Without Condition

Ashley Humphreys, is a volunteer from Canada and has been serving with Hands at Work in South Africa and Zambia since May 2012. She reflects on her time in Africa and a recent encounter with a special Care Worker, Jean.

When I came to volunteer in Africa, I said I was coming to give.  Give my time, my passion, my resources.  Soon after arriving, I realized I wasn’t very good at giving at all.  I came into living in a community of people from all over the world and learned that at Hands at Work, we live as a family.  We live by the core values of servanthood and giving freely.  Freely.  Not conditionally.  It didn’t take me long to realize I lived by giving conditionally.  Maybe it’s because I grew up in a first world country.  Maybe it’s because deep in my heart there is a selfish girl who doesn’t want to share, who wants things to be about her sometimes, who wants people to recognize when she does something well.  I saw this ugly side of myself in little things.  Someone would ask to borrow my milk and I’d say yes but I’d think, “Now I’m going to run out and I can’t get to the grocery store for a week! They should really be more organized.”  I hated myself for thinking that way.  Why couldn’t I just let it go? Why couldn’t I give and be happy my family member knew I was someone they could ask?  Why didn’t it feel like a privilege to give to my brothers and sisters?  I started praying God would help me give freely – give without condition, give to glorify Him, give because His word says “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9: 7)

In Zambia I met Jean, a Care Worker at Chibuli Community Based Organization.  I was honoured to walk with her through the community and go on home visits with her.  The children we visited would cuddle up to her as we sat outside.  She would wrap her arms around them, all of them children who have been orphaned and are living with aging grandparents.  We walked so far through the tall grass and huts of Chibuli to get to four homes, something Jean is used to doing every week.  On the long walk back to the Care Centre after our visits, Jean started talking to me about how to be a Care Worker, it was like she was training me for my future as one.  She said, “It was hard at first, giving to the children.  When I started it was really hard.  But, it gets easier!  I’ve been a Care Worker for 3 years.  I just kept doing it and it got easier.  Now there are children in my home all the time.  I have my 3 children, but I have many more.  I tell all the children to come to my house and I will bathe them.  And feed them.  I say ‘bring your clothes!’  So they come, they bring their clothes, I wash their clothes and I wash their bodies and I give them food.”  She said it with joy and with love. 

God spoke right through Jean to me: Giving gets easier.  I can give with my heart like Jean does.  Not today, but maybe one day.  It’s a strange thing, to think of practising giving. But it’s exactly what we can do as we seek out God and grow in our understanding of who Jesus truly is.  As I have tried to answer God’s call to care for and love others, He has shown me how to give without condition.  After a year of volunteering in Africa and praying about giving, it is a little bit easier.  I still have lots of moments where I see my hard heart, but I have more where I feel the love of God come through me.  We all have walls around our hearts, and ideas in our heads that make us second guess giving freely.  We have to keep fighting through.  Keep praying and asking God to radically transform us so we build His Kingdom in everything we do.

He Will Give You the Desires of Your Heart (SA)

Anna “Oumie” Snyman is a true blessing from God to the Hands at Work Family.  She is the mother of our Founder and CEO, George Snyman, and now lives at the Hands at Work HUB in South Africa where her gift of intercession calls God into the lives of all volunteers, Care Workers, and vulnerable children.  Though Oumie prays for all our countries from South Africa, the entire Hands family rejoiced when she recently had the opportunity to travel to Zambia.  We knew it would be special for the Hands Family there to be blessed with her presence, and as she describes her journey, we see God used her as a great encouragement.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart - Psalm 37:4

“I couldn’t believe I was going.  I mentioned it and three days later, I was going!” Oumie said God gave her one of the greatest desires of her heart when he made a way for her to go to Zambia recently.  Psalm 37 had always been her favourite and she felt so blessed to see the Lord’s word in action.

Having never been to Zambia before, the whole journey was an unexpected adventure.  Describing the ferry she took to cross the Zambezi River she said, “As far as I’m concerned, a ‘ferry’ is a small boat.  This ferry had trucks right on it! I seriously considered hitchhiking”.  She saw beautiful sunsets and was blessed with her first visit to Victoria Falls where she was amazed by the size and sounds of the incredible waterfall.

In Zambia, James Tembo, Zambia RST Coordinator, walked with Oumie in the community of Zimba.  She was touched by a group of local people who were building a house all on their own.  She was also blessed by two people she knew only through her son George, and on this trip got to meet: Hilda and Charity. 

Ten years ago, as George walked across Africa, he came across a lady who took him in to her church where the congregation prayed for him and prayed that he would go out and tell others about Africa.  This lady’s name was Hilda.  George never saw her again until a few years ago when he was in Zambia for the Hands at Work celebration.  George was in Zimba, walking through the village, when he saw Hilda!  He brought her to celebrations and she has since been a Care Worker at Zimba CBO. 

One year ago, George came home from Zambia with a photo of a three year old girl named Charity.  She looked like she was only one years old and George knew she was close to death.  She was neglected by her family and her Gogo could not care for her properly.  As a family, the Snyman’s began giving extra to her; Oumie sent clothes and sweets with others travelling to Zambia, just for Charity.  And Oumie prayed for Charity.

On this trip, Oumie met Hilda when she went on Home Visits with James.  When they arrived at the Community School, Oumie met Charity.  “She was healthier, she was laughing.  Now she looks four years old!” Oumie said, “Hilda is a lady of God who has adopted her and cares for her so much.” Charity immediately connected with Oumie and made sure everyone knew Oumie was her friend.  When Charity’s brother came to meet Oumie, Charity became jealous and sent him away!  Oumie was so thankful that Charity looked so well, that their family had been blessed to be involved in this young girl’s life.  Oumie saw the transformation Zimba CBO is making in the lives of vulnerable children.  She saw how wonderful the Community School is and how the children have a safe place to go each day and be fed and be filled with joy. 

As the Gogo of the Hands at Work family, it was special for everyone to know Oumie was going to Zambia.  The HUB in South Africa felt connected to our Zambian family knowing she was going to be with them and encourage them.  While visiting, Levy took Oumie to see where he was born and where he met George – events in God’s perfect plan that shaped Hands at Work.  After this inspiring trip, Oumie said she fully trusts God with her next desire, “Next trip – Nigeria? Who knows!”

Teams in Action

Hands at Work in Africa believes something powerful happens when people in a comfortable and conveient society choose to discomfort themselves in order to serve the poor in another part of the world. Friends and family from across the globe visited Hands at Work in Africa this year to learn, serve, encourage and participate in God’s transformation of Africa.

Check out these teams in action!

Imaging God (UK)

Becky Green is Head of Missions at The Forge Community Church, Debenham, Suffolk, which has been partnering with Hands in Zambia for several years. Here, Becky writes about her experiences during her recent visit with a team from the church:

Christina and Douglas are brother and sister.
 
They live in the community of Maposa, Zambia and attend the school there. Christina is 7 years old at a guess, and her younger brother is just 12 months. They are inseparable.
 
We visited Maposa on a Thursday. Earlier in the week, as a team we were looking at what it means to be made in the image of God, and how this has to shape our response to the poor. On the Thursday I saw the image of God played out, right there in Christina and Douglas.
 
The school at Maposa is large, with about 350 children in total. The day was manic with us deworming the children, doing eye tests and playing games with them. All the children were so keen to join in and were running around in the persistent sun just excited to be with the Muzungu’s (white folk).

 However Christina couldn’t play with us or the other children. She was busy. Every attempt she made to separate herself from Douglas was met with screams and tantrums. The poor lad just didn’t want to be apart from his loving and caring older sister. But she didn’t make a fuss. She dutifully hung on to him and comforted him.
 
It made me angry to start with that a 7 year old girl had this responsibility, literally strapped to her back. That she had to care for her brother and missed out on playing. I don’t know her family situation, I don’t know if she lives with parents, grandparents or others. But it was pretty clear that she does a lot of the caring for Douglas.
 
The remarkable thing is that no one taught her that. No one sat her down and said this is how you look after your brother. Remember she’s 7. There’s this inbuilt compassion and nurturing ability in her very being. Something that makes her love, care and look out for Douglas. There’s God inside her.
 
If I ever needed a picture of being made in the image of God, it was right there in Christina. With our heavenly father’s compassion and grace she was imaging God.

Bringing the Hope - Part Two (ZAM)

Loveness walks to visit the patients and children whom she serves. Most of their homes are deep in the Zambian bush.

It is Tuesday. The sun is particularly hot and the sand below her feet is dry. Loveness is accompanying a care worker on one of her daily home visits. They arrive at a home nestled in the bush, where a grandmother sits on a grass mat, and leans against the wall of her home. She has been sitting on this mat from the time the sun rose, and will stay there until she is ready to go to bed. She is the guardian of Agnes*, her seven-year-old granddaughter. Agnes’ mother  passed away due to HIV, leaving her behind with her memory, and her disease. Seven-year-old Agnes and her grandmother take care of each other, but there is no source of income, and their small home is not secure and is falling apart.

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Bringing the Hope - Part One (ZAM)

The community-based organisation “Shalom” operates in three communities near Kabwe, Zambia. These communities are components of both rural and urban Zambia, with much maize and bean farming. Most people who live in these communities are street vendors, peasant farmers or make their living wandering the streets asking for casual work. There is very little industry, and poverty is rampant. Water access is unreliable, and often dries up during the hot seasons in August through October.

Loveness Chitafu coordinates the Shalom Community-Based Organisation (CBO) in Kabwe, Zambia. This CBO is comprised of volunteer care workers who have given their lives to support the most vulnerable children in each community.

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A Defence for the Helpless (ZAM)

Six-year-old Maywa Tanda lives in a community in northern Zambia. At the age of three, she lost her father to a vicious attack by men in her community who left him to die from his serious injuries. Traumatized by the incident, Maywa’s mother fled to Luanshya with her and her sister Belinda. The two little girls became orphans soon after when their mother became ill and passed away.

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Community Transformation (ZAM)

Susu is an extraordinarily poor and isolated community in central Lawrence and Sanday at work in a local church.Zambia. When Hands at Work field worker Lawrence Kunda began visiting Susu the community was in despair. Poverty was widespread and alcoholism was a way of life. Nearly everyone existed only by subsistence farming and couldn’t afford access to schools or a trip to see the doctor for sick children.

Local community member, Sanday, was in such a situation when Lawrence discovered him. Lawrence struck up a friendship and began mentoring Sanday, slowly discipling him over many months about the love and compassion of Christ. In 2009 Sanday realised his faith was leading him to start doing something for the vulnerable community around him.

"Welcome to Susu, your second home. We love you, feel free!"

Together, Lawrence and Sanday mobilised a team of other local volunteers and began equipping and mentoring them to care for orphaned and vulnerable children. Seeing the great need for education, Sanday and his volunteer team began a small community school under the shade of the trees. It was a huge success and inspired the community to begin making mud bricks in faith that they could build an entire school.

By 2011 a full care centre had begun to emerge: the school walls were complete; a new bore-hole, providing children with access to clean drinking water for the first time, had been drilled; and a cooking space was constructed to feed the most vulnerable children. Community members have watched the transformation in front of their eyes.

Sharon and her sister recieve a hot meal from a local feeding point.One child participating in the transformation is 14-year-old Sharon. When her parents passed away in 2001, Sharon and her two younger sisters were taken in by their grandparents. Because they were poor and too frail to work, the grandparents struggled to provide food. Sharon’s grandmother often scoured the edge of already harvested fields to search for leftover food. Many days the family went without eating at all. When the family was discovered by Sanday and his team, Sharon and her sisters were enrolled in the school and the feeding programme. A dedicated Susu care worker began looking after the family, encouraging and supporting them in solving their problems. Sharon achieved second place overall in her class of students. This is a transformation the entire community is celebrating.

See more photos from Zambia 

Susu is an extraordinarily poor and isolated community in central Zambia. When Hands at Work field worker Lawrence Kunda began visiting Susu the community was in despair. Poverty was widespread and alcoholism was a way of life. Nearly everyone existed only by subsistence farming and couldn’t afford access to schools or a trip to see the doctor for sick children.

Local community member, Sanday, was in such a situation when Lawrence discovered him. Lawrence struck up a friendship and began mentoring Sanday, slowly discipling him over many months about the love and compassion of Christ. In 2009 Sanday realised his faith was leading him to start doing something for the vulnerable community around him. Together, Lawrence and Sanday mobilised a team of other local volunteers and began equipping and mentoring them to care for orphaned and vulnerable children. Seeing the great need for education, Sanday and his volunteer team began a small community school under the shade of the trees. It was a huge success and inspired the community to begin making mud bricks in faith that they could build an entire school.

By 2011 a full care centre had begun to emerge: the school walls were complete; a new bore-hole, providing children with access to clean drinking water for the first time, had been drilled; and a cooking space was constructed to feed the most vulnerable children. Community members have watched the transformation in front of their eyes.

One child participating in the transformation is 14-year-old Sharon. When her parents passed away in 2001, Sharon and her two younger sisters were taken in by their grandparents. Because they were poor and too frail to work, the grandparents struggled to provide food. Sharon’s grandmother often scoured the edge of already harvested fields to search for leftover food. Many days the family went without eating at all. When the family was discovered by Sanday and his team, Sharon and her sisters were enrolled in the school and the feeding programme. A dedicated Susu care worker began looking after the family, encouraging and supporting them in solving their problems. Sharon achieved second place overall in her class of students. This is a transformation the entire community is celebrating.

Sipiwe's Story (ZAM)

Six-year-old Sipiwe poses for a photo in front of the Susu community school run entirely by volunteer teachers and staffSix-year-old Sipiwe lives with her grandmother in rural and remote Susu*, a community nestled in thick, African bush about 40km from the mining town of Kabwe in Central Zambia. Susu is an extraordinarily poor, under-resourced and spread-out community isolated from Kabwe and its education institutions and health facilities. It takes the residents of Susu about three hours to cycle to town to buy even the most basic of supplies.

But one thing Susu is not lacking in is initiative. Local leader, Sunday, with the aid of a band of volunteer care workers and Hands at Work, birthed new hope for the community: Susu Home-Based Care. In the short few years that the organisation has been running, Susu has started to transform. The community now boasts a profitable hammer mill, a vegetable garden watered with water extracted from the earth through a borehole and the beginnings of a three-roomed school building. (Undeterred by the absence of infrastructure, the community school – run entirely by volunteer teachers – currently has its classrooms in the church building and under trees.)

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Africa on Their Shoulders

Johnny, Holly, Hannah and JoeyMany kids spend their summers playing sports, hanging out with friends, and avoiding as much responsibility as possible, but not the Gilchrists.  This summer Johnny, 12; Joey, 11; Holly, 8; and Hannah, 6, did odd jobs to raise money for the Baraka community in Zambia. 

Recently, Bridgette Gilchrist of Northbrook, IL, heard about Hands at Work in Africa from a friend, Chloe Steinke.  Chloe had invited a handful of people to a Skype call she held at her house with the founder of Hands at Work, George Snyman.

Bridgette Gilchrist said, “After talking to George, I was really excited

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