Classes

We've taken on leadership of three ongoing classes as part of our work here. Like the BEC operation, two of them are currently suspended for the holidays, and will resume in mid-January. The three are quite different from each other, but one thing they share in common: a lot of the time is spent in discussion of questions raised by the students -- which keeps us on our toes, as all of this is necessarily off-the-cuff.

Every Friday afternoon there is a lunchtime class at the BEC. It nominally starts at 1:00, but it's normally more like 1:20 or 1:30 before anyone is there. It's supposed to end at 2:00, but I think 2:30 is the earliest we've ended. This class is open to anyone who wants to show up. The space we have to meet in is small, and the BEC has to be staffed, so Paul leads this class while Jane tends the shop with Sister Mary. So far we have had one to three students each week. It's good to have a little something prepared as a starter, but primarily it consists of responding to questions. Mostly the students are people who have only recently started really studying, and they generally have very good questions, and we explore the Bible together to find the answers. The process is made interesting by the variety of first languages: Zulu, French, and English. However (so far at least) those who attend speak English well--it's just a matter of understanding each other's accents!

On Tuesday afternoons, there is a class at the Lamontville Good News Centre - as we mentioned before, this is located in Lamontville township, southwest of Durban proper. The people who come to this class have come into contact through the crèche, through knowing Sister Rose, who lives there and works at the crèche, or who just happen to be there when the class starts. Something is prepared in advance, and generally that prompts questions. Also, questions on any Bible matter are welcomed. This class can go for an hour, or (we've been told) for much longer, and sometimes the discussion is quite lively. There are a couple of regulars, but there are always first-time attendees too. Many of these have only rudimentary knowledge of the Bible, and often only rudimentary knowledge of English as well. Some bring their own Zulu Bibles. When needed, Sister Rose helps out with translation.

The third class is biweekly rather than weekly, held every other Sunday afternoon at the Durban ecclesial hall. The photo above was taken this past Sunday. The students are all current or former BEC students, a mix of recently baptized members, and serious students who have typically completed two or more of the Bible courses through the BEC. We have a lunch, prepared by a pair of sisters from the Durban meeting -- Jane is currently setting up the schedule for the next few months. Then there is a talk prepared by one of the brothers, with a time limit of 30 minutes. We then have up to 30 minutes of discussion on the topic of the talk, and then 30 minutes of open question time. This class has multiple purposes. Above all, of course, it is for all of us to better understand God's word, and there is great discussion involving everyone, as would be the case at a Christadelphian Bible study anywhere in the world. An important secondary purpose is to help prepare the newer brothers for conducting the main services on Sunday mornings; they get valuable experience preparing and presenting talks, in a less formal environment. It is an opportunity for the students to get to know one another, since many of them only know Mary and maybe some of the volunteers at the BEC. And, because most of them come for Sunday meeting before the lunch, they get to know some of the other members as well.

In the picture, the four people closest to the camera are the main leaders. Bro Boniface and Sis Mary Wilondja on the left (this is the Mary who works at the BEC), and on the right Bro Mthole and Bro Serge. At the back are two of the more faithful attendees at the Friday class as well, Bro Terrence (very recently baptized, next to Paul), and Dieu-Donné, a very thoughtful student. About 2/3 of the class are baptized members. We are told that once the holidays are over, this class may be twice as big, some weeks.

Complete change of subject: don't think we've mentioned our "bakkie" (pronounced "buckie", for reasons no one seems to know). It's what South Africans call a pickup truck, and it is our somewhat-the-worse-for-wear transportation while we're here. As you can see, it has the Good News of the Kingdom of God logo on the hood and both sides, as do all the vehicles owned by the 2010 initiative. So far we've noticed a number of people looking at the signs, but no one has asked us about it.

Hand made for you in South Africa

From a history site: “Afrikaners traditionally celebrated 16 December as the Day of the Vow, remembering the day in 1838 when a group of Voortrekkers defeated a Zulu army at the Battle of Blood River, while ANC activists commemorated it as the day in 1961 when the ANC started to arm its soldiers to overthrow Apartheid. In the new South Africa's it's a day of reconciliation, a day to focus on overcoming the conflicts of the past and building a new nation.”

Commonly called “Builders Holiday”, everything is closed on 16 Dec, including the BEC. Taking advantage of everyone’s day off, the Mariannhill card making group turned it into a work day, to get all of the planned 800 cards ready to send off later in the week.

We mentioned the card making in an earlier post. Some of the sisters (and a few brothers), mostly young and mostly underemployed, are trying to get a business going, hand making African-themed cards for export. Sister Leah Egginton from Australia has helped them set up the business, and is training them on things like quality control. The first group of cards has now left with Bro Tom Ryder, a volunteer from the UK who spent 6 months here, and has now gone on to Australia. The cards will be sold (in groups of 5) at a Bible school there. We are hoping to bring a batch with us when we return to the States in May, to sell at the Great Lakes Bible School.

The cards are crafted from card stock, ink, colored pencil, and beads. There are five patterns in all, but each card is unique. The pictures of the African woman and the zebra, in particular, proved fertile ground for great variety. Each card is stamped on the back: “Hand made for you in South Africa”, with the group’s logo, a lion pawprint.

For the work day, a local brother and sister turned over their house to become a card factory. Jane had offered to do the lunch – so Paul dropped her & the food off about 10:00, while he attended to other things. Jane worked the whole rest of the day, and when Paul returned at 2:00 he pitched in as well. We were doing packaging and such – the actual card making was done by the sisters and brothers from Mariannhill.

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, but the 800 cards were done, quality checked, and packaged! We’ve heard that they arrived without incident in Australia. We hope that our friends back in the Midwest will get a chance to see, and buy, the next batch!

Christmas season

It's Christmas time! It's scorching hot! We knew, intellectually, that this would be the situation. But it's just pretty weird.

As at home, during this season the traffic is way up, both on the roads and foot traffic in the stores. This has meant busy days at the BEC as well. Since the BEC is fundamentally a Bible book shop, quite a few people have stopped in to do Christmas shopping. This has given us an opportunity to tell a lot of new people about the Bible courses we offer, and the Friday lunchtime class we have. We have had quite a few sign-ups for the beginning Bible course, and promises to join the Friday class.

Just in the nick of time, two big orders of Bibles came in, both on the same day. It was a zoo in the BEC the day they arrived, and the volunteers who were working that morning were selling stock right out of the shipping boxes. Some other things we've been unable to keep in stock: there is a Zulu hymn book that is backordered, and we have sold out of a different Zulu hymn book.

We stock Bibles in English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swahili, and French - although the first two languages account for almost all the sales. Sister Mary, the one full-timer at the shop, speaks all the languages and can talk to everyone who comes in, in their own language. What a huge asset she is! Fortunately, English is the common language that everyone speaks, so we have gotten along fine, although the variety of accents presents a challenge now and then.

One afternoon we had a real character come in. Michael said that he has "an umbilical cord to God", and he is possibly the most passionate individual we've ever run into, anywhere. He has studied the Bible quite a bit, and has concluded that a lot of mainstream church doctrines are not supported by the Bible--a conclusion with which we would agree. However, he is now so convinced that his "umbilical cord" provides him with the truth, that there is really no talking to the man. He is animated, impassioned, and yes loud, but he still needs to read & study some more...his understanding is still far from complete. We talked with him for over an hour, and we heard he came back the next morning for another hour with the folks on duty. Maybe he will give some thought to some of the Biblical points we raised.

Since the Christmas and New Year holidays coincide with the summer school break, most families do some traveling at this time of year, and many companies shut down. (Even those at the lower end of the economic scale, who live in the townships, often visit family or have visitors.) Both the volunteers and the students are traveling and occupied with the holidays, so like many other businesses, the BEC shuts down. We stayed open through last Saturday, but we could already tell on Friday afternoon and Saturday that the traffic was way down. We'll be closed for 3 weeks, reopening the 12th of January. On Saturday afternoon we laid down all the books that were standing up, put dust covers on everything, and put up a sign to tell people when we will reopen.

So, what will Paul & Jane be doing? Actually, we will be pretty busy. We've drawn up a project plan for a study day to be held in Lamontville on 24 Jan, which we are hosting for our BEC students from that township and nearby Umlazi. It will be a fairly big event (by our standards) and there is quite a bit of work to be done to put it on. Plus, we will be hosting a brother and sister from Johannesburg for a few days, and we're lining up work for Bro Norm Fadelle (from back home), who will visit for a week in January. Inbetween, we are hoping to finally get down to the beach, and maybe even get in some diving. Summertime, right on the Indian Ocean, and we haven't had enough free time to get down and put our toes in it. Maybe today!

Lamontville celebrations

Lamontville is one of the townships outside Durban. The Community Outreach Program Trust (COPT) has built a centre there, which is used for a number of activities:

• Africaid, an HIV prevention program, which includes a soccer program for kids
• a crèche (day care), which allows parents to work without having to leave small children at home
• a reading class, to improve reading skills in English for kids age 7-13
• a weekly Bible class
• Sunday school and Sunday worship service

Following a recent fire in the township that left 40 families without shelter, the centre also provided temporary shelter to many of the families.

The Trust is the financial entity for the 2010 initiative of the South African Christadelphians, and will also continue on beyond 2010. They receive corporate contributions, donations from local brethren, and donations from overseas. The money is used to operate the Bible Education Centres, various programs, and the community centres such as the one in Lamontville. This multi-ecclesia effort could be a model for ecclesias in other parts of the world to use.

We were privileged to particiate in two end-of-term events at the centre last weekend.

On Friday, twelve girls from the reading class gave a display of their reading abilities to our small group of 8 onlookers. Many more children had participated in the reading program - perhaps the end of the school term caused the rest to be elsewhere for the day. Brother David White kicked things off, observing the tremendous progress the students had made. Most were three years behind their age level at the start of the term, and by the end they had closed much of the gap. Skill in reading English will have a major bearing on access to further education and to good jobs after they are out of school. Sister Christy Beyers has been leading the group, assisted by other volunteers, and with help from Bro David, who is a retired school teacher. Christy and David called the students up one by one. Each read a selection from one of their favorite books, and then was presented with their well-deserved certificates. Unfortunately we had forgotten our camera - some others took pictures, and we hope to get some from them.

Then, on Saturday we returned to Lamontville for the end-of-term and "graduation" party for the crèche kids. This time we had our camera! Sister Rose Mhlongo lives on site and operates the crèche, with assistance from volunteers, especially Sis Amy McClure from Australia, and also Sis Hyacinth Harvey from Jamaica. The party was quite an event. The parents were seated, then the children entered to music using a dance/march step. There were speeches, presentation of certificates to each child, photos, and a huge meal prepared by Rusi, a truly remarkable woman who does the cooking for the crèche. Four of the kids are graduating, and will start primary school next term - for these there were caps and gowns! After the meal, the kids did some traditional Zulu dancing while the adults sang the songs and Rusi accompanied them on a hand-made cowhide drum. Then dessert, and of course cleanup -- all in all it was quite a production! A lot of fun for the participants, and a lot of work for Rose, Amy and the other volunteers. We were glad to have been part of it.

When it rains, it pours

Pours right in the bathroom window, as it turns out! It's the rainy season in Durban, and Thursday night (Dec 4th) we found we had a problem. Our flat is on the second floor, and as is the case for many older buildings, it's been added onto. There is a narrow sort of alley between the flat and another part of the building, and at the end of the alley is the bathroom. There's a gutter that's intended to catch the rainwater and direct it down a pipe, but instead, it was overflowing and directing the water right at the window -- which as it happens, wouldn't close all the way. So, into the bathroom the water came.

Windows here are all casement style. They always have burglar bars, but do not have screens. There are occasional insects that wander through, but nothing like what we would have at home. The temporary solution for our mounting flood was to climb on the toilet, reach outside and hang a garbage bag from the top of the window, then pull it closed as tightly as we could, in order to direct the flow down and away. Surprisingly enough, this worked pretty well!

On Friday we got in touch with the sister who watches out for the flat, and she contacted a repair person whom she has used before, George. George came by briefly on Saturday, and arranged with us to come on Monday, which he did. The gutter now flows the right direction, and the window now closes, so all is well.

The flat is truly very nice and we are enjoying it. It's very open and light. There is currently no "aircon" (as South Africans call air conditioning); a brother and sister are donating a used unit, which they hope to get installed, but it's unclear what the timing might be. Summer is underway, and some days are pretty hot already. Everyone says that January and February are brutal--highs in the upper 90's and above, and very humid.

As we are posting this, it is a cool, cloudy morning, having rained all night. Yesterday was blistering, followed by cloud buildup in the late afternoon and an evening thunderstorm. The thunder really echos off the hills. Durban is very hilly - driving is reminiscent of San Francisco.

Driving, parking, shopping all are becoming more comfortable, and we are beginning to learn our way around. In the next post, we'll tell you about two children's events in Lamontville last weekend.

Settling in at Durban

David drove us from the airport to the Durban ecclesial hall, and we were met there by Cathy Strachan, who is the coordinator for the visiting volunteers in the Durban area. There are several at the moment, which is the usual situation. The ecclesias here are very active, and they keep the volunteers busy. The current crop consists of: Dan & Leah Egginton from Australia, Amy McClure from Australia, Tom Ryder from UK, Hyacinth Harvey from Jamaica, and David White from UK. David (a retired school teacher) is actually living here now, but is still lumped in with the rest of us. A couple of others have just left, and Tom will be leaving in a week or so. Hyacinth is trying to extend her visa, Amy leaves in Feb, and Dan & Leah leave in March. So, there will be need for replacements! (That's a hint, in case you missed it!)

There are 5 ecclesias in the Durban area: Durban proper, where we will be attending; Westville, a near-west suburb; Pinetown, a farther west suburb; Lamontville, a township to the south; and Marianhill, a township to the southwest.

The Durban hall has a flat over it, which the ecclesia has recently refurbished. It is very nice, and immediately felt like home. Cathy had bought some basic groceries to get us started, and when we arrived with David she made us all tea, and then began to go through a packet of information for us. Our first week was to be quite busy, with various brothers & sisters having us for dinner, several Bible classes, our training sessions at the BEC, events in Lamontville and Marianhill...whew!

Still a bit dazed, Cathy drove us to the Westville meeting hall, where the vehicle we'll be using was parked. It's called a "bakkie" (pronounced "buckie", no one seems to know why, or what the origin of the name is); at home we would call it a pickup. This one is a four door Mazda, and has a topper over the bed in back. The vehicle is getting a bit elderly, and therefore has some quirks, but it runs fine.

And then, we were on our own! With some written instructions, we had to find our way back to the flat...only got lost twice! Durban is a big city and has big city traffic. In the week we've been here, Paul has gotten fairly comfortable with driving on the left, shifting with his left hand, and dealing with the traffic. The weather was drizzly/rainy for several days, which made the driving that much more interesting. Jane is letting Paul do the driving for now.

Since the flat is recently redone, it needs a few things. The brethren did a great job of furnishing it, and stocking it with dishes, pans, etc. But inevitably there are a bunch of little things that we find we need (or at least want). Our first few days, we did a little shopping almost every day, working around our training sessions at the BEC.

On Tuesday we were picked up by Dan & Leah, and met them for the first time. They are very energetic, and have been a great asset to the work here. Both are in their mid-twenties. They took us for coffee and some introductory conversation, and then to the BEC for our first training session. Lots of stuff to remember! At the BEC we met Mary Wilondja, who is the backbone of the BEC day to day operation. Originally Congolese, she speaks 7 languages, including Zulu (or more properly isiZulu), the first language of most people in this area. Most of the people who come into the shop have gotten to know Mary, and she has been key in building relationships with many who are now in the ecclesia, and others who are studying. The BEC is open 9:30-3:30 M-F and 9:30-12:30 on Sat, and Mary works every day but Wed. There's always more than one person on duty for safety; the mornings are mostly staffed by Durban and Westville volunteers, and the afternoons mostly by overseas volunteers.

Tue afternoon (Dec 2) we went to Marianhill township for a card-making session. This is new. Leah is trying to set it up where local young sisters (and a couple of young women who aren’t yet baptized) produce hand-made beaded greeting cards, for sale in Aus, US, etc. The old Marianhill hall (formerly a house) has been torn down and a new one & larger one is being built. In the meantime, Sister Sylvester Cele (and her husband Bro Phinda) are hosting the ecclesial meetings in their home. This past weekend, they also hosted a funeral service for 400, including a big meal as is traditional. No idea how they pulled it off! She is also currently hosting the card making group, so we were at her home.

From there we quickly were taken by Dan & Leah to the Lamontville hall, for an outreach Bible study; they dropped us and left. By the time we got there it was in progress, being led by Bro Barry van Heerden of Durban. Lively discussion ensued. The Lamontville centre includes a creche (day care), an HIV prention program, a reading class, and other activities, as well as the Sunday meeting place for the ecclesia. It is also providing temporary shelter for some of 40 families whose homes burned in a recent fire.

After the class, Barry took us to his & Sis Wendith’s home for dinner, pretty late by this time. They live quite near the Durban hall and so are essentially our neighbors; they're also our designated "hosts", whom we can call on if we need help with anything. We learned that they are getting a new “aircon” (we would say A/C), and will donate their old one to our flat. That will be huge—everyone says it is VERY hot & humid in the summer here, and we’ve already experienced a bit of it, but apparently nothing like what’s coming.

Wed was another training session with Dan & Leah, on Mary's day off. We are learning the operation of the shop, including how to do the paperwork, sign people up for classes, and so on, and also how to manage the shop's stock, where to buy, how to handle the invoices--essentially everything for running a small retail operation, plus various correspondence Bible courses. On Thursday we were there with Mary, but without Dan & Leah. We feel comfortable with the basics, but it's a good thing Mary is there!

Wed and Thur evenings we went to the Durban and Westville Bible studies, both of which are held in homes. We are meeting more and more of the brethren, and finding them to be most gracious and loving, opening their homes to us and giving us a very warm welcome. We of course have some tugs of homesickness now and then, but we feel so welcome here that we don't feel at all lonely.

Thursday evening it rained pretty hard...and thereby hangs a tale for next time.

By the way, a couple more photos have been added to the previous post.

The PE BEC

We are falling farther behind with our posts! We're now in Durban, working at the Durban BEC, which is to be our main focus while we're here in South Africa. But that's getting ahead of the story. First, a few words about the Port Elizabeth BEC (Bible Education Centre). By the way, a couple more pix have been added to the previous post.

The BEC in PE is built inside a shipping container, the kind you see on container ships and trucks. They got it used (and somewhat the worse for wear), painted it, and did some other refurbishing. The reason for the container is that it is moveable. Right now it is parked in the Kwadwesi township, on an empty piece of ground along with a row of other informal vendors--next door is a vegetable stand. It's across the street from a busy shopping plaza, and there is a lot of vehicle and foot traffic. Quite a few people stop in.

The BEC is open Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On Wed and Fri the main person manning it is a young brother named Luzuko Gedze. He is very sharp, as well as a very spiritual young man. He is just about to complete his university shooling in IT, and hopes to get a job in systems administration. This will be great for him, but will have an effect on the BEC from a staffing perspective. On Saturdays, Bro Zwelakhe Shologu is there, and often his son Bro Nkosinathi is there, as well as Luzuko.

Mike Floyd and we stopped in briefly on Friday (28th), and climbed up to see what might be done with the roof to stop a leak. There has been some water damage inside, not severe, but some of the books were affected. Mike then took us with him to get some patching materials. We failed to notice that none of us put the ladder back inside, so it was gone when we came back on Saturday. Vanessa brought Jane and I back on Sat, and bought a replacement ladder at the building supply place across the street--we felt bad that this was necessary. She left us there, and Paul spent the next hour plus on the roof, in gale winds, trying to patch things up. We had a sealer and some fabric intended for this kind of repair. In the wind, there was no way we could get the fabric to stay in place. We ended up applying the sealer, and Mike will try to do the rest of the job at a later time.

When we arrived, there were two active Bible discussions in progress--both in the Xhosa language, so we weren't able to participate. Zwelakhe and Nkosinathi were engaged with a man who had come in the week before, and who had completed the first Bible course in the intervening week! He was interested in baptism, a wonderful desire, but he does need a bit more study--and he got some more of it in the hour & a half class they had. Meanwhile, Luzuko was busy with another man, who stayed for over an hour. Jane handled the people who walked in while these discussions were going on, and Paul was clomping around on the roof. Nearly everyone speaks English, even if their first language is something else, so she did fine. After the students had gone, Jane did some cleaning, straightening, and organizing of the course material, which had all been hastily shifted around to get out of the way of the water.

After the BEC closed, Zwalakhe took us home for dinner with his family, prepared by his wife Sister Grace. This was our first traditional African meal, and it was delicious! We had samp & beans, samp being something similar to what we would call hominy, along with melt-in-your-mouth beef. We had a lovely late afternoon of fellowship, including an attempt for Jane and I to learn one of the clicks in the Xhosa language, with very shaky results. Then Zwelakhe dropped us back at the flat where we were staying.

On Sunday, the PE ecclesia hosted a "Family & Friends" day, a concept we would like to introduce back home. Each family in the ecclesia is encouraged to invite 2 family members or friends. They have the worship service early, at 9:30, then have the visitors arrive at 11:00. There is a Bible talk, followed by lunch. On this occasion, Paul did the exhortation for the worship service, and then gave a PowerPoint illustrated talk on "My Father’s House" for the public talk. There were quite a few visitors, and the meal afterward gave an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other a bit.

After lunch, we said our goodbyes to everyone, and we were warmly welcomed to come back if we're able to, which we would love to do.

Monday was again travel day, so we packed up and Mike took us to the airport. We didn't know who was going to pick us up, and both we and Mike tried to reach several people in Durban, with no success. So, we got on the plane anyway! Sure enough, everyone but us knew that Bro David White would be there to meet us, he was, and he took us to the Durban ecclesial hall, where we are now staying in a flat above the meeting place. More on that next time!