Life & Death

As Dean was away all of last week I only had chance to pop in quickly to CNP on Friday (also my birthday!). I was so glad that I did as I got to see most of my cell group ladies and had good chats with them all. They had been really missing Dean, so it was great that I was able to go in.

That Was The Week That Was...

After a weeks break we're back to 'blogging'. Dean had a mixed week in Pretoria. The content of the workshop was top notch, with some excellent speakers and people that ordinarily we mortals don't get to speak to. Dean also got to visit the UNAIDS library which was excellent and enabled him to fill up on loads of resources from the UN. However, the timekeeping, communication and general organisation (or lack of it) was quite appalling at times and a source of frustration for Dean!

Guitar

Joel has recently become obsessed with guitars and particularly enjoys worship on Sundays as there are at least 3 guitarists in the worship band. Here Joel is being shown how to play by Barend. Maybe we have a future worship leader in the making.

Ups And Downs

Friday was another day of contrast for Paula in Chris Nissen. First she visited Aunty Poppy, a lovely widow and granny, known and loved by everyone in the community. She lost her husband 2 years ago and is still very very lonely. She is a wonderful woman and Paula really enjoyed chatting with her out in the sun on her 'stoop'. The great news is that she will now be free to go to Paula's cell from the end of July. This will greatly help the cell as Aunty Poppy is a keen and mature Christian, with a great command of English.

Helderberg Mountain

This is a view of the Helderberg Mountain seen from within the Nature Reserve. We are so blessed to have this right on our doorstep.

Rare Moment

Joel sitting enjoying the sunshine in the Nature Reserve, this is quite a rare moment these days!

Soaking Up Sunshine

Joel & Mummy on a bench in the Nature Reserve. The weather was spectacular today, so we made the most of it and went to the local reserve.

History In The Making!

Last night Paula was invited for the first time for tea with some ladies in CNP. She drove down at 7 pm last night to meet 5 ladies for tea and cake despite the freezing conditions. They spent the time in the house of a lady whose house had been deliberately burnt down a while back and whose court case against the perpetrator was about to draw to a close the following day. Paula was really humbled by the reception she received. The ladies simply cannot believe that she, a white woman, will drive alone to CNP at night and spend time with them. On top of this, it really dawned on her for the first time that for 3 of these ladies, this was the FIRST time since independence (10 years now!) that they had sat and had tea with a white person. They were incredibly nervous at first whilst history was being made, but soon warmed up as the conversation, cake and laughter flowed. God was so good as He allowed them to talk about being one in Christ as well as speaking plainly about the problems of gossip and dissension in such a small community.

Life In CNP

Below are some photos taken in the last few days in Chris Nissen Park, we hope you enjoy them. We feel that they give a taste of life in CNP and some of the issues people have to deal with on a daily basis. As you can see in the photos the sun is shining which has been a welcome break from the rain, Sunday was truly awful! As soon as the sun is out in winter we all pile outside to get warm! We know most of you don't believe us when we say it's cold here in winter, but this morning there was ice on my windscreen and I had to spend a few minutes scraping it off!

Free At Last

Jerome with his mum & dad. Jerome was released from prison yesterday morning after a year inside. He was so glad to be back home! Please pray for Jerome, he is basically a good lad but is easily led and has previously fallen in with a very bad crowd. Pray that he would get work so as to distract him, but also pray that he'll be strong enough to stay away from his old crowd.

Seven Leaves Utd

Seven Leaves United. These are some of the men from the football team which is mainly made up of Rasta's. We'll let you work out the significance of the name!

Many thanks to the subscribers of CP-FRIS and Neil at the Palace Echo for the shirts.

Aunty Poppy

Aunty Poppy enjoying a bit of sun. Aunty Poppy has not been well lately and she appears to have some long term health problems, but like so many folk in CNP she's not really pursuing the health service to get them sorted.

Dina & Miriam

Dina with her boss Miriam from the local ANC office.

Child-Care

It's not uncommon for older siblings to be left 'holding the baby' whilst parents are out working or otherwise engaged. This is an area of need in the community, if we had a suitable building for a pre-school, the lives of so many kids would be improved dramatically.

Chatting

Some of the CNP menfolk stopping for a chat on their way home from work. Thankfully unemployment within the community is quite low.

Playground

Kids playing in CNP. The swings are still holding out and the kids are having a ball enjoying a sunny break from the rain.

Scrapyard

Many folk in CNP seem to turn their gardens into scrap yards. This household has 3 wrecks in the garden and they're trying desperately to get one car working so they can go into business.

Live8

We've recently been asked what we think about Geldof's Live8 and the general issue of Africa, Aid & Debt Relief. These are huge areas and brief answers will always be inadequate. However, we will try to respond as briefly as possible.

Firstly, anything which moves this glorious continent toward debt free existence should not be knocked gratuitously, after all, Africa really needs all the help she can get. We fully support the principals of the 'Make Poverty History' campaign and are pleased to see Gordon Brown doing so much to champion African poverty. Equally however, Africa cannot be generalised about, especially in terms of development as the continent is huge and incredibly diverse. If you've not travelled to more than a handful of countries you can never fully grasp the diversity of this beautiful land!

Dean's Week

Dean's week was generally good, but unfortunately he was told on Thursday that he could no longer use the containers in CNP for his Men's Bible Study group. The reason given was that the key will "..never be given to one of Dina's friends." Oh dear! The petty mind games have begun again. Thankfully Dina has risen above this and is not bothered, but the men in the group are absolutely livid. Cyril went to see the person who made the comment and got a few things off his chest (well done that man!).

It Wasn't Me

Joel had a bit of a disaster at lunchtime... he discovered a pot of Sudocrem and spent quite a while in his bedroom massaging it into his scalp as well as the carpet and on the door. We tried really hard to wash it out but unfortunately the cream is waterproof and after using a whole bottle of washing-up liquid we had to resort to some fairly drastic action...

Drastic Action

As you can see, drastic actions lead to drastic consequences! Thankfully Joel has a lovely smile to compensate for the 'knuckle dragger' hairstyle. If only it was as easy to get the carpet clean.