Catching Up With Friends

We had a great time catching up with a few friends over the last few days.

We had a lovely riotous tea with some old friends, Jane and Derek and their 2 children on Wednesday. The children really enjoyed playing cricket in the garden after tea and it meant that we did get a few minutes to catch up with 10 years' worth of news!

On Thursday evening. We hosted a small gathering and were amazed that friends were prepared to travel quite some distance to come and see us for such a short time. We would have liked to have more individual time with each of our friends but sadly that's not possible. However, our 'Chill & Chat' evening was a suitable compromise and we're really grateful to those of you who rocked up.

Fun In The Park

We're managing to have some great family time here in Cheadle which is a real blessing. We're so grateful to the Berry's for letting us house-sit as it means we can just relax and be ourselves without having to worry about being on our best behaviour.

We've also had some useful time with the key players of St. Mary's in Cheadle and look forward to our partnership with them going from strength to strength.

We've also had some really good times catching up with friends, some of whom we haven't seen for a few years. We always enjoy catching up with friends.

Madiba Speaks Out

Nelson Mandela finally spoke out against the Desperate Despot last-night, describing the situation as a "Tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe". A brief sentence of a few simple words which could have a massive impact upon Zimbabwe. The Desperate Despot will of course ignore Madiba, but it is very likely that many other African leaders will not ignore him but will be stung into action by the great man.

If Madiba can't motivate other African leaders to take a stand against the Desperate Despot then no-one can!

"Only God Can Remove Me"

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." Romans 13:1-2

The Tragedy That Is Zimbabwe

I've been wondering what to write about Zim for a while now as each time I read my favoured Zim blogs or hear from friends I simply want to cry. Zim is in a total mess all because the Desperate Despot won't let go!

Tonight we received the following email from our best friends in Zim. All I would say about this email is that in all the years that we've known these friends they've never once expressed any notion of leaving the country they love so dearly nor have they ever expressed any fear, until today. Read it and draw your own conclusions.

Plane Spotting In Cheadle

We've had a fairly hectic time in our first full week back in Blighty. After all going down with various illnesses, we then had to hotfoot it to central London for our 5 yearly tropical medicals. This took 3 hours for the whole family - deep joy! - and at one point involved trying to get a urine sample from Eli and having 2 nurses injecting the boys with 2 different vaccines at the same time in each arm. This was not nice, and unfortunately, has to happen twice more before our return!

The Local Church Responds

This video below was put together by Every Nation church in Somerset West to show the church's response to the recent xenophobic / racist violence in South Africa.

Tiny Bubbles Come To Play

The morning that we flew to the UK turned out to be a really special one as the children from Chris Nissen's Tiny Bubbles creche were invited by Joel's school to come and play for the very first time. It was a freezing day, but so much fun was had as around 60 children from many and varied cultures spent the morning together playing, learning and having a fantastic snack lunch. From the point of view of the children at the International School it was great to finally meet the children they so faithfully make sandwiches for every Thursday. As for the Tiny Bubbles kids - well just look at the pictures!! We hope that this 'exchange' will be the first of many.

Mission Ed' Has Started

We arrived safely back in Blighty last week after a long flight of 12 hours. The plane was a smaller Airbus so it took longer and had no personal TV screens so Joel didn't enjoy the flight. Also, Joel was suffering with a virus so by the time we arrived at Grandad's he was burning up and the last 24 hours have been quite stressful. Thankfully he seems to be picking up now, but please pray for him. Subsequently Paula took him to the Dr's on Sunday morning and he was diagnosed with a middle ear infection.

"I can see clearly now.."

It was Johnny Nash who sang the words "I can see clearly now, the rains have gone" in his song I Can See Clearly Now. Thankfully the storm clouds that were gathering over the local townships seem to have been blown away. There was no resurgence of the racist violence which engulfed so many and left thousands displaced.

We really thank God for answering those prayers!

Storm Clouds Looming?

Sadly this post is nothing to do with the weather but rather the rumours currently doing the rounds in some of the townships.

Whilst I was in Chris Nissen Park this morning I was told by one of the well known gossips (who also seems to have a finger on the pulse of community life) that the xenophobic violence is going to start again on Friday.

The View From Here - Pt 4

I really like these winter days before the rains come. After a few pleasant days the Northwester has picked up and is now pumping right across the Helderberg basin as it brings the rain ever closer.

Calm After The Storm - For Now

Alfred sent another SMS this morning saying:

"Praise God the situation looks calm on our side. But some are still hungry for violence."

We really thank God for keeping Alfred and his family safe.

This afternoon I met Eduardo from Angola. He rocked up at the office looking desperate and confused.

MTB Photo

Here's a photo from my most recent mountain bike race, more can be seen here.

The weather was glorious even though the ride was tough.

We had a great time that weekend, see: Weekend below for more.

Friends & Foes

Last night I spoke to my friend Alfred, a Zimbo' living in a local township, as I wanted to check he was OK and to offer him & his wife accommodation if they needed it. Alfred told me that he'd managed to get his four kids to safety out of the township but he and Pauline were staying. He had arranged a house swap with a friend in the community (a South African national) in the hope that his house would not be attacked. One has to admire the bravery of Alfred's friend! I made Alfred promise that if he got into trouble he'd call me and I would go and pick him up. Alfred used to be a part of my men's bible study in CNP until his work commitments prevented him from attending.

A Spade Is A Spade

Let's be clear about just what is happening here in South Africa.

RACISM IS RAMPANT!

We've had stories about white students in Bloemfontein abusing Res' cleaners and urinating in the food, and now we have stories about neighbours turning on neighbours. Looting their houses, burning them and in some instances burning their neighbours.

South Africa is a deeply racist nation and needs to get a grip of the issues involved and do something to address them before the next generation adopt their parents attitudes and perpetuate the racism that is so deeply ingrained across all sections of society. Blacks, White and Coloured South Africans are all deeply racist!

Township Riots

International news agencies have been running stories of township violence in South Africa over the last few days. What is particularly shocking is that this violence is purely discriminatory as it's directed at foreigners living in the townships. Nigerians, Somalians and Zimbabweans seem to be some of the worst affected. In essence the people in these townships are behaving exactly the same as the white oppressor did during the apartheid years, this is the real tragedy!

Weekend

We had a great weekend in Montagu. Dean was riding the big race so we decided to go back to Joel's favourite place 'in the country' - Farmer Koos's farm. We took the boys straight from school on Friday and enjoyed a fantastic lunch on route - just look at that view! It was wonderfully warm and very relaxing. The boys simply loved pottering around the farm and Eli was often gone for up to an hour making himself at home with the animals/machinery.

Not In The Job Description

Once again, yesterday found me doing things I never thought I would have to and that certainly aren't in my 'job description'!! It was the day of the funeral for my friend in CNP (see: Grieving & Rejoicing). I turned up at 8 am knowing that CNP funerals never run to time, only to find that the first part in the house was already underway!! It was a truly fitting and glorious occasion, in the right sense of the words. My friend's life was honoured and all the glory went to God. As usual though, things never go as you might expect. I had greeted all the family members and stood for an hour in the wind and rain outside the house because there were so many people. Just as we were waiting for the coffin to be brought out of the house and taken to the tent in CNP for the next part of the funeral, my friend's oldest daughter came and told me that I was needed. I went in and next thing found that I was carrying the coffin whilst holding on to the 12 year old daughter who is wailing at this point. I find it strange that noone seems to want to comfort a crying child in this situation. I then spent the next 2 hours taking part in the service whilst trying to be of some comfort to the daughter who was really distraught, yet lucid enough to say that she would never see mummy again. How powerless you feel in situations like this! I was honoured to be able to speak about my friend and managed to provoke a few laughs as well as many tears amongst those gathered, so I think it went down well.

Winter Has Arrived!

Winter is well and truly here and the weather is awful. The Northwest wind is pumping heavily and has almost destroyed our TV aerial as well as taking branches off a few trees. The rain also arrived today which gets most locals quite excited but the English in us stops us from finding rain exciting!

Joel & Eli however couldn't wait to put their raincoats and welly boots on and go splashing in the rain. Thankfully they'd had enough after half an hour but Eli did manage to do some jumping on the trampoline in that time.

As you can see in the photo, the weather really isn't too good but it isn't deterring the boys!

Law In South Africa

A friend recently brought this to our attention..

Two recent court cases, have earned the attention of newspaper readers in South Africa

1. One person was fined R1 000 for not having a TV license.
2. Another was released on bail for R500 after being arrested for murder.

The moral of this South African story:

If you do not have a TV license and the inspector comes round, kill him.
You'll save R500.