Pictures to go with the earlier blog

 
                                                   Private health care; the surgery is to the left of the pharmacy.  Appointments are needed.

 

The very first clinic in Jouberton, now open 24 hours a day. 

NB the manned security gate, opened for cars of the staff and the very infirm.

 

 

 

 

 

 Another clinic, where people sit outside - and in! - to queue to be seen. The wait can be long, so there is food (bbq chicken feet!) available. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Someone asked what the roads are like. These are the better township roads. Many are 'pothole slaloms'.

In towns the roads are much better - but we don't know we're born with  our UK roads.

 

The Holy Family Church Jouberton.
You can still a little of the tornado damage from 2007
 on the left corner of the tower.

 

Someone asked me to email some of our sun to  you in the UK. Hope the pictures bring joy.
We could do with A LITTLE of your rain.

 

 
 
 
 
 



What a difference a day can make!

The weekend in Potch was wonderful. The Sunday morning at the Cathedral was very good – as far as worship homes away from home, this is my South Africa home. The new Dean has made his mark, and wants the Cathedral to look different from a parish church. So there are now six brass candlesticks adorning the high altar and some smaller one on the side altar. He has also decided to change the blessing the children get at the end of the Communion. Rather than lay hands on them two by two, they are splashed with holy water, as a reminder of their baptism. It is certainly quicker, but the looks on the children’s faces...!

Back home we had a braai in the evening. Tlotlo, Peter and Ritha’s son, is now nearly 18, and living away from home. However he turned up with some friends, and introduced one of the girls to me as his girlfriend. After they had gone, Peter told me how shocked he was when Tlotlo had said that. Ritha was equally surprised, especially as she hadn’t heard him say it. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to me, but Peter explained that when he was younger, he told everything to his oldest sister – even that he wanted to marry Ritha . and later that she was pregnant –and she had to tell his parents. That was the way it was done. I found myself doing some pastoral reassurance!

Because of the lateness of the braai - and the wine I had downed! – I stayed an extra night and drove back to Klerksdorp the next morning. About 10.00 I was working in the parish office, and answered the phone. It was Ruth from the Diocesan Office saying that the Bishop wanted me to move out of St Peter’s House before the end of the day. I went to the Office to talk to +Steve, and then went home to pack and move out. It was not an easy couple of hours!! However, I am now staying with Mpho, who stayed with me 10 years ago, and her husband Vusi, still in Klerksdorp. I am already much happier.

They are looking after their 2 year old niece, who has a nasty cough, and today we went in search of a doctor. We ended up at the oldest clinic in Jouberton, where Mpho’s mother is a nursing sister. There are 4 clinics altogether, but that still means each has a huge clientele. She said that the current training for nurses is all about theory, and the nurses graduate with all the qualifications but no idea about basic nursing practices. She is now 72 and very much needed in the clinic, which is open 24 hour a day. However she does not work nights. She was upset because yesterday she had to deal with a toddler who had pulled a kettle of boiling water over herself. She was taken to the local hospital in Jouberton, but will probably have to go to the burns unit in Jo’berg. Transfer is by ambulance, unless it’s urgent, in which case it’s by government funded helicopter. While we were in Jouberton we visited Mpho’s elderly relative – just 99 years young! About a year ago she broke her femur and her leg is still in plaster, as her bones were too frail to put in pins. She is very deaf, and we eventually got her to understand that I am a priest, but didn’t even begin to try to get her to understand that I don’t speak Afrikaans! I have promised to take her communion tomorrow, on my weekly Home Communion round.

Thursday - this has taken a couple of days to post as there have been internet connection problems. I did the Home Communion round yesterday and am now about halfway through the total list! The 99 year old had been given a sleeping tablet, but insisted on having Communion. Thank goodness the Lord's Prayer says it all! Later I went into town and at last met up with Brenda and handed over some more jumpers - thanks St James'. Today I am at home getting everything ready for the Retreat and the Sunday (day!!) after the Ordination. The Ordination itself will be at 12noon on the 22nd. Pray for the 2 to be made Deacon and the !1 to be priested. Pray too for the one Deacon who will not be ordained priest this time, due to personal matters.

 

I have more photos which I will post now on a separate blog. I'll try to post again soon, but next week I have 14 talks, 13 personal interviews and 4 daily services to deliver and then the Ordination sermon, plus all that I will need for Sunday 23rd, when there will also be baptisms in the main service. So I shan't be short of something to do!! 

 

Salt, Light and Incarnation

It’s Saturday evening and I have had a wonderful day with my friends Peter and Ritha Menyatso. I drove myself to Potchefstroom yesterday. Finding the Mall was OK, but finding their house was a bit more difficult. I had my map, but some of the street names in the centre of town have changed to reflect an African society rather than an Afrikaaner one. Difficult when you are lost!! Still I got here in the end.  Today we have had a lazy day and I have taught Ritha to swim. She is delighted. Even better, the sun has returned. Tomorrow it’s the Cathedral.

Home Communions in Jouberton this week had their moments. We went to an area a long way from the church – too far to walk, and too expensive to travel on the taxi / minibus. I did 10 this week, and that is still only 4 of the 15 areas done. No wonder + Steve says that sometimes a priest has to devote a whole week to doing them. I am not the most patient of drivers if the person directing me is unsure of where to go. My patience was tested!! To my English way of thinking there was not a lot of system to the numbering – we gave upon one house! But everyone was delighted to see us, even though they didn’t know we were coming. In almost every house the first thing that happened was that people produced their money for the church. After the first one, I insisted that we do the Communion first and then deal with money: “Jesus first: then the money” became my constant cry. One old lady said, “But I don’t want to die and not be fully paid up”! One house we went in was dark and very smelly: I was glad to get out. But it occurred to me that the person we visited couldn’t get away. Jesus laid aside his majesty and took human flesh for us, and I couldn’t get away fast enough because of the smell. I came away chastened.

I am now just about sorted for the Retreat – so thanks for all your prayers for that. Every day living has had its challenges – and none of my usual ‘comforters’ are readily available. That has made this visit so good – a chance to relax and unwind.

Tomorrow’s gospel bids us not to hide our light under a bushel and not to lose our saltiness. I’m trying!

Bits of this and bits of that

If I am brown by the time I come home it will be rust and not tan! The much needed rain may have been long in coming, but it is certainly making up for it now. On badly kept roads that means danger. Bad visibility, running water on the roads and puddles of unknown depth. The road from here to Jouberton is full of such hazards.

Friday I was in the Diocesan Office helping Ruth with the website. The other office staff were out. So when Ruth had to go out with the Bishop, guess who was left in charge of the Office!! “We trust you”, said +Steve as he disappeared through the door. Fortunately I wasn’t alone for long. Later in the afternoon I drove out to Jouberton for the PCC meeting only to discover when I got there that it had been cancelled, and no-one had bothered to tell me before I drove out there. Well, I wanted an African experience and that is part of it. It did at least give me a chance to talk to the Confirmation candidates. +Steve had told me that it is compulsory for every candidate to make a personal Confession before confirmation. I told him that would be impossible. There is a large number of candidates and there would be language problems. So we have compromised on a Penitential Service, and I was able to explain to them what that will be.

The Deacons and Rectors day on Saturday went really well. It was held at Alabama, the Coloured location outside Klerksdorp. (In the days of Apartheid, each racial group had its own location – White, African, Coloured (mixed race) and Asian. Today, whilst anyone can in theory live anywhere, the former locations have, for the main part, maintained their identity.) The day began with a Eucharist – all in English – it was if God was providing a feast just for me. We even sang “Guide me O thou great Redeemer”, and on the first Saturday of the six Nations too! I gather Wales beat Italy later in the day – it must have been our singing!!

Archdeacon Marshall Guma was leading the day, which was about the relationship between the Deacons and their Rectors. After his presentation they split into peer groups and then one person from each group reported back. I could have been sitting in a similar group in Lichfield; the issues are just the same. What is not the same is the spread of academic ability. One to be made Deacon has just finished at the theological college. Another left school after Grade 6 in order to provide sustenance for younger siblings. After 10 minutes of trying to explain to this latter that if a reading begins “They took him” you must substitute names so that people know who you are talking about, I gave up! Only when it was explained in Setswana did the message almost get through! Still there is humility, an eagerness to learn and support from the local congregation. That said, the level of theological education of the clergy, and the level of spirituality, is very worrying for the future of the Church here.

Sunday went well and I am beginning to feel at home. However next Sunday, +Steve has asked me to preach and preside at the Cathedral, and the Dean will go to Jouberton.

Monday, at long last, I had a proper day off. I did some non-theological reading, and then spent a few hours with Mpho, who stayed with me ten years ago when she and two others came to Lichfield as part of the Year of Justice and Care activities. We went to visit her husband at work – he is in the development department of one of the local radio stations. It carries a high content of Christian material. When we were there a programme about women’s issues was about to go on air. I met the staff who were on duty, some of whom are Anglicans. After that we took fish and chips back to her house and just lazed around.

Today I had the house to myself, so I made a concerted effort to get material sorted for the Retreat which begins two weeks today. I am pleased with how much I managed to achieve, but getting blocks of time like that is hard. Tomorrow it’s more Home Communions and then the Office to work on the website. Let’s hope today’s sun comes back tomorrow!

Home Communion photos

      

  

This was the first house we went to take Communion - nice house and a lot of family there.

 

A second home in a very different setting. Behind the hangings are the corrugated iron walls - very hot! the first picture was taken form the doorway looking right. The lady in the cassock is a Lay Minister and the man in the white shirt is the churchwarden.

 

This wonderful lady will be 95 in July. Just imagine the changes she has seen in her lifetime!

 

Just looked at the preview and the photos seem to have organised themselves in a manner all their own !! Comments refer to the photos above them - this was three different houses.

 

Thanks for emails and comments - they help enormously.

At last I think I've cracked it - at least to put them on the blog pages.


Matlwang Church as it was

The new roof - notice too the breeze block walls have been coated with cement
and you can just see the top of the cross on the wall behind the altar.

The blessing of the altar (I think) - +Steve's personal gift to the Church.
The Deacon on the left (Parkha) is one of those to be ordained in February,
and is one of the four who met me at the airport on my very first visit here in 2004

It's wet but warm - Thanks be to God!

I have been here two whole weeks now and I have settled in very well, but I need to take myself in hand and remember that I am on sabbatical and am not supposed to be working every day of the week! I have been helping (!) Fr William revamp his weekly Pew sheet. The first version was printed today and will be in use for the first time this Sunday. It all takes a bit longer when I have to type African names – but now the first one is done it shouldn’t take so long to do in future. They are supposed to be finding someone that I can show how to do it, but as yet there are no takers.

For the last couple of years the Diocese has been trying to produce a website. The first attempt failed, and now a professional company are on the case. But promises have been broken, and patience is running out. However, things are on the move again and I have been drafted in to help +Steve and Ruth, because “these things are (my) bread and butter”. Well ….. I undoubtedly have more experience of websites than they do, but I am no expert. I can however write English much more easily than either of them.

Last Sunday I felt much more at ease at Jouberton, and really felt that I was presiding. It is odd not to be able to sing any of the hymns though. Even if I know the tune, I am concentrating so much on what is happening that the words forsake me. I spent the morning there yesterday talking to three of the leading Council members. Some of the pains of the past became evident and also some of the pains of the present. All I can do is a holding job, and pray for them all.

Tonight I have been out with Father William to visit Dr Luke, a parishioner, and his family. They remembered fondly the visit of the Westwoods when they were out here. The reason for our visit was to pray with the family on the eve of their daughter’s departure to Jo’burg to begin her medical training, and to bless her. She had prepared a lovely meal for us, sadly not Indian, as she was unsure whether we would like that.

The big thing of this week is that I have now got the parish car and can drive myself around. In this Diocese, if the priest is rich enough he buys his own car. If he isn’t and the parish can afford it, then they buy one, as is the case in Jouberton. If neither can afford it, then it’s Shanks’s Pony, the local taxi (minibus) or hitching. Philip Pooe, no relation to William, who works with the youth of the Diocese, travels everywhere by hitching lifts.

This Saturday there is a meeting for those to be ordained and their rectors, and, as there is a Deacon (Elias) at Jouberton, that means me. The Ordination is fast coming upon us and I must set some time aside to get everything ready. I was able to spend the morning with +Steve on Tuesday talking through parish matters. There is to be a Confirmation as part of his weekend in the parish at the beginning of March and things are rather different here and I needed to be sure I understood what I have to do.  We also talked about the Ordination Retreat. I have done quite a lot of preparation already but there is still a lot to do. There will be two new Deacons and 11 Deacons being priested.

So please pray for the people of Jouberton, that God’s healing, strengthening and peace-giving Spirit might descend on them, and that malicious tongues might be silenced. Pray too for those to be ordained. Give thanks for the rain last night and this morning, and again tonight – the land is desperate for it and without it the crops will not produce food for the winter.