illuminate… I Will Show My Children What I Can Do Episode 4 Thank you for listening to illuminate, a podcast by Hands at Work in Africa. Hands at Work seeks out the most broken places in Africa to bring life to the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable people by way of His Church, both internationally and locally.For the past few weeks, we've been able to sit with the Hands family here in South Africa as George Snyman shares about the Goma region. Since his return, much has changed… If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please find us on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcast by searching "Meanwhile in Africa..." Learn how you can give the gift of hope. Visit www.handsatwork.org/finding-the-most-vulnerable.

illuminate... Episode 3 - God is still busy with Katembe. We want to share about where we work, the types of communities that we are called to, to see Jesus bring life where it looks the bleakest. Just as Jesus came to bring life to a broken world, Hands at Work seeks out the most broken places in Africa to bring life to the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable people by way of His Church, both internationally and locally. The chief, I said to him, "You take me to Katembe or I go on my own, but we are going now." So he said, "Okay, let's go." If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please find us on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcast by searching "Meanwhile in Africa..." 
Learn how you can give the gift of hope. Visit www.handsatwork.org/finding-the-most-vulnerable.

During Advent, this podcast channel comes to you in the form of Illuminate. Episode 2: Katembe - Jesus in a War. In this podcast series, we will take you to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where we will visit three communities in the Goma area. Let's listen to George discussing the people and places where we work and what God is busy doing there. If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please find us on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcast by searching "Meanwhile in Africa..." Learn how you can give the gift of hope. Visit www.handsatwork.org/finding-the-most-vulnerable.

Advent Podcast by Hands at Work in Africa. George Snyman, a co-founder of Hands at Work, has spent a considerable amount of time there this year. We're about to hear George talking to a group of volunteers in South Africa on October 30th. If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please find us on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcast by searching "Meanwhile in Africa..." Learn how you can give the gift of hope. Visit www.handsatwork.org/finding-the-most-vulnerable.

Each year, the "Meanwhile in Africa..." Podcast becomes something new for the Advent season. Hands at Work in Africa works among the most vulnerable people in some of Africa's most vulnerable communities. Our seasonal podcast series will focus in on some of the people that we know and love in the Goma area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hope joy, love and peace are the hallmarks of advent and these are what we pray for as we meet Jesus in these stories. You're listening to “illuminate” each Friday from December 1st to December 22nd.If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please find us on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcast by searching "Meanwhile in Africa..." Learn how you can give the gift of hope. Visit www.handsatwork.org/finding-the-most-vulnerable.

8/07 Today was my last day here in Goma, and it's like God just gave me the most beautiful evening to look at the sunset, and the lake is dead calm. It's like a mirror. Early this morning, I decided to spend my last day in Buhimba. When I arrived, Laurine, our coordinator, Sylvia, Teresa, were all down with malaria, coughing, sweating, but they were at the Care Point. We sat outside this morning under the tree to try and get more fresh air around us to try and prevent more of us to get sick. And as Bindhu desperately tried to get us to worship and sing, I could just sense such a fragileness, a heaviness, among everybody as they were sick, and the toll of the ongoing war. Then they asked me to share. How do I share? How do I encourage them? What do I even say to them? It's times like that where God's tears speak the loudest language. And I think, as we sat all together, realising that I'm leaving tomorrow, there's just the silence and, and the weeping. We said kind words to each other, we reminded each other that we love each other. Afterwards, I got up and I walked into our Care Point and I sat in a dark room where 25 kids were sitting on a dust floor eating porridge. Boys, like Bahati, which I couldn't imagine would ever have survived if we didn't initiate the zero to five programme only six months ago. There's a gratefulness in my heart as I watch these kids eating, and I realise how desperate their brains and their bodies need this nutrition to become strong and healthy. I looked outside and I see our Care Workers coughing and sweating. I just handed out the last bit of medication I carried for myself and I was thinking, "I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and we are so fragile." We are so fragile. But if I look at the children sitting in front of me, it's a miracle! It's beautiful! Isn't that how it is with all of our lives? It's beautiful. It's a miracle, and yet we are so fragile. We are always only one step away from a disaster.

8/06 This morning I'm recording the "Meanwhile in Africa..." out of Goma. I've been here in our children's camp since very early this morning with Bindu, where we are facing a cholera outbreak, and we really ask you to pray with us, that God would protect all of us. But this morning I wanna speak to you about 'ongoing love'. You know, many, many people all over the world respond at the moment to me and say, what can we do? And I'm hesitant just to answer, because I don't want a quick response, and then we forget. I want us to become aware of what's happening in the world ongoingly, and I want us to respond. [Hello Sasha!] I want us to respond changing our lifestyles, the way we pray, the way we live and the way we give. That's not easy for all of us. Many of you can remember the story of Alliance, the girl with a stick that had such a cross face. Nobody knew where she was from. Then we tracked her down and she became part of our Care Point, and I saw her change into this amazing girl, full of laughter and joy. Well, when I met her again this time, she was just dirty, depressed, and broken. It shattered my heart, you know. I found out that somebody was abusing her physically. They burnt her school clothes, burnt her school books to prevent her from going to school. And there she was weeks after it happened. I saw her. And I just realised, you know, love is not a success story instantly, it's ongoing. So, we had to pull her out of that depth - that miry pit, you know. Buy her new school clothes. Get her new books. And this week I sent her to school again with Bindu, and once again I could see that smile on her face. You know, it just helps me to understand Alliance's story, in the beginning, was a great story. But that's not enough. We're gonna have to keep fighting for Alliance because she was rescued once, but like all of us, she needs to be rescued continually. As we reached out and gave her a second chance, that's what Jesus does for all of us. That's how we need to be with each other. For that, we need to have eyes that can see, and we need resilience to continue to push. May God bless you as you change people's lives.

8/05 It's One of the things we love in Hands is vision. We love the Hands Vision. All of us bought into the Hands Vision. All of us believe that the Hands vision is what God called us to do and we are passionate about it. This last week, here in Kachele in Zambia, I had the privilege to spend the week with over 50 church leaders and their wives. Oh, it was so wonderful to see all the pastors bringing their wives. We sat down and we dug into God's word. We looked at the mandate he gave the church. We listened to stories. There was one pastor from Kapiri - he's in his late sixties now - he said last year, it was the highlight of his year to come together. This year he brought his wife and at times we watched them, tears in their eyes, as they listened to God's word and they heard young pastors full of fire and zeal. Then we got to a place where we shared about the Hands vision - to get to the communities where nobody goes. I started sharing with them about Alugbo in Ibadan, Nigeria. How some of our Service Centre staff had to walk through rivers to get to these isolated communities, and how the children were dying, and how they are caring for them now, and how the love of Jesus was brought. We spoke about many other areas. The Democratic Republic of Congo and in Zimbabwe! Then we said to the churches, this vision belongs to the church. We are only with you to help you, but the time is coming when you must take this and run on your own, because we need to get to more communities. We need to go further. I held my breath. I didn't know what was gonna happen after we shared that, but I want to tell you, the pastors wept. They stood up, they shouted to us, "You must go! You must go! We receive this vision. This is our call!" It was one of the most incredible moments many of us have experienced for many years, as we sat back there under the thatch in Kachele. All of us were just committing ourselves before God, before one another, that we're gonna go further and deeper. The churches that already saw Hands, and they saw the model in front of them, they are putting up their hands and they say, we are ready to run on our own church. There's something beautiful, happening and we are part of that.

8/04 It's One of the things we love in Hands is vision. We love the Hands Vision. All of us bought into the Hands Vision. All of us believe that the Hands vision is what God called us to do and we are passionate about it. This last week, here in Kachele in Zambia, I had the privilege to spend the week with over 50 church leaders and their wives. Oh, it was so wonderful to see all the pastors bringing their wives. We sat down and we dug into God's word. We looked at the mandate he gave the church. We listened to stories. There was one pastor from Kapiri - he's in his late sixties now - he said last year, it was the highlight of his year to come together. This year he brought his wife and at times we watched them, tears in their eyes, as they listened to God's word and they heard young pastors full of fire and zeal. Then we got to a place where we shared about the Hands vision - to get to the communities where nobody goes. I started sharing with them about Alugbo in Ibadan, Nigeria. How some of our Service Centre staff had to walk through rivers to get to these isolated communities, and how the children were dying, and how they are caring for them now, and how the love of Jesus was brought. We spoke about many other areas. The Democratic Republic of Congo and in Zimbabwe! Then we said to the churches, this vision belongs to the church. We are only with you to help you, but the time is coming when you must take this and run on your own, because we need to get to more communities. We need to go further. I held my breath. I didn't know what was gonna happen after we shared that, but I want to tell you, the pastors wept. They stood up, they shouted to us, "You must go! You must go! We receive this vision. This is our call!" It was one of the most incredible moments many of us have experienced for many years, as we sat back there under the thatch in Kachele. All of us were just committing ourselves before God, before one another, that we're gonna go further and deeper. The churches that already saw Hands, and they saw the model in front of them, they are putting up their hands and they say, we are ready to run on our own church. There's something beautiful, happening and we are part of that.

8/03 It's Thursday evening in Kachele and we normally all gather on a soccer field outside the big thatch where we eat together. What a fantastic evening this is. And to look at people that you love and live with. People that have the same passion, and to just realise the privillege we have to be together. This week, as I was in Kapiri Nissi, I met two Care Workers. One's name is Ruth and Judith is the name of the other lady. Judith is our 0 - 5 Champion, and Ruth is our cook. They arrive seven o'clock at the Care Point every morning. If it's going well, they leave by two o'clock in the afternoon, all by themselves, going home to be alone with children. I asked Judith, who's about my age, I said to Judith, "How do you survive if you spend so much time at the Care Point every day?" And she said to me, "I'm doing piece jobs." I said, explain to me what does it mean to do piece jobs? She said maybe somebody will come to her with a huge bucket full of dirty clothing and they will ask her to wash it, and she said she will start at two o'clock and she might finish at five o'clock in the afternoon. And she said if that happens her heart is so full of joy. I said, Judith, "How much will you get for that?" She said, "Well, if people are generous, I can get up to 30 Kwacha!" 30 Kwacha is one and a half US dollars. For Judith, a good day is to start seven o'clock in the morning to serve the children that she so passionately loves, and then to go home and to trust God to give her, an elderly lady now, a massive bucket full of dirty clothing, and she will go on her knees and she washes that, and then she gets paid one and a half dollars to look after her and her grandchildren. I'm standing here and I'm watching the Kachele community and we've got a fire going. We've got fish on there. I watch people talk and laugh and children cycle and swinging on that huge swing on a tree. And I'm thinking, "God, you are good. You are so, so good to me." But how focused am I to make life easier? And how aware am I of people like Judith and Ruth? May God help us to be a major blessing, and may we have grateful hearts counting our blessings every day.