Picking up the pace

The last couple of days have kept us hopping. I let too much time slip by to catch up on it all, but I’ll try to hit the highlights, at least from my point of view. I’m also doing what I can to encourage others to blog—no promises!

Being on the Children’s Club team leaves the mornings and some other times free to join other projects. Yesterday morning (Tuesday) I decided to hang out with the construction team as they framed in office spaces in a former residence next to the Capri center and hospice. As a person with limited construction experience, my motto was “First do no harm.”

I managed to make myself useful by helping attach the studs to the frames, “coaxing” them into place with a hammer then using the power screwdriver/drill tool to put them in place. Steve was a good coach, and the entire crew was a joy to work with; we/they accomplished amazing things…enough to encourage Pastor John Thomas to make a few extra requests—and these guys are ready to get it done.

After lunch and a short errand to pick up a pallet of food supplies, I joined the rest of my Children’s Club buds in the van to the Masiphumelele Baptist Church building. We did basically the same program as the day before, only the craft on this day was making maracas out of decorated plastic bottles with beans in them. “Making a joyful noise” has never been less of a problem for a group of kids!

Today (Wednesday) the house being turned into offices was a zoo of construction AND computer guys, installing moldings and computer hookups.

The Children’s Club team went to a public primary school in Ocean View (made up mostly of non-white and non-black (mixed, Indian, Malay, etc.) residents, called “coloured” in this country (the term is not an offensive one in the culture). We had been invited to come and make a short presentation to the students, with no restrictions on content. About 300 (?) children assembled in a courtyard area to listen to us; not a comfortable situation given the cool weather. We were pleasantly surprised that one of the staff led them in some Christian songs before we started.

We did our skit based on Max Lucado’s “You Are Special,” read in condensed form by Danielle. It won’t win us any Tony nominations, but the message was clear. Aaron spoke for a couple of minutes, and had to wrap quickly when it started sprinkling rain. The kids were very polite and responsive.

After returning to Capri, I joined the work crew made up of Aaron, Chad and Brian in moving dirt to make a driveway around the hospice. I didn’t stay with them long, but I plan to be sore tomorrow.

Children’s Club today was a challenge. Our expected group of 70 or so young children turned into a much larger group. The games, songs and story (by their local teacher) went well, but when we started doing a handprint project on one end of the room and painting designs on their hands on the other end, it was pretty hectic. But a good time was had by all. A black teen named Colin and another named Nokolo volunteered their well-qualified help in painting. Our diehard, faithful teen named Darren has been helping with everything, and I gave him as much prominence in leading songs as I could today.