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Islington has finally cottoned on to what we all discovered at camp this year: Our Ronke’s got talent! She made it to the finals of Islington’s Got Talent (they obviously copied the name off our camp talent contest) so well done Ronke.

He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.

2009 has been for us in many ways a frustrating and difficult year, but we have constantly seen and felt the presence of God sustaining us and encouraging us.

During the last few months we have been involved in a gospel mission to a township near Mthatha and we have seen God moving at times in very special ways, and the church has seen many people get saved. Last week a young woman was saved and after wards a word was given that God wanted to touch people who were crying over their families. This lady came forward crying out for a situation between her and her step brother. As she came forward it was obvious God was touching her in a real way, we spent many minutes praying for her asking only for God to bless her and her family. That night her step brother contacted her and for the first time in ages things between them were good and the brother invited her to go over and see his family. She knew God had moved. Unbeknown to us the woman also had a severe chronic respiratory problem, and 3 days later she attended the chest clinic for a routine check up, and had an x-ray taken. She handed this x-ray to the doctor and while she waited for him to check it went and sat back down. The doctor checked the x-ray and then said “whose x-ray is this?” She replied that it was hers, and the doctor asked what she was doing there as she clearly had no chest problem. She told him she had been attending the clinic for a long time and that one of her lungs was as good as useless due to disease. The doctor re checked the x-ray and the patient details and said “ok let’s examine you.” The examination found no problem whatsoever and she was told she didn’t need to attend again. The doctor was scratching his head after examining the patients notes not knowing what could have happened, but the lady knew exactly what had happened. Our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.

By now we expected to be giving testimonies about the children in the children’s village as well. When we came here we knew that we had some hard work to do to get the building done and to go through all the various bureaucratic processes in order to be ready to open and also that sometimes things were harder to get going quickly in Africa, but really our belief was that we would be up and running at least by now. We have this year completed the first phase of building and can be ready to open at short notice for 12 children initially but we are still being delayed by Social Development. In truth after originally being asked by Social Development to do the project, they and one manager in particular have become very awkward to deal with. They have communicated very poorly with us, though we have tried to get their advice at every step along the way. They have now come out with additional requirements, just when we are poised to open. These requirements should have come to us 2 years or more ago. Their behaviour has been such that we are forced to review our approach to avoid them causing further delays. We are still confident of going ahead within a few months but we need to work out exactly how we do that. Please pray for ourselves and Trustees of the charity to have wisdom in working out exactly how to go forward.

As a family we obviously went through a few things during the year. Perhaps the hardest thing we went through during the year was the death of our close friend Michael Mgcotyelwa in october. Michael was a Chief and a Pastor, and was a leader with a servant heart, he was a friend and an inspiration to us both and we miss him loads. We were also victims of crime 3 times and were near victims on a couple of other occasions! Obviously the shooting was very traumatic and for quite a few weeks after we felt like it was going to happen again any moment. Things are no longer so bad in that way, but Zoliswa in particular still struggles with fears about continuing to stay here. Unfortunately we are unable to say for sure it won’t happen again. South Africa has the second highest murder rate in the world, and our city has the worst crime record in this province. Whatever the risks we both want to be where God wants us to be, but we are asking to be sure about that at this time and both of us feel the need to keep seeking God for strong direction at this time. Please pray that He would speak clearly to us.

One thing that is clear is that needs in the villages where we have built the Children’s Village are just as great as ever. There are at least 650 orphans and vulnerable children among 3,200 dwellings. Though the people have a greater willingness to take other people’s kids than in our own culture, they are overloaded, and there are many serious problems among these orphans including abuse and neglect, and we do know this Children’s Village can make a dramatic difference in their lives.

One child whose life we have been quite closely involved in is Themba*. This little boy who is nearly seven nearly died around 18 months ago. He is HIV positive and had TB at the time and ended up in hospital with severe malnutrition. His mother had died 6 months before and the auntie who had been looking after him was doing her best and trying to give him a good diet, but they were so poor and it was difficult, and really because of his diseases he needed a much better diet than they were able to give him. When we first met him he had no energy and would just sit while others played and for months we never saw him smile. We helped the auntie to get him admitted to hospital. The nurses there did a good job and bit by bit he recovered strength. But it took 4 months and during that time he was about 30km away from his aunt. We would give his aunt money to visit but she had other family issues including the death of her daughter following pregnancy and a small grandchild to care for, and could only manage to visit once a week. He was over 60km from us but we visited once or twice every week. Our efforts seemed really small but over the months they helped to give a life line to a boy who was feeling abandoned and felt like giving up. We used to take our own kids to visit and today they are very good friends, and he has been to stay with us. Siyakha was the first one I saw who could make Themba smile. When he was in hospital we would tell him what day we would next be going to visit and he would tell the nurses on that day ‘my dad is coming today!’. Eventually he was discharged back to another aunt who could give more attention, but there were real fears he would become malnourished again. We assisted by giving monthly food parcels (amounting to £30 month maximum) consisting of a lot of protein and vitamin foods that he had been lacking. His aunt did a good job with him and bit by bit we have seen him transformed. Today he is a very happy energetic boy with a ready smile and a ready laugh. Though he does get a bit breathless on exertion. We have attached a photo for you to see. We believe the nurses and the aunt played the most significant role but that our part also was vital. Our pain is that there are so many like this with real needs whose lives can be transformed and it feels hard that this Children’s Village is taking so long to start, when we and the local community know it can make a real difference. They like us are desperate for it to start.

So as we come to the close of 2009 we are more convinced than ever of the difference this Children’s Village can make in young children’s lives, and frustrated that it is taking us so long to start it. We thank God for keeping us safe and giving us many reasons to rejoice even in what has been a difficult year. And we wait to hear His voice for direction on how we take things forward. We would like to thank Margaret and the Charity Trustees and also our churches in UK and SA – Rainbow and AVOAC for all their support. We also thank all our friends and family and supporters who have lifted us up in prayer, given money to the project and encouraged us when things have seemed hard, and to any who have just been interested in what we are doing. Also special thanks to the life boat crew. Love Clive and Zoliswa

 

P.S we are in the UK from 4^th dec till 5^th jan and can be contacted on 07745990329, look forward to seeing everyone.

 

*Themba means hope and is not his real name.

Cockney kids tackle Maori

By JUSTIN LATIF - Western Leader

 

Last updated 05:00 28/07/2009

Photo: JUSTIN LATIF

LANGUAGE LEARNERS: From left: Kai, Charles and Tia Graty are all learning more about the native people of their new homeland.

 

 

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Two Cockney accents can be heard learning the Maori language at the Nga Kakano Christian Bilingual School.

Henderson Heights residents Kai Graty, 7, and his sister Tia, 9, emigrated from London four years ago with their parents Gwendolyn and Charles.

The older Gratys decided to send their children to the bilingual, mainly Maori school.

Charles says the siblings have flourished in their new learning environment.

“It’s got a real community focus and they seem to be doing well,” he says.

Kai says he’s made lots of friends at his new school.

“It’s way different to our old school because we get to talk in Maori,” he says.

Charles is of British and Swiss descent and was born in Africa.

He wants his children to have the same multi-cultural exposure he did growing up.

“I’m quite open to other cultures,” he says.

“We have found that in New Zealand there can be quite a separation between Maori and European.

“But we didn’t see why it needed to be like that for our children as long as their educational needs were being met.

“And so they have that privilege of being exposed to the Maori culture.”

Charles has also delved into Maori culture.

“I did a te reo Maori course at the Te Wanaga o Aotearoa when I first came here,” the 49-year-old says.

“It was quite a steep learning curve but a really good experience.

“It also got me researching my own ancestry and thinking about what makes up my culture.

“In England we’ve lost our identity. I think that’s why people there go so mad on the football – because it gives them an identity of sorts.”

Charles still wants his children to be proud of their own heritage.

“They need to know their own culture and they are Londoners really. We just like them to be exposed to a multicultural environment.”

OPEN MIC IS HERE

Open Mic. Wood Green Scout Hut 89 Wolves Lane @4pm featuring the usual ingredients: food - worship - community - jesus - plastic forks - catching up - sharing love - 
and in other news…

Beehive End of School Year 2008 - 2009 Awards & Certification Banquet. Bounces Road Community Centre 23rd October @7.30 Dress smart for our smart kids. Refreshments and entertainment provided. RSVP to a teacher. (A Beehive teacher)

Fire. At Gareth and Jo’s for Bonfire Night on Sunday November 8th @6pm. Bring one good firework. Jacket potatoes will be served.

Uninterrupted Worship at Soul Survivor November 2nd. Text Jo if you wanna go.

Rainbow Cyberlink Prayer Meeting (remember!?) has been back a week to Friday 30th due to unprecedented demand, unforseen circumstances and force majeur. 

We launch a new Training Programme
This was my sixteenth visit to Kenya; I went to launch a Leadership Training Programme. During the next two years, every two months, for three days, we will train leaders in theology and practice. Many trainees will be local people who have received no training. We hope that this programme will have a profound effect on those who attend, giving them new perspective and ethos. Plus ease some of the problems that can ensue from having untrained leaders. Long term, this will benefit the church
and the wider Kenyan community.

Jackie’s Vital Input
I was accompanied by Jackie Oliver from Generation Church base in Ewell Surry and Executive Director of ‘Through the Roof’ a charity supplying wheel-chairs worldwide; one of the distribution centres is in Kenya. Together we delivered the first three days of the training programme. Jackie lectured over 40 students on the Theology of Disability Showing how God treated people with disabilities, such as Moses, from Scripture, using lectures, workshops, discussions and videos. The generator rebelled and refused to operate the projector, so the PowerPoint presentation was not used. I used a similar roll-out on the subject of
Servant Leadership.

What have we done so far?
We have been working in Kenya for sixteen years alongside our partner Sammy Nawali. To date, along with the help of many others from the UK and the USA, we have been able to assist in funding the following:
• Orphanage - mainly boys, girls are placed in safe homes
• Garage - giving space for vocational training for street boys and orphans
• School - currently teaching 130 pupils and growing
• Church building - the congregation continues to grow
• Sure 24 - twice weekly feeding programme

What now?

We are still faced with many challenges; the ongoing school building work; implementation of a clean water programme, we hope to have a bore-hole installed in November 2009; food for the orphanage and the school, each child receives a midday meal, often this is the only meal they get. My passion is to set standards that others can follow, and that our investment will have a much broader impact.

New Road

The country continues to improve. Our route is along the road from Nairobi to Nakuru, it used to take 3–4 hours due to pot-holes. A Kenyan pot-hole is something to behold, some of them are like driving down one side of a mountain and up another. The road is now completely resurfaced and pot-hole free! It reduced the travel time by half and instead of concentrating on holes in the road we were able to take in the views of the fabulous rift valley.

Ongoing Challenges

There are still issues regarding IDPs, Internally Displaced People as they are euphemistically known. Many remain in camps, afraid to return to their original homes due to the violence they have experienced. I visited an orphanage in Molo, Western Kenya, the results of violence was obvious; destroyed homes, deserted streets, parched land and withered maze. Maze is the Kenyan staple diet and as we viewed the devastation Sammy said, “The rains have been reducing for the last five years, looking at the brown fields makes my stomach turn over, lean times lie ahead.”
In the orphanages we visited, we were saddened to find that the staff did not know where the children were from, all trace of their relatives were lost.

One Saturday Jackie’s hotel room was burgled, so we spent a morning at the Police Station, whilst Jackie completed the paperwork, I browsed the notices peppering the walls. Many were from the Red Cross aimed at IDPs who are desperately searching for their missing relatives.
Chickens and Goats

I continue to be encouraged by the progress of the various projects, especially the ‘Sure 24’ feeding programme. Friends in the USA have provided funding which has been used to purchase chickens, goats and even cows. I met five of the goats and one of the cows who has been christened ‘Reverend’! These animals are vital in providing milk for the children.
I saw a few chickens scratching at the bare earth, but Sammy informed me they were “…just visiting…” They need further funding in order to purchase some more hens, the first batch died of chicken flu.” I hasten to confirm that this should not be confused with bird flu. Sammy explained the demise of the chickens was bitter sweet; no possibility of eggs, but every time a hen died, it provided a hearty chicken supper for the children. The boys were always delighted when the head of a chicken began to droop, they knew it was flu and they knew that in the evening their tummies would be full.
Molo orphanage has three chickens; I was keen to know how many eggs they produced each day. After Sammy stopped laughing he said “They need food and water before they can do that, they can just about keep body and soul together on what they manage to scavenge.”
Water is vital to the survival of these projects; the bore hole must get installed as soon as possible.

And finally…

I hope this update gives you a flavour of what we are doing in Kenya. If you would like to sponsor one of the children in the orphanage or school, come with us next year to visit Kenya, or buy and chicken or a goat, then please get in touch.

Come and support the irrepressible Russ Jones as he globetrots back from Germany for this one.

Friday 7th August @ Passing Clouds, Dalston Kingsland. 8-2am