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Last week was a really neat week for me. My brother Dan is visiting from the States for the next month and he arrived last week with two of his friends from home. Dan is cycling up the Western Cape of South Africa for about 13 days, but before he left for his big trip he wanted to spend some time at Living Hope to see what it is that I do, and also get a chance to volunteer. He coordinated his time in South Africa with two of his dear friends from back home in Colorado and so they all came on down and put their skills to work.
Jess & Mel are spending a year of their lives volunteering with missionaries all over the globe and this was their 14th country in about 8 months. They have some amazing stories to tell and you can read more about their journey on their blog here. Be sure to check out their photos. We work well together as a team and I am so proud of the hard work they accomplished this week. When I wasn't working in the hospital, I got to tag along and "help" with their handiwork.
Along with a children's health identification project in Masi and helping with homeless ministry in Muzienburg, these guys put their sweat into building a garden in Red Hill. Wow! I forget how hard it is to till soil by hand! It is some seriously back breaking work. These guys plotted out a piece of land, cleared it, tilled it and then built a fence around it to get it ready for planting this week. It was amazing to see how transformed that space was in a matter of three days.
Natasha, Jess & Dan going at it!
You should have seen the pile of trash that came out of this small space, including an entire toliet!
Cleared and tilled... now time for the fence!
Digging post holes.
No wonder they were all sore the next day!
Planning with Natasha who acts as the behind the scenes coordinator and general mastermind of LH
Jess working hard
Posts are in... wire time!
We worked alongside a few local Red Hill residents, who came up with the project, and just needed the material resources to get the job done. We are hoping that this garden right next to the Red Hill medical clinic will become a great asset for providing some food staples to the community.
Whoops, the fence wasn't quite done yet when these guys wandered in!
Yes, I did do a little work and I have this picture to prove it!
But then Dan had to double check my work sooo...
Clean up!
Much deserved break time.
Finished! Yay work crew!
The completed project! Ready for manure and planting. Lots of prayer going into this little garden for it to thrive this spring. Grow garden grow!!
I loved having Dan, Mel & Jess here and can't wait to have them back next week after they go off to work in a prison up north and Dan more cycling. Be safe out there crew!
