Mission trip to Lesotho

Here is a report of an overseas mission trip to Lesotho, organised by 3Rock Youth that Sarah-Jane Taylor participated in.

Background
Ma Neo was a primary school teacher in Lesotho. One year, a pupil of hers was orphaned and she took that child into her family as her own. Year after year, due to economic conditions and diseases such as AIDS, more and more of her students were orphaned. It got to the stage where Ma Neo could no longer work. She decided to give up her job and trust that God would provide for her and her growing family.
The government does not help smaller orphanages financially, however it does provide limited schooling and medical care for orphans. Ma Neos family of orphaned children was still growing and she was struggling.
When Sam and his wife Lehanna currently working with the Durham link charity in Lesotho, heard of what she was doing, they stepped in to help. Currently 3 of the older boys are sponsored for schooling and there is a new home being built for the family.

What the mission group did

We had two jobs to do out there. The first was to build a playground and the second was to run a play program for the children of the Orphanage.
Building the playground:
Children are not children for very long in Lesotho, some of them have to act the role of parents by the time they are aged 7 or 8, looking after younger brothers and sisters while others have to work from a very early age just to eat.
It was such a privilege to be building a place for these children where laugher would be common place. We bought large wooden poles, loads of nuts and bolts, a circular saw and with a bit of creativity the team came up with the playground design. After working on it over the two weeks we completed it on the last day of the trip.
We were all really proud of our work and privileged to dedicate the playground to the memory of William Day a member of the 3Rock youth team. The playground is on the grounds of the new orphanage, which is about a month and a half from completion. We can’t wait to see the photographs of the children when they get to the new house and see all the space they have, and the playground. It was really exciting to get to do some physical work and create something which the children would get so much fun out of.
Running the daily children’s programme:
The other project we got involved in was running a daily children’s programme with the family. We had bible based puppet shows, crafts, games and songs. It was amazing to watch the children sit so quietly and take in the stories and then line up for their craft materials. It was also very humbling to watch the adults who worked in the orphanage get in line too for their craft materials.

Some reflections:
A typical wage in Lesotho is 2 per day. The people work 12-14 hour days for this wage. The adults who worked in Ma Neo’s Orphanage simply worked for food. These adults don’t have much, so it was a pleasure to sit with them and help them cut out and glue their crafts too. We fell in love with the children there and everyone in the team got stuck into the play and work.
There were so many high-lights of the programme. One was when we got to sit with the children and paint their nails. For a brief moment I got to sit down and all barriers dropped, culturally, economically, everything gone. Here I was sitting with a child of God, holding their little hand as they sat quietly with a huge smile on their face, painting their nails. The boys wanted to get involved too, and Greg sat with them and put some paint on their nails too. It was quite a thing to see children who had no notions about what is acceptable for boy and girls. They just wanted some affection. I was reminded of a quote from Tony Campolo, “If you can’t love that child in front of you who you can see, how are you supposed to love a God that you can’t see?”
It was so encouraging to watch the team loving these children.
There were loads of times with the kids where we could sit and chat, some of them had excellent English. There was also plenty of opportunities to pray for them. But my favourite part of the trip has to be the birthday party. The children of the orphanage didn’t know their birthdays, and so had no birthday parties. The team got presents for them - some small toys and good shoes. We brought fruit, crisps and music. The children’s and adults faces lit up with enormous smiles as they each received a wrapped gift. The excitement was huge, and that was just looking at the faces of the team. We were given a performance of native dances and songs and we danced with the kids. Neighbours children joined in the fun and there was such a great community feel to it all.

I asked Ma Neo what would she like most of all. She said “courage”. I had to take a breath. I couldn’t believe this amazing woman, living on the side of a mountain raising these beautiful orphans as her family with little to no resources and she wanted courage. It brought her reality back to me with a bang. The week before we arrived one of the orphans was taken from the house, kidnapped. Thank God she turned up the following week in another orphanage. Keep her in your prayers.
Also one of Ma Neo’s current neighbours is not happy with her living in her current house, and verbally lets her and the children know as much. She faces so many difficulties but she is such an amazing woman with a beautiful family, with an amazing faith. Alex asked her what she thought of her new house and she replied It’s like a dream my children are happy, I’m happy. A huge thank you to all our parishes and friends who so generously supported the team financially and prayerfully. The children and Ma Neo send their thanks and love to you. We are currently working with Sam in Lesotho to put together profile of the children and are looking for individuals to sponsor a child, helping out with food, clothing and schooling. Please keep an eye on 3Rock youth website for details of this. Seeing first hand the difference that can be made is incredible.
Susan and I and are hoping to return Easter 2008 with a group of young people.

The team comprised Greg and Alex Fromholz, Susan Connolly, Sarah-Jane Taylor, Geoff Wharton, Scott Evans and Jude Barry.