A great Experience

Saturday was a huge day for our church all across Africa. Every congregation, no matter how large or small, was charged with finding a local service project which would be done during the hours of 9 a.m.-1p.m. The project is called “Helping Hands” and was put in place by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” (see lds.org for more on our church). This project was announced literally the morning after we arrived here in Johannesburg, and I felt huge excitement over the fact that we would be on this continent to participate.

I love huge things (accept Texas, I don’t love Texas), and this undertaking was huge.

Our local congregation had asked a friend of mine to take charge of our project. After lots of searching for something that would help revitalize the local community Jan and her committee found a boarding school for kids with severe learning and behavioral issues. Most of the students have experienced intense personal trauma, many have seen family members killed in front of them. Some of course have been the victims of physical or sexual abuse. These kids come to school every Sunday night, after a weekend of living in the hell that is their regular lives, and for two or three days the teachers try to help them “decompress”. Real teaching and learning happens for another couple of days and then the kids go back “home” for the weekend. It all starts again on Sunday night.

The school was functioning well, but really needed some tender loving care. Supplies were severely limited, and the surroundings very sterile for children to live in.

Our congregation sprang into action. Donations were acquired from the community. Paint, grass, plants, bedding, curtains, toys and clothing all found its way to the school. Church members were also very generous, donating much needed supplies like bath towels, toothbrushes and the like, so the kids could have permanent toiletries left at school. Carpets were found to replace those worn through. Water heaters found “jackets” which were insulators to help the school save on electricity costs. Sweets and treats were found so children would find something sweet on their pillow when returning to school.

We had only one day to transform the school as best we could. Some in our congregation who were artists went to town painting murals on the dormitory walls. Some who were craftsmen skillfully hung much needed hooks for the kids to have a place for jackets and towels. Even the children of the primary were assigned to sort the sweets into treat bags, and painted boxes the students would use to organize their toys and belongings. Women were put to work filling toiletry bags and sorting toys and clothes. A group of men dug a garden in the pouring rain, planting beautiful flowers for the children to enjoy year after year. Bathrooms were scrubbed, walls painted, new bedding placed on worn mattresses. After hours and hours of work things were coming together. All this was done in the pouring rain, with dozens of children doing their best to be helpful. The effort was monumental.

In the end each of us played a small part in a great task (my part was particularly small since Lucy would not let me put her down and Molly had wanderlust…lost her half a dozen times at least. I was sent out on errands, driving our rented car to the grocery store for forgotten supplies. I ended up with two flat tires and a sick husband trying to jack up the car and pump up the spare, but I digress…). Sunday at church the ward members were happy. Sore and sniffling from hard work and cold rain, but full of unity and gratitude for an opportunity to serve children they would never meet, and in doing so be part of an Africa wide effort to renew, revitalize, and restore local communities. We as the resident non-residents were blessed to play a small part in a large experiment, and even more blessed to witness the truth that is “When ye are in the Service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.”