Home Brew

The gurgling sounds from my home brew have reduced dramatically in the last day or two so it should be ready for bottling later in the week (see: Where There's A Will, There's A Way), which means it's time to be getting the bottles ready.

Unfortunately home brew supplies seem to be very thin on the ground locally so I'll need another trip out to the airport to pick up some detergent and steriliser for the bottles, but I'm sure I can combine that with another trip out.

I have enough home brew on the go for about 40 bottles of beer so I definitely have enough bottles for the job, but it was quite a commitment draining these bottles of their original contents ready for this joyous occasion. 😉

Swing Seat

I have to confess to the fact that I am really struggling not to write a ranty piece about the ineptitude and inconsistencies of the SA govt and their ham-fisted approach to the coronavirus, but I shall resist and rather talk about our garden...

After neglecting things for far too long I finally got around to some serious pruning and a number of other jobs over the last few days, including moving our dilapidated swing seat from the front garden to the rear.

Good To Be Back

It's great to be back and getting in the swing of the life of The Gathering again.

This morning has been largely about getting a few of my UK purchases up and running which will hopefully make church and especially our Homework Club run a little better.

Homework Club

Hot on the heels of gaining our NPO registration we've had a great morning meeting with Green Shoots to talk about and plan for our Homework Club starting in the new school year in January. We'll be using their Maths@Home programme which is very exciting.

We're clear on our hardware needs and hope to have this all sorted in the next couple of weeks, we've got our internet connection sorted, so now we need to identify our facilitator, get some training in place and sort a few policy and admin procedures.

In the next few weeks we'll also start identifying which of the kids that come to our weekly Soup Kitchen will be best served by joining the Homework Club and then we'll be ready to rock n' roll in January.

Please do join us in praying for God's provision in every way.

Thank you LORD!

Gateway To..

I don't get to spend as much time as I used to getting involved in practical projects and just generally helping to bodge fix things together again. So I was chuffed when Michael rang for a bit of urgent help yesterday.

A few moons ago Michael and I put a gate on the front of his property but at the time he was short of hinges (some might say he was unhinged asking me to help!) so he bodged fixed the gate to the post using the upright as the hinge.

Learn To Earn

Yesterday we realised another dream as we were able to take 3 ladies, from the 3 different communities in which we work, to visit a local empowerment project, Learn to Earn. It is based in the largest township outside of Cape Town (around 1 million people!). Their motto is 'a hand up, not a hand out', which we love -that is the only real way to empower people.

They offer courses in sewing, cooking, woodwork, computing, graphic design and admin skills to the unemployed, asking them to contribute 5% towards the cost of the course (ie: approx £20 to £40).

The Good Life

I finally finished my compost bin this evening, putting the door on and covering the sides with chicken wire to make it dog and rodent proof or at least rodent resistant. I'm quite chuffed and think it turned out well, even if I do say so myself. Now I just need to get an old bit of carpet to put on top to help the composting process.

It's made from old pallets and apart from the latch and the nails for the chicken wire everything else is recycled so I can feel a bit smug about helping the environment.

Rainproofing Hokkies & Wendy Houses

The weather has improved in the last 24 hours so we've been able to do some essential weatherproofing work on two of our church members houses.

Both were leaking really badly in the recent rains making life for their occupiers horrible. One of the families suffered so badly that one of the children is now in Hottentots hospital with a respiratory infection.

Michael was an absolute star and joined me yesterday and today to do the jobs. I couldn't have done any of it without him.

Project Fix It - Goes Large

Project Fix It was an initiative we ran whilst with HCC in which we sought to bless our brothers & sisters in Chris Nissen Park by fixing their homes up for winter to ensure they all had leak fee roofs, proper windows etc etc.

Now, we're in Macassar and we're aiming to go further and higher by replacing existing dwellings/hokkies with wendy houses and actually building homes where possible.

On A Hot Tin Roof

One of the best ways to make inroads into a community is to get stuck in and help with practical needs. So this week I've been trying to get more involved in this way. I spent some time with Aunty Florrie this week and with some help from Michael managed to stop two major leaks on her roof. The rains are due back over the weekend so our handy-work will certainly be tested.

We're also looking at how we can practically assist some of our other members especially one young couple who have three kids and no home of their own. Hopefully we can tell you more soon.

Blooming Weather!

Late November is a bit of a strange time of year here. People are either frantically trying to get things sorted ready for the Christmas/Summer shutdown or they're cruising along just running down the clock until the Christmas shutdown. Either way it's not really a good time to be starting new things, which is just as well because we're not planning to.

However, we are once again in the process of organising Christmas Hampers for the needier folk amongst us. Last year we distributed 35 hampers but this year we're planning to distribute 62. We're away for most of December so won't actually do the hard physical work this year but we will oversee the planning of the operation. Last year the hampers cost R150 each, this year they will be R248 for exactly the same items. Apparently food inflation only runs at 10% so either our maths is dodgy or 'official figures' aren't quite as precise as they could be.

GoLD Peer Education

On Friday evening we had the privilege of attending the Ukuthasa Peer education Mentor Gala Evening held at our church premises. Charmaine who heads up the project really pulled all the stops out and put on a fantastic evening for us all!

Project Fix It - Part 2

On Saturday we completed part 2 of our Project Fix It with a great turnout of folk from church getting involved. This was a great time of blessing for our friends in CNP and a great way for church members to build relationships with people they might not ordinarily mix with.

The feed back from the two days has been very positive so hopefully we'll be able to follow it up later in the year.

Project Fix It - Part 1

On Saturday we had the first phase of our 'Project Fix It' in which we're blessing our church members who live in the local townships by fixing up the things that make for a more bearable winter. So far we've replaced front doors, fixed leaky roofs, built new front steps and replaced many broken windows.

Project Fix It

Starting tomorrow we're launching 'Project Fix It' in which we want to bless our church members living in the local townships by fixing up their houses to make them more tolerable for winter. Many of our members can't come to church in the mornings because they're too cold or wet. So, Dean has enlisted/conscripted a number of folk to come and undertake simple repair jobs such as replacing windows, fixing leaky roofs etc.