Saturday 29 November 2014
Hopes and Fears ;-)
Thursday 2 October 2014
Chiefs and shepherds
Sam spent yesterday with Morena Moqolobane (in the photo) who is the chief of Mahlasela Pass where the team will be based. He's very excited and had asked to have 2 of the team work and live with him. He knows almost all the shepherds ibn the region and kept introducing Sam to more and more shepherds.
Thursday 25 September 2014
Friday 29 August 2014
Shadowing Shepherds!
The valley (Mahlasela Pass) that we plan to base the team in is currently very quiet with only 2 or 3 shepherds living there because it is the winter. So my most recent trip into Lesotho involved 10 hours of driving to explore new areas that might have a larger winter population, but that is still accessible from Clarens with a passable road.
While no better location was found, the the long trip did confirmed a few things:
1 - Mahlasela Pass could have over 100 shepherds living there in the summer, each with 100 to 200 sheep and goats! There could be upto 7 shepherds in each tiny hut!
2 - Next winter our team can follow their 'host' shepherd to his winter location!
3 - As our team shadow the shepherds, walking, learning and talking they are going to live the most extraordinary lifestyle!
4 - Shepherds are epic! Bear Grylls has nothing on these guys!
This is Thabang (Be Happy). I met him while trying to find a quiet place to go to the toilet! Anyone who knows Lesotho will know that there is nowhere you can be alone. You can stop anywhere and you can be sure a shepherd will appear. What's amazing about meeting Thabang is that he was just outside a small village 50 miles from Mahlasela Pass, but it turned out I'd met him in March 2013 on the survey trip. This was his first time staying in the village for 7 years because one of the cows was pregnant. He showed me the tiny hut he stayed in and where the stock owner he worked for lived. By the time you read this he'll already back at the cattle post in Mahlasela Pass, perhaps for another 7 years without returning to civilisation! While the team wont live at his actual cattle post they will be close by and no doubt get to know him over the 2 years. We pray that one day he may hear the gospel and respond as a result of the work the team will start.
This is Ntsu. He became a shepherd as a small boy in his village, looking after cows, and then at the age of 14 he was sent to the mountains to look after sheep and goats. He shepherds nearly 300 animals and is now 62 years old!! He stays in the mountains summer and winter, lives on his own and rarely goes to a village to get maize. We met him around mid-day and he said he was about 3 hours walk from where he stayed, meaning he had at least another 3 hour walk back that day with the animals, all at an altitude of around 3000m and all on mountainous terrain! "Where I stay there are no roads or villages for hours in any direction" he told us. The thousands of shepherds who live like Ntsu will only ever hear the gospel if the shepherds themselves become a mission minded people. Lets pray that the legacy of this team will one day reach people like Ntsu with the gospel.
Back at Mahlasela Pass, this was my bed for the night. Thankful for my -15C sleeping bag the Shepherds only survive the winter nights by waking every hour or so from cold and then adding more dried cow dung to get the fire going again!
We parked the car at a random little house in the valley, where it turned out the resident couple owned the cattle post we wanted to stay at that night. The lady's sister owned the sheep and goats and she was able to give us permission to base our team at this cattle post which is the largest in the valley. There are 7 huts (motebong) and in the summer they each can have up to 7 shepherds in. 2 of our team will build their own hut at this cattle post.The shepherd we stayed with was 48 years old and has been a shepherd for 40 years. He had no food left, so was thankful for the maize we had with us that he was able to cook and share. We left him the whole bag to keep him going until his supplies arrived!
In the morning we thanked our host for his hospitality as he set out for the day with his 208 sheep and 34 goats and we started our walk back down the mountain to the car.
Happy Birthday Zeke!
Here are some pictures from Zeke's 3rd birthday celebrations, including playing on his favourite tractor, opening presents (virtual reality style, with Grandparents joining in via Skype) and a Land Rover cake!!
Christmas in July!?
Wednesday 23 July 2014
The Bank Job!
Apparently my brother (mentioning no names, but thanks to Luke for the graphics) thinks we might be funding our team through less than acceptable means!-)
On that point, a few of our team members who are arriving mid-September still need financial support to come. If you can help, let us know ASAP (we've done all the banks round here.)
For the original picture see blog entry below or click...AIM's OFM (On Field Media) visit
Bye Birthday Ben
We have enjoyed the company of an Englishman called Ben (not Sam's brother) over the last few months. He's been working at a church in Clarens and has recently returned home to England to go to University and help with a church plant. He came camping with us as well and turned up for many a meal and entertained us all with his stories and facts! Here we are all celebrating his birthday with his favourite meal - Full English Breakfast! (The pink hat is our family birthday hat, not his choice!!) We're missing him already..
Suzanna's Class Visit to our Garden
Each class at Dihlabeng goes on an outing each term, so last term they decided to visit our garden!! We laid on summer camp games which ended up with the boys having water fights! The favourite game (at least for those watching) was crab football, made even more entertaining by the dog jumping on everyone!
AIM's OFM (On Field Media) visit
Thanks to a visit from OFM we have a few good pictures of the shepherds and the mountains. He came at the same time as the Logistics Co-ordinator from TIMO who helped us ensure we where heading in the right direction as we prepare for the teams arrival in September.
Tuesday 22 July 2014
How you know when it's REALLY cold!
Your hand freezes to the front door handle if you don't dry your hands well before leaving the house!
You have no water supply until 11am when the ground supply pipes defrost.
The washing machine is frozen!
Frost in the inside of the windows.
The car has to be kept in the garage to stop the diesel freezing.
Your neighbour takes a photo to prove their thermometer read -17C!
It's a good job the sun warms us up during the day!!
Wednesday 23 April 2014
Alan conquers Horeb
He's not got long to raise all his support so please pray for him as he would be a brilliant team member.
Mt Horeb reaches 2450m (8040ft), but even at this altitude we were around 500m (1650ft) below where the team in Lesotho will be based.
Pilanesberg National Park
A few pictures from our camping trip...
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| Early morning lion on the road for us! |
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| Everyone's favourite! |
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| Close encounters of the elephant kind - Ben's picture was better than mine!! |
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| Rhino's everywhere |
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| Prize for the first person to correctly identify this unique bird. |
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| The longest neck in the animal kingdom (or any other kingdom I guess?) |
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| We did have to regularly stop Zeke chasing the warthogs, baboons, impala and meerkats around the campsite! |
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