“Ministering at Hands at Work has brought the scripture from Isaiah 58 alive in my life, which was prophesied over me when I was 19 and getting baptised. The verse is about spending yourself on behalf of the hungry and, if you do, that your light will rise like the noon day and will be like a well-watered garden. I’ve realised over the years that not only is the well-watered garden good for other people to feed from, receive nourishment and point to who God is, but it’s good for me to. It’s that mysterious truth that we read about in the Bible about how, when you give your life away, you gain life – and it doesn’t make sense because it’s a very upside-down principle. God has shown me that spending my life on behalf of others is the best thing I can do. A poet named Mary Oliver had this famous quote where she asked the question, ‘what do you plan to do with this one wild and precious life you’ve been given?’ That’s the question that I’ve always asked myself. I’ve got one life and one opportunity to spend myself. Am I going to do it for my own good, to store up riches for myself on this side of heaven, or am I going to spend it on behalf of others and make a difference in this very fractured world? My ministry through Hands at Work, through what God has done in my life, is that He has taught me that I can live a life that matters, a life that makes a difference, and I can be like that picture of a well-watered garden. He has given me purpose, passion, a reason to wake up every morning and an understanding that my life matters. I can’t think of a greater privilege.”

- International Volunteer (UK)

“I love caring for the children. It is my love for the children that has kept me going. There are times when it is difficult but when I think about the children, I know that I can’t give up because who else would care for them? When I get weary and tired, I pray and ask God to remind me of the first love that I had for the children.”

- A Care Worker in Sthobela B Community, South Africa

“Before joining Hands at Work, God had already put in me a real love for women of different cultures and older women and people who are struggling and going through difficulties in life. One of my most precious memories is the chance that my husband Chris and I had to go to Moldova (which is near Romania), and my highlight was sitting in a hut with a woman who had lost everything, and I was able to hold her hand and be with her. Through Hands at Work, God has brought that special memory into almost a daily occurrence. I can be out in the community with the local Hands at Work teams and people who live here at the Hands at Work base in South Africa, and I can sit with them, and I can be listening to God, and I can be praying for them and supporting them and sharing scriptures and truth and just loving them. God put that heart in me. It is a really special place for me. Through Hands and our ministry here, I'm able to do that.

Through being with Hands at Work, God has been revealing to me what his culture is more and more. Living with people and going out and being in different cultures rubs against my culture. It makes me wrestle with what is God’s Kingdom culture. How does he want me to live? Not basing it on my parents, how I grew up, or even Hands, but how does God want me to live my life and embrace God's Kingdom culture?”
- International Volunteer (UK)

“Prior to joining Hands at Work, I had been sent by my church in Kenya to South Africa for a church plant. While serving in this church, I met some people from Hands and got connected. Many years earlier, there was a prophecy spoken over my life that I would serve children who need the love of Jesus. In my natural mind, I translated this to mean that I was going to be a Sunday school teacher and I was going to do this within the church. It wasn’t until I joined Hands that I found out that there are other ways to serve children who need the love of Jesus and that completely transformed my life. The children that God led me to needed so much more than I thought or imagined. These are the most vulnerable children, but the love of Jesus is not only for them; it is for their Primary Caregivers and Care Workers too. I have come to realise just how much God loves people more than anything. Through this journey, my relationship with Jesus has changed and grown. I’m thankful for God allowing my path to cross with the Hands family as I have gained so many relationships within Hands and in the communities where we go and do life with our children, their Primary Caregivers and Care Workers. I feel so enriched and blessed to be part of this great work that God has called me to.”

- African Leader (Kenya)

“When I joined Hands at Work, I thought that it was about working and getting paid, but over time I started to understand that Hands was more than work. It was a ministry. I started to find that I was also benefiting from what I was learning. My spiritual life started to change, and I learned how to care for my family. I learned a lot about the word of God, and I continue to learn about His word. I have seen a change in myself. The way I am right now and the way I have come to know God are different from what I knew and how I was at first. I’ve come to understand that this is a calling. The Lord has called me to serve the most vulnerable children, to work with the Care Workers and to help others who were in a similar situation to me.”

- African leader (Zambia)

“My first contact with Hands at Work was during a study tour to South Africa/Eswatini in 2016. I was deeply touched and moved by the visits at the Care Points and by George, who shared his story with us. After our return to Germany, we advocated for a partnership between our church council and Hands at Work which was established in 2017. Since then, I have been supporting the “Patenprojekt Afrika” as a coordinator, and I am currently involved in setting up Hands at Work Germany.

God challenged me deeply when I saw the need in Africa but also in the way the Hands at Work team and the Care Workers love and care for every child and every Gogo personally. In Africa, God showed me that discipleship is not possible without the care for our vulnerable brothers and sisters.

There is a verse from Psalm 143 that God placed on my heart shortly after my first trip: “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” (Psalm 143, 8). My search for “the way I should go” has not stopped since then – and I am sure that Hands at Work is an important milestone on this way.”

- International Office Volunteer (Germany)

“The Lord brought Hands at Work into my life in 2008. I had been advocating in the United States for orphans and vulnerable children and felt that I should specifically help the vulnerable children of Africa. To make a long story short, after a few short-term trips, our family felt called to serve at Hands full time. Craig and I served for over three years when we felt our season at Hands was done. We thought we would go back to America, but the Lord told us He wasn’t finished with us in Africa. After much prayer and speaking with the leaders of our local church, our sending church back in America, and Hands, we knew the Lord was calling us to stay in South Africa and serve in our local church. It was there that we were asked to lead our main outreach branch, called Sinani. Sinani’s heart is similar to that of Hands, and in fact, we partner with Hands in 2 communities.

Craig and I could not be doing what we are doing now if it weren’t for our years at Hands. It was there that we learned to fight for the most vulnerable and to never give up. We have had several situations where kids from our life centres were being abused in their homes. Unfortunately, the systems in place in South Africa aren’t always quick to respond. We have learned to run towards the problem. So instead of letting the system just work its course, we’ve had to push and fight for our children and never give up.

The other thing we’ve learned is that the best gift we can give to people, besides Jesus, is our time. Our desire is that all of our Care Workers catch the heart of doing home visits. We want them to understand that we don’t just arrive, see how people are, and then leave; we spend time, hear their stories, and wait until God shows up. These are precious pearls of wisdom that we have learned from our time at Hands at Work, and for these, we are most grateful.”

- Hands at Work partners and advocates

“My prayer and desire is to be like one of the Care Workers that care for me.”

- a child living in Buhimba Community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“I am very grateful to be back in Zimba after a challenging situation moved me away. I have seen God’s care of me through the way that Hands at Work has supported me over the years. I know that God loves me because different people have visited and told me that God is with me and in my corner. Even through all the challenges, God was always with me. Now I help at the Care Point to give back to my community.”

- a child from Zimba Community, Zambia

“In Exodus 34, verse six, God describes himself as merciful and gracious and slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Over the past six years with Hands, I feel like I've been able to get to the heart of the Father. To get to know on a deeper level those truths that He says about himself of his love, his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness, how he is slow to anger. I've got to know his compassion and that his heart is to bring healing and to bring restoration. He doesn't look away from the suffering and the pain.

He is so full of compassion that he is constantly longing for his children, for everyone, to encounter his love because God is love and he is compassion. And when we see that, we experience healing. I've experienced that personally. Without a shadow of a doubt, I can say that God has healed me in the core of my being and that he has been restoring parts that have been broken. It's given me hope and joy.

It's giving me resources to be able to recognise when pain comes up and to be able to take that and trust that the Spirit is going to heal and restore, but I've also seen him do that in the lives of our children, of our Gogos, of our Care Workers, and there is nothing better than watching someone who has experienced so much pain in their life, taste and see that God is good and experience his love. You can see the healing and transformation on their face. Even seeing some of the young people come to the Hands at Work base in South Africa; as we got to talk about God's love, as we got to go deeper into his word about it, you could see the youths’ faces transform before your eyes, as they realised, “I'm loved.””

- International Volunteer (Australia)

“Earlier this year, I was driving back from community when another car hit the vehicle I was driving. Thankfully there was not much damage to the vehicle except the window at the back. The other vehicle was damaged beyond repair. Shortly after, I received a message from Suzette Tay-Lee (International Office Volunteer, US). She said, ‘Hello Michael, how are you? We are praying for you and your family.’ I was saved because at the time of the accident, someone was praying for me. This is the power of praying for one another. I want to encourage us that we need to pray for one another, especially by name, whenever God speaks to us. You might not know what situation the person is in – you may save his or her life in taking the time to pray for that person.”

- Hands at Work Leader (Zambia)

"As a young child, I always had a sense that Jesus was pursuing me and had given me a heart for Africa. In 2009, I began my journey with Hands at Work by spending a year serving in South Africa and alongside the local Hands at Work team in Mozambique.

I instantly felt at home in this community as they ate, prayed, worked, encouraged, and worshipped together. It was something I had never experienced before but knew I wanted more of. My Africa had finally come!

As much as I wanted to stay in my new homeland, God sent me back to Canada with the words "go and build community".

Since returning to Canada, I have still visited Africa, served on teams and led camps for kids from Kalende and Mulenga. Then I brought teams to Mulenga, Zambia, the community I currently advocate for at Lakeview Church in Saskatoon.

So, that's where I am today - building a community of people in Saskatoon who all have a heart for Africa and the most vulnerable. These people are more than advocates, prayer warriors, trailblazers, mentors, volunteers, and friends. Each of their lives has been changed forever because of what they saw in Africa. They are my family.

My life has changed forever in so many ways. Hands at Work has shaped my faith, mentored me, and taught me to pray. The Jesus I know today broke my heart, opened my eyes, showed me a Kingdom culture perspective, and gave me a family. I am no longer an orphan but a child of God, belonging to a group of sons and daughters of a king!"

- Hands at Work Advocate

"When I saw how the Care Workers visited my house and my children, I was inspired to join them so that together we can serve these children. I do this ministry because I know that I'm doing it for our Father in Heaven, not for man."

- a Primary Caregiver from Toyota Community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

"Through serving with Hands at Work I’ve learned that life is not about myself. One thing that I’ve seen is that people come from different countries just to serve and live for other people. Where I am today is because of other people who were there to support me. Remember that Jesus came here on earth and He died for us. He didn’t die for himself but He died for others. He came for the sake of our sins. And so that has helped me and given me a pure and clear vision that I want to live my life for others."

- African Leader (Zambia)

"My first involvement with Hands at Work began with a short term team in 2014. My son, Devon, had left home a few months prior to this trip to serve for one year with Hands at Work. My wife and I thought it was important to see what he was doing as he was already talking about staying on for longer than a year. My wife Kathleen and I travelled to Zambia and South Africa with another son and a niece. For three weeks, we visited multiple communities, seeing first-hand the work going on in these countries. It was in the community of Mulenga that I believe God captured my heart to get involved. I didn't know it at the time, but it was in that time and place that I think the words of Isaiah 58:6-12 came truly alive for me.

It was in this community that God disrupted our plans for that day. Rather than feeding kids at the Care Point as was our plan, my wife and niece cared for a paralysed gogo, and my son and I washed her clothes. In this very tangible, and I would add, very humbling act of service, God gave me a window into His love and redeeming work that captured my heart in a way that a thousand sermons never could. I left Africa knowing God had called me to something, I just didn't know what yet. Before I left Africa, I shared my stories with one of the leaders whose only response was to say, "So what are you going to do about it?".

I went home with those words echoing in my head. I was resistant to this. I had gone to Africa to see what my son was doing - this was his thing. No matter how I tried, I couldn't silence the call on my heart to be involved. I contacted our Canadian office and spoke to Kristal. My advocacy for the Maranatha community began shortly after that. A few years later, we added the K Block community to that and I joined our Board Of Directors here in Canada.

I also had this conviction that the model of Hands at Work, of mobilising the local church to care for the vulnerable in their community, was largely missing from the church in Canada. This eventually led me to pursue the ministry of Safe Families as my full-time work here at home. Who knew that God would use a short term mission trip, that in all honesty, was done just to check out what my son was up to rather than any real commitment to a call, would change the whole direction of my life." - member of the Hands at Work International Office in Canada

“God’s changed my life completely. My personal experience was trying to climb the ladder at work and make more money and get that next title and buy a bigger house and bigger things. I was on my way to doing those things. I felt like I lived a very selfish existence. It was all about me. I wasn't helping anyone. I wasn't prepared to part with $5 to help someone else because it meant less in my pocket. I struggled with that and I didn't know it at the time, but what I realised is that Hands at Work gave me that opportunity to be open towards God and I realise as I look back, how empty I felt in my heart, and now I feel filled and whole. I've been given purpose and a direction in focusing on the most vulnerable and dedicating my life to that. I’ve abandoned my job, our home and our cars. I left that all behind to be doing this and I feel way more fulfilled here than I ever had in my life. I'm finding my purpose that God intended for me. I feel so fulfilled now in having that relationship with Him.”

- International Volunteer (Canada)

“One of my highlights of working with Hands at Work has been how God has opened my eyes to see the way other people are living. God has shown me that there are people who are suffering and that they are close to God’s heart. I have learned the importance of giving what I have to the people around me.”

- a member of the local Hands at Work team in Lagos, Nigeria

“I became a Care Worker because that’s what God calls us to do. Many children have no mother or father. I want to comfort them. It is good to be Jesus’ servant.”

- a Care Worker in Malakota Community, Zambia

“I remember my first trip to Africa as if it was yesterday. Each one of us on the team left so impacted. Yes, we were impacted by what we saw and the children we met, but what really impacted us was thinking about what Jesus was calling us to do now that we had seen. God doesn’t need our wealth, riches or expertise, but He wants our heart, and He invites us towards him.”

- pastor of Wellspring church in the US

“When I came to Africa, I had this thing in my head that I was going to come and change Africa with everything that I had learnt in school. But that wasn’t the case. It really sunk in during the first Holy Home Visit that I went on. It was at that point that I realised that everything I had learnt didn’t matter. What mattered was us sitting and spending time with the people we are visiting. I have learnt a lot about being dependent on God. I’m always blown away by the faith of Care Workers and Primary Caregivers – it still challenges me. How big is my faith? How much do I trust God with what I have? God said if you are faithful in the little things, He will do the big things.”

- International Volunteer (UK)

“I am the oldest of three boys growing up in Masoyi Community, South Africa. My mum and dad separated when I was nine and my mum disappeared. Staying with my dad was good, but it got tough when my dad started getting sick and then passed away when I was 12 years old. We had nowhere to go and faced rejection from my dad’s family.

It was difficult, especially for me as the oldest, because I had to make sure that there was food on the table. There was so much pressure on me. I had lost all hope. But then things changed. I really saw God when a Care Worker in Masoyi visited our house and understood our problems. It was life-changing because instead of worrying about what we were going to eat, we knew that we would be provided with food at the Care Point.

Also, I had that chance to become a child again. After school, instead of going to work, I went to the Care Point to receive a meal, play with the other kids and be helped by the Care Workers with my homework. It meant a lot to us. Even today, whenever I go to the community, I see myself in the children. One thing I know is that one day those children will grow up and be something. They can look up to the Lord and know that He will provide for them.”

- a member of the Hands at Work Maintenance team at the Hub in South Africa

“One of the things that turned my life around was the experience of Holy Home Visits. I met Christ at home when someone visited me and shared the gospel. It was through that time that I gave my life to Christ. Then I joined Hands at Work where we say that our foundation in building relationships is Holy Home Visits. God did it for me, and now He’s calling me to do it for other people. I’ve met Jesus in those homes, the Jesus who sits with the broken and who understands the pain of people. I’ve sat in homes with no answers to people’s problems, but I’ve seen God coming through. Every day I ask myself, ‘God you say that to whom much has been given, much is required.’ What am I going to do with what people have invested in me? And now that is on me, what am I going to do with that? The Jesus that I’ve met here, that is the Jesus that I want to share with the world.”