Mary님의 프로필Mary's little land사진블로그리스트기타  |  도구 도움말 |
Mary's little land8월 19일 South AfricaI'm just back from one of the most amazing experiences I've ever encountered and I thought I'd give you a little insight into what I went through and endured to come to a place in my life where I've never felt so relaxed.
On the 31st of July myself and my team went to South Africa, to a place called George which is 5hrs away from Cape Town, so we found out when the weather was so bad in George that we had to fly all the way to Cape Town.10mm of rain was on the runway and that was the main cause of us going to CT. In total it was just about a 36hr day of events for us so you can totally understand we were out for the count.Our first day in George and it was raining so heavily that it messed up the roads going down to our campsite and as soon as we got out of the buckee we stepped in mud. To be honest George didn't build up my spirits that first night.I think I was sort of regretting it.My view of George was that it would be raining 24/7 and we wouldn't get much of a chance to do anything.
Day two came and went,we spent that getting warmer clothes because it was absolutely freezing!It was a combination of rain and being damp...however my little mood was raised at the idea of me actually being away from home.It wasn't until the 3rd day when we were told that we were going to go to a school that my spirits were actually raised. I remember Pierre and Steve,our Hosts in S.A.,saying that during our time there would be a lot of opportunities for us and unless we grabbed them we'd have regrets going home.We had to make the most of every little second and put everything we had into it.I was pretty enthused at the idea of actually getting out of the cold campsite and doing something with the kids. That day was amazing, we went to one of the poorest schools in George where the kids ate chickens feet and pigs ears when the played out on there break...Thoughts running through my head as I spotted a few kids with black bin liners over them to keep them dry.I looked at my clothes and even after sitting in the back of a buckee where the matresses were wet and after taking off my wellies my feet were wet too.There was just no comparison,yes i was uncomfortable my feet were wet and my bum was wet too. I looked at these kids and some had shoes some didn't,many didn't have socks.I just felt so bad!It felt like I had wronged these kids in someway, so by talking to them and getting to know them I found it was a way of giving back to them what they'd lost out on if that makes any sense.
We went to another school the next day and it wasn't as great as the first I have to say but there's still one guy who stands out in my mind, he was about 12 and he was making a card for his bestfriend who was sitting right beside him.He had fantastic english and he wrote to her telling her how much he loved her and how their friendship will overcome anything mainly because God loves them and with that they had nothing to lose. Imagine someone over here saying that in a card to one of their friends....you see you can't.People have lost their love for God!
Come friday it was a guy on our team's birthday so we went out for some cake in spurs and had them sing happy birthday to him not very enthusiastically.It was funny though.Our leader Judith kept telling us to wrap up warm and told us to put more socks on and we just thought she was being nice but later when we came home the Hosts told us we were going to go on a bushcamp...Now people who know me well enough will know I am not that type of bushcamp person,I'm not very into the whole nature thing and especially not anything physical,so I guess this was a challenge for me.We were told that we could only bring our sleeping bag and the clothes we had on us,we were to take off our watches and give all valuables to them.I was quite excited of the idea which was totally strange!It was quite emotional for most people and as we went out into the bush not knowing where we were at night plus it was sort of like a military program!we were lead to to a campsite without beds, it was just sheltered and it became a bit of a competitive thing between our team and the other team who were out with us,and people that we knew from home.They won the first competition we had to line up tallest to smallest in the quickest amount of time and that was our teams down fault.We slept under the stars and it was such a beautiful night as well, by the morning we were all awake and a bit scared.I hate spiders so I was watching out for them mainly the trap door ones that just totally freaked me out,I hadn't even a clue if they were in S.A. I didn't care I was just wary of them!Races were something we had to do in the morning and I was paired up with two girls from my team Pamela and Kirsty, we managed to make it round and each persons different qualities shone through throughout the day.Mine was as a leader in our little group.As the day progressed we were told that we'd be going for a walk.Sounded good to me and we started,we had to watch out for ticks though not nice little fellas at all!By the end of our walk we'd climbed down a cliff to the bottom where all the rocks were and the sea crashed in on them...I can't quite describle the scene but I can tell you it was breath taking...we sat down there for about half an hour and I thanked God for everything good in my life...It was just nice to be able to sit down and to be comfortable in your own space. Then after a bit Steve shouted "cover" which basically meant you had to get out of his line of vision in 10 seconds, I'm not too sure what that did exactly but soon enough I began to hate that word,I think I even became scared of it.We did a bit of a treasure hunt for food they'd left out for us, because they fed us when the wanted and there was no food going spare.Our team landed some chocolate,cheese and bread as well as some coke,It all looked like the nicest food I'd ever seen and I would have downed the chocolate and cheese together I was that hungry!We went paint balling,not my idea of fun and still isn't it's more of a pain game seriously!The guys could only wear shorts and t-shirts and the girls got to wear overalls not much of a difference mind you it was still painfull if you got hit!By the end of that day we were all covered in bruises especially the guys!Well I wasn't I was being sensible:)Bushcamp was over on Sunday and from Friday to sunday I'd loved every minute of it and truly didn't want to leave,I adapted to what I had and even now would do anything to go back there!Think I was about the only one hehe.I became at one with nature something that totally shocked me!I now love it and it's so strange, people in my family just won't believe it!
Going back to Camp it wasn't easy we went back to working with kids for the duration of the week and doing sports balls for Christ which was an amazing day basically you had to play games and relate them to someone or some scripture in the Bible.It was an incredible experience,By Thursday it became our last days of working with kids we went to Kidstop which had to be my favourite place of them all.In Kidstop these kids are on drugs,they have to really fend for themselves and most of these guys are my age!I think I got on well with the boys there who came in the morning,every morning they didn't go to school because over there you have to pay a school fee of which they don't have.I think we got on very well because we were the same age and lots of people have told me I have a gift which is where I go and talk to someone and in 5 minutes I know there family history and become bestfriends.I've never really noticed that before,I think I took it for granted.I had a favourite guy there his name is Seea, I think that's how he spelt it.The nicest guy there for me that was.He had something about him that I just loved,maybe it was his caring nature?I don't know all I do know is that I miss him so much right now...I just wanted to take him home and care for him like no one else would!I know he was my age but it still wasn't quite the same.He was amazing.These guys were quite physical when they wanted to be but they were so gentle with me because I was a girl I guess.I know that they'd have to fight to survive sometimes and they definitely had strength. One thing that saddens me is the fact that something could happen to any kid I met while I was over there and I'll never know.I just feel like a protector a shield for them all to stand behind.I do anything to keep them safe!
On saturday we went to the joining of teams for sports balls for christ and did the same sort of work shop as we did before.That was good fun too.Sunday we had a joint service where we sang and just had a meaningful chat about life and God and everything that I took out of that was a bit overwhelming, I knew it was right but it was finally putting it into practise which was the hard thing, just carrying it out.
Monday we went to kynsna park to see some elephants and even though when you tried to feed them they snotted on you it was highly enjoyable and I so can't believe I'm at home now and telling you all about it, I think I'd rather be back in S.A. it just had a big impact on me and I've learned so much in the time I was there is hard to get back and settled into being back at home.
Many things I've learned about myself,One is that my whole life I've planned my life to the tee,what I was going to do in life, what age I was going to get married at, when I was going to have kids,names for my kids you name it I've planned it and I've come to the realisation that I've actually missed out on my life in the meantime. I've finally come to a time in my life where I feel open enough to leave my life in God's hands to do as he wishes.God has a plan for us all it's just wanting to except that and let go of what you want which is the hard thing.I'm free at last and I can't tell you how great this feels, I've let go of plans and I feel so much more free now.I'm at one with nature which was a big surprise to me.I don't think I could love anything more and now I've realised that we humans can get through anything and we always seem to make it out in the end,it's like we're invincible, God made us as superheroes:)Just putting your trust in God and knowing his unconditional love for you is like no other love you'll ever feel!
Well I hope you've enjoed my journey as much as I have, you may see kids in the photo's that look better than you thought they would be, it's mainly because charities give churches the clothes to distribute and they choose the people that are most in need.We all thought the same but before we even met some of these kids they didn't have much clothing or anything like that.If you want to ask any questions or feel like something may not have been answered for you just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.
PS- I just want to thank everyone who helped me get this far, thank you for your individual contributions which helped so much while we were out there with each kid.Some of the money was used for Crafts to bring over for them,and we left kidstop 1000 rand and gave Out Of Africa Missions 3000 rand to go towards anything they wanted.It would mainly be going toward the children.Out of Africa Missions get by on donations alone no member of that missionary group get wages, they gave up there life for God and in return get by on very little they're an inspiration to us all and I can't thank them enough for the opportunity they gave me.I've come home a changed person and one for the better xxx
All my love,
Mary x |
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