At Hands at Work we are blessed to hear testimonies from visitors who have come to Africa to experience what God is doing. These stories of everyday people who meet Jesus in the faces of the most vulnerable, for even a short period of time, tells of God’s great desire to change us so we will never be the same.
Hands at Work Teams: Sunset Church
Suzette serves as a volunteer with the Hands at Work team in the United States. In 2013 she came with her husband, Abe, to Africa to visit Hands for the first time, and this year they are bringing a team from their church. Here she tells us her own personal journey and the journey of her team, as they prepare to come.
My Calling: Busie Sityata-Jones
At Hands at Work, our volunteers are called by God from all over the world to serve the most vulnerable in Africa. Busisiwe (Busie) Sityata-Jones was born and grew up in South Africa, experiencing the effects of apartheid on her own people. For over ten years she has served with Hands at Work, and today she serves as one of our key leaders in Southern Africa.
Advocating in Prayer: Anna ‘Oumie’ Snyman
In 2008, Oumie started living with George and Carolyn Snyman (her son and daughter-in-law, Hands at Work Co-Founders). Soon afterwards, she was diagnosed with acute leukemia and told she had only weeks to live. There was a new chemotherapy treatment available, and she qualified to begin receiving it. Oumie’s friends and family stood with her in prayer, trusting that God could heal her.
Volunteers transforming their community together
When the Care Workers in Macadeira, Mozambique harvested their own 400kg of maize, they felt an enormous sense of pride. After all, it was their many hours of work in the field, under the blistering African sun that finally paid off. But the work was difficult and the premature ceasing of the rains meant that their beans failed
Buhle and Grace: A Spirit of Giving
The Journey so Far
For the past two months, a group of individuals have come together to experience a short term volunteer opportunity offered by Hands at Work. They have come to dive deeper into who we are as well as see and understand what we do in some of the most vulnerable communities across three of the eight countries we work in.
All We Can Do
At Hands at Work we are blessed to hear testimonies from visitors who have come to Africa to experience what God is doing. These stories of everyday people who meet Jesus in the faces of the most vulnerable for even a short period of time, tells of God’s great desire to change us so we will never be the same.
My Calling - Melissa Warren
At Hands at Work, our volunteers are called by God from all over the world to serve the most vulnerable in Africa. Each of us has a unique story of how we were transformed when we stepped out in faith and were obedient to His call. Melissa (Mel) Warren is from Australia and currently supports our local leaders in Zambia at Kachele Village.
Our Calling: Levy and Prag Mwenda
Levy and Pragcidence (Prag) Mwenda both grew up in Zambia. Levy was attending Bible College in 1999 when George Snyman (Co-Founder, Hands at Work) came to speak about HIV/AIDS. Many people were dying from HIV/AIDS but the stigma around the disease was so great that people were not discussing it openly. Levy knew he was being called to also help those who were dying.
My Calling - Jed Heubner
Jed and his wife, Brooke, had talked for many years about serving others. “Although my mouth was willing, I don’t know that my mind or heart really understood what I was getting into”, Jed says. They spent a long time trying to find a missions organisation to serve with, and struggled to find a good fit. “Which was fine with me,” Jed says. “I liked my job, my friends, and had a fairly comfortable life.”
An Act of Love and Servanthood
It is difficult to comprehend the struggles faced by the poor in Malawi. When it comes to education, many children dream of going to school and learning, living in the hope that they may one day succeed, get a job and escape the cycle of poverty they were born into. But for too many children in Malawi today, these dreams never come to fruition.
A Place in School for Lovelyn
Perhaps being forced to drop out of school because your family simply cannot afford the fees anymore is just as heart breaking as not being able to go to school. When Lovelyn came home from school one day and realized she would not return, she felt lost and hopeless. Now, she faced the terrible prospect that her education was over.
Loved like Family
Nokuphila is a seven year old girl. This desperately poor community struggles from a lack of clean, accessible water and, at times, impassable roads. There is also virtually no employment within the community. Her aunt immediately moved into the home to help care for Nokuphila and her disabled mother when her father passed away. With no job and no income, simply surviving was a constant struggle.
George in Canada
Testimonies from the Maranatha Workshops
More Love than Loss
Kasongo’s story could have ended with her wandering the streets of Kikula with her siblings, desperately trying to survive. With no means of supporting herself, Kasongo began to suffer physically from a lack of food. The trauma of her father dying and the rejection of her mother abandoning her have left deep scars in this young girl.
He Came to Heal the Broken Hearted
Care Workers are the men and women from local churches who have committed their lives to caring for vulnerable and traumatised children. But many of them have suffered their own traumatic experiences of abuse and abandonment. Though many Care Workers desire to provide holistic care for the most vulnerable children in their community, often the pain within their own hearts affects their ability to give.
