May 09
GO Mamelodi 08
Take a look at the videos from this journey:
I returned safe and sound from Africa on Saturday, November 29th 2008 around 11:30am. It has taken me this long really to just digest this whole experience! Admittedly, it’s weird being back, and having been in the company of at least 200 people for the last 10 days, it’s strange to be back in my little home office working alone once again. I’m still suffering from a bit of jet-lag; getting tired at 8:45pm is unusual for me, but if I go to bed now I will be up again at 3am!
South Africa was, in a word, amazing. My trip started off with a short hour flight from Dayton to IAD (DC) leaving my group with a 6 hour layover in the DC airport. We wandered around for awhile in anticipation of our departure, and discovered that there were 2 other mission groups on our flight heading over to South Africa! Imagine that. We were on an Airbus 340-600 (the largest one manufactured at this time) so our flight was a straight 14 hour flight from DC to Johannesburg (pronounced joe-, not yo-). We arrived around 4pm Jo-burg time on Friday (10 hours ahead of you all on the West Coast) to a fantastic welcome from our Mamelodi friends – seriously, horns, dancing, LOTS of hugs…it was fantastic. We hustled off to our first hotel, theKopanong, for the evening. On Saturday, we went to the Apartheid Museum first and then off to the Pilanesberg National Park for a game drive. Short list of some of the animals I saw included hippos, rhinos, warthogs (Pumba!), red hartebeest, impala, springbuck, waterbuck, and a beautiful giraffe (my tour group was the only
one that saw a giraffe, and I think that was especially for me to get a photo to give to one of my prayer partners who is obsessed with them J) It was fantastic to see all these critters in their natural habitat and to take in some of the history and beauty of this country before setting off to work. We moved to Pretoria and settled into our home for the week, the Manhattan Hotel.
On Sunday, we visited the Charity and Faith Mission Church campus and received tours of the hospice, the school, and the orphanage. This campus is truly the center of its community – there are over 300 children who attend school here and there are currently 6 orphans who live in the orphanage. We got to meet some of the men who were being cared for in the hospice as well, and quite wondrously, many of their conditions had been steadily improving with the love and care they were receiving at the hospice (most were HIV/AIDS patients). Later that day, we were paired with our host families. My family consisted of a mom, Johanna, her 26 year old daughter Sara, and Sara’s daughter, Wisdom. Johanna’s 2 younger sons also lived at home. Johanna is a seamstress by trade and she showed us some of the beautiful clothing she makes for people. Their home was very nice by the neighborhood’s standards even though the roof was made of tin and was unfinished, and there was no indoor plumbing. The bathroom was an outhouse behind the home and the “sink” a tub with a faucet beside the outhouse. No A/C of course. Truly made me appreciate my modest little apartment which houses only myself and the kitties.
Monday, the work began. And it did not end until we left. I’m serious, we worked HARD all week – it was in the mid-80s all week, and I think I sweated off about 10 lb and brought home a yard’s worth of dirt in my shoes every afternoon. I was on one of the gardening teams, and I think that we got to experience the most out of all the work groups. We got to go out into the communities and work hand in hand with the local folks, play with the kids, and also accomplish the task of planting self-sustaining gardens for those in our assigned neighborhoods. We had “bodyguards” with us the whole week, as the crime rate in South Africa is among the highest in the world, and white people are a rare sight in Mamelodi. There were some children we met last week who I’m sure had never seen a white person before. It was interesting because the kids were running their hands up and down my forearms b/c I shave them, and it was something they’d never seen or felt before.
I don’t know how many gardens we built, because the main purpose of us being there was to build into the community. Once word got out that we were in the area, we had a brood of about 15-20 kids following us around all week. We had to assign people from our team to play with the kids just to keep them out of the way while we gardened. In each garden we planted spinach and cabbage plants, and of course we encouraged the homeowners to pitch in and help. Once we finished each garden, we prayed with the homeowners around the garden. One woman we prayed with had just found out she was HIV positive, and another older woman had just been involved in a car bombing and her brother was still in ICU. It was truly eye-opening to experience a few days of life with these people.
Over the course of the week, some of the older boys and girls in the neighborhood came around with us and helped us plant our gardens. It amazed me to see how everyone helped take care of each other – there was a real sense of community. I had a pair of shorts that I bought with a soccer jersey over the course of the week that I ended up giving to Nelson, one of the boys who had been a huge help to us. When I handed them to him, you would have thought that I had just handed him a million dollars. Such simple gestures brought so much happiness to so many people all week long, it made me feel sad and petty for some of the things that I feel unsatisfied with…
We had a special treat on Tuesday, as the news of what we were doing had reached the US Embassy in South Africa, and the US Ambassador to South Africa, Eric Bost, came to speak to our work groups. This was fantastic because it brought exposure to the partnership with Charity and Faith and the attention not only of the US government, but the South African government as well. Hopefully this will bring some additional governmental aid to the cause for C&F. As an interesting little side-note, the Ambassador gave a shout-out toward the end of his talk with us to one of my company’s new clients, Chevron, citing how they are a good example of a good corporate citizen in South Africa. I posted this video posted on my blog – feel free to check it out. The link has already been sent to our Chevron team at work and perhaps they’ll be able to use some of it in their work!
We did get to go to a Mamelodi Sundowns soccer game on Wednesday night. They were playing the Orlando Pirates (Orlando, South Africa). I think I had more fun watching the fans than then actual game! The Sundowns fans are seriously nuts for their team – I have some videos of whole sections of the stadium dancing in unison – that’s approximately 1000 people all clapping and moving together. They put our sporting events fans to shame.Friday, we visited an African market before heading back to the airport. We hit a little traffic on our way back, and thus were later than we had wanted to be getting to the airport. We waited in line to check in for 2 hours (!!) and they had to hold our plane for us to make it. I was literally running through the airport to get there. Consequently my bag did not make it to the US on that flight, and I finally got it yesterday. We had an hour stop in Dakar, Senegal, on the way back to refuel, making the return trip from Jo-burg to DC a 17 hour flight. My group was supposed to have an additional 6 hour layover in DC to get back to Dayton, but we ran, once again, through the airport and were barely able to get ourselves on to the earlier flight in order to get home a few hours early.
All in all, an absolutely fantastic, productive, and worthwhile trip. I made some wonderful new friends, both from here and there in South Africa. In fact, one girl who worked with our gardening team all week reminded me so much of one of my prayer partners, both a little in her appearance and certainly in her sweet demeanor. Her name is Athalia, and she is coming to the US with a group of people next year. I told her I would be pleased to host her when she comes.Thanks to all of you for your prayers and good wishes for this trip. Without you, this experience would not have been possible. The people I met, the things I saw, and the feelings I felt, are all in part connected to your generosity and your caring – so thank you, thank you, thank you from the depths of my heart. I cannot wait to do this again in 2010.
“Small things, done in great love, bring joy and peace.” ~Mother Teresa
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[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
Amy,
I could donate some blank clothing from our company, if you think it would be a worthy idea. I hope my Twitters weren’t untwitterful.
Amybeth…OMG I was just looking up Mamelodi and came across your site.. I am going also!!! I am very very excited about this adventure. Glad to meet someone else going.. should be life changing. Looking forward to sharing God’s work with you.
“In HIS Grip”
Vicki McLane
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
Amy
What an exciting adventure you’re about to emabark on in South Africa. I’ve gone on 3 mission trips. My first to teach English in the People’s Republic of China and my next two helping to build churches in Botswana. You will never be the same! And I also think it’s terribly cool that you’re at Crossroads with my dear friend and his wife Chris Bergman who I met off Twitter. You’ll see my support both financially and prayerfully.
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Kim Haynes
@kimhaynes on Twitter
My wife and I are also going to be in Mamelodi – for a year – starting this august. Perhaps we’ll run into you! The church we’re working with – The Powerhouse – was started by a man from Charity and Faith. If you get a chance while you’re there you should definitely come visit the church – it’s a bit smaller but also doing some really great things in the township! Blessings to you on your trip! http://www.mamelodistories.org
I am so glad I got this tweet. Will definitely make a donation and will pray for you as well. My best friend is presently on a mission trip in Thailand. It is a life changing experience. God bless you!
Karen
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
Amybeth – nice to see you yesterday at the Cincinnati Women Bloggers meet-up.
I went to Mamelodi in 2006 and it was just fun to relive that experience by visiting your site. I look forward to your updates and following you during the trip.
Good luck in your fund raising. I remember those days! Have a great summer – Debba
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] that is going with us. Click on the videos for a fuller idea of what we’ll be doing over there. GO Mamelodi – November 2008 Amybeth Hale – Research Goddess The town of Mamelodi is about 1 million in size. Close to half have AIDS. It is a very poor City, [...]
[...] CLICK HERE for more information about Amybeth Hale and the GO MAMELODI initiative. You can also make a donation now! (Why wait?) [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] CLICK HERE for more information about Amybeth Hale and the GO MAMELODI initiative. You can also make a donation now! (Why wait?) [...]
[...] GO Mamelodi – November 2008 [...]
[...] Mission Work [...]
Hi Amybeth,
I just happened to stumble upon your blog via Twitter and the word Mamelodi jumped right out at me. I am originally from Jo’burg, and live in the US now. It was wonderful to read about your experience in Jo’burg & SA in general. I appreciate the work that you did. It was very hard for me to leave, and I do miss it. The people are truly wonderful, despite the devastating hardships they have to live with.
I look forward to reading about your research,and more of your blog.
All the best,
Donna