Jessica's Trip to Zambia

Thursday morning was a difficult start after only having 4 hours sleep! We all got up at 7am and quickly got ourselves ready to leave for the community. There was a little confusion between the team and the driver as to what time we were due to leave as we thought it was 8am and he thought it was 9am - oh well, African time!  We had a good worship sing song on the bus on the way there sharing many songs from both the UK and Zambia. Once we arrived I sat with a few children on the ground and we practiced writing our names on the floor and also drew lots of pictures of animals - I think my drawing leaves a lot to be desired for.  We then went into the church with the Care Workers to share worship and wash their feet. It was a good chance to let the Care Workers relax and spend time with one another whilst having their feet washed, nails painted and a massage. It was so humbling that we were able to do this as they rarely take time for themselves.  As more and more ch...

We started off this morning with a group devotional time in which we as a team spent time talking about our sacrifices in life are, particularly our sacrificial giving to God, and our trust in the Lord. It was a great way to get to know each other better and go deeper into some of the more difficult situations we have been in and a chance to share these moments with others.  We then headed out into the community for our third day in Maposa. Once again the children met us with beaming smiles and some even ran with the bus as we were coming down the lane to the Care Point. We played games with the children for a short time and then gathered with the Care Workers in the church for worship and Relationship Group. A Relationship Group happens within every community in which there is a Care Point. It gives the Care Workers time for them to share their stories, their struggles and a time for them to share fellowship together. It is important to remember that these Care Workers are the ...

This morning was a prompt start for the ladies as we had Women's prayer, which meant a lovely lay in for the men! In Women's Prayer we looked at Psalm 23, a well known Psalm that sometimes we skim over too much and don't look deeper into what the message is really saying to us. Kay shared thoughts about how the Shepherds hook is there to pull the sheep in when they stray, and similarly Our Lord pulls us back closer to him when we sometimes lose our way in our faith or do something that may be wrong. It gave us all time to reflect upon who our shepherd is. The session closed in prayer and we all departed ready to start our day refreshed with the word of God in our hearts.  We quickly gathered our things and all jumped in the minibus ready for a full day in the community. We arrived in Maposa after picking up a few bits of food for the community on our way. The children warmly welcomed us again and we soon got onto playing with bubbles which goes down a real treat! We then w...

This morning started early for me and I went and sat outside for a time of quiet reflection and to read a passage from the bible to prepare myself for the week ahead in the community. Whilst the boys went to men's prayer, the women had to get ready for family prayer (everyone at Kachele Farm) at 8am. We spoke about how we can be the beautiful feet that Jesus has asked us to be and how we can go about this within our work and the communities that we serve. Our prayer time included worship songs, reflection and thoughts for encouragement.  We then gathered as a Team back at the house and were joined by our Hosts (Prags and Dawson) as well as some of the Hands volunteers that will be with us when we travel to Maposa. We discussed the Hands Wall (the structure in which Hands model their work on) and their vision of Life Centres. I will discuss this more with the people that I meet when I get home as it is a little complicated to explain over a blog! It was then time to go the communi...

I've decided to only write one blog for the weekend, to allow me to spend more time as a team and take some time to relax.  Saturday We were all allowed a lay in today, which was much needed after a very busy week, so the alarms were set for 8am. We all gradually got ourselves up, showered and ready for the day. Becky, Emma and Tom went to the shops to stock up on food for the weekend, and make sure we had things for dinner. When they arrived back to the house, we all jumped into the minibus ready for our trip to Nsobe Game Park. It was a 2 hour journey on 'interesting' road surfaces and the travel sickness stuck again! Luckily we had the ginger biscuits to hand, to settle the rest of the journey. We arrived at Nsobe and all got out at the reception. We headed though and sat by the lake watching monkeys playing and someone fishing, it was so peaceful and a great way for us all as a team to sit, relax and reflect on our time out here is Zambia so far. We then had lunch fr...

Today was the last day of the Children's Camp, so we all had mixed emotion from the minute we woke up. We prayed for the children, their teachers and the coming day ahead over breakfast with the rest of the team, which set us off on the best foot for the day ahead.  As we arrived down at the school house, it was so lovely to see all the children's smiling faces - it really showed the developed trust between the team and the children compared to the timid children the very first time we met them, to the warmest, loving, playful children we experienced today. The session started off with 3 worship songs which we're the favourites from the week - The Camp Song, Hallelu, Praise ye the Lord, and Who's the king of the Jungle?  As in England, we chad competitions between sides to see who could sing the loudest! We then heard the story of Feeding the 5000. Using a 'magic trick' Emma demonstrated how Jesus had originally 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and how through his mirac...

Today was another 7am start with toast for breakfast to give us all the energy we could get! By 8am Becky and Brenda were off to the shops to stock up the groceries for the the weekend and to get some cooking ingredients for the task later today.  We headed down to the School House of fun and games with the children, however today felt a lot warmer than the other days!  As per usual, we began the day with worship followed by our story for the day which was Daniel and the Lions. The children acted out the story, which was narrated by Emma, with one child playing Daniel and 4 other children being really scary lions! The children then had a memory task to complete to remember the verse of the day: "Our Lord is kind. He is caring and he saves us." Psalm 40:10.  Today's craft was to create a lion mask using a paper plate, orange wool, coloured paper and elastic. The children looked amazing when they were all wearing their masks and giving the loudest ROAR they could find!...

This morning was a more difficult start as we all went to bed late last night; however, we were all up at 7am and sat around the breakfast table by 7:30 for a combination of yoghurt, fruit and toast.  By 9am we were down at the school house playing with the children before the day camp officially started. To open camp this morning Becky led us in worship by singing Jesus' love is very wonderful and Who is the King of the Jungle? Emma and Lauren then told us the story of The Lost Sheep and acted out the story for all the children to see.  To get us all up and going again, we had a quick game of crab football in which we had to move like crabs! It soon became very competitive and we discovered quickly that the children were a lot faster at moving that the adults!! We then split up into our colour groups and had a craft activity to do. Brenda and Trevor had arranged for us to use cotton wool to make a woolly sheep, like the lost sheep and those that the shepherd left in the fi...

The morning started with a bright and early wake up at 7:00am to prepare ourselves for the Children's Camp. Breakfast consisted of chopped banana and strawberry yoghurt, with a slice of toast for extra energy.  We then took all of the equipment down to the School House and prepared little parcels for the children when they arrived. The parcels included a team colour hat, a flannel, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, nail clippers, lotion, hand sanitiser and a very cute octopus knitted by a friend of Brenda's who donated them to Hands Then the wait for the children started - they were meant to arrive at 11:00am however, as we were reminded we are now working on 'Africa Time' and the turned up to the farm at 14:00! All the children that are coming to camp are from the community of Maposa - the community that The Forge church are partnered with. Once they arrived, lunch was prepared for us all, however they had already had lunch back at the community care point! However, as i...

It's time to go, Zambia awaits!! After Mum and Dad dropped me at Heathrow, I met the rest of the team and we checked ourselves in. After dropping off all our bags and passing through security, we went for a quick meal before we were due to board. Our gate was open and we went to our plane! Our first flight was a 7.5 hour trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which felt a lot longer! We then had a 4 hour wait - of which most of us caught some shut eye before our next flight. We then boarded the next plane, in which we had to stop for 1 hour in the Congo and then took the last bit of the flight to Ndola, Zambia when we touched down at 14:30 local time today!  After collecting our luggage, through a rather interesting system in the Zambian airport, we were collected by the Hands at Work team from The Farm. On arrival we were greeted with so many smiling faces and they offered us the warmest of welcomes. Our luggage was unpacked and we made ourselves at home, especially after sorting throu...

6 DAYS TO GO!!!!! I cannot believe that I go to Zambia on Sunday, it has come around so quickly! As I start to pack things into my case, it is starting to sink in that I am fortunate enough to go back and witness the amazing work that Hands at Work do. As I prepare to become vulnerable to truly experience the desperate need that these vulnerable children and families are in, I am constantly reminded of how fortunate we are, and how often we take for granted some of the most basic resources we have access to. Particularly whilst collecting shoes to donate to the Care Workers in Zambia and seeing the generosity of people giving their possessions to those less fortunate, I realise that a simple item such as shoes, that we are lucky enough to slip on our feet each day, are so often taken for granted by us, but can make a huge difference to others in need. I would just make to take a moment to say a huge thank you to all those who have donated shoes or money towards my trip, and to all t...