Merry Christmas from South Africa!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmas is my favorite time of year, I new it was going to be different being in Africa, but I was not sure what to expect. I was not really in the Christmas mood, but it turned out to be such a memorable day! We had 9 Canadian here for Christmas and we tried to make it as much like home as possible! Highlight included: 5hrs of Christmas baking, a sing along in the green avanza, a yummy turkey dinner, a 1 1/2 dance party on Christmas day and an intense game of dutch blitz!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Zambia

Zambia was incredible! It was a time of renewal and inspiration for me and I am so thankful for the time I have in there.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

2 Corinthians 1: 3-5

Dec 3^rd 2010,

Susu was one of the most impressive community based organizations I have ever seen, the volunteers are so driven, supportive of each other and genuinely love their community it was so inspiring. We arrived to a group of singing school children! “We welcome you to Susu school” they all sang together in a beautiful harmony. Going on home visits was a whole new experience. We walked over 45 min through forest and fields, and about ½ km or so from our first hut the sky’s open up and the rain poured down on us. Running through the maze fields reminded me of the dance parties we used to have on our front lawn every time it rained in the summer when I was a kid. I couldn’t help but smile.

Dec 8^th 2010,

The minute I stepped out of the car this little thing caught my eye. She had twigs for arms and knobby little knees, a thread barren pink and white dress cover he little body. Her name is Aggie. Her big beautiful brown eyes have seen more in her short three years of life then I could ever imagine. Aggie and her two brothers 4 and 7 have been identified by local Hands at Work volunteers as the poorest of the poor in their community. Once a day they walk about a km down a tar road to a feeding point which run out of the community school. They are 3 of 55 children receiving a meal a day and home visits from the dedicated volunteers at Chilibuli Home Based Care. We had come to visit the home based care center to work on 2011 planning, but I couldn’t tare myself away from this little girl, I sat under a tree and played with her for a little while, one of the local volunteers asked me if I would like to see where she lived. As I carried her along the side of the road towards her home I could feel ever bone in her spine, and her heart pounding against my chest. We reached a small hut just off the main road. At first glance it looks like every other hut in the area. But when I went inside I realized that the sun was shill beating down on my face, I look up and the saw that most of the roof was missing, and only other thing in the house was a small pile of blankets and a piece of foam wrapped in plastic… Its pouring rain tonight and I can’t stop thinking about them

Victor and Aggie

You can check out more pictures from Zambia on Facebook, including Livingston Falls!