Noah's Ark- quite literally!

Days #60-61

Friday morning was just another friday morning. I headed in at 8.30 for the morning devotions then it was back to work. As it was my last day today was making sure camp activities were sorted and then some other jobs to help around the office.

I have really enjoyed working at the church and being apart of the Helderberg Academy. The work atmosphere is good and the work we do is making a difference so it's always going to be enjoyable. I have really enjoyed working there as it has given me a great insight to what church ministry work looks like behind the scenes.

Friday afternoon before heading home I went to check out the bug mall they have there. Had a good look around and even had a go in the arcade.

NOTE: At this point it had been raining for an hour or so (hint).

Back home I chilled for a bit, played some squash, watched some TV series and enjoyed some good dinner. At 7 I was planning to head into the town to meet up with Beth and some of the other guys from church and have a chilled movie night.

It was still raining at this point but being from the North-West of England I thought nothing of it. I got to the first set of Robots (the term here for Traffic Lights) and took a right up a big hill. I was cruising along quite happily then all of a sudden THUD! The road was covered with bricks from a collapsed wall due to the rain. The journey then turned into a game, dodge the bricks as the road was covered with them.

After getting past the brick mine field I headed down a steep hill towards Beths. At this point the water had collected at the bottom and there was no way i was getting through, the water was too deep! I turned round and tried an alternative route but driving past I saw a car stranded in the middle of the street sunken in the deep waters.

I took the decision I wasn't going to make it. So I turned round but i was quite concerned because at this point the floods were getting even higher. The traffic was packed. It was dark. The rain was coming down hard! So I sent up some prayers to the bug guy upstairs and trusted him to help me and the little unreliable blue golf to get through the floods. We made it. After passing once again through the brick mine field I eventually made it back to the safety of home.

Headed back into my room, climbed into bed and began to watch more of my new favourite TV series; Suits! (I definitely recommend it).

It was around 10 O'clock when things started to change. My attention was distracted from my laptop screen as suddenly a lot of noise came from outside my room and a lot of knocking on my window. Luke was at the door and he seemed to be in an urgent hurry.

Bruce, knowing the floods were getting worse, had called an elderly couple (George and Avrill) who he knows lives in the deepest area to check if everything was ok. It wasn't good news. George had been coughing up blood and needed to get to Hospital ASAP. However there was two main problems; one, the hospital had started an full evacuation due to the floods as the Hospital began to fill up so they were busy and couldn't respond immediately to an ambulance call. Second problem is that the floods at this point were too deep and strong currents for the couple to drive out and for Bruce to drive in and pick them up.

(Look up floods in Somerset West Cape Town on Google and you will find photos from the hospital, mad!)

Therefore we needed some sort of small boat or something to get past the deepest area of the flood and get George to a car to get him to Hospital. However, we didn't know anyone with a small boat or something so there was only one thing we could do, we had to take Bruce's big boats down into the town. This boat isn't small.

So going back to me in bed watching Suits...

I was quick to jump out of bed, throw on some clothes and head out to help. After moving my car out the way to get the boat out we headed in.

Crazy! I have never witnessed flooding before so this was crazy. The roads had been replaced my rivers and houses were suffering the results. Cars were floating and half sunken under the waters. We got in as deep as the car could go and took the boat of the trailer. The water was about up to my waist.

But because the boat had no petrol we couldn't power it up so instead we attached lots of ropes around it and pulled it through the waters. This is about 10.30 at night. We got to the crossroads where we had to go up a road to Georges house but by this point the current was too strong and deep for us to pull this boat up under control. So myself and one of Bruce's friends made our way up the river and found our way to Georges House.

When the couple opened the door the water was already up to their knees as they walked around there own house. We decided that the main road was to strong of a current to take george down so I went to try and find another solution. After knocking on one of the neighbours doors asking if she could open her garden gate so we could take George over one of the security walls avoiding the main currents she turned me down as she said by opening that gate would mean more water coming into her house. She was already walking in water up to her knees at this point so it would of made much difference. Anyway I respected her wish and asked if it would be okay for us to lift him over the gate then over the security wall.

We managed to walk George to the house. George reminded me a lot of Granddad Doug at this point, he had an attitude as if nothing was wrong with him and he was perfectly fine, love that about Granddad Doug. Then with aid of a step ladder we got him and his wife over the garden wall then over the security wall to where the boat was waiting.

Then we encountered another problem, once we got them in the boat we realised that the plugs for the bottom of the boat were missing with the rush so the boat was a lot heavier and we couldn't take it as far up the road as before. But instead we improvised and carried the couple to the car and then an ambulance with perfect timing picked them up.

It was just like Noahs Ark in the floods but with a modern twist.

It was a crazy, exciting, adrenaline pumping experience. This experience has now allowed me to relate with stories of flooding in the UK and across the world; it's tough!

But its good how you see canoes paddling down the street, people out helping each other and 6 people pulling a large boat with an elderly couple in it down an ordinary road.

After they had left the boat myself and Luke helped some guy we found stuck in his car out of the car then we loaded up the boat and headed home. It was around midnight at this point.

It was a crazy experience. Wish I had photos to show you guys but thought best not to bring it as I was swimming at one point.

Came home had a shower, had some Ice Cream (Don't really know why was just in the mood for some Ice Cream) .

Saturday morning; it was still raining. Me and Luke headed in to take some photos but the flood had died down a lot in the morning so we were quite disappointed.

Later that afternoon I headed in to go to a games afternoon with some of my friends from the church then we headed to the mall to see Thor 2.

Driving back was a worry again as it was still raining and I didn't want a repeat of last night. So I took an extended route which was a bit of a risk as it involved driving through a township area which is not recommended to drive through at night but I took the risk as i thought who will be out to mug me when its raining? Anyway, I made it home safely. Praise the Lord!

Later that night we headed into to the local village/township just down the road. They had all been evacuated from their shacks as there was a fear the Dam was going to burst which would wash away the whole village. All the people were gathered in a community centre and people from everywhere were bringing old clothes, food, blankets... so we dropped of some old clothes and food then headed to check out the overflowing river before heading home.

It has been a crazy two days. The rain hasn't stopped and it has really given me a sense of natures power and destruction. The Lord has blessed me and this family to keep us out of danger and give us the tools to help people. I am really thankful for that.

God Bless.

Rugby Superstar & Samaritans Feet

Days #56-59

So my second and final week with The Helderberg Academy, after a great first week this week promised to be a good one.

Monday

Mike and Cle don't come into the office on Mondays, they work Tuesday-Thursday and help out with the coaching and admin. So Monday it was just myself and Beth in the office.

The morning duties mainly involved preparation for the youth Camp so I was busy working hard on that. I'm organising the Saturday activities on the camp so its quite exciting, I'm looking forward to it!
In the afternoon we headed to Macassar (one of the communities we work in) and it was the first week we were starting Netball coaching for the girls there. They all found it funny that I was helping out in coaching a netball session but after the laughs it was a great session. For the game I followed in my little sister's footstep and took on the role of WD (hope that's her position anyway, sorry Kez), it's a good job it wasn't a proper game as i have no idea what that means or any of the rules of netball. We had great fun and our team won!

Monday evening i met Moritz in Somerset West. He's about to go on a 5 week tour and was spending the first night of the tour in Somerset so i drove down to pay a visit and say goodbye. We had a good evening with some games of pool and table football in the posh Hotel he was staying in. Good night.

Tuesday

Today was a busy day. We were all back in the office today and before we could start any of our jobs we headed to Gordans bay for a training session with Samaritans Feet. Will explain more about that later. Before we headed back we drove up to the reservoir in Gordans Bay to take in the view.

When we got back to the office we were back to work with planning caching sessions, preparing for camp and planning some events for the rest of the week.

The afternoon promised a special treat. On tuesday afternoon we head into Macassar to deliver a Rugby session for the local lads there. But today was no ordinary sessionas Western Province Scrum Half Nic Groom joined us for the session. Nic is a christian who goes to Mike's church, there's the link.

One of the boys pulled it out the bag and challenged Nic to 50 Push ups, in his humility he agreed to the challenge and blew us all away with his quick performance. Mike tried to keep up but he had no chance!

Wednesday

Wednesday afternoon i was taking the football session at Eerste Revier. Todays football skill was Goalkeeping; life skill, focus and Bible Story Peter walks on water.

Warm Up

Demonstrating a keeper jumping to collect the ball, not a ballerina. Jump off one leg, knee up for protection, arms fully extended to make yourself as tall as possible.

The bible story; Peter walks on water.

Me and Jesus.

Thursday

Thursday afternoon I was taking another session. This session is a bit different as it's a PE lesson for one of the local township schools so therefore there is no bible story but we still look to do a life skill alongside our football skill which was dribbling.

After my session it was time for our first partnership with Samaritans Feet. What is Samaritans Feet all about? Well do you remember in DuNoon how i said most of the kids didn't have any shoes, well Samaritans Feet is all about providing these kids with a pair of shoes. How it works? We take in show sizes of Kids, then we wash there feet (just like Jesus did) and talk to them and pray for them before they move on to collect there new pair of shoes. It's a great system and idea which is really powerful.

Just another exciting week! But wait it gets even more exciting!

God Bless

Sweet Ride

Days #55 (Sun)

Well after not the best of night sleeps. Mainly because of the grand big ben clock gonging every 30 minutes sleep was slim. We woke up before 7.30 to our disappointment due to the great South African sun not helping us out. It was great fun to explore round the houses to find people sleeping in the funniest places.

Later that morning it was sad to say goodbye as they had to leave. Now is the final farewell and it was sad to see them leave but I'm sure I'll keep in contact with a few of them!

After they left it was just me, tom and Susie (his God mum). After a quick tidy up we chilled on the sofas catching up with some of the weekends football before Susie took us out for lunch in her soft top Mercedes. We travelled in style as we drove round the Constantia hills area (known for it's grand vineyards) in the stylish Mercedes Convertible. She took us out for an amazing italian lunch in this top of the range pizzeria.

I gave in. I had been over 8 weeks without having a Pizza, i was feeling it. My initial plan was to wait for my coming home meal to have a Pizza but it was too much so Susie treated me to a dream pizza, it was called the 'Nacho Libre' which was covered in chicken guacamole salsa... a fajita and a pizza comnined... MY TWO FAVOURITE FOODS!!!!!

After that she took us for a drive up one of the local hills to take in the view. I was in luxury and it was great fun.

Later that afternoon I drove back to meet Beth, Katie and a few guys from the church to watch the Man United vs Arsenal match. It was cool to just chill and spend some time with my new temporary adopted church family. I really enjoyed it!

A great weekend!

God Bless.

English Empire

Day #54

A perfect day. Blue skies. Plenty of sun. And only a gentle cool breeze to disturb the paradise. 

This morning I headed out to the a Helderberg National Park to take in more of the surroundings I'm living in. 

By 9 o'clock I had already started my walk through the park. Saw a sign which made me think of mum straight away...

Walking. And boy was it beautiful!

I did the leopard loop which took just under two hours. Takes you a good way up the Helderberg Mountain where you then contour around the mountain then complete the circular route by walking back. The views from higher up where even better!

As this year I'm going to miss our trip to the lakes youth hosteling which always involves a good walk followers by an even better cake I kept to the tradition and got myself an amazing Scone Jam and Cream from the cafe. Beautiful. 

Next; I drove to the strand, the main beach for the Somerset West area and today there was a big market which was cool to look around. Got myself a bracelet and some presents :) 

In the afternoon I head back Into Cape Town as Tom, the English lad from SAVE, was having a Braai/Pool party at his God Mums house. I was excited to see the house and all my well missed friends. 

Wow. Didn't expect this. Toms God mum is a millionaire and she built the house 12 years ago! It's very English and just very amazing!! There was the main house, which was huge. A cottage and a pool house! Insane! 

 

The house is in Constantia and had awesome views of surrounding hills, trees and fields. 

Again I was on Braai duty and I loved it. We had some incredible chunks of some tasty steak which was gooooooooood! And some ribs, chicken and sausage. 

Now I am a professional steak master cooking to order with Rare, Medium and Well Done cuts of juicy steak!

There was also lots of homemade brownies which honestly were sensational and homemade mince pies. My first mince pie of the year- and boy was it gooooooood!!!! 

I was in paradise. Even had the Liverpool game on in the pool house as we cooked away! 

And to make things more English... There was a croquet set on the lawn. 

The Braai was good then we watched South Africa vs Wales rugby match which SA won! Later in the night we had a big fire pit to chill around and just had a great night. Even included a midnight dip in the pool (not skinny dip don't worry)! Had a great night then it came to play a game... Find somewhere to sleep... Then go to sleep. There was a lot of us staying over and even with a lot of coaches and some beds sleeping space was limited. But got a great space on a big sofa in one of the living rooms but ended up having to share it. It was a great day!! Good to be back with my friends in this amazing place :)

God Bless. 

What a week!!!

Days #50-53 (Tues-Fri)

Well after the mad weekend and the late arrival of the car and some money problems... FINALLY I was on my way to somerset west. It was too late to join the guys for today's training so I went straight to my new home. 

I found the right round, Sir Lowrys Pass then I was just looking for number 46. It was a long road and house didn't come too often. I was close to turning around as I was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere surrounded by tree and mountains and fields. Then all of a sudden the sign appears...

I didn't know what to expect as I drove down the long drive. I was greeted by some friendly children and a huge black Great Dane called Bruno.

I live on a farm. Yes a farm. It's like being on a ranch holiday here! We're surrounded by amazing scenery with lots of trees, fields, mountains, streams and ponds. I have my own room with en-suite and small kitchen. It's amazing!!!!!! I did not expect this. 

The farm is owned by an older couple. They have 6 children of their own who have all grown up with their own children so there's lots of children. And the couple also adopted 5 African children also so it's a busy farm with a big family atmosphere I love it!! The house is huge, it's sort of three big houses together to make one massive one. There's lots of outbuildings including stables (no horses yet sadly), garages, workers accommodation and even there own squash court in one of the buildings. It's mad!! There also lots of bikes, scooters and quad bikes! Really is like being on holiday here. 

This is the front of the first house section...

My room is the one at the end...

They have boats, lots of vans, bikes...

Oh and here is my car...

The 5 adopted children are 16,15,14,12 and 11 years old. They are friendly happy and friendly and I love chatting to them and hearing all their stories because they only moved to this farm last year and the last farm they had was a lot lot bigger and very exciting. They use to do sugar cane farming not far from Durban and now here they hope to do sheep, cattle, chickens and lots of other vegetation. In their last farm they produced 10 thousand cabbages a week, that's how big we're talking! 

They are a Christian family so it's great to hear about their mission trips where they got a paneled van, built bunk beds in the back and travelled across Africa with food packages handin out to those in need and saying about the good news. 

One night after I played squash with Luke and Cara it was like I was interrogating them as I asked questions after questions about their trips, life on the farm... They are really interesting people. I love what they do and how big their family is! 

I am really loving my time staying here. 

Now about what I'm doing when I'm not enjoying the farm. I'm with Helderberg Academy. They are a sport ministry based from their church. We go into three different townships to do a training session in football and rugby. We develop a football skill, teach a life skill then tell a bible story and they all link together really well. The structure here is really exciting and would be amazing to bring back to England. 

On Thursday I led my first session. Our football skill was long passing, the life skill was Serving and our bible story was Jesus washing the disciples feet. So from the bible story we see how Jesus serves his followers and how he says we should also serve one another which is the life skill and we can serve one another on the pitch by playing a long ball than rather trying to dribble our selves. 

I was really happy with the session and the kids were great! 

Friday I was starting the planning for the summer camp which is going to happen in three weeks time. I'll be coming back to go and lead on the camp which I'm really excited about!!

Well... What can I say? I'm loving my time here and learning sooo much along the way! 

God Bless!