South Africa Feb 2024

by Betsy Siewert It is always a blessing to spend time with the Mosaic moms. They have so much joy and faith in God.  We had an event for the moms to show them how much we appreciate and love them.   I noticed one of the moms was collecting all the plastic cups and knives from our soap making craft.  She said that her daughter was getting married in November and she needed them for the wedding.   I was able to scavenge and find her more cups, and knives, which we would just have trashed.  She was so happy.   Later, during the meal,  I observed many of mom's eating only a few bites of their meal, or none at all.  They packed away all their leftovers to bring home to their families.  I had no trouble finishing my meal.  These mom's would even ask to take our leftovers home with them.   I tried to throw out my trash from my boxed lunch, and one woman asked if she could have my box.    There was no food lef...

by Becky Brain When the seven of us from Hopewell arrived in Cape Town, we met Deon, a member of the Mosaic staff who kindly picked us up at the airport.  As we neared Wellington and the place that we would temporarily call home, we decided to quickly stop and say hello to the Mosaic ma's.  ("Five minutes!" said Cammy.) By the time we left (five minutes x 3!), it was dark.  We were making the brief trip to the house when I noticed that the traffic lights were not working.  "Load shedding," said Deon. "No power for the next two hours." Load shedding, regular widespread blackouts of electricity supply, occurs in South Africa to prevent the failure of the entire system when a demand for electricity strains the capacity of the country's power generating system.   This blog is NOT a commentary on the rights and wrongs of load shedding.  It's just that the words "load shedding" perfectly describe one of my intentions in preparing for my tri...

by Sherri Jarvis I am often surprised by God's sense of humor and the everyday objects used to teach me something. This week I learned a lesson from lip balm. Since we are long time Hopewell members, I have known about and supported Mosaic since our church community began partnering with them. A number of years ago, Cammy planted the seed for me to travel to South Africa and perhaps be able to share my joy in creating soaps and skin care products.    The timing and the desire to go did not align that year, or for a few years after that, but when a small mission trip was planned for February it seemed that God was really paving the path for me to make the journey.   There are too many stories to share even in my first 6 days here, but one afternoon stands out to me. We were getting ready to make soaps and lip balms with the older mosaic students and mama Estelle asked the students to give their best kissy lips. The room was filled with the sound of smooches. Everyone laugh...

by Karyn Ross It has been a busy first few days filled with many different emotions but none compare to the indescribable joy I feel to be back with my Avodah friends! The welcome I received and their gracious hospitality has warmed my heart once again.  At each meal I am asked to join them (a different table with different members each time) and my place is set with a glass plate, a glass and utensils wrapped in a purple napkin. This is significant because they eat on plastic plates and use disposable plastic plates that are washed and reused. They serve me first and offer me my choice of coffee, tea or water. I am a guest and they make me feel special.  Another leader and I have also had the opportunity to visit several members in their homes as well. Many of these homes are metal shacks with canvas tarps for waterproofing. It is very hot in South Arica right now with temperatures occasionally reaching 100 degrees and the homes get extremely hot inside with little to no air ...

by Lisa Cameron Port Elizabeth has just been beautiful! Our days here have been full, chaotic, and life changing. The conversations we've had with old friends and new are inspiring and hard, loving and complicated, and ones that I will cherish for quite some time.  I was talking to Estelle, the director at Mosaic's Port Elizabeth center, about ways in which visitors like us can go deeper in our support and love for the women at Mosaic, the women who have stepped in to mothering roles for orphaned and vulnerable children.  Estelle's answer came in the form of Pumeza. She introduced me to Pumeza, who freely shared her story of how she became involved with Mosaic.  Pumeza has three children of her own; she lost her brother last year in June and his spouse was addicted to drugs. So Pumeza asked if she could care for his three children. If you're counting, the total number of children is now six. Her younger sister's children were in the care of Pumeza's mother, but ...

 by Katie Siewert, Wednesday, Feb 21 st   Entle [un-tlay], mooi [mo-ye] or pragtig [pra-ti-ga], beautiful [byoo-tuh-fl] - these three words mean “beautiful” in iXihosa, Afrikaans, and English.    Before this trip, I was determined to learn a few words/phrases from both Afrikaans and iXihosa, two popular languages in South Africa. I was nervous to speak these languages with the communities and how they would come across, but I soon realized the importance of putting in that effort and attempting to speak with those around me. I spoke with Estelle, site manager for Port Elizabeth’s Mosaic Community Center, and she was very excited that I was attempting to speak the language of iXihosa with all the children. Although it made me nervous, I know now how meaningful it can be. I said it a few times that day and I had one little girl smile at me so brightly as she knew what I was trying to say. What an incredible feeling!   I also had the opportunity to speak with Judy,...

Nov 2022 - Karyn with Ma's for Wellington Avodah group. by Karyn Ross In just twenty five days I will be heading back to South Africa!  Fifteen months ago, I left a piece of my heart there when I was blessed to be part of a mission trip with our church. I spent my time building relationships with a beautiful group of young men and women with developmental disabilities (Avodah). I expected it to be hard. I expected it to be sad. I expected to leave there feeling that what I had done was not enough, that the need would outweigh anything I could accomplish in my short time there. What I did not expect to find was joy, hope and unconditional love overflowing all around me!  I was a guest in their home and they were the most gracious hosts. In my short time there I fell in love with this beautiful country but more importantly I fell in love with these beautiful souls with the purest hearts. Yes there is poverty, yes they lack resources but they love with wild abandon. They love eac...