HEART 2 HEART

You are a People Maker!

2011-01-11T20:37:00.000+02:00

You are a People Maker!

Look!

You smile,

and they come to life!

You frown,

and they wilt.

You pull within yourself,

they retreat.

But, when you aim belief

at them

They rush forth

from all kinds of dungeons,

And they are beautiful!

You are a People Maker!

(author unknown)

Light in the Community

2010-11-24T21:41:00.000+02:00

Eunica's new house

has become

the haven

and a place

through which donations

are able to be channelled to

other people

A light

in the community

Thank you!

Candle in the Wind

2010-11-20T21:33:00.000+02:00

Last night

Another fire

A candle in the wind

In a neighbour’s shack

A friend of mine

Has lost everything but her life

Another friend lost her brother to the fire.

We need to rebuild – better than last time

We need your help, to do it better this time

To possibly get a Wendy house

Apart from getting other necessities for daily living

to restore her life to normality

Please will you help me help Eunica –

this amazing lady who I have been friends with for the past 4 years.

She has a little boy of 5 who only has the pyjamas he was sleeping in.

She has a big heart and is always there for others.

It’s her turn now

Please let me know how you can help

Music from the Heart

2009-11-16T22:14:00.003+02:00

What touches your heart?
Have you stopped
Taken the time
To listen to the beat?
What strikes a chord?
Do you follow the music of your soul?
That unique space that touches
Something deep down
And makes you who you are?
Take time now
To Reflect.

Love your Tax Man

2009-11-16T21:14:00.010+02:00

...thus said an email from a 90year old friend

who lives in Silvermine Village.
How I was struggling to love the tax man

when I had to prove that the donations that came into my account was not income
but solely for the benefit of people who are struggling every day?

When there is a crisis, there is chaos.
And with the chaos comes an urgency to meet the need.
I did not keep tabs. I did not make the people sign slips.
When organising food, building material, clothes, furniture for fire victims,
While people were getting murdered during the Xenophobia

and needed finances desperately to get home,
When there is pouring rain and lashing winds during our Cape of Storms

and the people need roof covers,
When clothes are sopping wet, floors are flooded, and children are crying…
There is chaos.

And who helped?
You all did – over the years – and some still do
You have provided and provided
And backed these people
And I could not prove it
Apart from – my website and affidavits
So I printed the website out
And the affidavits
And bound them into a book
Some people walked for miles to the police station to get them stamped
as they did not have the R12 taxi fare to get there and back.
And as I read these letters, I cried
For the hearts of the people are shown
I pray that the adjudicator will have an open heart too
And will see what we have done together.
Bit by bit
I will publish what has been said, as it is not really about me
But about what you have helped build.
Thank you!

Ducks in a Row

2009-11-15T20:45:00.005+02:00

It was storming;
And after the rain
There they were on the waterlogged green:

Ducks in a row
Reflecting
What we all hope for in our hearts
In the aftermath of chaos
Peace...
The sparkle of humour
That brings a smile
The balm that heals...
Our ducks in a row

Abandoned Wheels

2009-07-21T22:30:00.019+02:00

And there I was...

stuck in the 'one person per vehicle' elite traffic

while hundreds walked home from work past my crawling car.

And there he was...

an old, old man

lying paralysed on the cold pavement with a long night stretching before him,

his head two inches from the ground,

eyes vacantly staring at the feet of those who tripped over him or shoved his old rusted trolley wheels containing his worldly goods, aside

This man too has a story, untold to an uncaring society

My wheels moved on...

My heart stayed behind for a while sitting next to him in the dirt

But - what good is that to him?

The Bigger Picture

2009-07-19T19:15:00.014+02:00

My name is Emily Ndzunga.
One day at my work, early in 2006, they told us that they are selling the Venture Toyota. Soon after they told us, I spoke to my Director and told him that I wanted to buy it. He looked at me and laughed, and said "Are you serious?! - We need cash". I said "Yes, I know. I want to buy it". At that time I did not even have a cent. The Venture was R20 000. There were another two people who also wanted to buy it, so they said that we must bid on it, and that I must make an offer over and above the R20 000.

That very same day I phoned my friend and told her about this. She asked if I had money. I said "No, but I need it". She said "Let us pray, and God will provide". Indeed God provided. The following week, on Tuesday, my Director called me and told me that the Venture was paid for already. One of my friends loaned me that money and paid up front for it. That day I was in tears - but they were tears of joy. I knew then that I will manage to help many people who are busy dying with sicknesses in Khayelitsha, because we were struggling with transport to go to the hospital and to church. To have the Venture was a big help.

But the Venture also gave me a hard time.
That same year, it was in September 2006, it was smashed by a hit and run driver. I had to get it fixed for R14 000. I had to make a loan from my work. and we managed to get transport again.
Then again in 2007 it just stopped working and that time it was the engine. I managed to make another loan and it was fixed.

This year in February 2009 it was hi-jacked in Khayelitsha but just because God is always there, the police managed to find it before the robbers were out from Khayelitsha.

On 30 May 2009, very early in the morning, at 2am, my neighbour's came and asked if I can help her and take her mom to the hospital, and I couldn't refuse, she was very sick. I asked my son to take her. On their way back, when he was driving on the N2, the Venture had a tyre burst and he lost control, and the Venture smashed into the concrete wall and got smashed.

I am still thinking of fixing it because it is a big help to most of the people, not only at home, also outside who need help.

Read more about Emily in my blog "Woman of Courage" 07 June, 2006

Would you like to help Emily get her vision of helping others in Khayelitsha, up and going again? "Is it all worth it?" you may ask. Ask the people who have been taken to hospital in the middle of the night, dying. Ask the families who have been transported on a daily basis to visit members of their family who are dying in hospital. Ask the people who have no transport from Khayelitsha and are stuck in a shack in the middle of some flattened sand-dune area, how they need the Venture to be fixed. Emily needs our help. Together we can see the bigger picture.
Please contact me and let me know how you can help. janlill@webafrica.org.za

(Photos of Emily taken by Ron Gaunt http://www.rongaunt.com/)

Aaaah!

2009-07-13T22:09:00.006+02:00

"Why?"
I scream into the night

against the force of the driving rain

that threatens to flood my shack

balanced precariously at the edge of sliding sands.
Not another thing to deal with!
Where do I find the strength

to pick up the pieces I once called 'home'?
Just enough strength to stand
With the help of those who have more strength than me
Without their encouragement
I would be
adrift, battling alone
Soul Survivor
On my island of pain

Honey's Heart

2009-07-10T22:59:00.007+02:00

I just want to let you know that Gladys, my mum, is doing well. (Gladys has been in hospital, extremely sick, with TB. Honey has been looking after her. She was not able to walk.) She is walking and can go fetch her tablets on her own.. Please send my love and many hugs to all the people who have helped us with donations. I wish I can see them and give them big hug. I pray God to Bless them. It's not nice to be on tablets everyday but because of you I managed to take my Tabs on time. There are times that I don’t feel like eating my tablets because I had no food at home. Once again Thank you very much My kids are doing well, it's just Daniel is coughing a lot but I will take him to falsebay hospital next week before school re opens for a TB test

Please send my love to your friends tell them how would I be without them. The roof is done I am looking forward to put the fascia boards and gutters on. My prayer for you is God to keep you in His hands and give you long lasting days , happiness. Blessings in Jesus Name

My Forgettery

2009-07-09T18:46:00.010+02:00

As I work with older people, some 80year olds tell me they are young because they did not go to the 90year old's special tea. They are becoming fragile in body and some have started forgetting the trivia of daily life. They are all "flustery".

It made me think of Winnie the Pooh who hummed a little hum

It looks like a rather blustery day, today

So as the flustery turns into blustery, forgetfulness is worried about. And if it eventually it turns into Alzheimer's (the source of the worry), this person will forget that it was even worried about.

How does the family deal with the new person in their life? How do they cope with the constant questions, the following around, the child like adult who was once a person who contributed greatly to society? What a huge adjustment. But these people have a depth that needs to be discovered. Patience needs to be learned. And it's not easy.

Winnie the Pooh on confusion:

A Heffalump or Woozle is very confusel

But... does it really matter that their mom no longer likes pizza, but loves peanut butter which they used to hate? Just put the peanut butter on the pizza! Play games like hide and seek with the child in this adult body if that's what they want to do. If there is a 'bug' in the porridge - take it out for them, don't tell them there isn't a bug there! Don't talk down to them. (Stories told to me by a friend who has an extra ordinary gift of caring for Alzheimer's patients)

What is more important at the end of the day?

This is the time that one has to connect with their hearts and not their minds. Please don't speak fear into the heart of someone who is forgetting things today.

Today has enough worries of its own.

(This is a lesson I need to learn!)

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34

STOP & LISTEN!

2009-07-08T18:17:00.023+02:00

Everybody has a story to tell. And we forget to STOP and LISTEN. We think we know what they are going to say - and are ready with our answers, from our own perspective... and we lose out; they lose out.

Are we open to the moment? That key moment of connecting with the person with whom we are in contact - the man at the car window, the person behind the till, the friend, the stranger, the glance, the word spoken.

My grandfather was an amazing man. He would meet a new person, and connect, and through talking, would find someone that they both knew, or would find something in common with that person. He always made the person feel special, just by finding the common ground, listening for the word, saying the right thing to draw the other person in. He loved fishing, and thinking about it, these people were reeled in, and made to know that they count; each person was a "big fish". Everyone knew him. And when we travelled with him through the Karoo - we stopped at every farm, just to say hello, to visit "the Girls" (in their eighties) at the Hotel in Barrydale . That was a very long trip for a child! But as I look back on it now, he taught me a lesson: everyone needs to be heard; everyone's story is important.

Both of his daughters learned the same lesson: every person is important. They have carried on his legacy. My mom (who is the little girl in the picture) talks to every (well, not every) person in the shop, every car guard she meets; she makes a point of reaching out...

"Reach out and touch somebody's hand

Make this a better place if we can"

I-care?

2009-07-07T20:03:00.016+02:00

If I feel like I am ‘losing it’ sometimes
How much more that man who stared at me
through my car window today
and pretended to be happy
so I could buy his pamphlet of

“Funny munny” jokes
Trying to smile and dance
And be encouraging
All for a few cents
Which I did not have

My car window remained tightly shut
Cos I was in my own little world

My own place of pain

And I didn’t want to talk to him

Or anyone
I felt fear

He felt hunger

What does he face when he goes home for the night?

So self-absorbed that I didn’t even look him in the face, in his eyes, the windows of his soul,

But put my dark glasses on, my blinkers, and drove off

And I say
“I-care”!
I-phone
I-pod
I-am self absorbed
I…
Need to look further
Love deeper
Be open for opportunities
right outside my window.
All I can now do is
Ask for forgiveness for not being open
for direction
and Wisdom.
Forgive me…
I did not take the time
or make the effort
I was wrong.

Stand by Me

2009-07-01T20:42:00.000+02:00

Laughing in the face of Adversity

2009-06-20T09:38:00.013+02:00

I realise the sadness which permeates so much of my writing, and how people do not want to touch the world which I see everyday around me - for if we can distance ourselves from it, pretending it does not exist, we feel better in ourselves.

But there is so much more than sadness! There is the sense of togetherness and the support. I get sms' from people I know from Masiphumelele or Khayelitsha, from the Eastern Cape or Capricorn Park, late at night, just to say goodnight! Someone bought two rands worth of airtime with the little money she had, just to say "Hello". A lady calls me out the blue to tell me she wants to bless me - and clean my house - and when I got home, I found my teddy bears sitting on my bed, each holding a note "I love you". We visit another lady who has moved, fetching one person from Masi and another from Capricorn, and they are so excited to be going on an outing.

And if I feel down - places I love to go to are these homes, where love is so tangibly felt, and the comparison of their problems to mine, make mine fade into insignificance - for they can laugh in the face of adversity.

PAIN

2009-06-20T07:24:00.006+02:00

Rain,
hitting with icy fingers,
the pain in Life.

Coldness
enfolds the dripping blanket
of a trembling figure
hunched in misery
under the agony of death

in his tyre house

on the edge of Mitchells Plain

(Cape Town, South Africa)

Just enough space to sit

on sodden ground

on a piece of plastic.

Is this what life is all about?

Is there no sun on the other side?

Never Give Up

2009-06-19T22:27:00.002+02:00

If...

2009-06-18T20:09:00.010+02:00

Have we forgotten that we are part of a larger community? It is not part of the ‘culture’ in which we were brought up: each with our own ‘space’ – our own house and yard, the fences/walls... our own bedrooms and our own bed; everything that defines who we are in the world. And what is wrong with that anyway…? I am not saying that we don’t need our space, but maybe we don’t need as much space? We buy larger houses, as we need space for our things that we have worked so hard for; our symbols of achievement in life: we 'deserve' these things. Sometimes our possessions have possessed us – and everything we thought we needed, we now throw out, or have a clean up day and give the broken things to those less fortunate than ourselves.

We have not experienced what it is like to live in community, where everything we own, we share. The food, the space, the bed - as that is the only way we will survive. And the joy of sharing is not experienced to the degree it may be, if we lived this way. It is all relative, this state of possessions and money.

The elderly do not want to impose on their children or become a burden to them. They reap loneliness; their children are too busy and grandchildren do not come and visit. They either live in seclusion in frail care or old age homes, or tiny rooms that are falling apart, eating dogfood - those stories you have heard about that are true... And they long to be taken out for a drive, or have someone pop in to visit, or to hear a child's laughter and watch them play.

The young children in poor areas are left on their own to fend for themselves - with no one to care for them- the adults are out, trying to find food for the day. There is no money for transport, and where they live is far from work. The children hide in fear under a blanket during a heat wave, under the bed, as a person tries to break into their house. There is a person found murdered at the back of their home.

If the orphans are taken in, the hurting hand held, if we did not buy what we did not need, and learned to give to a greater degree, if we would just learn to share, even a bit… and not think so much about our own comforts and conveniences, but walk a path to discover a deeper truth; if we would take the time to learn the lessons that those who struggle to survive have learned: to share the piece of bread which is their daily lot in life.

50-50

2009-06-15T08:27:00.016+02:00

So many struggling people

literally living on the breadline;
Everyone cutting back
More and more are starving…

just down your street.

Many mothers going without food,

Eating only a couple of times a week

in order to save the food for their children.

Fighting daily for their lives against the cold, infections,

HIV positive often through no fault of their own

as rape ravaged their lives and reaps its own revenge.

Just to stay alive so that someone will be there for the children..

The cold, the rain, the pain
Penetrates the heart
And kills the candle of hope.
And where there is no hope, people perish.

I am turning 50 in a couple of month’s time
And I wondered…
Would you join me on 50-50?
If I could find 100 people (or more)

to donate at R50/month on a stop-order basis –
For a year … or two?
R5000/month would be

the start of donating into the needs of specific families each month
(That would be the best birthday present ever!)
A blessing to bless others
And if you want to donate more,

or encourage more than one person in the family to help…
That would be…
Amazing!

What will you receive back for this small donation?
(What can you really buy for R50 these days?)
The joy of giving
The blessing that comes from it
And I will

Keep you updated, send you pictures, tell you stories of lives changed,
and be a channel for your blessing to pass through

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person (Mother Theresa)

And if you want a place to donate
Clothes and carpets, blankets and bedding
And warmth and love,
If you want to cook a little more,
freeze it and give it to another family
Or think of ways to help
The need is great
And workers are few

I believe that
“Everyone can find someone”
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one (Mother Theresa)

Take the next step!

Banking details:
Jan Lill
Nedbank 123 036 5699
Branch 123 009 (00)
“Heart2Heart donation”

Please email me to confirm your commitment to donating,
so that I can keep in touch with you…
And let you know how things are going.

Jan Lill
082 572 2517
janlill@webafrica.org.za

Heart 2Heart
http://heart-2heart.blogspot.com/

2009-06-14T18:59:00.015+02:00

The storm raged outside
And we sat in a tiny shack,
sheltering with nine others
on Saturday
Rain thundering down

on a tin roof
Water rising outside,
The sewerage with it
Lack of drainage
And logs sawn in half created

a precarious pathway
On which to walk
Among the homes
At the beginning of winter.

The warmth of the light
Conversation shouted
Laughter
And friendship
Radiated out
The people
Amazed that white people would come and visit in their homes
The work among the poor is never ending
Never ending
The need is great, never convenient.
Help me Help them
We are blessed to bless others

A SILENT SPACE

2009-06-14T17:48:00.019+02:00

There has been
Silence in this Space
For about a year
But through the Silence
of personal pain
There has been growth
In compassion
And a deeper understanding
of the pain of others.

And the prayer I had prayed

"Lord, give me Your heart of compassion"

was answered in a quiet moment

"How can you understand My Love and compassion

Unless your heart has been broken?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbUV28sPtac

SAFE AND PAIN FREE!

2008-08-06T19:49:00.002+02:00

Walls plastered
with
Abortion notices
Pillars of testimony
To death
Not just one..
But every post
At the station
Tear off tags
Advertising
Abortions
A common day event
Atrocities
In our Mother City

UP IN FLAMES

2008-07-20T19:26:00.001+02:00

Photos taken by Karen 082 721 2510

XENOPHOBIA : SOETWATER

2008-05-24T05:49:00.034+02:00

So many hurting people just five minutes drive
down the road from Fish Hoek
Homeless
Scared
Running for their lives
As Xenophobia hits Masiphumelele
People huddle in church buildings
with a ranting crowd outside
Because "they" don't want "them" there

Fear grips the everyone
and they don't want to move into busses provided for them as they have no idea where they are being deported to
A feeling from World War II, Germany
A mediator is needed
Eventually understanding comes
Thousands of people transported to camps
"Soetwater"
"Sweet Water"
Near Kommetjie

Huge marquees erected to "house" the people
The feeling indescribable
seeing hundreds and hundreds of people
moving along the road
caring what they can salvage of their lives
Running in fear
from the senseless inhumane behaviour
of the Mob.

And foreigners from USA, Germany, and other countries join South Africans to help.

Time, efforts, food clothing, beddings
Cardboard boxes on which to sleep
Two thin blankets
Food lines run down the road
Despite it all
A sense of normality prevails
Ladies doing their hair
Men read of other attacks throughout South Africa
Children play, oblivious to the chaos around them
Hellen Zilla arrives, tired, but gracious,
Caring...
You too can get involved, help
wherever you are.

Treasure Hunt

2008-02-28T22:46:00.007+02:00

What are the treasures of our lives? The ones we saved up to buy and now are forgotten in the garages of time.
Or maybe they are right in front of us yet we don’t see them any more
The treasure hunt is on.

I ask, on behalf of many people “out there”, please go on a treasure hunt…
This is an opportunity for you help as you read about some of the people with whom I have built relationships

Some give financially – thank you. Two of many stories…
I was able to give to families who didn’t have food.

One mom had sent each of her children to stay with different people so that they could have some food to eat. She went without… and although I knew her, I didn’t know what was actually happening in her life. How did it take me so long to see that she was looking so thin – and found out that all the money she earns had gone on school clothing, school books, school fees, transport for the 5 children – and there was nothing left. Not even mielie meal or rice...

The other person had her house broken into, and much was stolen.

There are many people I am in contact with – people in need of your awareness
You might not have anything at the moment, but if there is an awareness, you will come into contact with someone out there who will have something
It is all about networking.

Valentia has started her little school: everything big starts little
These little people have a wonderful heart in Valentia

Valentia sits and watches the children play next to the jungle gym she was given. Thank you to those of you who have already helped her! Toys, shadecloth and building materials to build on would be great.

The sweat pours off Valentia and the children the her shack in Masiphumelele as she tries to put them to sleep. She is in need of a fan. (Each shack I visited last week could do with a fan – they are like ovens) She also needs thin mattresses for the children to sleep on – those plastic coated ones. How can you help?
Valentia’s home is a place of safety in an environment where there is so much hurt

Other areas of the treasure hunt are:
Doors, garage doors, windows, furniture (I was given a toilet and basin yesterday which went to people who were so amazed that they didn’t have to pay for it!), kitchen things – anything! Carpeting.
Clothing – always clothing.

Needed: people to donate some time and expertise:
A plumber, a builder, an electrician
Honey’s house needs fixing (for those of you who do not know her, read about what she went through http://www.heart-2heart.blogspot.com/)
She has been donated tiles for her bathroom, but needs the geyser to be connected, the final finishes done with the plumbing where there are problems.
The tiles are blowing off her roof. Facia boards need to be put up.

A mechanic:
Emily bought a Venture to help lift people safely to school and church – the engine seized – someone has rebuild it – she has spent a fortune – but there is still a problem – can someone help her?

For mosaic-ing – which generates work
· Old pots and pans
· Old garden hand spades, folks or old garden tools
· Post boxes
· Old step ladders
· Old wooden chairs
· Old watering cans
· Wooden frames
· Glasses, plates…

Create a treasure or your own:
Orders are being taken for making a mosaic number for your house, a wrought iron table with colours of your choice, a wall hanging or mirror
Classes are being run. Great for families, school groups, friends, kids parties, or a break for mom. Create company character – a group of accountants got together to have day of building relationships, as well as being creative.
Do something different, invite a friend, have fun and help Karen get this business up and going.
Email: karen@allafricamosaics.com Phone: 082 721 2510

Do you remember James?
His house has burned down in December and finances were given to his family in Malawi
His really old bicycle which he uses to get to his jobs is broken. This is the only transport he has.
Is there a bicycle in the treasure box?
He is looking for work in
the Fish Hoek, SImonstown, Muizenberg, Lakeside, Noordhoek areas.
He is a wonderful, gentle-man who is trying to support his family who is trying to survive in Malawi

Hallways of Time

2007-12-01T21:39:00.000+02:00

As I walked down the halls

of this health care facility

The names of various people

saluted me

Doctor, Professor...

Mr and Mrs.

I glanced into the open doors of these cheerful rooms and sadness overwhelmed me as I saw a little old man or an even older lady sitting in their rooms gazing vacantly at something only they could see.

And I passed a man in the hallway

who was new to this caring place;

He wanted to say hello

even though he did not know

who he really was any more

A lost identity

Confused by what his dementia

had brought him

so late in life

I was comforted by the lady

who was his nurse...

Her arm around him,

she led him slowly down the hall

singing to him.

Her voice brought peace and hope and joy

into the world of confusion

in which he lives

And my eyes filled with tears as I witnessed the love of a caring staff member sitting next to an old professor gently giving him his tea, and talking to him, even though he no longer understood.

There are still those who care - out there - I am proud to have met some of these heroes of today.

CHIMANZI ART

2007-11-18T14:32:00.000+02:00

Let me introduce

to an incredibly

talented man

– Godfrey -

I met him

sitting in the corner

of a factory

in Woodstock Cape Town

I sat on the floor next to him

watching him carve

and tell stories

about the person

he was carving.

What a privilege!

Godfrey comes from

Zimbabwe;

has left his family

up there to come

down here

like many others

to earn some money

so that they can survive.

He has not seen his children

for a couple of years now.

Each of his statues
tell their own story
and if you sit long enough
and listen
you will hear
the heartbeat
of Africa
in the detail of the piece.

There is an
exhibition on
at the moment
at the
Simonstown library
where Godfrey's work
is being displayed;
10am - 4pm
until
25 November 2007

Come and meet him,
watch him at work
and talk to him
Let him
introduce you
to Africa.

no longer a game!

2007-11-15T22:17:00.000+02:00

My friend's daughter died today
...just fifteen years old…
after playing a netball match the other day.
Their team won!
Excited school girls
winning their match!

And the opposition team
were so angry that they started hurling rocks at them
(it wasn’t even a soccer match!)
...just netball...
school netball!
And a rock hit her head…

Her dad, so far away from his 'little girl'
Whom he had not seen for a couple of years
As he had to come to Cape Town
from Malawi
to find work.

This gentle man who has suffered so much in life already
Heard today that she had died
in hospital
without him by her side….

I cried.

What has this world become?

Please pray.

Celebrate!

2007-11-10T01:07:00.000+02:00

Brigett turns 18 today!

And we celebrate with her

life as a survivor

in the world in which she lives

high up on a mountain in Hout Bay

in a place called Imizamo Yetho

(more commonly known as Mandela Park)

Coming down from Natal to join her father who had come to Cape Town in search of work, she had to learn 3 languages: English, Afrikaans, Xhosa; new cultures, a far cry from her Zulu roots, all within a couple of teenage years.

And she emphatically states that she will not give in to the pressures around her where everyone at her age is pregnant, and has dropped out of school.

Her heart is to make a difference! To succeed against the odds. In this violent, crime ridden society, goodness shines through. Her heart goes out the children who are left to their own devices in the streets, crying, crying, and tells the story of the old man sleeping on his rickety bed with the water rising underneath it in the heavy rains that Cape Town experienced this year. She chooses to do job shadowing for her school project in a home for abused women and children.

I got to know Bridgett through teaching her computer. She is spontaneous and warm, full of fun and laughter. She is strong and passionate about what she stands for: Life! Freedom! Difference! And on her birthday she deserves to celebrate her 18 years!

And so the past principal of her school baked her a cake - a big chocolate cake. We had a surprise party - just 4 of us - and she was stunned at being given a cake! I cried as she opened her present - a CD player and CD with music on it that will block out the cacophony of noise where she lives as she plugs her headphones into another world. Her reaction was overwhelming!

It is wonderful to know people like her!

OH535

2007-11-08T23:03:00.000+02:00

do you remember?

I wrote to you about My Friend Mandi

who needed a house...

and you kindly donated finance for her

and Zet - her husband - to have

their own

little

space.

in fact, so little, that for a while they lived

(together with Mandi's sister)

in a room just big enough to fit their double bed

and to have a tiny kitchen area.

it took a while longer...

(being taken for a ride by builders)

and now they have another room

and she wants to say

'thank you'!

to those of you who donated money

a very big 'thank you!'
for OH535 in Capricorn Park - their very own place.

Mandi completed a computer course with me this year (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet, Outlook). She is a natural teacher and has so much potential. Her speaking, as well as her writing skills in English, are very good. She needs a job. Something more than just a domestic job. She is amazing with children. She is honest and reliable, her a sense of fun and enthusiasm brings a spark into the atmosphere. Please help me look for a something for her.

COMPUTER COMPETENCE

2007-10-25T21:44:00.001+02:00

I had the priviledge this year of teaching computer to people from Masiphumelele, a 'township' close to where I live.

It is all about development of the whole person, not just about the computer.

A highlight in my teaching has been the growth I have seen in the students I have taught who would not have had the opportunity to learn if someone had not intervened...

It all started with Honey. I was phoned by a computer company in town and asked if I would teach computer to the lady who was cleaning the office for them. Had I not decided to travel into Cape Town once a week to teach Honey, much of my life you read about in earlier blogs from 2006. It changed my life! It also changed hers. She is now working in the same company managing office orders and supplies.

I was then approached by an amazing person in his late 80’s who wanted me to do computer training for students from Ocean View who had just left school and needed skills as a foundation for their futures. This is now the 4th year that he has sponsored these students who have, in turn, become my extended family, as they attend classes in my home. He also sponsored 6 computers and a projector without which I could not have taught the students effectively.

From there it spread to Masiphumele. I often drive along the road and pick up char ladies in the boiling hot sun or pouring rain, who have missed the bus. I always ask them what they would really like to do work wise. Most of them have not thought further than the job they are doing. The greatest reward for me is to see these ladies develop in confidence as they learn computer skill. Some of these people are my best typists.

I have grown to love these people - they have become my friends - who come from all walks of life: security guards, painters, young students, ladies with families..each has a story to tell.

Let me tell you about Neliswa, a lady I met in Masi when her home burned down last year. She was devastated - she had nothing. Now she is part of one of my classes. I asked her what one good thing came out of the fire. She said “Nothing”. I asked her to think about the fact that, had I not come into the fire area to see what I could do, I would not have met her and she would not have been on this computer course – she saw the good that came out of the fire for the first time. What a wonderful revelation

Eunica is a lady I picked up walking along the side of the road with her 3 year old little boy last year. She was so depressed that day. She had no job. I asked her if she would be interested in learning computer and took her down her phone number. When I phoned her 3 months later to do the course, she said she could not believe I had phoned – she thought she would never hear from me again. She is now learning how to teach the others what she has learned in the course; and has just started a job

I had such a good laugh early one Saturday morning when two heads appeared coming up the stairs to my house: And on top of these ladies heads were balanced a monitor and a tower for a computer! We have many laughs together as we have got to know each other - memories I would not exchange for anything in the world!

These people were so committed to the classes. They would arrive at my house, sopping wet, having walked through the pouring rain to get there. They knew they could help themselves to breakfast - how can they work on an empty stomach...

In order for the people to practice, they need computers. I have started setting up mini-computer centres in the homes of the people in Masi. Computers people have donated are given to my students. There are two conditions. One: that they show me that they are serious about learning and coming to class. The second condition is that their home is open to others coming to learn. I t each them and they must teach someone else.

So many jobs are computerised. Skills are taught not only to the people who come to me, but in turn to the children of these people and to others who come to their homes. Small businesses can be started by typing our quotes, CV's, letters, or teaching others how to use the internet at a local internet cafe, setting up an email address for them, teaching people how to search for jobs and apply online.

I find people who are natural teachers and teach them how to teach so that they in turn can start their own businesses - if they can have a computer to use

How you can help?

I need computers that work – they may be 'old', but they need to work. Do you have any or do you know of people who are upgrading? Please ask them to contact me so that together we can make a difference in the lives of the people out there.I

If you would like to sponsor someone to come to a course, or would like sponsor someone you know to come, please contact me on my cell: +27 82 572 2517 or email me at jan@compu-competence.com

The teachers I am training will train these people. Detailed notes will help them recall what is being taught. And they will have computers on which to practise.

BEGGING

2007-10-24T21:20:00.001+02:00

There used to be a card game called "Beggar my neighbour"! I wonder how it got its name!

Meeting a beggar on the street - what do you do? Ignore him, pretend he does not exist? Turn to your neightbour and have a discussion how "they should not allow it - it is not safe" Or if you can venture to put your hand out of your car window, you might drop handful of 'coppers' of no value into his dirty hand... of course it is dirty!

I wonder what their story is... They all have a story to tell - no, no necessarily a 'lying' type of story. Just a story behind why they are on the street, sitting at robots, waiting for work. Or actively begging for 50c or a rand... It is a hard life out there, sleeping on the cold ground, specially in the rain.

I wonder why we can't just treat people with human decency; and not ignore them like they are dirt. Do you think you can try? You don't have to give them something necessarily, just look at them in the eyes, ask them their name, tell them you are sorry you can't give them something, that you hope they have a day that is better than the day before... Just something. It must be a lonely life - begging...

Gifts

2007-10-24T20:52:00.000+02:00

I work with many people in their 80's and hear their hearts; hear their stories. HEAR is the root word of HEAR-T. And we can only HEAR when we take the time to listen with our EARS and hEARts. Time time to listen, to focus on what others are saying. And the elderly have so much to teach us.

We had a Birthday Celebration where I invited my elderly friends ranging from their 70's, most of them in their 80's, and one man of 92, to my birthday to share with them what they have imparted into my life during the time I have known them. Little things have great significance - if they are done with Heart.

So we shared funny stories of what happens when I teach them computer, and deeper stories of how they have impacted my life. I wanted to tell them how important they are to me - they are not going to be around for very much longer.

Everyone was asked a meaningful question that enabled them to open their hearts to each other a little more. What struck me the most was that this was so special to them all. One lady commented that when they get together it is normally to discuss village gossip or aches and pains - but that this was meaningful.

And each was given the Gift of Significance. They are important; not to be left on the sidelines of Life that rushes by and leaves them behind.

May we give each other the Gift of Appreciation, the Gift of Touch, the Gift of Friendship ... the Gift of God's Love.

MIELIE MEAL IN MASI

2007-10-24T20:39:00.000+02:00

What a privilege to have a birthday breakfast with friends in Masiphumelele. Mielie meal and coffee. It’s all about the friendship, ignoring the blaring music from the shabeen across the road, which got going at 8am on a Saturday morning.

It was about the laughter and love and sharing and caring. I always feel totally accepted by the people I know in Masi and Khayelitsha - I often feel there is more judgement from 'white' people than 'black' people.

The culture of the true African is to open their homes, share whatever they have, even if they have little, with whoever needs it. If someone needs a bed, a plate of food, a cup of strong sweet coffee... come and feel at home. May we all become true Africans; true Christians, who feed the poor, look after the orphans and widows, and bless because we have been blessed.

Mother Theresa said:

When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.

SIDETRACKED BY SELF...

2007-08-23T21:03:00.000+02:00

There is so much abuse happening right under our noses - and we pretend it isn't there - just because we don't know how to cope with the situation. Should I get involved or not; what if the police or irate family members come to my door; fear generally makes one back out.

****

I have realised that if there were more "safe houses" for people to go to in a time of crisis, the abuse would not continue as long. It takes enormous courage for someone to leave home, to stand against the tide of abuse; for the cycle to be broken. It is like a death. Those you think love you, abuse you. Those who should love you, tear you down.

****

I had a dream of an abused person and her children being raped. I woke up in a cold sweat, and realised that she had been raped - emotionally. And that this emotional abuse was as bad as rape!

****

So what do we do when someone comes to us in a crisis situation? Do we run away in fear? Do we hide in our homes of inconvenience? Do we pray fervently for someone else to say "Of course you can come" - to a total stranger, so we can heave a sigh of relief that we didn't need to get involved; have our little routines put out or place?

****

Or do we do something for a change? Oh I know that we can't all take someone in - it is not our 'ministry'; but there are ways to help. Like finances, as these people would have left home with nothing and have to start again. Or supper for the night. Clothing, bedding, an ear open for a job. Or whatever is laid on your heart to do.

****

Just please don't ignore it, or pretend you didn't hear, or tell me you have too much on your own plate, or make lame excuses. If we don't believe someone how will they ever believe in themselves...

****

Awareness needs to be build into our lives of the people with whom we come into contact: we have been put there for a reason. Will we stand one day and have to answer for why we didn't help?

****

This passage really struck me recently:

The Final Judgment: Matt 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

If this is what it means - doing something for the least of these - if this is what judgement/ inheriting the kingdom is all about - why on earth are we not doing it?!

****

I think we have become sidetracked by self...

HOPE!

2007-08-14T21:15:00.000+02:00

We live with people dying daily around us and have become oblivious to the state in which they live. It is old news. It does not affect us…so what!

Until it touches someone I know. Someone I have grown to love dearly. Panic in her face as she tells me her news, fearful of rejection. “I would prefer to tell you that I have cancer – it would be more acceptable” she says. “I will never tell my family – they will reject me. But I have told you”

What a privilege to be trusted with this death sentence news, but – what do I do? How can I help? I have my own life to live – there’s nothing I can do? Or can I?

As many South Africans, I am not educated – I think I am, but I am not. I bury my head in the sand and as long as it does not affect me, I have no need to do anything. HIV/Aids is killing people all around me. The fear of being tested positive is overwhelming.

“What will they say at work? Will I be fired? I can’t afford to tell anyone. I will keep this a secret as long as I can. I will live with this growing death inside me until I no longer live; until the symptoms catch up with me. I cannot face it myself; how do I expect anyone else to face it? I know rejection is just around the corner”

How can we help?
We can be approachable; ready to love and accept the people around us who live with this terrible scourge that they feel is like leprosy of days gone by.
We can read up on HIV Aids and thus conquer our own fears of living and working with someone who is HIV Positive.
Yes, take precautions where necessary, but they are far more likely to die from a cold we give them than what they might give to us! Help protect these people from our germs!

We can stop being so judgmental of people who have tested positive. Protect them from other people’s judgment. I have heard so many words of condemnations "It's their own fault" when I have met many people who are HIV positive through being raped - a double pain to deal with. We must be careful of our words!

I live and work with people who are HIV positive – and some have trusted me enough to tell me…
What is on my heart? To ask you to help me help them:

They are fighting a daily death in their bodies as their systems shut down. Will you help sponsor them with vitamins and whole protein powder – a meal that gives them a fighting chance. They need huge quantities of quality, sustained release Vitamin B, Multi-minerals, Vitamin C, and chelated iron to be easily absorbed in their systems.

I need sponsorship for the people I know who are, on a daily basis, month by month, fighting for their lives. I have seen people I know, with this proper nutrition, grow strong and live.

Are you willing to help me; to pledge an amount to give these people appropriate nutrition? Most of them live on the breadline; Survival is for the fittest, and they are anything but that.
I am so aware of people going on diet while others are just trying to survive.

Please help me help them – give them a chance to live; for a sake of their children and our future in South Africa where many children grow up as orphans. The people I know would value at least a little more time with their children; the children would value more time with their mom.

DARE TO STOP! and FEEL the pain!

2007-07-01T20:34:00.000+02:00

I was thinking today about how people live
Surviving life
Desperately hanging on to the life support system;
that glimmer of hope that keeps them breathing.

And when the pain is so severe
Just concentrate on breathing:
In...2,3, Out...2,3
In...2,3, Out...2,3
And in a comatosed state
I hear voices talking to me
Keep talking
-I am barely alive-
Keep encouraging
Keep loving, Keep praying

Keep doing whatever is on your heart to do
Keep on keeping on
And I will get through this

And live to help someone else in the same place

I am in right now

LIFE'S RUSH

2007-06-15T23:19:00.000+02:00

Another week has rushed past,

each one faster than the one before.
And what has been accomplished?
Has my life made a difference to any one?
Now that I stop to write to you,

thoughts rush in, jostling with each other,

getting in the way, in their eagerness to be heard.
Which are the important ones?

Which words will get to the fore?
Words from various songs throw themselves

through the gap in the wall

Running to catch myself,

I wave at my life as it passes me by every day…
What will I do with the time that’s left –

Will I live it with no regrets?
What will I do with the time that’s past…
What will I say when my time has come?
You don’t even know who I am any more
I watch my days turn into years
I dream my dreams
And I don’t even know who I am any more
Have I waited too long
Can I start again?
I am a Child of His.
I have a choice
To live life with abandon
Give all I have

UNEXPECTED GRACE

2007-06-08T20:34:00.000+02:00

From my brother's website:

I thought this fitted well with MISSING PAGES video

Peter is a drunk.He guards cars in the street a church during the day. And then at night he drinks. He has a bedroll, which he unrolls in a dark corner of the church garden. And alcohol gets him through the night. Increasingly he is using alcohol to get him through the day too.

Peter is a qualified boilermaker, who used to work on oil rigs making good money. He has a 12 year old daughter who lives with foster parents, and does not know about him. Last year he hitch-hiked to her home, so that he could see her. She was at school when he visited her foster parents. Peter told me about the prizes she had won at school, and how proud he was of her. He stood across the road from her home and watched her return from school – but did not speak to her.

Peter often tells me that he is going to reform his life: “After Christmas”, and then “In the New year”. And more recently “I will be at church on Good Friday, and then I will stop drinking”. Most of the time his only contact with the church is to use our garden as his toilet. Recently in a drunken rage he threw his bedroll into the church garden and damaged a flower bed that a church couple had nurtured to life in memory of their son. And I had to explain to them that this damage was not vindictive, and that street people are loved by God too. But I am finding this hard to believe. And I am exasperated by him.

And yet….Today I met a young unmarried mother who has been thrown out of her home and who now lives with her grandmother. They survive on a welfare grant, in a tiny city council apartment. She desperately hangs on to life, and admits to crying herself to sleep at night. “So how do you get through the month?” I ask. She replied:“Well, I met Peter in the road. And he said I should come to you for counselling. He also gives me money from what he makes as a car guard”.

And I learned a lesson about the grace of God that is to be found in every person.

Pete Grassow

NIGHT DRIVE

2007-05-08T22:37:00.000+02:00

How different it is driving through Khayelitsha at night! Tall lamps - the only light source to thousands of people who would otherwise live by candle light - tower over shacks balancing precariously on the side of the sand dunes, ready to slide down the slopes in the next downpour, or be blown over in a north-wester wind to come.

It is quiet. People are indoors, huddling around explosive paraffin stoves. It is cold and the streets are empty of the normal smell of braaivleis. Gone is the busyness of street vendors with their wares arranged on the pavements; the happy noise of people shouting greetings to each other across the street; The little children, who swarm to wash your windows for any small change you can spare, are nowhere to be seen

The nights are getting bitter. The rains are about to come…and the cold creeps through the mists that blanket the Cape Flats, into the tired shacks. How many will survive another Cape winter fighting off TB and HIV, and a host of other evils, while the more 'fortunate' fight off flu. And we can only pray that they will get through another day.

What can they pin their hopes to?

Will you help the families again? Another drive: blankets, carpeting, clothing, Ikhaya covers, gel stoves, finances for food, transport to clinics... Another hundred, two hundred shacks have burned to the ground, leaving moms and dads, grannies and grandpas, babies and children with...nothing!

The need is still there - It is huge!
Can you help us touch the people's lives again?

(please re-read my articles from last year, and...remember...)

"LIFE"

2007-04-10T22:20:00.000+02:00

Life

seems so far away

So hard to touch

when I am just trying to survive.

It's called

Life

but it is really

a daily death of despair.

So tired

of holding on...

How do I pull myself out

of the whirlpool

of abuse, debt, poverty,

judgement, condemnation, criticism

So tired of trying

to survive another day.

I need to rest

I need a break

I shout for help

But the people do not seem to hear.

They hurry past, eyes avoiding contact with mine.

I don't exist to them in their haste;

Their own world in which they live

I am ignored at the taffic lights

where I stand and beg

Treated with distain and disrespect

because of the position I am in

Shut up

Shut out

Without them even knowing me

or knowing the path on which I have walked.

Treat me with respect

A smile, a friendly word to lighten the load;

Don't pretend I am not here.

Yes - there are many out there

who deserve your fear -

I am not one of them

Life
seems so far away
so hard to touch
when I am just trying to survive.

ABUSE

2007-02-25T19:29:00.000+02:00

I shuddered as I heard the horrific story

of yet another little girl who has been abused.

Nauseous, as this nightmare repeats itself:

Shattered dreams of another precious life.

I can't begin to describe to you

the pain

the tears

the fear

deep within this child

Shocking

Outrageous behaviour

stamped on this child:

body, soul, spirit

Thousands and thousands of innocent lives

sacrificed on the altar of perverse pleasure, satisfying lust.

Children in prison -
They grow up behind the bars of brokenness and pain

Fear

Isolation

Their future destroyed.

And, as adults, become victims

of the ever increasing

cycle of abuse.

This vicious circle must be broken!

The condemnation they feel;

that they are somehow to blame.

Healing needs to come

to damage deep within.

But we shut our eyes:

We have read this story before

And we shut our ears: the story is old

And our hearts become hardened, cold

Indifferent

Fearful

We point a finger of blame

at those riddled with pain.

What can we do?

An NPO group

"Friends of Child Protection"

Registration Number: 030-745NPO

operates throughout the Western Cape

helping support children who have been in abusive situations.

Phone or email

Flo Borchers

for further details as to what you can do to help.

Phone: 082 782 8780

Email: fcpu@mweb.co.za

The Father's Heart

2007-01-14T06:13:00.000+02:00

Give me Your heart
for the people;
So many broken people...
My attitude

has been wrong:
The self righteous ‘older brother’
Standing aloof—
Judgemental and critical.
Where is Your heart in me?

The sick and depressed;

The hurting and lonely.
The prodigals-
You have called to come

Into Your house,
To eat at Your table,
YOU welcome them home!
But the welcome has not been there

from me!
I have had

Bitterness and hurt,
Anger and unforgiveness,

Judgement and condemnation,

An attitude of superiority

controlling my heart.

My pride:

I am right and they are wrong -
This hardness of heart has turned them away
As I turned my face from them,
Pretending not to notice their pain.
The pain that has broken Your heart,
For which You died.
This is the pain You want to heal.
I don’t know You,
Or I would weep

when You are weeping
I would feel Your pain

In the hearts of those around me.

Change my heart.
Deal with my heart,

my wrong attitudes,
Heal my hurts,

Help me forgive.
Give me Your heart,
Give me Your compassion,
Your heart for the

broken in heart
You have sent me

to call them to You.

Draw me close to Your heart
So I can feel Your heartbeat
In the people around me.

The Depressed,

The Deprived:
Those Desperate

for a touch from Your hand
Whose hand will You use but mine?
How can they feel Your love
if they cannot feel mine?
So many hurting people
And here I am

Stuck in myself

My needs...

Me.

Know the Healer!
Get me to that place
Of an intimate knowledge
Of Your unconditional love:
So that it will flow through me
to those around me.
Set me free to be used by You.
Give me Your heart
for Your broken people….

2006: AMAZING YEAR part 1

2006-12-19T11:04:00.000+02:00

Reflect with me on what we accomplished together in the past year.

Some of you joined the journey some months in…

Here are the year’s highlights.

The journey into Heart 2 Heart started with Emily, a lady of great courage and vision, who I have known for the past 18 years. She challenged my heart when she told me that Khayelitsha was dying. Emily sees the need and meets it head on. She announced at a meeting at her work that she would buy the Venture that was for sale – because the people needed it! It is not that she had any money or even a driver’s license! But the money has been provided for this vehicle and it is being used for the people.

Then there was Honey, one of my computer students… and with whom I became friends. Here is another amazing lady, who has 3 of her own children and adopted 3 more children who were orphans.

She got so sick she nearly died - she was given 4 days to live - and landed up in Tygerberg hospital for weeks. This was the second time she has been there. The first time she was there for a year after a new paraffin stove exploded, burning her badly. Without Emily’s foresight of stepping out and buying the Venture, the family would not have been able to visit Honey every day in the hospital. This support was essential in the face of death. Praise God she is alive and well today to tell her story and to encourage others who face death on a daily basis.

I realized, as a friend, Karen, and I travelled into Khayelitsha in the middle of the night on a few occasions, that many people die in their shacks just because they do not have anyone to call at 2am. There are no phones, no airtime, no transport to get them to hospital. Some cell phones have been donated –many more are needed. Sometimes all the people have is a Please Call Me between themselves and death.

I realised too that we need to conquer our fears of going into areas into which we would not normally venture. I found that my friendship with people was more important than my fear of an area. I thank God for my husband, Bevan, giving me the freedom to go, and people like Karen who were willing to walk with me into the unknown, so that I could learn how to love people out there Heart 2 Heart.

While Honey was still in hospital, her family was told that they had to move (this was in winter) because a railway line was coming through the area in which they lived. (The railways had known about this a year before, but had chosen winter, not summer, to move hundreds of people). They were given 2 days to pack up everything and dismantle their homes.

One rainy, winter afternoon they moved. There was no time to organize a shelter for the night so a couple of people who had come to help put some money together and we bought a shack off the side of the roadside in Khayelitsha. Many people slept outside in the rain. The place to which they were moved was a flattened sand dune, desolate, windy, cold.

The next day we bargained for extra space next to the shack. Little did we know what that space was going to be used for…

A couple of months later a container/shop was donated together with stock, and placed on this extra spot next to the shack. The people of Phola Park in Kahyelitsha had to previously walk an hour each way to the closest shop.

As time was spent with the family, our eyes were being opened more and more to what thousands of people live through every day. I started writing, Karen started taking photos to help you take the journey into areas you have not been with us, and you started giving! Hearts were opened… Donations of your clothes were sold to stock the shop with food, so that the people in the community can have easily available produce. Without the use of Bevan's bakkie, the donations would not have been able to get to their destination.

Rod and June (Hout Bay Office National) are involved in setting up this business, making sure it works for the people, helping out with teaching business skills and providing transport for stock to be bought.

Honey’s employees, friends and strangers have been amazing as they rallied round to encourage and support her. Pallets were bought by someone, double garage doors extended the original bought shack, building materials, clothing started arriving.

Karen collected many tyres from the side of the road and helped the people to create tyre gardens filled with compost, for this home to be an example to the community.

The news started spreading and Honey became a household name. Many times we are asked “How is Honey”. This is so ironic, because Honey said that she had no friends throughout her childhood! Honey could not go back to the shack when coming out of hospital – she would not have survived the winter. So she moved in with us. She and her 6 year old daughter, Amanda, stayed with us for 6 months, with her other children coming and going over weekends and school holidays. What a privilege to have them with us.

So much has been learned...

How people just need to be loved - to reach out and touch with a smile, a word, kindness, and the children who line up for a hug!

There are so many people out there who have touched our hearts ... with whom we have become friends. There are so many people out there who are hurting, whose homes we have not even visited, who need not to be judged but to be loved. For if we judge, there is no space to love. People need to be treated with dignity.

You have given so much...

Support in life is always needed to accomplish great things.

Computers have been donated and courses sponsored for people to develop life skills. Old computers have been donated and set up in Masiphumelele in order to have places to practice.

Many donations came in: We bought and put up 6m X 4m Ikhaya covers in winter, to stop the rain pouring into people's homes.

Gel stoves, which do not explode like paraffin stoves do, were also bought for many families.

Homeschoolers raised R5700 from a barn dance they organised. They donated a gel stove, a cooking cushion and a cover to ten families in Masiphumelele.

They also built a shack in our backyard which they donated to someone who did not have a home. A 16 year old homeschooler, Hayley, artistically represented the hearts of children in shacks, and this was auctioned off at R1000. Other pictures were also painted to be sold for funds.

Other paintings are still for sale by 12 year old Lydia and other artists... look at backdates of my blogsite for details

2006: AMAZING YEAR part 2

2006-12-19T09:55:00.000+02:00

Then there were the fires:

Devastation as people have to start again from scratch. I didn’t realise before what it meant “to start again from scratch”…

The first fire we were all involved in giving to, affected Patricia, another friend who lives in Masiphumelele. 26 homes burned. Food was donated, building materials, clothing…

In the second one, Cynthia’s home was burned down. Pallets were bought to rebuild a floor to stop the river running through…

The third and fourth fire which destroyed 400 people’s homes raged through Masiphumelele early one very windy morning. 3000 people affected. We didn’t know people in this area, but soon made friends. You again donated food, mattresses, beds, carpeting, cutlery, crockery… People were happy to have one plate per family!

The Fish Hoek Business Network worked hard all day at a fare, raising R9000 to buy 60 families gel stoves and gel.

Left over food was donated to feed many people one evening. Clothes are handed out to people had been in the same clothes as the day of the fire, many days later.

Sweet Valley School knitted blankets for the people in the fire.

Fruit and Veg City in Tygervalley donates food. We go and fetch it and divide it between Khayelitsha and Masiphumelele and others in need.

2006: AMAZING YEAR part 3

2006-12-18T09:50:00.000+02:00

Honey has just moved into her own home...

Each of her children, for the first time in their lives, has their own bed to sleep in! The company she works for, Acceleration, has supported her in a huge way.

Her boys, who are cycling crazy, have just been donated 2 new bikes, cycling shoes, helmets, pumps, speedometers and gear so that they can be part of the Development cycling team. They can ride to escape the confines of Khayelitsha…

And this has all happened over the past year!
Wow!
Lives have been touched!
Changed!
Thank you!

My words cannot express what it means to people who have nothing, to receive your donations!
As for the people who have come with us into the areas, that means so much to the people.
Fear is conquered and relationships built! A heart is born.

Finances have gone towards:

The buying of a shack off the side of the road

Pallets as flooring for people’s homes

Covers for homes

Gel Stoves and gel

Cooking cushions

Travelling for people who have TB to get to a decent clinic

Travelling to support people, move people, take them food

Payment of everyday essentials for people in need:
food, toilet paper, formula for crying babies, nappies…

Thank you to

Karen (082 721 2510) and Ron (http://www.rongaunt.com/)

for the photographs they have taken that have brought

the reality of the people's lives and how they live

to touch your lives.

Thank you for the money and gifts donated for

Christmas gifts for the children and food for families!

What a wonderful time we had on The Day of Reconcilition handing out presents and food to people in need!

Thank you for all your donations!

It would be wonderful if you joined us next year!

Thank God for His blessings this year!
I look forward to the year to come!

THE MIRACLE

2006-12-17T06:30:00.000+02:00

Light and Love linked hands
And raced through the skies shouting
“He has come! He has come!
The Light has come into the world!”
Laughter echoed behind them,
Splitting the darkness
With shafts of light,
Bouncing off planets,
Dancing around stars,
Infecting all that it touched
With festivity.

Christ! He is born!
The Light of the world has come!

But Joy didn’t touch the hearts of some;
Those who turned their backs.
They spoke each year the ancient miracle
With doubt and twisted tongue.

The Maker of the Light
Was saddened once again
For Christ, His Light, in power supreme
Who could change the hearts of men,
Was remembered only in the trappings
Of a Christmas baby-scene.

HUMBLED BY THE GIFT

2006-12-09T22:11:00.000+02:00

It is so often out of our abundance that we give:

Our cast off clothes,

Things that were once new

and now have lost their appeal,

And often things that no longer work

that we think someone might be able to fix

even though we couldn't!

Our tattered things that are part of the past.

Someone offered me supper once -

her only meal for the day:

A chicken wing!

And I ran a mile

saying that I really didn't need

anything to eat.

Yet she was insistence,

A sense of hospitality,

of community,

of love

It was the right thing to do.

So I took the wing,

broke off a tiny piece

and handed the rest back to her.

And we ate together;

Shared a moment

of that precious gift

when she gave me

her all.

Christmas has come again:

A time to celebrate

Christ who came

and gave up everything

so we can experience Life

And share

His Life.

May we not hold back

in giving to others,

with the right heart

this Christmas.

The needs are huge

the loneliness severe

the people

need to be loved.

We are still collecting gifts for the children for Christmas.

Any gifts/food monetary donations to please be in by Sat 16th.

YOU ARE A PEOPLE MAKER!

2006-12-02T20:52:00.000+02:00

You are a People Maker!
Look!
You smile
and they come to life!
You frown,
and they wilt.
You pull within yourself, they retreat.
But, when you aim belief at them
They rush forth
from all kinds of dungeons,
And they are beautiful!
You are a People Maker!

R9000 give away

2006-11-18T21:51:00.000+02:00

The FBN is of a group of people who run businesses in Fish Hoek. They worked hard at the Noordhoek Fair about a month ago, making lamb rolls to sell. It was a huge success, and they raised R9000 which they gave towards helping the fire victims in Masiphumelele.

Prevention is the best way of avoiding fires, so that was the route to go. 60 families who did not have cooking facilities and who had lost their homes in the fire, were invited to come to a demonstration of gel stoves. These stoves do not exploded like paraffin does, and are non toxic in their fumes. The more we can get these stoves into the communities, the better. It seemed so few to give, considering there were 400 families who had lost their homes in Masiphumelele in a period of 2 weeks.

The people who were given the stoves were so excited. They said that they dreaded the weekends, feared leaving their children at home alone, hate the wind... in case there is yet another fire. Many of the people have lived through 2/3 fires where everything has been destroyed.

We are still collecting donations - the need is huge. Thank you again to those of you who keep supporting the vision, the heart of what we are doing: reaching out and meeting needs in the community. Finances, food, clothing, crockery, your time, your involvement is SO appreciated!

everything BIG starts little

2006-11-14T07:26:00.000+02:00

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task,

but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks

as if they were great and noble."

Helen Keller

Everything big
starts little...

Start where you are

Start with the opportunities

that present themselves to you every day

A smile, a kind word, a touch

Reaching out

Be aware of people

Aware of opportunities

That come your way.

Start today...

CHRISTMAS COMES TO THE PEOPLE

2006-11-10T20:50:00.000+02:00

Christmas is such a sad time;
A bad time
for many people out there

as well as close to home.

People who have nothing even to eat

have the pressure of seeing their children's faces

when there is no money to get them

even a small 'something'.

People who have lost a loved one

Feel the loss

in a huge way

As it is a family time

and they do not have a family.

People who have broken relationships

see "happy families"

and cry tears of pain

and loss and brokenness.

The meaning of Christmas has been lost.

I hate the busyness,

the pressurized advertising,

Commercialising the Gift of Jesus

When they don't even believe in Him!

So why not do something different!

Get to the heart of God

When He came to the poor

and the lost and the lonely

And made a difference.

Why do it?

Because my heart breaks

When I meet the people

When I walk into their homes

made out of corrugated iron and plastic bags,

When I walk through the sewerage

running down their paths,

And feel the heart of God...

When I speak to the people,

hear the devastation in their voices

and see the hopelessness of their situation.

He wants to show His love

to those who have nothing.

That is why

I do it!

The logistics of making everything work for
Christmas comes to the People
of Khayelitisha, Masiphumelele;
those hurting and homeless and poor
....is huge.

Ideas!

The Day of Reconciliation:

Sat 16th December:

Christmas lunch in Khayeltisha:

(Chicken pieces, rice, coleslaw)

Who loves to bake?

We need cake baked and cut into squares for the lunch.

We need biscuits baked to put in food parcels

If everyone in a family donated

a R20 present and wrapped it...

Hundreds of children can receive a gift.

On Christmas Day:

Volunteers will distribute presents to children

around Khayelitsha and Masiphumelele

Small food parcels will also be distributed.

What can you do to help?

Gifts, Gifts and more Gifts

Gifts of presents, time, energy, money, motivation,

wrapping, baking, buying, food, cooking ...

DEADLINES!

For presents to come in:

end of November

(otherwise everyone gets into holiday mode and forgets!)

Looking forward to making a difference with you in someone's life!

Please contact me:

Email: janlill@xsinet.co.za

Phone: 082 572 2517

CHRISTMAS FOR THE POOR

2006-11-08T05:21:00.000+02:00

My heart is continually touched as I read and reread the newsletter found at http://www.irismin.org/news/2.php
And I am challenged!

Read snippets with me:

"When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Luke 14:12-14

We gave a Christmas banquet at our Zimpeto center, and to us it was a foretaste of the King's great banquet given for us all on that Great Day. We called in beggars from the streets, the destitute from the dump, prostitutes from the brothels, drug addicts and gangsters, and they all sat down together with our children, missionaries and Mozambican staff.

Cooks worked all day on our chicken dinner, something we have only two or three times a year. Heidi shopped for days in South Africa, getting dolls, marbles, balls, toy cars and stuffed animals to add to all that was sent to us from around the world. Volunteers wrapped presents for weeks. We gave donated pants and shirts to the dump children, and a week earlier we brought wraparound skirts to the prostitutes so they would have something to wear for Christmas with us.

All of us, almost two thousand, sang and danced before the Lord. More came to Jesus, kneeling before the King who came, simple and poor, to identify with us. We are abounding in good fruit, such as prostitutes coming to Jesus who want their children back from our house for abandoned and HIV babies.

One ex-prostitute married Zacharias, a young man Heidi found on the streets three years ago. Jesus changed Zacharias from a mean, violent street fighter into a radiant man of God who now pastors one of our downtown Maputo churches. This church meets in a broken-down old building which gets filled up with street girls, abandoned children, drunks -- all finding hope and powerful help in our good God!

Now we are caring for a thousand children, and have a thousand pastors serving in churches all across Mozambique and into South Africa and Malawi.

These churches are themselves learning to take in orphans and abandoned children, like a little girl in Chimoio whose father was killed by a land mine and mother was eaten by a lion.

Masses of utterly destitute people across the country of Mozambique are finding the ultimate gift this Christmas -- Jesus Himself. He continues to heal the sick, raise the dead and reveal Himself to the poorest of the poor, and all who want Him desperately.

Here are a few examples.

Jitu, an HIV-positive street boy who came to us last year, is now HIV-negative -- our first HIV miracle!
Jesus used Surpresa Sitoe, one of our leading evangelists, to raise up Shansha, a six-year-old girl who was dead of malaria for over a day.
And Joel came into our office to tell us what Jesus did for him. His father was killed in the war, and his mother died of cerebral malaria. We found him hungry and beat up on the streets, and took him in. Recently he also got malaria, but in the night a tall, shining angel touched him and placed a Bible in his hands. He was healed immediately and now is full of love and gratitude to Jesus, always ready to testify.

Our God has answers, and He works amazingly through His Body. Not even one small child escapes His notice, even in the remotest corner of Africa.

May your Christmas and New Year season be filled with His love, peace and joy! It is so excellent to serve the King!

WE WANT TO DO THE SAME - WITH YOUR HELP - THIS CHRISTMAS!

To have a Khayelitsha Christmas
To have presents to hand out to children who would not get any
To provide food for the poor

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

DONATIONS OF R20 TOYS: Dolls, teddies, frizbees, puzzles, marbles, skipping ropes, soccer balls, tennis balls, bats, buckets, spades, cars, books, crayons, colouring in books.... wrapped and marked whether it is for a boy or girl and the age.
FINANCIAL DONATIONS marked "Christmas 4the Poor" which will go towards the food/presents (whatever is needed).
YOUR HELP on the day... serving the poor.
Get your families and friends involved in GIVING.
I have a month to get this organised: Please help me!

Make a difference - have a different Christmas - this year!

I WILL DO SOMETHING...

2006-11-02T21:27:00.000+02:00

What is life all about
if it not about helping others
who cannot see their way out?

Is what I am doing in life
going to impact positively or negatively
on those I meet?

Whatever I do must

come from my heart
and not from my head.

Heart 2 Heart

is all about
touching the lives of others we meet.
It is about seeing a need
and helping in any way we can.
It is about reaching out
across barriers we have put up
and finding

there is life on the other side!

It is about reaching into another world
and helping to alleviate suffering.

It doesn’t matter where we start
As long as we make a difference –
Today!
To change someone’s world
in a little way,
Is better than standing by doing
nothing at all,
Protected by our
Ideas, lifestyles,
fears and fantasies.

It matters not whether I have to stand
Alone…
I will do
Something
To make a difference
in the world in which I live.

I will be a door
to others:
Invite them to come and see;
To join me
in my quest
of expressing God’s Love
in any way I can.

REPAINTING PEOPLE'S LIVES

2006-10-31T20:33:00.000+02:00

There are people with whom I come into contact every day,
whose lives need hope when everything seems hopeless,

who don't know where the next meal is coming from,

who don't even have money for toiletries....

A further 2 paintings are up for auction to raise funds

to go towards repainting the lives of people who are struggling in life.

(These painting are available to viewing)

A beautiful water colour painting (36X26cm - actual size of painting)
by Fish Hoek artist , Bronwyn Royce

An abstract oil painting (120X50cm)
by Sheila Brown

The auction for these two paintings
will also close at midnight on Sunday 5 November 2005.
Please phone me on 082 572 2517
or email me at janlill@xsinet.co.za

Thank you to the artists who have given of their gifting to support others.
What gifting do you have available to be used to bless others?

AUCTION RAISES HOPE FOR THOSE SUFFERING

2006-10-30T05:57:00.000+02:00

We Can Help Them Break Free.

These pictures were conceived and created by Lydia Coetzee (aged 12) and Hayley Needham (aged 16) for the purpose of raising funds to alleviate the suffering of people living in shanty towns. Their plight is constantly brought to our attention by Jan Lill who spends many hours in the townships, bringing aid and empowerment to those whose houses have burnt down, who have been burnt in shack fires, who endure forced removals and who are ill-equipped to find employment.

These pictures are just one small part of a much bigger programme.

Lydia's delightful picture is an acrylic which would cheer any wall.

Hayley's is an acrylic painting framed by a sheet of used corrugated iron, onto which prison bars have been welded. It measures about 1.2m x .7m and would be well suited to a corporate environment. It bears the caption, "I Want to Break Free". After 12 years of democracy, the majority of our people remain imprisoned by a life of shack dwelling ......."

Bids are invited on these works

by phoning Jenny Needham on 083 605 8758

or by e-mailing jen.needham@wol.co.za,

with the highest bid securing the sale.

They may be viewed by arrangement.

Bids close at midnight

on Sunday 5th November 2006.

Proceeds will be donated entirely for the use described above.

HELP US REBUILD OUR LIVES

2006-10-27T16:40:00.000+02:00

THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD WE EAT

2006-10-24T16:58:00.000+02:00

Thank you to
the many people
who donated
money
and food
so that we could
eat a meal today.

Thank you

that you came into my world

and shared what you have.

Thank you!

Fruit & Veg in Tygervalley

Fish Hoek Business Network

Individuals who donate on a regular basis

FACES

2006-10-23T17:35:00.000+02:00

A NEW FRIEND!

MY HOUSE BURNED DOWN!

THE JOY OF A BLANKET!

LAUGHTER IN THE MIDST OF PAIN!

IT'S IN YOUR HEART

2006-10-22T21:06:00.000+02:00

It's about
the heart!
That is the only
reason:
To Live
To Give
To Love
To be Loved

We are
the eyes to see
and feet to walk,
the mouth to talk,
the hands
to touch
a hurting world
with
God's Love...

Here I am
Send me
I am available...

THE JOY OF GIVING

2006-10-22T20:33:00.000+02:00

There is a Joy!
In giving to people
that makes me want to
Dig deeper
Go further
Speak louder
so that the needs of people will be met.

I want to take you on a Journey of Joy
in the midst of sadness
to meet people who have nothing
but appreciate Life:
laughter, fun, Joy!

Where the little things in life
are more important
than the petty things we moan about.

Life is short -
appreciate the blessings you have!
It is indeed more blessed to give
than to receive!
Experience joy in a new way!

I want to thank both Karen and Ron for the photos that are always so readily available to impact your lives.

http://www.rongaunt.com

WHAT A LAUGH!

2006-10-21T21:23:00.000+02:00

"A SHACK PACK "

Kindly donated by
SAKHA iKAPA!
Building Cape Town
to the 300 Fire Families
10 poles
3 pieces of tin sheeting
a piece of plastic

260 000 homes by 2015!!!

And the people
who are wearing the t-shirts
have not seen the ANC's
involvement
at all!

COLD HARD GROUND

2006-10-21T07:16:00.000+02:00

Where will I sleep tonight? On the ground like last night next to the rest of my family, and the 300 other families here in Masiphumele who did the same. No blankets, just the clothes I am wearing. I washed with sand under some water to try and get my hands clean. I could not believe that some people brought me hot food to eat for supper tonight! I did not believe their promise to come back. I ate it out of my hand: there are no dishes or spoons. I am hungry. All my possessions you can see before you. We used sheets of our old burned house for the walls. A roof over our head for tonight. We need everything. We have nothing ...

300 HOMES BURNED TO THE GROUND

2006-10-19T20:25:00.000+02:00

I cannot explain the pain I felt for people I do not know as I walked down a path of devastation in Masiphumelele. Meeting and talking to many about the horror of the night before, the fear they experienced, the cold of another night looming, as there are no shelters, no materials, no people to help many of them. And the sewerage runs thru...and the hopelessness of the situation overwhelmed me. The babies cry, as they huddle together, three on a burned chair to keep warm, bare bottoms, no clothes, a towel to cover them; crying from hunger and pain. And I cried...

A thread of laughter keeps some ladies together as they stand in unity to face another night, another day.The deafening noise of the hammering, the beating out of burned corrugated iron, the smell of charred earth, wood, a choking sensation.

What can you do to help them?
They need wood, pallets, roofing,

doors, windows, nails, hammers
They need clothing, blankets, mattresses...
Pots and pans, cups and plates...
Everything
We take for granted...
For they have

Nothing.

"What are they going to do?" some people asked.
I ask "What am I going to do?"

A GIFT FOR MY BIRTHDAY!

2006-10-15T20:31:00.000+02:00

Birthdays come and go
And every year we think
of the year past
And what has been
good, bad or indifferent...
A year older
A year wiser
A year ahead
to love and be loved.

This year
I thought I would ask you
for a unique gift for my birthday:
So
I ask you for
A Gift to Give Away
A Gift to Help someone else
A Gift of Love
A Gift of Life
A Gift of your Support.

It can come in any form...
A Gift from your Heart
As you search the Father's heart
for what to give
To help me support others
The Gift of a Pledge
The Gift of your Time
A Gift of your Talents

What is the point
Of me being well fed
when others are starving
Buy more clothes when others are cold...

There is a little girl who needs a pair of black school shoes,
Babies who need formula,
Pallets for flooring,
Light in the darkness
People who don't need to die
If we had taxi fare to get them to a clinic to be treated for TB or HIV Families who need basics like toilet paper, soap, Food for many on an ongoing basis...

I want to share my birthday with them
And give to them...
Freely we have received
Freely give...

Email me! Phone me! My birthday is on the 18th October!
I look forward to receiving gifts to give others!

STUCK

2006-10-07T20:40:00.000+02:00

Stuck in the sands of our lives,
We are
Resistant to change...
For change is uncomfortable!

So we bury our heads in the sand:
Sands of busyness,
Tiredness, stress,
Our own opinions,
judgements,
criticism, and set ideas,
The lives we lead...
We have enough on our plate!
And we think we are moving forward...

We ignore the needs of others
The winds blow
And the cries of their hearts
are carried away
into the distance

And we stay stuck behind our walls -
The barriers we have put up
To be safe...

And we miss the Opportunity to love
And be loved
The Opportunity to serve
and to give
The Opportunity in each day
To see the hand of God
extended to us through the hands of others,
The Life of God
Expressed in a child's hug
The Laugh of God
as we encourage a tired lady behind the till,
The Heart of God
in tears of gratitude
in the eyes of a petrol attendant
As he receives an unexpected bonus.
The Love of God
in the beggar's eyes staring at me
through my car windscreen.

Let us get moving -
Dig ourselves out
of the grave that robs us
of knowing the heart,
the love of God.

Time is short.

(Thoughts inspired
by photos taken
by Karen Look Beyond.
Phone 082 721 2510)

JUMP FOR JOY!

2006-09-30T18:49:00.000+02:00

And we play -
Laughter echoes
between the shacks,
As tyres become trampolines
And sand
the long jump, sandpit, a wrestling ring...
And the cold of the nights
and empty tummies,
The devastation of the lives we live
becomes a thing of the past...
just for a moment,
As we enjoy this moment
and what it brings
And we live with our heads in the clouds...

Click on the photos to see them full size!
Photography: http://www.rongaunt.com

EMMANUEL: God with us

2006-09-16T20:22:00.000+02:00

A crowded shack
Heart to heart
As Honey shared her story,
her feelings, her heart
Her near death experience, her fears,
Her gratitude and tears
Her hope for the future
that has been given to her and the family
Through the donation of the shop and everything in it.
How she wants her family to be an example to the community
To share the Life that Jesus brought
The Blessings He has provided through others
And we sang
And the presence of God was real
The shop was launched:
EMMANUEL
"God with us"

HUNGER PAINS

2006-09-06T18:07:00.000+02:00

I struggle to eat
When I know the families ‘out there’
Who do not have even bread on their tables
For tonight
Or tomorrow
Or…

There is no food
For their children for the day
Who walk kilometres to school
In the pouring rain
And sit, shivering, wet,
Trying to concentrate -
To get an ‘education’!

There is no money for electricity for the night
No heat, no paraffin,
There is no formula for the screaming baby
No nappies for a raw bottom
Or fissan paste to soothe the crying pain
I struggle to eat…

There is no taxi fare to get to the clinic
To get meds for TB and HIV
Who will come to their aid?
The clinics they went to
Told them they were fine
When their bodies were screaming:
“I am sick”
Or the clinics are so full
that treatment might come in 3 months time!
They have to travel to a better clinic
To stop the onslaught of death.
It costs them dearly
In money and time
And energy and strength.
I struggle to eat…

They face their fears
Every day
All day
And in the dark of the night
“Who will look after my children when I am gone?
When I can’t even look after them now…”
I struggle to eat

We need your help
To help these people

Some food would be good ...
To take away the hunger pains!

SHOP LIFTING

2006-09-02T18:29:00.000+02:00

We made our way across the sand roads in Khayelitsha. A shop was about to be lifted - off a truck into it's place. A novelty in the midst of shack town in Phola Park. The excitement grew as this donated container/ spaza-shop was set in place next to Honey's house. The family is about to start their own small self-sustaining business.

This brand new container was donated to the community in reality, as there are no decent shops within an hour's walk of the forced removals settlement. The people have been dumped on a levelled sand dune and are trying to survive. They have no taxi fare - there are few taxi's anyway - and have to walk many kilometres to buy the basics, struggling with their parcels on the way home again.

The donations which people have been so generously giving, are going to be sold in the shop to generate money to buy food to restock the shop. Wisman, Honey's brother, will live up to his name and run the shop, under the guidance and tuition of June (whose passion is to run a good business). The shop comes with a fitted serving hatch, burglar bars, and shelving.

The lifting of the shop brings with it the lifting of people out of a situation in which they could well have died. What excitement, hope, and vision for the future!

Where there is no vision the people perish.

SINGING IN THE RAIN

2006-08-29T21:06:00.000+02:00

It's all about the heart! About the motive for doing something. What is the point of doing it at all unless it is done with the right attitude of heart?!

A group of homes-schooled teenagers grew so much in their heart of compassion as they organised a barndance to raise funds for people in Masiphumelele. They worked for weeks in organising this event for 200 people, and raised R5700.

10 families were blessed with an Ikhaya Cover (4mX6M of waterproofing against the Cape winter rain), a bio-stove and a cooking cushion, to save energy, and prevent further shack fires.

We spent 3 hours in Masi, meeting people, walking between their homes, helping them put the covers onto the homes and teaching them how to use the stoves and cushions.

What I love most about our African people is their sense of joy despite the tragedy of the situation in which they find themselves. The spontaneity, laughter, dancing, singing... So we danced with them and found within ourselves a little child again!

The music was brought out onto the street and freedom of expression wove its tale amongst the shacks. The sun shone in the midst of pain.

LOVE PEOPLE PLEASE!

2006-08-18T08:36:00.000+02:00

- Andrew Strom

I cared for "truth" more than I cared for people, and I did not even notice that I was often using Truth as a sword to crush people with, rather than set them free.

Over the years God changed me utterly. In fact, to change my hardened heart He had to break me and break me and break me some more. And each time He did so, a little bit of LOVE got in. He is still doing so today.

From God's point of view, the most precious thing in all the earth is PEOPLE. We can see this in the most famous verse in the Bible: "For God SO LOVED the world...." There it is - He so LOVES PEOPLE. He sent His son to die for PEOPLE. That is what it is all about.

There is an old Maori saying from New Zealand, which I have to love:
"The most valuable thing in the entire world is PEOPLE, it is PEOPLE, it is PEOPLE."

If you love your 'Truths' more than you love people, then you are an out-and-out Pharisee. Nothing less. And you will create condemnation and death in people, rather than 'conviction' and LIFE.

But if you can get BROKEN enough to truly LOVE PEOPLE – and value them more than anything in this earth - and then speak Truth to them out of that place of love - then you will become greatly effective. It is all about becoming BROKEN and learning to LOVE others from the heart. If you ask Him to, God will do "whatever it takes" to get you to that place.

This is not to say that you will never speak direct or piercing words. You will - but the whole motivation will be different. In fact, EVERYTHING will be different. You may be very confronting, and speak very direct truths - but it will be in the right spirit. And this God can greatly anoint. You can use it in love, or you can use it in zealous self-righteousness to hammer and condemn people. It is up to you - and the true state of your heart.

Let me ask you a simple question- Do you truly LOVE PEOPLE more than the 'Truths' you are trying to make them listen to? Do you value them as God does - and realize that He sees them as the most precious thing in all the earth? (Especially His children).

How deeply can we come to realize this truth - that GOD LOVES PEOPLE. Yes - repeat it - "GOD LOVES PEOPLE". And so must we, if we are to represent Him on this planet.

Please PRAY about these things, my friends?

- Andrew Strom
prophetic@revivalschool.com

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

2006-08-14T22:31:00.000+02:00

WALKING FREE

2006-08-13T21:16:00.000+02:00

Created from the heart
by Hayley,
a teenage girl,
who saw beyond...
This picture is up for auction
to raise funds for people in need.

janlill@xsinet.co.za

30 KG LOST IN 3 MONTHS!

2006-07-31T07:12:00.000+02:00

Imagine that!
This is what Honey lost during her illness!
And she was thin to start out with!

The good news is that she has regained half of it! And through eating all day – making up for lost time – she is regaining strength and weight on a daily basis.

To many Honey has become well known in their households. There has been so much support for her and the family.

The kids are missing having her at home, so they spent parts of the school holidays with us. What a wonderful holiday for them! Things we take for granted, was such a treat for them! The boys, Vincent and Nicholas, played computer games, Amanda loved having her baths and learning how to type on a computer, sleeping in a warm bed was wonderful, 2 year old Daniel just loved sleeping with his mom. Angel, was such a blessing to have in the house.

Honey’s new home should be tied up soon, so she will be able to move into it with her family. It has been hard for her to 'be here' with us when she knows her family is ‘out there’ in the pouring rain in a shack. But she realises she would not have coped. There is so much illness in a one roomed shack, shared loos, in the freezing cold that she would not have gotten well again.

Self-sustaining business venture!
The good news is that a container has been donated to the family to start a self-sustaining business venture. This is not just any container – it is fully fitted with shelving, a serving hatch, burglary bars, floor and is painted green – so that they can see some green in the sand dunes where not a blade of green grass is to be seen! A lady will come in and do free training on how to run the shop – they will be accountable to her. When the donations that you have given have been sold, the money will be reinvested into the business to stock food for the community, so that they do not have to walk for an hour to get to the closest shop. Those donations have filled my garage, and in a couple of weeks will be in the shop!

What is needed:
People to help Honey price the donations so that it is all done before the container arrives.
More donations are always welcome!

We are blessed to bless others.

A SHACK IN OUR YARD!

2006-07-30T20:50:00.000+02:00

A group of teenage girls catch the heart of things and are in the process of organising a barn dance to raise funds for Heart 2 Heart - for money to be donated to shelters, stoves, cooking cushions etc. A moving moment in a planning meeting of theirs : a teenage girl in tears over the hurt of the people. That had more impact on the group of moms and girls than anything I had to say.

Then the boys took up the challenge of being Apprentices to Master Builders from Khayeltisha, who helped them build a shack yesterday afternoon. The noise of angle-grinders, hammering and electric saws cut through the morning quietness in modern suburbia. What an 'easy' way to build a shack. I realised how difficult it must be for people to do this without the proper tools. Nails bent, sore backs, perserverence is the key. The boys said they learned what hard work it is... Hammering their thumbs, pain, sweat, tears. Little did I ever think a shack would be built in our yard! We are donating it to someone who has a tiny room as his home - "Welcome" , who helped us build. "Come on Guys" he said as he got into teacher mode.

This shack will be at the entrance to the dance, as a reminder as to how the majority of people live. I doubt the boys will ever drive past one again without thinking twice.

Experiencing the position of others gets one to the heart of things.

COMFORT ZONES

2006-06-26T14:29:00.000+02:00

Out there…
I have heard many things said by those have so much, and speak without thinking...
"Why didn’t they just stay where they were”
"They can help themselves – they are used to doing that"
"So much for the government doing something about it!"
"The church should do something…" Who is the church? I am the church – why am I not doing something about it?

The word “they” is a label defining a group of people which makes it easy for us not to get personally involved. If we label others in any way, we put them on a shelf and forget about them. They need not intrude on our comfortable lifestyle.
“They” keeps people at a distance – at arms length, so “they” don’t have to be involved in my life.
“They” have names and homes and families, and each has a story to tell about how “they” got into the position “they” are in.
“They” are your neighbours…they live… not far from you!
Get to know them!

Let me introduce you to Patricia, a 53 year old lady whose husband was shot ten years ago. She is one of the survivors I have spoken about. She survived HIV when no one thought she would make it. She is a pre-school teacher who is wonderful with children and would love to start her own pre-school. Her house was burned in the fire I wrote about a few months back. Many of you donated things for the people whose homes were burned down – thank you!

It is never convenient – our conveniences are often our comforts: a warm bed you do not feel like getting out of to go into the cold. Sharing your home with someone is inconvenient because you ‘need your space’. Yet when we go into these homes of the poor, they will share anything they have: a chicken wing that is their only supper, the one roomed home sleeps many people, the little they have, they share. Christianity is not convenient. Why do we expect it to be?! It was not convenient for Jesus to die. It is a sacrifice… which brings the greatest joy if done from the heart.

Some of my most precious memories are those of visiting shacks in the middle of the night. There was no money to phone anyone … they could only send a please call me on the cell phone. People in crisis with no one else to phone – who would come so late at night…'it is too dangerous'. It is dark, as we walk between the shacks across a sand dune. Candle lights, the murmuring of conversations in the shacks, single file down a narrow path that leads to someone’s house that was trashed because he would not take part in the security guards riots.

Another call, Another time… Another crisis…
As a friend and I walked into lantern-lit home in the early hours of the morning, there was a quietness, an awesome sense of God’s presence, neighbours standing around, children sleeping on the floor…. And God met them in their hour of need and pain, as they cried to Him in desperation. He took the extreme pain away as we prayed. These families have no money or transport to run to doctors. They can only run to God. And they experience His miracle working power and His love. We don’t need God as desperately as they do – we have our conveniences… our comfort zone, beyond which we do not venture.

There are many areas that do not have any electricity – hundreds of families are sitting around paraffin stoves and heaters, inhaling toxic fumes, trying to keep warm and cook their food. No running water, electricity, toilet facilities.

Our complaints are many, and when we look at them from another perspective, we are ashamed:
“It’s so cold getting out of the bath” – you are blessed to have a bath to get into!
“It’s leaking in my lounge” – there is a river running through my shack…

Let us continue helping… there is so much to do and so few people to help.

HONEY's THANK YOU!

2006-06-14T20:06:00.000+02:00

Many ask: How is Honey?

Honey is staying with us at the moment. She is still weak, and would not endure the conditions and harsh environment of living in a shack. Day by day, as she rests, she is regaining her strength, sleeping a lot, eating healthy food, having the warmth of what many people know on an everyday basis...something she has known little of in her life time. She told me yesterday that she is enjoying her life!

That struck a chord deep inside me - So many people out there: suffering, going through survival mode, not enjoying life! What can we do to help? Get to know them. Get to know their pain, their fears, their joys, share their tears.

Thank you to all those who have supported her over the past months through your prayers, love, donations, help, sms'... Thank you for supporting her family: feeding them, clothing them, financially supporting them. This has eased the stress of her continually worrying about them and the conditions in which they live.

This special family wants to thank you!

Vincent dressed up on the day of their forced removals

brought a smile to everyone's face!

Amanda and Daniel

IKHAYA COVERS

2006-06-13T18:43:00.000+02:00

Grateful thanks for the donations that have come in for the covers!

Here is the first one being put over one of the homes over the weekend. The rains started in earnest today and we will be receiving the rest of the orders this week. There have been donations of 17 covers so far which is wonderful – 17 families who will be dry so far this winter! Hopefully we will be able to cover more next week!

We waded through deep puddles of water in Khayelitsha today, helping put up the covers in wind and rain that buffeted us, tearing ropes through our hands, as we battled to get a couple more homes Under Cover. There seemed to be so much flooding both outside and inside. Children arrived home sopping wet from school, not knowing if their clothes would dry in time for school tomorrow.

The thing that always strikes me when I go into these areas, is that the people who are living under these harsh conditions, do not complain as much as people who are better off! Let us learn a lesson from this – and help each other to COUNT OUR BLESSINGS!

If you would still like to donate to putting people Under Cover, the cost is R300/cover (6mX4m) with 20M rope. Please contact me via email. janlill@xsinet.co.za
Love Jan

WOMAN OF COURAGE

2006-06-07T16:36:00.000+02:00

Meet Emily! I have known Emily for the past 18 years. Let me tell you a little bit of her story: How did I meet this special friend of mine?

Well, in those days we still bought newspapers... I was running my finger down a long list of "Chars - work wanted", hoping to find someone who would be a good contact person in Khayelitsha - and I stopped at her name! I phoned and set up an appointment to meet her. She was punctual - despite the fact that she had to travel on public transport all the way from Khayelitsha - I have never known Em to be late!

Emily was doing char work for various people during the day. When a job became available at the school I was at, she shifted her work to the afternoons, and started working at the pre-school in the mornings.

She then decided that she wanted to do a pre-school course. After a long day of working at the school, and then at various people's houses, she would take herself off to an evening class for pre-school training. She would often only get home to Khayelitsha at 10pm. She then still needed to work on the pre-school projects as well as any housework, before going to bed at 1pm. Up again at 4.30am - to start her work again! She did this for 2 years.

Emily lived in a tent for 6 months - a forced removals situation - enduring the wet, freezing cold winter conditions of Cape Town, and then moved into the bad conditions of living in a shack, bringing up 2 children, for 6 years. Eventually, through having the job at the school, she qualified for a brick house, where she now lives. Her position improved when she went to work at the SOS Children's Village, where she has now worked in the pre-school for the past 12 years.

Emily stood up at a meeting at the SOS Children's Village to tell them that she would buy the Venture that was for sale! Looks of astonishment crossed the faces of the people present. Emily does not even have a driver's licence. Emily is a determined person. When she has decided something in her heart, she perseveres until she gets it. She makes a plan to get to her goal. She did this with the Venture. What a blessing the Venture has been. Emily has made it available to Honey and her family - without it the family would not have been able to visit Honey in hospital. It is a major feat to get from Khayelitsha to Tygerberg using public transport, apart from the time wastage. Evening visits after work would have been impossible. Emily organised a driver to take them there every day.

I am able to phone Emily and get her to organise things for me in Khayelitsha because of the transport now available. Emily has foresight and a heart to help others.

It is Emily's birthday today!

I salute you Emily! You have endured! You are a survivor! You have vision! You have patience! You have suffered long and are long suffering! You have patience! You have staying-power! You have perseverance! You always have a smile on your face and a word of encouragement. All of these characteristics are born out of your struggles, which, indeed, have made you stronger. You are a woman of courage!

THE PAIN OF RAIN

2006-06-02T20:27:00.000+02:00

"Rain Rain go away - come again another day!"

I am 63 years old. Goggo/Granny Gladys. I am looking after my daughter, Honey's children. We didn't sleep last night - the rain poured into our shack. We lay there, freezing cold, praying the rain would stop. Now I have to get up to take my grandchildren up to go to school. It is 4.30am. They have no warm clothes - no dry clothes. We have to walk for miles across sodden ground to catch the bus. There is no transport from where they have put us. There isn't even a shop to buy bread and milk. I got lost yesterday - it was pitch dark when I took the children to try and find transport. Praise God I was not attacked. Winter is on us - we are not prepared. We have just been through a forced removal.

One family of many who are in the same predicament. For R300 you can buy an Under Cover - 6m X 4m woven thick plastic cover with 20 metres of rope to tie it down over the shack. Because it is woven, it will not tear easily. 3 have already been donated. If you would like to donate something towards putting people Under Cover this winter, please contact me via email: janlill@xsinet.co.za

Many people are getting involved - here is a way you can help! Looking forward to your response.

SHACK ATTACK

2006-05-28T20:48:00.000+02:00

It was a weekend to remember.

Yesterday I met the "bergies" from Pallet Palace. Built on a railroad siding in Paarden Island, they lived in shelters just big enough to sleep in. They were very helpful in finding palettes for flooring in Honey's home. To see them precariously balancing the pallets and trying to get them into the bakkie in their inebriated state, made me laugh... with them.

I have moved house many times in my lifetime, but nothing like I experienced today. Hundreds of people were told two days ago that they had to move because of the railway line which is coming through the area their houses are in. The railway line is progress... Help was promised.

They had to move house - literally! The walls, even though they are rotting, are carefully preserved as they are taken down, and carried to the roadside, so that they can be re-used. There is no other building material... Everything is piled high.

And we waited for the help to arrive..... Eventually at 3pm the truck came. Two hours 'til sunset to build a new shelter for the night. For the first time we could see the new site allocated. Miles from convenient transport for the people, a huge sand dune had been levelled. Road are being made as trucks and bakkies create them. There are toilets, which is wonderful, but no lights. Darkness sets in...

It is a sight I will never forget: People frantically trying to rebuild houses so that they can have a shelter for the night. The plots are so small, the roads so narrow, that there is no place to offload the old house and rebuild the new in the same area. Total chaos is inevitable as truckload after truckload of people and materials come in and are put on the plot next door.

This is so wrong! Where is the help? No hammers and nails, no people to help put up the new home. Because everyone is moving, the neighbours who would normally rally around are also extremely busy. So little organisation. I will help...Will you join me?

It is getting cold. If it were not for people making soup for this family, there would be no food for the night. Fires are lit to try and create some light and warmth. Here is Gladys, Honey's mom, who has been a pillar of strength through this difficult time.

How can we let Honey's family sleep in the cold? I go with Wiseman, Honey's brother, in search of a shack to buy. Thank you to those who have donated money for Honey. I bought a shell of a shack, 4metres by 2.4metres, off the roadside in Khayelitsha. Four tin walls, a roof, door and window - no floor. Better this than the family of ten being out in the cold for the night. They will somehow squeeze in, keep warm and tomorrow...start again.

HEART TO HELP

2006-05-27T07:35:00.000+02:00

I share my story, in hope that you would be able to help me - help others.

I have a heart to help others. I used to walk by people in pain - it did not touch my heart. I asked the Lord for a heart of compassion & now find myself crying with and for others.

I am involved in people’s lives in poor areas of Cape Town. Khayelitsha is a sprawling mass of humanity with many stories to tell. On the first day I travelled through an area many white people will not go, a friend of mine, Emily, said to me, “Jan, Khayelitsha is dying”. My heart broke.

Where to start? With people I know. Even if I could help one family, it would be better than nothing. I started to get to really know the people. They live through things on a daily basis that I have never experienced…they are true survivors. If I don’t help, who will?

Meet Honey. She has 3 children of her own & adopted 3 more whose parents died; the girls were being abused by their uncle. Honey has a big heart, but a tiny shack they all live in. Her house would fit into your lounge & she houses 7/8 people. When it rains (winter is nearly on us) water runs thru their shack. They sit around a paraffin stove, breathing in the fumes all night, just trying to keep warm. There is no floor – just sand. Honey has been very sick in hospital. She is worried about her family. A railway line has been planned that will go right through where her house is at the moment – so they have to move. It doesn’t matter that it is raining – their shack has to come down & be rebuilt TOMORROW or they will have no shelter for the night.

I have emailed people–the response has been wonderful, but is like a drop in the ocean. There are many people who are dying in their shacks: the cold, no food, HIV, not being able to afford to get to a doctor let alone get medicines. They cannot even afford a phone call for help – who would they phone anyway? It is the middle of the night. There is no transport. Who would come to help them? People are too busy…

I need help - to help these people.

Yours in hope

Jan