Volunteers leave legacies

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start.

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start, because she attended a crèche course that Leah and Amy presented to her and 9 other ladies.

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start, because she attended a crèche course that Leah and Amy presented to her and 9 other ladies, because Leah finalised the crèche course manual..

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start, because she attended a crèche course that Leah and Amy presented to her and 9 other ladies, because Leah finalised the crèche course manual that Jessica Russel started to compile.

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start, because she attended a crèche course that Leah and Amy presented to her and 9 other ladies, because Leah finalised the crèche course manual that Jessica Russel started to compile, because she helped with the crèche activities at the Ubuhle Bezwe orphanage.

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start, because she attended a crèche course that Leah and Amy presented to her and 9 other ladies, because Leah finalised the crèche course manual that Jessica Russel started to compile, because she helped with the crèche activities at the Ubuhle Bezwe orphanage that had a place to have the crèche because the P2P team put up a roof and cement floor there.

 

This is the Modimo Oteng crèche that the COPT helped to establish, that Mpule wanted to start, because she attended a crèche course that Leah and Amy presented to her and 9 other ladies, because Leah finalised the crèche course manual that Jessica Russel started to compile, because she helped with the crèche activities at the Ubuhle Bezwe orphanage that had a place to have the crèche because the P2P team put up a roof and cement floor there that was financed by the COPT.

 

This (the above) is just an illustration of how most volunteers in some way always play their part in leaving a legacy here in SA that inspires us to continue to preach the gospel every day – using words when necessary.

 

Love from all the brothers and sisters in Kempton Park

 

CHARITIES   ……. Christians Have Abilities Regarding Initiatives To Instantly Establish Support

 

 

Margate Crèche Graduation and Treat

Sunday December 14, 7:20 am Cathy accompany by Char in the passenger seat of her
Car pulled into the driveway of the Westville Hall with trailer in tow, with much difficulty we manage to packed the trailer full with goodies for the kids, and of course food.

Hyacinth do you know the way? The South African asks the Jamaican, yes I do. So we set off on our long journey, it’s 7:35 we must be there by 9:00. The memorial service is held at 9:00 am to accommodate the Crèche parent and children.

Today will always be special for all the kids but more so for Ayanda, she is the Crèche first graduate. The parent could not contain themselves some were dressed as proud as peacock.

The Ceremony got stated with Nelson as translator as most parent only understand Zulu. Alistair gave a short to the parent about Jesus return as king and pointing out that they too can find a place in his Kingdom. He also encourage Ayanda to continue to be as bright as a button. Each child was given a back pack with toy set lunch kit, colouring book, crayons and lots more, the parents were as excited as the kids.

Lunch was served and we all partake of tasty sandwiches, cake, juice, Ice-cream and much to the kids delight sweets. Every one enjoyed the day’s event, said their good byes and set off home.

Everyone had left, Cathy, Char and I were just about to set off when two parent arrived, they looked puzzled, it’s over we told them and ask Nelson to give them some refreshment and the kids their gifts, seabonga (thank you). Nelson told the Moms that I was their teacher and responsible for the days event, also that I was from Jamaica and would be returning home at the end of the month. They told Nelson to say thanks and wish me a safe journey home with Gods blessing.

One mom started singing in Zulu (talk together) Nelson’ mouth fell wide open, he then told me what she was singing. This mom child is two years and four months old, Nelson and Celia the Crèche teachers told me she could not talk, I have been talking to her over time and one day I gave her a snack and she said thank you mam, this child they say could not talk, taught her mom the song.

Hyacinth Linton Harvey, Jamaica

The first Durban youth day of 2009!

On the 31st of January, Lamontville Good News Centre was filled with 50 youth from Lamontville, New Forest, Mariannhill, and Umlazi (from Happy’s school for the disabled).

The day began with snacks and the youth had a chance to interact with each other and catch up on their summer holiday news.

We were not sitting down for very long before we were once again on the move, as an ice breaker was called, and an ice breaker it was….as this game involved people sitting on peoples laps. David White had up to 8 youth on his lap at one stage!

Once this was finished and we all new each other a little better we returned to our seats to listen to a talk on Faith by Tim Morse, a volunteer from the UK.

After this it was time for some games, as the weather was a scorcher these were water games. There had been a little scare as there was no running water at Lamontville when we first arrived, but luckily it had come in it time for these games!

So there were races to see which of the teams could fill containers with water the fastest making ping-pong balls float to the top, water bomb relays and the best of all, water bomb fights! A very wet group returned back inside for a talk from Paul Zilmer (USA) on people of Faith.

The day ended with lunch: hot dogs, sandwiches and fruit, along with some more “catching up” between the youth.

All in all it was a great day and a wonderful number of enthusiastic youth who attended.

Amy McClure, Australia

Modimo Oteng Creche - Week one

Modimo Oteng Crèche opened its doors for the first time on Monday 2 Feb 2009. It was a great feeling to see the hall that was so dirty and subdued the previous week turned into a warm lively area where young kids could play and learn.

 

Day one saw eight children of an expected ten enrol. Mpule, Cynthia and Dora (the three teachers) were in high spirit as their dream finally became a reality – to provide quality child care in their neighbourhood. The commitment of these ladies are remarkable if one considers that they are willing to look after the children from 7am in the morning to about 6pm at night time and still charge a relatively low tariff so that the poorer people in the community can also afford it. They have a long day ahead of them every day of the week but their resolve to keep the children busy constructively while having fun is strong.

 

So, with three highly motivated teachers, a brand new looking hall, a big soft carpet and lots of educational toys and equipment the children were in good hands and the constructive well thought out program and lessons kept them occupied and soon the first day was over. Not before Mpule got conformation, however that three more children would be joining them the next day! – So, it was all systems go and growth from day one.

 

The crèche is sure to live up to it’s name – “Modimo Oteng!”- God is great indeed!

 

Day two saw 12 children turning up at the crèche. It was even more lively than the first day. It is really impressive to see how quickly Mpule and Dora have managed to get the children into a well structured routine consisting of lessons, play time, rest times and also feeding times. During the day a father turned up at the crèche to enrol his daughter for the following week. One could see that he was impressed by the atmosphere at the crèche and the way the teachers were interacting with the children. Dora especially is a natural teacher and she does very well in teaching the children new things every day. A special thanks to Sister Amy Mcclure, Sister Trudy Clark and Dan and Leah Egginton for all their help and support as well.

 

We thank God for the wonderful way He is enabling us to make a difference in the lives of so many people and wait with expectation to see where He will lead us in this new exiting project.

 

Charitably yours

The Kempton Park ecclesia

 

CHARITIES   ……. Christians Have Abilities Regarding Initiatives To Instantly Establish Support

 

Awesome study day at Lamontville!

The township of Umlazi, on the south side of Durban, is very large, and has the largest number of Bible course students at the Bible Education Centre, compared to other areas of the city. Since there is a Good News Centre in nearby Lamontville operated by the 2010 initiative, this made a great location for a study day near all these students. So, all BEC students from both townships (who have been active within the past year) were invited to join us on Saturday, 24 January, for a day with God's word.

We had at least 45 visitors attend. We say "at least" because it was impossible to get a true count of the house; there was some inevitable coming and going. We do know that we had 60 chairs, and they were all used, plus some people standing. There were roughly 20 volunteers and members of the local congregations helping out, hence our estimate, which is probably on the conservative side. It might have been 50.

People started arriving before the announced 9:00 start time. We've always been told, and have seen, that published start times are never the real start times here. You publish a time earlier, and plan to actually start later. We arrived to set up a little after 8:30, planning for tea & biscuits at 9:30, and getting the sessions going at 10:00. On this day, the folks who came were clearly eager and arrived early; we had a good crowd by 9:30. We launched right at 10:00, with a nearly full house. Before long it was full to overflowing.

The program included an international group of speakers: Dumisane Qwabe, a local brother, was the president and gave the second talk. Bro David White from UK led off, Paul Zilmer (USA) did the talk after lunch, and the wrap-up was by Bro Matthew Blewett, also local. The theme was "Good News of the Kingdom of God", with individual talks on "How to Study the Bible", "Jesus is Coming Back!" (delivered in isiZulu), "The Kingdom of God on Earth", and "Your Future: What Will It Be?".


Jane Zilmer organized the lunch and a group of helpers to prepare and serve it -- including the cooking crew led by Dan Egginton with several of the young local guys helping out.

All in all, the day was unlike anything we've seen in North America. First of all, just the number of people interested. But beyond that, they all paid close attention, all day, and took notes! These people are truly serious about understanding the Bible's message. It was delightful to see. At the end, they spontaneously gave Matthew very hearty applause--he is a very dynamic speaker, and they clearly appreciated both him and the whole day.

Now, of course, we have to think about what to do next for these folks! We're thinking in terms of a monthly half-day program, but many details have to be worked out. We'll probably also try to get into Umlazi; we got feedback that transportation is even more of an issue than we thought, and there would have been even more attendees if they hadn't had to get to Lamontville. And then, there are many students in other areas round about Durban...lots of work to be done!

God has already greatly blessed the launch of the work in Durban for the new year. We pray for His continued guidance and blessing, that His name may be glorified!

Paul and Jane Zilmer, US

New COP project in Gauteng - Modimo Oteng Creche (Tembisa)

“Modimo Oteng” means “God is great” in Sotho – and so He is!! The new “Modimo Oteng” crèche is only 4 km’s away from the Ubuhle Bezwe Orphanage. A lady named Mpule lives in a small room attached to a hall that is used by some church on Sundays from 11:00 to 14:00. For the rest of the time it is pretty under utilised. Mpule is the caretaker and gets to stay free for doing the caretaker job. She is HIV pos but a wonderful woman trying to live a good fruitful life. Her two sons have been coming to our Sunday School for the last year. Bro. Tebogo met Mpule in a taxi once, got talking and that is how we got connected with her. She has expressed her desire to run a crèche for mainly HIV orphans ever since she met us. Once the owner of the hall gave her permission to use the hall at a small rent per month her dream started becoming a reality as we were very willing to help her start the crèche and make it an official COP project.

 

The COP (via sister Leona) helped Mpule and the other two ladies who will be teaching, with all the planning and budgeting. Hopefully we can soon run the crèche as an income earning business for Mpule. Mpule is ever so thankful and exited.

 

The benefit for us is that we get to use the hall on Sunday mornings 9:00 to 10:30 for Sunday School and Bible Class. We have thus moved the Sunday school for the Ubuhle Bezwe children into the Township (Tembisa) just “next door” to them. It saves us making 2 trips into the Township as we did last year when we had to transport the Ubuhle children to our meeting in KMP and then back again after Sunday School. We will obviously be saving a lot of time and petrol cost. We can thus now provide Sunday School for all the children in the neighbourhood and have the potential to have a Sunday School of 60 children in the future! While the Sunday School is running we will also be providing an adult Bible Class – so the outreach work to support the crèche has a good preaching benefit as well.

 

God is ever so amazing. The day we went to scrape the walls for painting it was overcast. When we got to the hall we found out that it is easier to scrape off the old paint off when you wet the walls first but they had no water – It started raining as we got there and we could get water coming off the roof into some buckets – it stopped raining a few minutes after we finished – how is that for providing from heaven’s storehouse! J

 

After two days of scraping we eventually got to the actual painting and the end result was great. The hall look very good, clean and new and ready to facilitate a lot of little ones in an environment where they can play, have fun and also learn a lot of things.

 

You can see some more photos of the preparation work at the crèche at

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57100&l=5a836&id=514937389

 

Lots of love in the incredibly powerful name of Jesus

 

 

Lamontville Good News Centre bursts into 2009!

On 21st of January 2009, Lamontville crèche opened once again with thirty excited children and two teachers. One teacher was Sister Rose Mhlongo who taught the children last year and one new teacher, Phumzile.

The day began with breakfast cooked by Elsie (new cook), followed by the morning circle where the children met each other (including the teachers) and discussed activities they did during the holidays. The park was a very popular place during the summer!

The day continued with the children learning as they participated in the lessons and interacted with each other during the free play times, building good relationships. The children who attend this crèche are from some of the poorest families from the Lamontville township and are subsidised through the COP Trust. If these children did not attend the crèche they would have no other opportunity to attend a crèche at all.

On 25th of January, Lamontville Sunday School and meeting began again with 50 enthusiastic scholars! They were taught the story of Sodom and Gomorah. The children enjoyed acting out Lot and his family, running away from this wicked city. The Sunday school is taught by Sisters Yvette and Danelle Van Rooyen.

Sunday school is not the only thing that has resumed after the summer holidays; the reading classes are once again being held on Tuesdays. This is where children and young teenagers are encouraged to attend the centre for a Bible and English lesson and then have the opportunity to develop and enhance their reading skills through reading to the volunteers who are there.

The youth at Lamontville are slowly building up with the continued support of Andrew, our only regular youth member at the moment. On Fridays, a new program has begun at Lamontville where a youth activity is held in the afternoon for those aged 14-18. On these days they have a small talk and then enjoy a couple of games with each other followed by snacks and chat.

We thank our heavenly Father for the growth of the church in Lamontville and ask for His blessing as it continues to grow.

Amy McClure, Australia