Humbled by God
Another month has passed by and we have enjoyed spending December here in South Africa, in much warmer weather. The time spent with family and friends has been so lovely and we are truly thankful and feel so blessed for the time we have been able to spend with them.
We have also been very busy this month with a lot of projects, it has been so rewarding and a privilege to be part of all the work being done. Getting to know and meet all those who benefit from the help and support of the Cuddle Trust . Working with the team is an inspiration as they are constantly full of energy, love and compassion and always looking for new avenues of where help might be needed.
As 2021 comes to a close we have been able to reflect over the year. At the beginning of 2021 we never thought something like this would be an option, we are humbled to be able to see how God has worked in our lives to be able to lead us to be here in South Africa, doing His work and seeing how he works in the lives of those in need. By providing help, food and comfort at times when they are feeling at their lowest, they always give thanks to God and can see how He has helped them in their time of need. A wonderful lesson for all of us to remember to call upon His name and to give thanks to Him in all the ways he works in our lives.
This month we have been working on the following projects:
1. Feeding scheme: A soup kitchen at Green Village, with a food parcel handout:
We have continued to support the community at Green Village. Handing out hot food every second week and a monthly food parcel handout. A God moment for us was at one of the soup kitchen days when a young man came along, with his bowl, near the end of our time there. He was so thankful and grateful for food and said that he and his family had no food left and did not know where they could find food. He asked God and then we turned up. He praised and gave thanks to God that his bowl was now full and that he had food provided.
Leona and Val handing out hot dog food and sweet packs for end of year feeding scheme. God moment is that we never know how many people will turn up but there was just exactly enough hot dogs and sweet packets for each person.
2. Youth project with bible lessons, stories and guidance with the youth at Green Village:
We have continued to support this valuable input to give the younger generation some guidance, hope, Bible lessons and activity. They all seemed to enjoy the evening and we are looking forward to returning. The Green Village community are now starting to recognise the Cuddle Trust cars and come along to the community hall eager to learn about God’s word. We have had a dancing activity with them, followed by a Bible lesson on the good Samaritan. The children were able to win some prizes after a coloring competition. Very thankful to one of Val’s work colleagues who donated some stationery items which the children loved receiving.
A God moment is to remember to be thankful for even the small things in your life and don’t take them for granted. God has blessed us all with so much, even if you have very little.
3. Urgent trip to Kempton Park, Gauteng (Johannesburg/Pretoria area):
It was always planned that we would be going to Gauteng over the next few months but due to Liezl Viljoen (Lucas and Leona’s daughter) being due to have twins very soon, with Lucas and Leona needing to be nearby for support, it became apparent that the only time slot we really could go would be in December. So, with a few days planning,we, along with Lucas and Leona, set off for the 17-to-18-hour drive to Kempton Park. We had a beautiful drive, taking in all the changing scenery and spending valued time in the car with our friends, catching up along the way. Also, the car turned into a traveling office where we were able to fully plan our lists of all the work needing to be done.
An impossible ‘wish list’ was created and we set about completing the list over 5 days (about 3 weeks of work in 5 days), an incredible working team achieving so much. A God moment was the whole trip of how smoothly everything ran and just fell into place. Even with all four of us being unwell, we managed to have the strength to keep going and get the work done. We thank God for looking after us on the roads and ensuring we missed being involved in a very bad fatality accident.
Some of the projects completed:
Stationery packs and end of year gift buying, putting together and issuing these one-off special donations
Congolese church – support with fellowship, Sunday School, lunch and vegetable parcels
Cleaning up and sorting of the Kempton Park meeting room
Taking out the Youth for end of year celebrations and activity and fellowship
Purchasing a fridge to be donated to the Congolese and for the Kempton Park meeting room.
Charles and Val helping with shopping for vegetables for making up vegetable parcels
Val teaching Sunday School at the Congolese Ecclesia
4. Days for Girls making washable reusable sanitary products and supporting local enterprises:
No donation handouts or Enterprise visits this month but lots of planning, packaging and organising of packs to distribute once the P2P/ T2T group have arrived.
Thank-you letters received from previous distributions and training, photos taken to forward on to Days for Girls project.
5. Little Brinks:
Continued support given to this amazing project to help Kathy be able to continue with her incredible work with her home of safety. We have continued with our weekly visits to spend time with the orphaned children, helping them learn through play and get comfort to help them through some of the trauma they experienced.
6. Education container:
The Cuddle Trust have been allowed to use a plot of land on the premises of Little Brinks to have a refurbished container where classes can be held. Michael and Lilandi Furstenburg have been working hard with planning a container conversion to be delivered and set up for use as an education centre.
December saw the container arrive and Charles was able to help with some of the ground preparation work. Once it had arrived it was all hands-on deck for a big shopping spree to get the equipment needed for setting it up.
God moment: seeing the dream and ambition of the Cuddle Trust for an Edutainer arriving in Cape Town becoming a reality. Now named the Fundani centre. Fundani Centre means ‘learning’ and we put the ‘fun’ in Fundani. The benefits and rewards of establishing good relationships with others has meant that Little Brinks agreed for a section of their property to be used for the Edutainer. Seeing how God’s hand works in all the arrangements of the projects is just incredible and faith
The Fundani Edutainer arriving
7. Christ Clean Up coming soon:
December saw the launch of the ‘Christ Clean Up coming soon’ initiatives. We all donned our bright blue t-shirts and met together at Klein baai beach to do a beach clean-up.
God moment: it was inspiring to see how by setting an example and bringing the equipment,others were willing to join in. Lots of little opportunities are created to be able to show our faith and talk about our God and give him praise.
8. Hopefield workshop projects.
Continued support helping with activities and educating people to develop more skills. Helping with Bible story lessons with the younger children. December’s project was making a candle holder, teaching those attending some basic woodwork skills.
8. Ongoing support with ecclesial duties (participating and presenting) and faith strengthening, this includes: talks, sisters’ class, Bible class, exhortations, Bible studies and social linking with brothers and sisters and preaching opportunities. Together with the Cuddle Trust we had an Ecclesial braai (bbq) on Xmas day, Brother Assumani and Sister Bora and their family joined us for the day. It was a lovely day and everyone enjoyed the pool, fellowship and food.
Building and erecting the new shade awning to provide a better work area with protection from the African sun
9. Preparation work for the upcoming P2P/ T2T volunteers and programme:
We are looking forward to meeting the volunteers who are coming out for a two-week P2P programme. Lots of preparation work done getting the accommodation ready, with removal of an old tree stump and erecting a better shade awning so that parcel packing and other work can be done underneath it, shielding from the intense heat and sun.
We had planning meetings to finalize the programme, lots of communications and planning with the communities who we are planning to support.
God moments: seeing how the plans were taking shape and how contacts with the communities were growing and strengthening. Knowing that God has full control of our lives and plans, having faith that he will guide us with the work. Having faith that he will be with Liezl and Hendri Viljoen with the potential arrival of their twins, as it looks as if their arrival will fall in the middle of P2P.
Leona, Lilandi, Liezl, Charles Kotkin-Smith, Stacey Scheepers and Michael Furstenburg
We continue to attend regular planning meetings to discuss ongoing plans and support needs;these are often changing as new projects and needs are highlighted.
Currently we are awaiting the imminent arrival of the volunteers from America, Ben and Hanna Link (currently in South Africa), Seth Thomson, Rebekah Entwistle, Chris Lloyd, Jacob Lloyd and Elia Lloyd. We pray that God will be with them and provide a safe travel. We can see God’s hand at work with lifting some of the Covid restrictions.
We are looking forward to meeting them all and getting to know those coming. We pray that God will bless the plans for the work being done over this period of the P2P.
May God continue to bless all the work being done out here and we ask for his continued grace by providing us with guidance and safety.
All our love in the Lord
Charles and Val
Cape Town, South Africa
