Monday
Today we were all picked up from our homes by a member of the Cathedral congregation and gathered at the Cathedral to meet up with the members of the Youth Group. This was our hottest day so far at 37˚.
We set off for our destination which was the small, very remote settlement of Matlwang, north-west of Ikageng. Here we met with a group of local people at a breeze block church with a corrugated iron roof which had been built this year and which replaced a much smaller corrugated iron structure. The church regularly gets a congregation of at least 100 and has a visit from a priest once a quarter as an outpost of the Cathedral. The church has no floor, this being simply packed earth and grass.
As we arrived we could see a large pile of ‘cement’ which was being mixed by hand by some local people from dirt, cow dung and water. We and the members of the youth group quickly became involved in a range of activities such as carrying water, sourcing dirt by destroying termite mounds with a pick-axe, mixing the ‘cement’ and some even getting very dirty and smelly laying the cement on the floor by hand. Rather like making mud pies!
This activity resulted as you can imagine in lots of fun and the quote of the day from Tom “Ed, please can you stop flicking your poo at me!!” Several young people also had the opportunity to have a tour of the area, including visiting a local house made of corrugated iron.
We set off for our destination which was the small, very remote settlement of Matlwang, north-west of Ikageng. Here we met with a group of local people at a breeze block church with a corrugated iron roof which had been built this year and which replaced a much smaller corrugated iron structure. The church regularly gets a congregation of at least 100 and has a visit from a priest once a quarter as an outpost of the Cathedral. The church has no floor, this being simply packed earth and grass.
As we arrived we could see a large pile of ‘cement’ which was being mixed by hand by some local people from dirt, cow dung and water. We and the members of the youth group quickly became involved in a range of activities such as carrying water, sourcing dirt by destroying termite mounds with a pick-axe, mixing the ‘cement’ and some even getting very dirty and smelly laying the cement on the floor by hand. Rather like making mud pies!
We also decided this was probably the most remote place in which to photograph the front cover of the Lichfield Mercury. We hope they might publish it when we get home.
This afternoon we came back to the beautiful home of Peter who is a senior member of the Cathedral community and diocese. We were excited to find a pool and spent the afternoon relaxing and swimming.
We are due to be picked up at 6pm to go for dinner with a member of the congregation in Klerksdorp ………
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