Welcome to Block FF...

This has been my home for the last 10 days and i'll be here for the next 2 and a half weeks (i leave a bit sooner than the rest of the team due to having to go back to work). Most of the streets here in Soshanguve don't have names so i can't tell you my address, but let me try and describe the neighbourhood for you. Block FF is quite a new area in the township (it started to develop in the late 90s) but there are a suprising number of large houses, usually characteristic of the older blocks, which have gradually developed over the last 30-40 years. There is a new supermarket here selling standard items you'd find in any UK/US store along with township delicacies of tripe and chicken feet. I've sampled the former (and survived) and am awaiting the latter... Whilst i'm on the subject of food I thought i'd describe to you a 'township burger' also known as sphatlo (stephanie mentioned it in her last post). They are available on most street corners and consist of a huge chunk of white bread with the middle hollowed out and filled with achar (mango chutney) chips/fries (delete as appropriate depending on your nationality), palonie (reconstituted meat a bit like spam), cheese and sometimes sausage. I've not tried one yet but they've had mixed reviews from the team- Luc loves them, Kevin hates them and the rest of the team seem to land somewhere inbetween.

So, back to Block FF. I'm sat in the living room of Pastor Samson Mbonani's house listening to the church choir practice in the garage next door. Their voices are beautiful and gospel music is filling the air. Pastor Samson lives with his wife and son, Ndumiso, in the mission house behind the church he leads, Word Alive, and i'm staying with them during my time in Soshanguve. They are a wonderful family and have been very welcoming to me. Pastor Samson is very much behind the idea of innerCHANGE and has been influential in wlecoming IC to Soshanguve. Kevin and Adam also live in Block FF: go out of the church yard, past the supermarket, along by the school and over the football field and you'll get to there house.

These first few days have been very exciting for me: getting to know the team; seeing the neighbourhood; learning more about innerCHANGE; and listening to God. Let's see what the next days bring...

Andrew.

from Stephanie!

Our team has now been here a little over a week now and we are enjoying ourselves thoroughly.  Paul and Mariah have been spending time with some teens who are hosting a meeting tonight for HIV/Aids awareness that we are going to.  Aimee has been visiting HIV/Aids patients in their homes with Petunia.  I went with them one day and then spent another day giving piano lessons to some of the neighborhood kids, which was a great time.  Luc, Andrew, and Kevin have been spending some quality time building relationships with families in different blocks (neighborhoods).

This week has been full of meeting great people, eating great food (some team members not including myself were brave enough to try "spahtlo" which is like an African hamburger), spending time with our host families, getting to know our team more and more, and really enjoying ourselves.  It is beautiful here and the people are very gracious and welcoming.  We could use prayer for continued acclamation to the area and different culture as well as building relationships with people in different blocks as well as with our team.

Steph

ride to sosh

here is a little video of our taxi ride to sosh!

enjoy

Acclimating in Pretoria

We traveled to Johannesburg via London and arrived in Pretoria by 11 AM Sunday morning.

I think that makes it a total travel time of 31 hrs!!  Needless to say we have been recovering from sleep depravation and jet lag--luckily at a very nice retreat center here.

We'll head to Sosh tomorrow afternoon, and the fun begins!  I think we're all pretty giddy.

Here are some pictures of the trip so far.