Mdumbi

Mdumbi, Wild Coast, South Africa
Feb 9-16, 2008

"Wish You Were Here..."


Knowing Yourself: Part II Getting to know more about our personalities, spiritual gifts, passions and abilities and lots of Bible Study. Note: The classroom this week was a thatched-roof hut, not the average day of university but no shortage of learning!
We had lots of time this week to sit back and evaluate what God is at work doing in our lives, and also chances to have our community speak into our lives and share how they have seen us grow this year... what a great week!
The girls stayed in one big room, which fondly became known as the orphanage... here they stop to pose for their morning prayers... oh the drama it's really not a hard knock life afterall!
Here Justin and Tiffany finish up their book reports on the beach.
The view of the Indian Ocean from Mdumbi Backpackers... our home for the week.
And what's a day at the beach without trying to surf or booggie board.

Here Darren strikes a pose on his way down to the ocean to catch some waves

The Grand Champion Sand Castle Competition winner... okay just the product of a few hours on the beach!
Jen seems to have found a few sea shells on the beach Johnny playing a bit of soccer on the beach.

Brittany, Tiffany, Julia... just another day of life on Outtatown!
Megan + the beach = a great early morning quiet time.


Happy Valentines Day Outtatown Site Three
Dana, Kim, Megan, Stephanie - Happy Valentine's to you all from Site Three!!!
Here Kristi, Dave and Rachel were nominated by the group to be the "most-opposite/most-unlikely couple". So in good fun the three of them were tied together for the evening.
Riel, Ryan and Carissa enjoying the evening.
Sarah, Kyle, Brent and Julia line up to get their food.
Amanda, Stephanie and Tiffany enjoying another candle-light dinner, and the fun that comes with Mdumbi Backpacker's creative candle art!
Justin and Reuben prepared a plethora of Valentine's songs for the group, featuring the good the bad and the ugly aspects of romance. They had the whole Site rolling with laughter at their songs.

Day Hike!
We took advantage of the beautiful scenery of the Wild Coast (which earned this name for its reputation of causing a number of shipwrecks) and went on a day hike. We hiked along the beach, forged accross a river, and hiked through Xosha (African Tribes of people) homes. It was breathtakingly beautiful and a great outting. We were hoping to do some cliff jumping, but the tide was too high so instead we enjoyed the view with both feet firmly planted on the ground!

Our favourite bus driver "Baba" Stefanes joins us for a hike. He has become a very important member of our group and we are thrilled when he joins in with whatever we are doing!
Riel, Ryan and Dave about to enter the cave.
na...na...na...na...na...na... BATCAVE!

Durban Home Stay Week

Indian Host Family Week
Durban, South Africa
Last week we stayed in Durban with Indian Host families and the chance to live right with them! Many of us experienced tasty Indian food with lots of curry. Some of the girls borrowed Saris from their host mothers and wore them one day.
During the week we visited several museums, an Islamic Mosque, and a Hare Krishna Temple. We also went to a home, called the Aryan Benevolent home, for the day to spend time with the residents to spend time with them and talk to them. It was a home for people with no where else to go, many of them had physical and mental disabilities, and some where children without parents.
We had been told that touch means so much to these people so Brittany started giving hand massages. As first they weren’t thrilled, but as soon as one lady embraced it more people wanted one too! I sat on one lady’s bed (as they were supposed to be having naps), and gave her a hand massage. She was very good at interacting and we had a really good conversation about her family, and her life before she was sick. She turned out to be a very strong Christian too. She told me that she prayed and fasted all the time, and that she loves God so much. It was really encouraging to see this woman still have a huge heart for God even though she was in a home like this one.
It was hard for us to only be there for a day, and we felt unhelpful. But we were reminded that the love we gave is such an important action for the people in the home. We are continuing to pray for the people we made small relationships with.
Submitted by Hannah Weber

Hannah, Stephanie and Ryan in front of the Indian Ocean!

Brent, Libby and their Sister for the week.

Lunch Break!

mmm mmm curry, here we were having a great lunch at a mosque after a tour.

Stephanie with her host family

Tiffany and Dave chill with some kids

Justin correctly identifying yet another species of South African flower.

Ryan, Riel, Reuben and Libby

The ladies all dressed up in Saris

Aryan Benevolent Home, and the people we met and spent the day with.

Kim made a new little friend!

White Water Rafting

Near Durban, South Africa

Rafting was such an incredible experience. I was in the mood for adventure so when Dave asked if anyone wanted to be his partner I spontaneously said “yes”!
We drove down some pretty crazy rural roads before we reached the river, where the rapids were. There were two six-man rafts and 5 two-man rafts. Dave and I grabbed a two-man raft and headed down the rapids.
In the middle of the second set of rapids we tipped over and we rode down the hardest rapid of the day on our backs! It was a lot of fun, but kind of scary because we were grasping for breath. The guides had told us earlier in the day, to sit back and enjoy the ride down the river if we were to fall out, that was good advice!
It was quite the adrenaline rush. Dave and I made it successfully down the rest of the rapids.
One of the guides tipped in another set of rapids and went for a swim… along with our lunch, thus the treasure hunt ensued. We found a few bottles of pop floating down stream, and a container of lettuce, which we thought would be our whole lunch. But thankfully most of it was safe and sound (and mostly dry) with another guide in a different raft. So when lunch time came around we were so grateful to see the food.

Here we are enjoying the "lunch-we-thought-we-lost"

Sully and Johnny catch their breath after another big set of rapids.

Sully and Rachel enjoying the calm water and the warm sun

Tessa and Ryan found the best seats at the front of the six-man rafts... lots of air time and big splashes!


Hannah and Dana loving it!

Rachel, Stephanie, Megan and Ryan... the big smiles say enough!
After five hours of rafting in the South African sun we boarded the bus, tired yet satisfied and carried on our way.
Submitted By Brittany Abrahamson

Hiking in the Drakensburg Mountains

“God isn’t jus beautiful- He is beauty itself”
I recently read this, but witnessed it first hand this past week while hiking in the Drakensburg mountains. Although we all may have memorized the person in front of us, -shoes, ankles and calves- from walking single file along the never ending path, once we looked up, the beauty we were surrounded by was breathtaking.

After seeing the height of the peak we climbing to and learning my next two nights would be spent in a cave, I have to say I was quite nervous. But once we headed out with beautiful weather I knew God would provide. Not only did he supply us with amazing weather, but he also gave us the strength and endurance we needed to reach Rhino’s Peak- our final destination. When I reached the peak I was blown away by the beauty of God’s creation- it was indescribable! What also hit me once we reached the peak was a major sense of personal accomplishment. Never would I have guessed I could climb 3000 meter mountain! But I didn’t do it alone- God was beside me the whole way supplying me with energy I didn’t know I had, as well as my fellow site members as a constant source of encouragement. This hike opened my eyes up more the beauty of God and His faithfulness to supply our needs.

Submitted by Kim Ball


For the hike we split into two groups. The first group had quite the adventure hiking in the rain for the first day, but we didn't get discouraged. The second day we hiked to the summit only to find a cloud keeping us company blocking the view of the valley below. It was still an amazing hike for us all!

Here the second group soaks in the sun and the view from the summit as they stop for a well-earned lunch break.

It was hard not to feel like we were on an epic journey such as the "Lord of the Rings"!

Here the guys take "team-building activities to a new height"

And the view...

Project Gateway

Pietermartizburg, South Africa
Project Gateway
It’s amazing what a dozen people can accomplish in tow day. While in Pietermartizburg we were divided into two groups and had a chance to do a bit of service work at Project Gateway, which is the place we stayed at for a week. It is an old prison that has been converted into a hub of different ministries and programs, run by the local church, which teach the needy and help those in Crisis.
Our group’s task was to empty an old workshop. In the morning we were led to a building that had not been used in years. Inside there were cabinets full of every conceivable item; piles of wood and lots of random junk all of which was covered with a thick layer of sawdust. We spent the day hauling everything outside and sorting it into different piles like “the garbage pile”, “the useful pile” and “the who-knows-what-pile”. Some of the things we found in that mess were funny, like an old computer, jewellery, a few Bibles in Zulu, too many used tea bags to count and even a little coffin.
Working through the African heat of the day was exhausting but by with a lot of hard the building was empty by the end of the afternoon. The second day wasn’t nearly as hot because we spent it cleaning the room by hosing down the rafters and scrubbing the walls and floors.
We could not believe the change that half our group had made in such a short time. It was now possible to see that this building could e used for something new and the staff at Project Gateway thanked us again and again for our work. We were all too happy because they gave us fantastic hospitality all week, and now we’ve seen what a gift a few hours of work can be. The work we did helped the full time staff to continue to creative positive changes in their community as they work with those in great need.

Submitted by Jen Bergsma