! trees ans stuff were blown down on Sunday! But after tomorrow its supposed to brighten up a bit and be 22 degrees on sat and sun! but it has been cold and will continue to be this changeable the whole time i am here...I wish i had some warmer clothes with me!!!
I also finished all of my essays for Uni this week which is SUCH a good feeling!! no more til October at least!! A good chunk of this last month was spent on writing those!
I'm finding some really good friends here too and in the last couple of week my social life has improved big time! :)

And that is my first month in Cape Town...I'm sure there will be much more to report back soon....I'll try and do it sooner so my next blog isn't so long!!