This is Africa ....

......and today, Wednesday, we have seen various bok, zebra, kudu, a giraffe, 9 rhino and a troop of monkeys – all wild; and brown and white lions, leopards, hyenas and tigers all in enclosures for the conservation programme – and all 50k from Klerksdorp at Bona Bona. It has been a wonderful day out.

 


The Giraffe wishing us 'Au revoir'.

On the way we stopped at what will hopefully become the new Diocesan Centre. Because of the economic climate the proposed Desmond Tutu Centre has been put on ice; but the need to move the Diocesan Office out of the red-light area of Klerksdorp remains. The Dutch Reform Church is willing to sell one of its redundant buildings to the Diocese for R4m, around £200,000. That they will even talk to the Anglican Church is something of a miracle, let alone let them buy a building and its associated facilities. It is a fantastic property; talks have begun with the bank, and the Diocese are hoping to take possession in January.

  

Above is the church, and to the left the magnificent hall. There is also a block of 10 very small classrooms, much open space around the buildings, and a house next door.

 Today, as on Monday when I drove up to Mafikeng, about 175k away, I enjoyed the wide open spaces and the chances to stop and listen to the sounds of Africa. I also saw lots of dry, dry fields. One priest told me that the farmers can’t plough because the land is like dust. No ploughing, no sowing, late, poor crops. We really do need rain. There’s plenty of thunder and lightning – but no rain!

This visit to the Diocese feels very different from any other, and today’s Morning Prayer reading from 1 Cor.16 sums it up in a way I have been struggling to find. Paul says he is staying in Ephesus because ‘a window of opportunity has opened for (him)’. That I have stayed so long this time was initially selfish – I just love it here! But perhaps it was all part of the plan, and the retreat God’s way of opening windows of opportunity. I brought a pottery hand to use at the retreat, and time and again clergy have told me what an impact it made on them. I am leaving it with +Steve, and hopefully it will be on the altar for Family Day. Today I met one of the Archdeacons who pulled his holding cross out of his pocket. He had been to a difficult pastoral visit and used it to pray on his way there. At the retreat and since, some clergy have spoken to me about what is going on in their parishes and their lives, and we have prayed together, sometimes with powerful results. That is a huge privilege – it means they trust me not to speak to anyone else about what they say. It seems I am being a spiritual director for the Diocese. I began the Retreat full of misgivings about what I could offer to people who in the main had been through more than I can ever imagine. But God, who is faithful, knew the need (theirs and mine!) and met it. Thanks be to God.