"When we say 'we are together' it requires me to long to impart some spiritual gift to make the other strong. The real gift is that, in turn, I am mutually encouraged and made strong."
Listen to Kristal Hoff, International Office Volunteer (Canada), share about her recent time in Africa and the impact that a special woman had on her.
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. Kristi and Daytona Swarbrick share their story and the journey that has led them to serve in Africa.
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. Tommy and Morgan’s stories started out from different countries, but the journey God has brought them both on has led them into a beautiful story of love, adventure, and serving Him together. Both of them being confident of God’s calling, they share their story of serving and following Christ.
Twice a year, Hands at Work welcomes a new intake of volunteers. In September 2014, 8 volunteers joined us to serve for one year and in February 2015 we were blessed with 13 more. They each received the same calling of God to serve in Africa, but the work He is doing in their own lives is unique. Here, some of them reflect on their journey so far in Africa.
Volunteers from around the world of various backgrounds and ages comprise the Hands at Work team. Hands at Work invites volunteers to come and invest a year or more of their life on behalf of the most vulnerable by becoming a part of our work, family and community of faith. During a five week orientation in South Africa, they are prepared to mobilise, equip and support the local church across Africa to transform the lives of the most vulnerable. We ask our volunteers to learn and serve in whatever way is needed. Like scaffolding, they are an essential yet temporary tool in building a structure and leaving it stronger than when they arrived.
At Hands at Work, we are continually blessed by international teams who travel to Africa to be a part of God’s work among the most vulnerable people. We strive to embrace our short term teams as not guests, but family. Our desire is they will not stand on the outside and look in, but be on the ground, confronted by God’s heart for those who suffer, and challenged to serve with the love of Jesus. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together – 1 Corinthians 12:26
Our ministry in Southern Africa began in 2009 when we volunteered for three months with Hands at Work. After our first season, we knew God was calling us to return to Africa for another year. After that year, we again spent time searching God’s heart only to discover that we needed to make the move to South Africa more permanent.
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.
Marc has been a volunteer with Hands at Work since 2007. From Calgary, Canada, he is currently based at the Hub in South Africa where he serves as Project Support Leader. As a long term volunteer, Marc has experienced first-hand the trials and stirrings of living in a growing Christ-centred community with a focus to serve the most vulnerable.
Devon in Canada
Devon van Hoffen arrived in South Africa as part of Hands at Work’s September volunteer intake. From Canada, Devon has come to learn about Hands at Work, Africa, and God’s heart for the most vulnerable. Volunteers have the opportunity to walk alongside local Care Workers in the poorest of the poor communities as they visit children who need love and parental care. Here, he tells the story of one of his first home visits with a Care Worker in South Africa.
I recently did a home visit in a community in South Africa. I was greeted by an 11 year old girl with a big smile on her face. Her name was Lilian. I don’t know much of Lilian’s story but what little I do know is shocking.
Lilian is 11 years old and is HIV positive. When you are HIV positive you are more susceptible to disease, and because of her HIV she contracted tuberculosis. One of her kidneys has also failed, so she only has one left.
Lilian lives with her mother. Her mother is rarely home, so her aunt takes care of her. Her aunt told us that Lilian’s mother is given a government grant because she has a daughter. Her mother uses this grant to buy food for herself, and doesn’t care for Lilian. Lilian’s aunt can’t afford to buy medication for her, so she has no way of getting the help she needs.
Despite Lilian’s health, she is still attending school. I would guess that she is doing well in school because of how much she understood what was going on, and how well she could communicate with us. Her favourite class in school is English. She told us that when she grows up she wants to be a nurse, so she can help other people who are sick. That answer she gave was truly amazing, because it really shows how big of a heart she has.
Devon in Africa with a new friend (Note: child is not Lilian)Lilian’s aunt gave the Care Workers her medical report, and some papers that said how much her medication would cost. The Care Workers meet regularly, so at their next meeting they can present her report and potentially budget for Lilian’s medication. They will continue to visit Lilian on a weekly basis and pray with her and walk alongside Lilian in her struggle.
You can read more about Devon’s journey on his blog: http:
Hands at Work invites people to come to Africa and see the work God is doing here on the ground. You can learn more about the opportunities to come to Africa to serve, here: /come
Every so often we see something that inspires us and lets us know that someone else has felt the very thing that we ourselves have felt in the core of our being. In this case, we were blessed by one of our own. Alicia Krawchuk was a volunteer with Hands though 2013 and we are incredibly blessed by her being with us and by her creative mind which resulted in this video: daily good.
daily good from Hands at Work in Africa on Vimeo.
People make the world good or bad. Bad things happen to good people daily, but still some people remain good despite all the bad they have endured. I stayed with this family. They were loving, kind, generous and welcoming to me daily. Abandoned by their father - mother and grandmother died of aids - they survive on so little, but still they gave me so much.
Women in this community stand together to feed 50 vulnerable children daily. These women have so little and still, they give so much daily. Now there is hope for these children. Now there is hope for these children because good people are doing good.
In this area it is more likely a girl will be raped than learn how to read. This is the cycle o poverty and aids in Africa. fragmented families > complex situations > fragmented families …
If the good people in these communities stand together, maybe they can break this cycle. Good people caring for each other daily will help these children to climb out of poverty.
I've met so many good people - heard so many stories - that make me want to fight for good! for God!
Our old friend David Barbosa is visiting from Australia at the moment, while here he reunited with his old band for a one-off show. Here is a link to his Facebook page, have a look and a listen. You can also find his music on the iTunes store, his album is called The Beauty Of Grace. Proceeds of this album are being generously donated to Hands at Work. A huge thankyou to David from all the Hands family!
Download David Barbosa's album on iTunes
Proceeds go to Hands at Work in Africa
David Barbosa Music on Facebook
Also Kimberly Lee from Canada is supporting Hands at Work with a song from her new album, the song is called Breath Life Again. All proceeds from downloads of this song from now until August 10, 2013 will be donated to Hands at Work Africa. Here's an iTunes link to her latest album called Love That Remains and a link to her website.
Download Breath Life Again on Kimberly Lee's album on iTunes
Proceeds go to Hands at Work in Africa
Ashley Humphreys, is a volunteer from Canada and has been serving with Hands at Work in South Africa and Zambia since May 2012. She reflects on her time in Africa and a recent encounter with a special Care Worker, Jean.
When I came to volunteer in Africa, I said I was coming to give. Give my time, my passion, my resources. Soon after arriving, I realized I wasn’t very good at giving at all. I came into living in a community of people from all over the world and learned that at Hands at Work, we live as a family. We live by the core values of servanthood and giving freely. Freely. Not conditionally. It didn’t take me long to realize I lived by giving conditionally. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a first world country. Maybe it’s because deep in my heart there is a selfish girl who doesn’t want to share, who wants things to be about her sometimes, who wants people to recognize when she does something well. I saw this ugly side of myself in little things. Someone would ask to borrow my milk and I’d say yes but I’d think, “Now I’m going to run out and I can’t get to the grocery store for a week! They should really be more organized.” I hated myself for thinking that way. Why couldn’t I just let it go? Why couldn’t I give and be happy my family member knew I was someone they could ask? Why didn’t it feel like a privilege to give to my brothers and sisters? I started praying God would help me give freely – give without condition, give to glorify Him, give because His word says “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9: 7)
“When I came to volunteer in Africa, I said I was coming to give. Give my time, my passion, my resources. Soon after arriving, I realized I wasn’t very good at giving at all. I came into living in a community of people from all over the world and learned that at Hands at Work...we live by the core values of servanthood and giving freely. Freely—not conditionally.”
In Zambia I met Jean, a Care Worker at Chibuli Community Based Organization. I was honoured to walk with her through the community and go on home visits with her. The children we visited would cuddle up to her as we sat outside. She would wrap her arms around them, all of them children who have been orphaned and are living with aging grandparents. We walked so far through the tall grass and huts of Chibuli to get to four homes, something Jean is used to doing every week. On the long walk back to the Care Centre after our visits, Jean started talking to me about how to be a Care Worker, it was like she was training me for my future as one.She said, “It was hard at first, giving to the children. When I started it was really hard. But, it gets easier! I’ve been a Care Worker for 3 years. I just kept doing it and it got easier. Now there are children in my home all the time. I have my 3 children, but I have many more. I tell all the children to come to my house and I will bathe them. And feed them. I say ‘bring your clothes!’ So they come, they bring their clothes, I wash their clothes and I wash their bodies and I give them food.” She said it with joy and with love.
God spoke right through Jean to me: Giving gets easier. I can give with my heart like Jean does. Not today, but maybe one day. It’s a strange thing, to think of practising giving. But it’s exactly what we can do as we seek out God and grow in our understanding of who Jesus truly is. As I have tried to answer God’s call to care for and love others, He has shown me how to give without condition. After a year of volunteering in Africa and praying about giving, it is a little bit easier. I still have lots of moments where I see my hard heart, but I have more where I feel the love of God come through me. We all have walls around our hearts, and ideas in our heads that make us second guess giving freely. We have to keep fighting through. Keep praying and asking God to radically transform us so we build His Kingdom in everything we do.
Hands at Work in Africa believes something powerful happens when people in a comfortable and conveient society choose to discomfort themselves in order to serve the poor in another part of the world. Friends and family from across the globe visited Hands at Work in Africa this year to learn, serve, encourage and participate in God’s transformation of Africa.
Check out these teams in action!
