Port Elizabeth!

Yesterday (wed) we travelled from 5am to Port Elizabeth to go to the England Slovenia game which was fantastic! Although it was a long and arduous drive getting into the stadium and seeing the boys play was a wonderful experience. Glad we won too, good goal from Defoe. My friends watched the USA game elsewhere and they went through too which was helpful! We relaxed last night in our backpackers lodge which, although a little strange and 'vibrant', does the job and is very safe. We have made a few friends here and feel very settled.

Today we travelled to Addo Elephant National Park which was a great drive through the rolling hills of Port Elizabeth. In the park we saw numerous wildlife including Elephants right next to the car, warthogs and deer like animals with strange names. Although there was lots of driving involved around the park and to and from it, we had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed it. This afternoon we came back here and made a massive spaghetti meal, I taught someone to drive a manual car and we have just returned from watching the Japan Denmark game in a local pub. Needless to say I am very tired right now!

Will speak soon, Port Elizabeth is a wonderful place and in continuation with the rest of South Africa, everyone here is really kind, welcoming and friendly.

Muchos love

Stu

A long week...

Hello all!



Sorry for not staying in touch more, tis been a busy week! As previously mentioned, Holiday Club has started and gone we so far. Wednesday was a public holiday so we had time off so I played hockey for Fish Hoek in Cape Town city centre. Running/walking around infront of Table Mountain was marvelous and winning 3-2 was even better. I got a new nickname ‘boike’ which is Afrikaans for ‘little boy’ but for all the banter had a good game and was awarded Man of the Match. Better still my opposite number was from south London which made the game a little rougher at times but still enjoyable. Will definitely play again on a weekend after the world cup is over and the season starts again.

Thursday saw more holiday club, the story of Gideon with around 80 kids attending which was the highest turnout yet! African children’s work, especially in Redhill, varies dramatically dependant on the weather and so the large number coming on Thursday was probably due to that. The afternoon saw the first of 3 days of community festival which brought all of Redhill together. A group from Australia called Fusion came to help us run and manage the activities and crafts. Basically, there are centre games using a large rope and then facepainting, craft, circus skills and other games around the outside. I was in charge of the circus skills and was appropriately dressed as a clown! I taught the children Diablo, juggling, plate spinning and did a few cards tricks too. The best part of the whole event, Friday and Saturday too, was to see people of all ages coming together to join in the event, something very rare in Redhill. As many people do not have jobs they are so used to sitting around and doing nothing so this event was a bit different to them, meaning they didn’t get fully involved at the start. However, after a few games and seeing it was a friendly and good place to be, people started to join in and the event grew quickly. Praise God for the opportunity to work with the community in this way and for the Fusion team who greatly helped us. Friday was very similar although we had 3 hours of street football first rather than the usual holiday club setup.




Saturday, what a day!

Standing in the doorway of the airplane I still felt nervous. The equipment weighed heavily against my back and the floor strong against my feet. The straps pulled tight on my legs and shoulders. Taking a few strong breaths, I leapt. 10 seconds later the wind supported me and held me at constant speed (120mph). There was an exhilarating rush of adrenalin as I soared through the air. Spinning around, I saw Robben Island and Table Mountain looming below and coming quickly. We dropped 5000ft overall before coming to a sharp halt as the parachute opened. Wow. As we continued to descend, albeit a little more relaxed, my buddy Jason allowed me to drive the parachute, spinning us 360deg one way and then the other. He then took back over and did some more spinning (feeling sick now) before driving us close to Carley (another volunteer). Having spend a few seconds saying hi at around 2000ft, we descended further towards the sandy landing strip and touched down. My body was shaking but I was back down (parents sigh some relief!). Skydiving is a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to see the landscape from a whole new perspective. Seeing the curvature of the earth whilst speeding towards it was weird and very hard to explain. One thing that could be appreciated though was how strangely quiet it is at 4000ft even with a strong wind blowing.



Today has been remarkably different, church morning and evening with some penguin watching in between! We went to the local jackass penguin colony about 10 minutes drive away and saw the little furry friends. They were very relaxed and quite tame although I got told off for touching one as that was ‘too close’ apparently. They have thick oily skin, as expected, but also very soft, different to the coarse feel I was expecting. It was great to see them all waddling around and I am sure I will go back as we were only there a few minutes.

That is all for the mo, a few days of holiday club this week and then I am taking a trip to Port Elizabeth for the football which will be great! Speak soon!

Holiday club!

Holiday club has officially started! Yesterday we only had 25 or so children although this was a great chance to spend time with them all and really build relationships. Each day is a different Bible story and message with a relevant craft. We also play games which, inside the small church we are using, get particularly violent/dangerous so that can be great fun but hard work with the children! No accidents yet...A great moment happened this morning when a small girl, Mona-Lisa (great name!), started speaking today's memory verse when everyone else was shouting and messing around. Even if we only touch a few lives from the many who come to our clubs and events, I feel our time in the population has been worthwhile.

It has also been great to work closely with some of the people from the local population and other organisations too, this coming thursday and friday we are running a community-wide festival for all of Redhill which will be great, I honed my diablo and juggling skills today whilst others practised face painting on me, resulting in one cheek having an South African flag on it and the other saying USA: Cue the banter.

Interestingly, although Holiday club time is much more busy compared to the norm, we seem to have more relaxed and spare time in the evenings. This has been really excellent as we can spend lots of time together as a group and get to know each other better. Card games have really united the group and everyone is enjoying themselves, it's a great environment to be in.

Tomorrow I am playing hockey on astro for Fish Hoek which I am very much looking forward to, no idea what quality the team are but we will wait and see! As for now, a chilled pg tips cup of tea with some nutella.

Speak soon!

Wowee....

So, its been a long time since I updated this one! We have been extra busy preparing for our holiday club programme which starts today; shame it's raining loads right now. Last week was all about going through the teaching and crafts for this week with our team which now consists of Kendra, Al, Mzo, Hannah and me. Today we kick off with the story of Jonah and teaching the children about following God closely. For some reason our craft is to make a fluffy sheep....some parallel with following the shepherd it seems!

Last week we also had an evening meal out to celebrate Zuzana's time with us (she was a volunteer too). Before we went to the smart restaurant we went to watch the sunset at the local beach. As I bravely ventured out into the sea (knee deep at this stage) to climb onto a rock, a large wave came in and I got smothered by the sea! Needless to say I got some serious banter for this and turned up at the restaurant feeling slightly soggy and embarrassed! Could have been worse I suppose!

Friday we all headed into the city for the South Africa v Mexico game. It was very very busy with plenty of vuvuzelas (horns) hooting continuously! We watched the first game in a pub which was packed and then went to the FIFA fan zone for the France Uruguay game which was dull! Either way, it was great to be part of the atmosphere and enjoy a whole day out with good friends. On Saturday a few of us hiked up Table Mountain even though it was cloudy. I claimed the mountain for England as is clear from the photo! We got up in 1hr40 which was pretty good considering the weather but it was very cloudy on top. Having enjoyed a British-style tea and cake we headed down and enjoyed (mostly) the USA v Eng game in the evening. Yesterday was a fairly typical Sunday with church where I played the piano in the evening.

As mentioned, our holiday club starts today even with the shoddy weather, we will outreach to 1000 children every day over the next 4 weeks which is very exciting.
Speak soon, shark photos soon online....

Fishy fishy....

So. Sharks are large. Its a fact. We went cage diving this last Saturday which was one of the best experiences I have ever had! We took a 2.5hour drive to the East of Cape Town to a place called Gansbaai and then went out into the ocean for about 20 mins. Having baited the sea with chum we waited and soon enough, a 3m long great white appeared pretty close to the cage and the boat as it was all getting sorted out.
Whilst the other people on the boat took a dip, us foreigners took a good chance to check out the sea surface a little more closely if you get my drift....once we felt slightly better we suited up and jumped in the cage! Its about 9ft deep, 4ft wide and 10ft long. 4 in at a time and just floating above the water. The shark comes from whichever side and the guy on the boat says, 'shark left shark left' so you take a breath and hop underneath! They are very smooth animals and really not that aggressive, they just wanted to see who and what we were. A couple got right up close and nibbled the cage but generally a few feet away which was stunning. Well recommended to all.

Other than our social activities (!) work continues to gather pace as the world cup gets nearer. We have a massive schedule of events for the 4 weeks that will hopefully cover around 1000 children from across the peninsula. I am co-organising the final event on the 9th July which will see every child come together for one big event with the local radio station present and many other famous locals involved. It is exciting stuff. This week we have important meetings to sort that out and also are trying to get the 2 main churches in Redhill to chat about their ministry and how living hope fit into that. Lots to do but really enjoying it.

Do please send me messages to say what you are doing, you might think its silly but its great to hear what you are all doing (stuart.d.rimmer@gmail.com is me). As for now, the rain really needs to stop, more hours in the day are needed and it would be much nicer if it was a little hotter. Having said that, the world cup is coming, Living Hope are great to work for and the message we proclaim is pretty much the most important one ever.

God Bless you all, speak soon, shark photos will be upload to picasa once I get our underwater camera sorted.

Stu

Tuesday!!!!

Its been a long time since I got on here....plenty to say! Friday morning is always training day where the Life Skills Educators and the volunteers come together to receive the teaching for the next week and have some fellowship together! After a long session with a very strict upper class English speaking, English acting and English disciplining lady (!!) we had some lunch. The afternoon was much better.

A team called Fusion, who run community events, came and taught their curriculum that we will run in Redhill in a few weeks time. We played a number of games and learnt new crafts such as facepainting, balloon modeling and circus skills. I can now officially use a diablo and spin plates: 'very good stuart', I hear you say.

Saturday most of the volunteers went to Stellenbosch, vineyard country to the North East of Cape Town. We did a number of vineyard tours and also enjoyed cheese and chocolate tasting. It was a great time of fellowship together and enjoyed by all! Best was the opportunity to spend time with the locals there and speak with them.

Sunday morning saw a great service at King of Kings focusing on the Holy Spirit and missions followed by a trip to the waterfront with Mzo (who had never been before), Des (a local from Masi) and Al (who works in Redhill with me). We had a wonderful time together, a real boys afternoon out, and will definitely do it again.
Hillsong was good in the evening and my pasta bake for 10 later on was even better.

So, although this is starting to sound like a record of what exactly has been done in the last few days.....this gets us to yesterday!

Monday monday, so good to me. It was! I spent much of the morning hunting down cardboard to use for a craft during our world cup schedule. I went to the massive supermarkets and jumped into their mega skips and was throwing cardboard over the side into my pickup, when I realised someone on the other side was throwing it in! Having chucked some back their way they shouted in confusion and I jumped on to the side wall to explain that I wanted the cardboard in the car if possible, could they put it there. Needless to say they were somewhat confused as to why some 'mluongo (white boy)' was in the cardboard skip. I eventually got a full car load of the cardboard.

In the afternoon Mzo and the others ran kids club in Redhill whilst I worked through the finance/budget work with a support group in a nearby house. It was hard work as my Xhosa is not great and they kept asking for clarification, but by the end of the session we had covered the material and they had seen what I was trying to do. By showing the people what exactly they spend their money on each month, they can visualise what it is that means they don't have enough funds come the 30th/31st. It has been a great blessing to many people so far so I pray it will continue to be.

It continues to be great and there is much in the pipeline for the next few weeks that Im sure you will hear about soon!

As for now God Bless and speak soon

Stu!