Sharing a Meal

by Cammy Brantzeg

On Tuesday night, we shared a meal at the Mosaic homes with our mission trip team and the Mosaic mothers.  I know the five mothers/grandmothers that currently live in the Mosaic houses but I didn't really know who the other 20 parents were.  I was surprised that I knew around 7 out of the other 20 mothers because they volunteer for Ma's for Wellington.  

Nozuko cooked food that represented each of the Mosaic locations.  Our three courses included the following:

Western Cape - Mosaic Paarl Valley - Chicken Curry and Rice

Eastern Cape - Mosaic Port Elizabeth - Samp, Pumpkin and Beef

North Western - Mosaic Potchefstroom - Pap and Spinach

I have to say that I LOVED the chicken curry and rice.  I also liked the samp which is kind of like a corn that needs to cook for a long time or it needs to be soaked overnight.

In between each course, we drew questions and answered them.  Some of the questions were...

What do you like to do to relax?

What is your biggest fear?

What is your favorite tv show?

Sing your favorite song so we can dance along.

I am not good with music and of course I got that one first.  Luckily, Carl Siewert was sitting by me and he is great with music so he did a song for me!  The questions were a great way to get to know the Mosaic mothers and also to realize how similar we are even though our life circumstances are different.  We all worry about our children and our families.   

Even though I am not good with music, I have to say the music questions were fun because Carl, Betsy and Marius (German volunteer) were great coming up with songs.  Everyone would stand up, sing, clap, and/or dance during the songs.  

You might be wondering if language was a barrier to us talking with the mothers.  For the most part, most of the mothers could understand English so we were able to have a conversation with them or another mother sitting by that knew both English and Afrikaans/Xhosa would translate for us.

Some of Nozuko's friends came and were nice enough to serve each course and clean up afterward.  What a blessing they were!  They took a Tuesday night and spend it dishing up the food, serving us, washing dishes and doing it over again for three courses.  

We are working with Mosaic/Ma's for Wellington to find ways for our mission trip teams that come from America to find ways to build relationships with people in South Africa that is not awkward or forced.  This evening was a BIG success!  I know our group had a fantastic time and I hope that the Mosaic mothers felt the same.  

Nozuko did an amazing job cooking and planning this evening.  She is such a blessing to everyone she comes into contact with!  Love her...

Day Two

by Vicki Pry

Greetings, family, friends, Hopewell et al!  The minute I offered to write a post on this second day of our trip, I was quickly reminded of how incredibly hard it is to put into words what we see, hear and feel in this amazing country, South Africa.  It is, all at once, beautiful, heartbreaking, complex, yet hope-filled.

One of the greatest joys for me thus far has been to watch our 'newbies', Carl Siewert and Linda Allan, take it all in, embrace it and then joyfully dive into all there is to do and experience.  It's such a beautiful thing.  It  may seem redundant to mention the heat we're experiencing here(HELLO!!! It's summer in SA!!!), but you can't really talk of the trip without mentioning it.  This is not a complaint, merely a statement of fact.  That said, the Team and many other local friends are making amazing progress on this Community Centre as it continues to grow and expand miraculously under the great leadership of Meyer Conradie, Mosaic's founder.

Because the space is a construction zone, there is no programming right now, so we miss seeing all the Ma's and little ones, as well as the older  kids who typically come for after school education and support.  That said, Meyer's goal is to have the Centre re-opened on Tuesday, a week from today, so we will get to be with the regulars sooner rather than later(with a WHOLE lot of work in-between(-:.  In the midst of the work, which is very hard and very rewarding, we find ourselves rejoicing in our relationships with our teammates, renewing friendships here and building new ones.

Carlton, my new friend and workmate, said I should mention his name in this blog, so there you go, my friend!  It is my joy to get to know you.

Please pray for us~ for safety in our 'work zone'; for the common sense to know when to stop and rest a bit and drink some water; for the wisdom to remember to sit down with someone to
ask about and then to truly listen to his/her story.

Please pray for each one we encounter here in SA~ that in some small way, they might see Jesus in us and be reminded that they are beloved and that there is always hope in His precious name.      

Day One

Day One was busy but we made A LOT of progress!  There was around 30-40 workers working today.  In addition to our team of 11, there were also some Mosaic staff, Ma's for Wellington staff and volunteers, and community volunteers from two local churches.  

We are renovating three shipping containers that were recently added to the existing nine containers at the Mosaic Paarl Valley community center.  One will be used for a classroom, one will be made into an office for social workers and the third will be added to the HOOP 1 to double the size of the kitchen.  We are also renovating two of the existing containers to make one into a classroom and the second into a bathroom.  

The majority of the group worked on framing the containers.  We also had people cutting the insulation and caulking around the windows that were being installed.  The insulation does not come sized to fit into the openings between the wall studs in South Africa. :-)

It was sunny and HOT!  The temperature got up to 104 degrees.

It is nice to be back in South Africa.  I saw many of my friends from previous trips.  I continue to work on knowing the names of the people I meet.  Some names are challenging to learn so everytime I see the person I try to say their name.  It is nice that we are wearing name tags on the worksite so that helps.

The highlight of my day was going to visit a couple of homes with Cornel from Ma's for Wellington.  She received some donated food that she wanted to drop off at some of the Ma's for Wellington lighthouses.  A lighthouse is basically someone that helps people in their community.  Ma's for Wellington knows if they give extra food to these people, they will use it to help feed the kids/people in their community.  Hunger is a big problem in the area that we are working in.

At our second stop, Tannie (Auntie) Minnie's house, I saw four of the Mosaic teenagers.  I recognized all of them but I didn't know their names.  It was so nice to see them!  Programs at the Mosaic community center are cancelled for the week because of the construction at the community center.  We will have an opportunity to spend time with the Mosaic kids on Friday and next Tuesday.  Tannie Minnie had around 10 kids hanging out when we stopped by.  Cornel said there are always a bunch of kids hanging around Tannie Minnie's house.  She is a light in her neighborhood.

Our last stop was at Tannie Katrina's house.  Tannie Katrina is over 80 years old and has some health issues.  She is part of the group that prays during the Ma's for Wellington Tuesday and Thursday programs.  We visited a little with her and then we prayed for her.  We were there around 10 minutes but Cornel said she was tearing up as we left.  She really appreciated our visit.  This is what I LOVE doing!  I am so glad we had the opportunity to do this!

It was a great first day!  A majority of the framing is done and we will start putting up the drywall on Tuesday.

Cammy Brantzeg

We leave tomorrow!

I am getting ready to go and I am making sure I can update the blog.  Thank you Shannon Knight for setting this up for our trip!