CEDARVILLE DAYS 7 & 8

On Saturday morning we finished the hay boxes, this time the polystyrene was kept under control and the job finished very quickly. In all we made 11 hay boxes which the care-givers will demonstrate to those in need. Eventually these will be distributed to those in need where, hopefully they will cut fuel costs for cooking many of the staple foods eaten here.

In the afternoon we visited an orphanage in Matatiele, the children were aged from babies to 16, but they only accepted children between the ages of 0-3, therefore the older ones had lived there for most of their lives. The children were lovely and so pleased to see us, we gave lots of cuddles and played lots of games. They took our hats, bags and sunglasses as soon as we arrived and then played with them.

We reluctantly left as we had arranged to meet the youth group of St Stephen's Church in Matatiele. We walked in and they sung a welcome before we introduced ourselves and started to mingle. Soon after there was an act of worship - involving English choruses and Xhosa songs, you can guess which were the more lively! Fr David was even seen to lift his hands in the air in worship.

Also there were representatives from the Diocesan Youth Department who gave a gift of a T-shirt to each of the young people, who are now 'Engaged in God's Business' or so it says on the back! Then it was time to eat, and a good spread had been provided for us. All too soon it was time to return to Cedarville, which was in darkness due to a power cut. Those at Val and Kips had power restored quite promptly, though those at Cathy and William's had to wiat until Ten O'clock for power to be restored!

On Sunday we attended St Mary's Church were Fr David gave a talk for All Saints and there were three other clergy in attendance. This was quite a traditional Anglican Communion Service, though some of the words in the service book were slightly different and would cause us to stumble. At the end of the service we gave the six care-givers who had helped us with the decorating a Diocese of Truro T-shirt and a t-towel as well as a small financial gift to thank them for their help. They were great fun to be with and it is a shame that we will not be seeing them again.

Afterwards we came back to Val and Kips for lunch and members of the Board for the Palliative Care Project joined us. The afternoon was spent playing cricket in the sunshine, we could almost have been in England on a June day, and had to remind ourselves that it was actually the 1st November!