Zapiro Cartoon

Ordinarily we tend to avoid politics in this Blog, but we thought this cartoon by Zapiro was quite poignant with regard to the current situation in Zimbabwe and the fact that Mugabe has approached SA for a loan. The cartoon is a spoof of a series of posters in SA published by the local tax office.

Thursday Mornings

We both run small groups on Thursday mornings and have done for a little while now. Dean leads a men's Bible Study group in Chris Nissen Park between 10.30 and 12pm whilst Paula leads a Cell Group at the church building which is intentionally cross cultural, attracting some whites and 6 ladies from CNP.

Good & Bad

Dean had an excellent afternoon on Chris Nissen although he encountered both good and bad news. Firstly, Michael told Dean that the police had arrested three men for the rape and murder of his daughter Michelle (see post: May 17). This has really encouraged Michael and he's now looking forward to going to court to see the trial.

Christine

Dina rang Dean yesterday morning in tears to tell us that her good friend Christine had died. We knew Christine reasonably well and had visited her a number of times in hospital. Christine was very open about her HIV status and was a great role model to others in CNP, she was also a lovely lady with a heart of compassion for others in CNP. When Dean first met Christine, she was looking after a man called Michael aka. Rasta, who was in the latter stages of AIDS and died shortly afterwards (see post: Oct 7th) .

Ronco's Visit

We've had a lovely week with David & Jacqueline Ronco and thought we'd post some photographs of our last day together on Sunday. We went to the Helderberg Nature Reserve after lunch and had a lovely afternoon with Joel watching the wildlife and enjoying the scenery. This morning they left to go to Mossell Bay where they will spend a week before returning to Cape Town to fly home. We've enjoyed their company and Joel has had a ball playing with david & Jacqueline!

Ronco's Visit (2)

Here are some more photos of out time in the Helderberg Nature Reserve on Sunday with David & Jacqueline.

On The Beach

We've had a lovely morning on the beach and thought you might like to see a picture of Joel with his feet buried in the sand. Today was one of the first days that we could consider going to the beach as it was a lovely day. The rain is due back tomorrow, but we're hoping it will stay dry as we're planning to go to the Nature reserve with David & Jacqueline after church.

Tyrone Update

Great news about Tyrone... he has an appointment for the 16th August at 13.30 to see the Dr and have his eye corrected! We are so pleased and as you could imagine Tyrone's family are ecstatic.

After Tyrone has had the operation we'll post 'before & after' photos so you can see the results.

Thanks for your prayers!

Ouma Sophie

This photo is of David & Jacqueline with Ouma Sophie outside her shack. As you can see the shack doesn't improve and with the recent wind and rain the little bit of waterproofing she has on the roof has been severely battered and is now almost ineffectual. 

Please pray that Ouma will see sense and return home to her family in the Eastern Cape where she has a perfectly good home and family who love her.

Paula's Cell Group

This photo is of the ladies at Paula's cell where Jacqueline was the main speaker. The photo shows the ladies enjoying tea, coffee & friendship prior to the meeting.

CNP Bible Study

This photo is of David at Dean's Thursday morning Bible study in Chris Nissen Park. This study was particularly exciting as we had 5 men which was a first. Peter came (see photo below) and so did Alfred from Nomzamo. It was great to have someone from outside CNP join us. David was also a blessing to the group and helped stimulate some of the discussion.

Arrived!

David & Jacqueline arrived safely yesterday afternoon, Praise God! Against the odds they managed to get a flight out of the UK (BA duly obliging) and arrive in Jo'burg where they had a few hours to kill before getting a connecting SAA flight to Cape Town. We’re quite amazed that they got through at all as the SAA strike is still going strong and is set to escalate as the Technical staff are on the verge of joining the industrial action and SAA's pilots are on the verge of striking, but for different reasons. As you can see from the photo, we've enjoyed a nice meal out tonight.

Photos

These 2 photos should be in with the ones above, but Blogger will only allow us to post 3 at a time. The one above is of Ben, he's a good guy who looks after himself and Dean enjoys visiting him from time to time. Ben is the one who collapsed and almost died in CNP and had it not been for Jonathon & Rachel (the visiting Dr's on Elective) he would have died. Jonathon simply moved Ben into the recovery position, a very simple procedure but it did the business!

SAA Srike

South African Airways have been on strike for about 3 days now and this has caused the airline to completely cancel all flights. This had a serious impact on Julia as she was flying SAA to Jo'burg to get a connecting flight on to Kenya, but missed the connection because of the strike and has been held up in Jo'burg since Saturday evening as a result. Julia could be stuck there until Wednesday if no seats become available on any other flights. Even if she gets to Nairobi, she still has to fly on to Kampala! Please pray that things would work out for Julia and that she manages to get home to Uganda quickly and smoothly.

Esse Quam Videre

Below is a poem from Ben Witherington. We thought it was quite good and worth sharing.

To Be, rather than to Seem
Esse Quam Videre - To Be, rather than to Seem

Our Week

Here are two photos of ourselves with Julia Downing. Julia and Paula grew up together in the village of Weald in Kent, so they've known each other for over 30 years! The bottom photo was taken 4 years ago when we last met up in Harare, Zimbabwe. The years appear to have been harshest on Dean, but we'll let you make your own minds up. Joel was in bed at the time of the photo. Julia is currently the Director of Training at the Mildmay Centre in Uganda, but was in SA to spend a week working on her PhD.

Tyrone

Dean spent most of this afternoon with Tyrone and his mother taking them to see Gavin Bingham (the eye Dr from church) at his rooms. Tyrone was excellently behaved and allowed Gavin to do what was necessary.

Goodbye To Lorraine

This morning has been a very sad, yet extremely culturally interesting one for Paula as she attended Lorraine's funeral at her home in Chris Nissen Park. Death really is just part of life and this was highlighted throughout all the proceedings. In many ways as white westerners we may have felt that some of the things that happen are disrespectful, but it was such a good reminder that death really is a natural part of life and nothing to be feared. As is customary for Cape coloured funerals, Lorraine's body was brought to the house and taken inside. The lid is taken off to reveal the face of the deceased and within seconds there is almost a rugby scrummage for people to get inside the little house to pay their last respects. People cannot wait to see the body.

Remarkable Puzzle

Here's a bit of fun for those dull moments. We will not be posting the answers, however, if you get really stuck, we'll email you the answers.

A Most Remarkable Puzzle

by Kaimi Wenger

BIBLE PUZZLE: There are 25 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them??

Lorraine

Lorraine sat outside her home in CNP. It's not a great photo of her but it it's the only one we have, so we thought it would be good to share it with you again. We're really happy that at last Lorraine has peace and is at rest. She was a deeply committed Christian so we can rejoice with her at her graduation.

Please pray for David (her husband) as he considers what to do next, particularly with regards to their daughter Devedeen, pray that he'll make the best decision for her.

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.