Here I am, in Tembisa!
About 8 months ago, I decided to come to South Africa for a travel experience and to do some more mission work. I had come to cross ways in my life; I'd left my full time job of 3.5 years and was looking for guidance on what to do next. My profession is in Children's Services and after hearing about the Community Outreach Projects in South Africa, I was curious to visit and see if I could help. After some traveling I eventually made my way to Jo'Berg where I met Lucas and Leona and became involved in the CUDDLE projects.
Once arriving in Tembisa I was hit with the basic life styles and poverty in a confronting way. I had been to townships earlier in my trip but, whilst driving past a swatter camp, and hearing there was are over 500 creche's amongst the different areas of Tembisa, I knew there was so much work ahead of me. I quickly came involved in presenting letter lessons, and joined others in a crèche upgrade. To see the ladies rejoice and praise God for the work we did for her, was greatly rewarding.
I have sat in crèche courses run for the ladies and been inspired by their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. I have learnt to appreciate all the knowledge I have, and been motivated to share it and pass it along. It has also been a pleasure to open and close with a prayer at every class, and even see some of these ladies attend our bible class too!
This week I presented a course on – Providing Art and craft activities. I have never taught a class of people before but having such a keen group made it all the more easier. I really enjoyed my time and focused on showing the ladies how to think outside the box and get them thinking of how to be innovative when providing paint activities, demonstrating over 15 ways of using paint without a paintbrush, and then how to implement these activities into their themes of the week and lesson plans.
The ladies enjoyed their time, and got into all the activities, many said they were looking forward to whatever I had in store for them next, and were keen on having me visit their own crèches. It was a very positive time for me and I can really see God's hand directing me on what purposes he has for me.
Natalie Boardman
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