Zithulele, Transkei, South Africa (part two)

   Welcome to part two of my month in Zithulele! This post us going to mainly be about what ministry has looked like during this month. To give you a bit of background, there are seven main ministries we worked with among the thirteen of us. I will tell you about what we did as a whole and what I personally worked on during my time in Zithulele. The seven ministry points include The Zithulele hospital, The Zithulele Independent school, Jabulani, Philani, Axium, Grace vision and Sihamba Sanke. There is so much work that God is doing at each of these ministries. I am now going to take you through what each of these ministries include.

   The hospital is pretty self explanatory on what they do. They perform surgeries and all the like but with such limited resources. The Zithulele Independent school has children from kindergarten to sixth grade. They work on expanding the curriculum each year as the sixth graders advance in grades. Jabulani has a library, a women’s gap year program and they do social well being off the community as well as providing translators for the hospital. Philani is a research center and goes into the villages to help  new mothers to breastfeed and make sure the babies are healthy. Axium has after school education programs such as tutoring for math, English and science as well as helping twelfth graders find job and college opportunities. Grace vision oversees the hospital and provides eye care for locals. Lastly, Sihamba Sonke provides a gap year for men, chess club and bible study, teach farming skills to locals and have work for a living which is a program that teaches people about making opportunity for themselves as well as introducing the gospel through the program. God is doing all here to say the least!

   We had the opportunity to work alongside all of these organizations except for Grace Vision. At the hospital, Rachel, Hannah H and Clarissa were able to make chest tubes out of plastic bottles which help during the weekends during high volumes of people flooding in. Rachel also got to be a helping hand for normal procedures and things throughout our month as well as go on home visits and check in with mothers and babies with Philani. Hannah H, Kierin and Clarissa got to spend a majority of their time at the school. They all got the opportunity to substitute teach as well as do organizing, painting, and helping take classes to the beach for educational field trips to learn about tide pools. Clarissa also planned a field day for the school which we all were able to be a part of. Uné was able to work alongside Axium tutoring kids in different subjects. Anri was able to plan a twenty-four hour prayer event to pray for all of Zithulele and what the Lord is doing there as well as do a lot of organizing and planning a market for the community which was a huge success. Adri was able to come up with a way for the he Xhosa people to better their education on English and become more confident in public speaking. Isaac and David were able to build and construct more things then I can say but starting off they restructured tables, cut out circular tables, made half circle tables to go against round walls, dug trenches and also used an electric saw more then half of the time I was around them. I feel like not a moment went by that these men weren’t taking something and making it new. David and Isaac were complete superstars this month and they deserve a round of applause! Along with these things, we all got to be a part of chess club Wednesday nights and help lead worship and attend Bible study. David and Clarissa played the guitar and ukulele almost every Wednesday and Sunday mornings for church. Une also was consistent in the worship band singing and playing the ukulele as well as Isabel and I occasionally joining in to sing. Lastly, each Tuesday we got the opportunity to babysit for missionary families so the parents could go on much needed dates. We all got to know different families and this was one of my personal favorites of the month!

   Now that you know what my friends were doing, I am sure you are curious to what Hannah Kraus spent her month doing! This past month I have been involved in many projects. I started my first week helping the independent school laminate books as well as transporting rocks and dirt to create flower beds at the school. The next two weeks I was able to help completely transform the library that Jabulani had received funding for. A many named Jeremy was hired to see this project through. Isabel, Isaac, David and I got to work along side Jeremy for two weeks. Isabel and I spent most of our days cleaning, sanding and painting walls, bookshelves, floors, tables and the staircase. Working alongside Jeremy was never ever a dull moment. Jeremy is a guy who thinks deeply and has a great outgoing personality. Though we spent our time doing a lot of work on this library, we were able to have so many nice chats with Jeremy about life and we got to share a lot about our own journeys God has taken us on with him. I know seeds were planted in Jeremy during the time we spent with him. We got to share our hearts and be vulnerable and open with him. I pray God continues to work in Jeremys heart and I ask you all to join me in praying for this friend of mine. I also got to have a team at the field day Clarissa organized and that was so much fun getting to know kids at the school and build relationships with them! I also got to lead a few worship times with David which was very new for me but I absolutely loved it. God just reminded me in those moments that it was not about me but it was about expressing my love for him and it’s no different then me being in the crowd of people. He comforted me in those times and reminded me to have fun and freely express myself! 

   On Tuesday March second, I was introduced to one of the most amazing families I have ever met. I met Ilze, Rian and their children, Rhinehardt, Linka, Amelia and Jana. This family became my family and have forever left a mark on me. I am not sure who was taking care of who each Tuesday because these children actually loved me and served me more then they know. It is evident that it is God within them that makes them such good hosts. As I said earlier, this was my favorite day of the week. Tuesday nights were filled with so much love and laughter with these kids.  I learned some Afrikaans in my time spent with them which included many funny moments as I attempted to pronounce certain things. Amelia grew such a liking toward me. I’ll never forget the moment on my birthday her and I were laying down stargazing and she sang to me what she called a “heart song” which is just a song she made up in her heart with Jesus. It was an absolute beautiful moment for me and reminded me that God calls us to be more like little children. Anyway, I will talk more about this family in my next blog!

   As our last week arrived WAY to quickly, my team and I ended that last week painting a house for couple that was about to have a baby. Little did we know that baby would come into the world just three days later! Jon and Jenny had a baby boy and named him Samuel. That morning of our last Friday, we got to perform a play at the school. I was actually the main character and I have to say I think I may have missed my calling (LOL). Our play was about a little girl who carried so much weight from the things in her life such as disappointment from her mother, shame and feeling unwanted and unloved. At the end of the play, she gave all of her burdens to Jesus and she was renewed and reminded how Gods love surpasses all and gives peace. We also prepared for a market for the community that Anri had organized. The market was a huge hit to say the least. We got to see how creative some of the kids were in making jewelry, sewing bags and baking treats. We got to see the parents make delicious food such as falafel wraps, chicken wraps, chicken fingers, fries, roostercook which is a traditional South African bread, and then our team did a boerewors(Sausage) stand. It made for such a bittersweet ending to our time in Zithulele. 

   We got to hang out all evening with the community and even had a bonfire. To see everyone gathered together was a hard thing for me. To sit and know it would be my last moment in this place with these exact people. It was a moment I wanted to hold forever. I did not want to leave these people who became so dear to my heart. With that being said, part three of this blog will be about the amazing community I got to be a part of. Thank you for reading yet another post of mine. Thanks for your support and for believing in me. 

   I hope you all have a fabulous Easter and remember why we celebrate. Remember the cross tomorrow. Remember that Jesus took up the cross so that you may be forgiven of your sins. God deeply loves you. Jesus died to take all of your shame and your guilt. He died so that you could have direct access to God and so that you may be washed clean of all of your sins. He came to live a perfect life you and I could never live and took up the cross you and I deserved and rose again on the third day defeating death and was placed at the right hand of God to intercede for us. He took it all. Remember that tomorrow. 

Peace and blessings,

Hannah