For God so loved the world that He gave...



the Friday crew

 Building on Faith in Mfuleni



What a fantastic opportunity to Build on Faith with Habitat for Humanity last week. The weather started out cool and damp but soon became sunny towards the end of the week. We successfully completed building a new home for Richard and Nosiphelo by the Friday afternoon.

Nosiphelo, a mum of 2 daughters explained that she had been waiting for her own home for 8 years since first moving to Mfuleni. On joining the Habitat for Humanity project a few months ago, she's finally able to see this dream realized. Volunteers were mostly from the His People congregations and an awesome volunteer from Germany, with 2 or 3 volunteers from other churches pitching in to lend an extra hand. Our crewleaders for the week were Victor and TK who resides in Mfuleni.

Habitat for Humanity have built a relationship of trust with the residents in Mfuleni over the years and the houses built are easily distinguishable in the community. Residents are very delighted with their houses, so much so, that a Habitat for Humanity house has not been sold in all the years they've been building! 

 
Hard Work!

  

William





Dot



 


 

The week consisted of some VERY hard work. Volunteers were mixing cement, carrying bricks, painting window and door frames, placing roof tiles and hammering them into place. Definitely not for the fainthearted!










Ann

 





Ken





 


mixing cement

 

Maurice, Alex and Msizi

I had an opportunity on the last day to climb up onto the roof. (My plan was to go up there to take some pictures. When I got there though the builders really made me work!) I looked out across Mfuleni and it was quite a sight to see so many red roofs where there had been shacks before. 

   



Our theme for this year was based on John 3 v 16; 'for God so loved the world that He gave...'  We were reminded that giving is God's act of unconditional love towards us and were encouraged to follow in His footsteps by giving of ourselves this week. We started each day with a Habitat war cry reflecting that as participants we were declaring war against inadequate housing.



A highlight for me was the closing ceremony at the end of the week. I watched as excited new homeowners expressed their deep gratitude to the volunteers for their efforts during the week. I noticed tears, from both the homeowners and some of the volunteers. A visiting volunteer from the UK also told of how deeply he was touched by the warmth and the welcome he experienced from the community of Mfuleni. The week definitely was a significant one for many.

Below: Victor handing over the keys to Richard and Nosiphelo, expressing a big thank you to them for affording us such a magnificent opportunity to give. A big cheer followed because this family now has a decent place to live!   



 


the completed house



Time to Build...

Mfuleni, meaning the 'place by the river', is home to about 25 000 people. This township, about 30km from Cape Town, is situated on the east bank of Kuils River.

The street scene below shows some recently built houses but there are still some residents living in informal dwellings. This situation exposes residents to unsanitary living conditions and increases incidence of disease in both adults and children. Nosiphelo says: ... "it isn't right living in a shack."

One such resident is Nosiphelo Mcaphayi who has been staying in Mfuleni since 2003. She has 2 children, aged 4 years and 19 months. She's waited this long for a home due to delays with another housing project that she joined. Finally now able to join with Habitat for Humanity, we'll be building a house for her this month. She says that even though she was one of the first to erect a shack in that section of Mfuleni, she'll be the last one on her street to receive a house. Here are a group of volunteers praying for her on the day we went to dig foundations.



A picture of the shack Nosiphelo's looking forward to moving out of soon!

 

Volunteers Maurice and Godfrey - armed with spades and working hard!



Adrian



Heloine

We'll be building Nosiphelo's house in Mfuleni from the 12th to 16th Sept. If you'd like to volunteer, get your hands dirty and join us Building on Faith, please contact me at english_tracy@hotmail.com.