Kimberley and Kuruman news archive

Affirming the Link

Deddington News - November 2006

Furthering our links with the diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, in particular with the parish of the Church of the Resurrection, Mmabatho, the villagers of Deddington, Clifton, Hempton and the Barfords all extended a very warm welcome to eighteen visitors for ten days last month. The Rev Herman Ndlovu and his wife Rosina, Mike, Asnath, and their daughter Refiloe (Kelly), Hilda, Rhoda, Edith, Naledi (Star), Libby, Nancy, Patty, Nono, Glenice, Gloria, Hans, Kitty and Elizabeth all expressed thanks and delight at the generous hospitality and the programme of events provided. This programme included Church services and hospitality by all four villages, a coach trip to London, a skittles evening, an Oxford visit, visiting George’s farm and our Primary School. The purpose of the visit was to affirm the link with Mmabatho, and also provided an opportunity to receive an update on the AIDS/HIV project, which they as a parish initiated and to which Deddington Church had already made a financial contribution. An informal “thank you and evaluation” meeting was held on 17 October. Two members of Deddington Church went to the dedication of the Church of the Resurrection’s new church building on 29 October and the beginning of the conversion of the old church building into the ambitious new HIV/AIDS centre for young children, of which the plans can be seen in Deddington Church.

Annette Murphy

TWO LADIES FROM MMABATHO
Last month, in connection with the Living Room Project, Edith Seleke and Rhoda Thambe - or to give them their South African names, Diketo and Nomendu - were my guests. They had known each other from schooldays - both retired nurses, now in their early sixties, both married to policemen but now widowed, both with four children and  urgeoning grandchildren. A lifelong friendship then, that meant they preferred to share a bedroom and recounted events in perfect harmony, Edith speaking vividly, Rhoda adding quieter comments. We began each day with grace. Not a scant, ”For what we are about to receive.” As a buttoned-up English Christian I was almost envious of the natural way in which God entered into every aspect of their lives. Breakfast frequently ended with impromptu and harmonious hymn singing, before the washing-up was
firmly taken out of my hands. They enjoyed almost everything – sightseeing, hospitality, skittles, long conversations around the kitchen table. And shopping. On their free day I had proposed a trip to Blenheim Palace. As we drove off Edith said, “Kristin, we go back to Banbury first, yes?” The market stalls were then ransacked for jewellery, diaries, purses. A rosary was tracked down in St. Mary’s Church. Football kit was a priority, with a red England team shirt the prize acquisition. We never did make it to Blenheim.
I shall remember Edith’s elaborately plaited hair, their meticulous ironing, their pleasure at being invited out to meals, both of them magnificent in African dress. I shall remember their courtesy. Most of all I shall remember the heartfelt singing, both during church services and around the house. Not my job to comment on the wider implications of the visit. I simply enjoyed the company of two splendid women.

KT

Support for the poor

First published in "The Door" magazine

DURING a recent trip to Kimberley and Kuruman, the Revd Dr Hugh White got first hand experience of some of the projects your sponsorship cash could support.

He visited a Peer Education Centre in a town named Taung, run by a priest named Father Elia Bokala.

In November the Door reported how the Revd Charlotte Bannister-Parker, Bishop’s Advisor on Diocesan Links, worked at the centre during a three-and-a-half month trip to K&K.

The centre organises the training of young people aged 14 to 25 to teach them about HIV/AIDS and its avoidance.

An under-resourced centre for disabled young people in a town called Ritchie, was also on Dr White’s itinerary. ‘It was struggling for funds because it hadn’t received what it should have had from the Department of Social Services. There was a feeling that in Kimberley city people got what they were supposed to get from the state, but out in this smaller place, about half an hour away, they didn’t,’ he said.

‘The premises this project occupies are not owned by the project and may be taken away. The people there have so much commitment and very few resources. They are very enterprising.’

Dr White said the Mothers’ Union is a powerhouse of activity within the church in K&K. He was also touched when he met Father Russell Visser, of St Augustine’s in Kimberley.

‘Father Russell’s church is involved in a social support project for the whole of the neighbourhood. They provide clothing and food parcels for people in need.

‘I also visited Batlharos, near Kuruman, where a home-based care project sends women to visit families in need in the locality, providing them, for instance, with vegetables from a vegetable garden cultivated by the project.’

A recently initiated project is the Cathedral School in Kimberley, which has reopened after closure during the apartheid years. Dr White said: ‘Genuinely multi-racial, it has a focus on the performing arts. It is hoped that Oxford may be in a position to provide bursaries to support poorer children at the school.’

The link between the Oxford Diocese and K&K was set up in 1993. It followed the 1988 Lambeth Conference when dioceses were encouraged to set up such links.

Click here for "the Door" website and back issues.

Year of celebration as school hits 150th year

Reproduced with the kind permission of the Banbury Guardian.

Visit by members of the Moulsford congregation to the Kimberley and Kuruman Diocese January – February 2009

In late January we set off from Moulsford (UK) with temperatures of -4oC to arrive in Kimberley (SA) the following afternoon in brilliant sunshine and temperatures of 35oC - quite a contrast! Having been met at the airport by David Morris, Churchwarden at St Cyprians Cathedral, we drove back into the town and observed with considerable interest that the area immediately on leaving the airport had been developed with a new RDP township and the landscape of plastic bags seen on our former trip in 2007 was no longer evident. The administrative planning for our visit was still being ‘prayed about’ but we were taken to the Deanery and installed under the care of Gladys, who was very kind in making us quickly feel at home. We were initiated very quickly into the security systems as Breyan mistakenly operated a switch for one of the alarms… much noise followed by a call from the security firm to check if we were being burgled!!

There were several aspects of our visit to Kimberley. We planned to call at the hospital and catch up with nursing colleagues; the cathedral to explore with the Head of the newly opened Grammar School their interest and scope for linking with one of the Moulsford schools; to catch up with friends, sing in the choir and attend worship; to go up to Vryburg ,our parish link, to discover something of the socio health issues, to see the progress of the church re-build and to develop meaningful relations to help us to work, learn and share together.

The Cathedral Grammar School.
We were warmly received by the new Principal and her husband- Anne and Mervyn Solomon, who allowed us to interrupt their busy schedule on several occasions and to met with some of the pupils and staff. We were very impressed at what had been achieved in the two weeks since the start of term….School motto and song, weekly news letter for parents and the Friday concert which were privileged to attend. We were interested in particular at the wide diversity in the backgrounds of pupils made possible through generous benefactors, donations and sponsorships. We explored potential links with a school (Cranford House) in our village, which also has a focus on Music and Performing Arts. Since returning to the UK we have given a presentation to the Senior School which was enthusiastically received and the School sent an e-mail to the Dedication Service. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a very fruitful relationship.

Vryburg (pop. 65,000) -St Philips, Huhudi: Moulsford (pop. 500) – St John the Baptist
Fr Tong, the parish priest, was clearly very excited at the prospect of a visit from two overseas strangers who seemed to be aware of his patch. (Fr Tong worked full time as a head teacher in a school 90 km. from Vryburg leaving home on Sunday afternoons returning Friday evening to carry out his spiritual and pastoral responsibilities over the weekend.) The Archdeacon and his wife- Drake and Hope Tshunkeng kindly offered accommodation and therefore, full of excited anticipation, we set off from Kimberley at 07:00 on a very warm and sunny morning with our African midwife friend Suzie. We had invited her to come along as she spoke some of the African dialects we had been told to expect, and because she had a passionate interest in social health issues in which Hope was heavily engaged.

After welcoming hospitality at the Archdeaconry we set off to see St Philip's church and were amazed to see the progress that had been made since being given a postcard of a small almost derelict church by Fr Brian Beck in 2007. The roof was on, foundations for the floors laid and the brickwork was up to the windows. The building was now of sufficient size to meet the worshipping needs of the congregation and to provide areas which could be used for other activities- children's needs, the blind, community activities etc. There was great awareness that 'we live once and so must leave a footprint'. Earlier debts had been cleared and the congregation was moving forward as and when they had the funds available. We heard how they were raising funds to support the building programme but were really impressed at how much such an impoverished community could achieve with so little material resources - what commitment!

Amongst a very full two-day schedule of visits, we had time to visit four families in the township: two were blind from diabetes and cataracts and lived with daughters; a lady of 89 who walked with great difficulty aided by a strong stick and who was bringing up her two grandchildren following the deaths of parents from AIDS…she looked so frail that one wanted to gather her up and look after her; a grandfather responsible for his grandsons of 11 and 15 in similar circumstances. We were brought face to face with the moral dilemma of countries, such as the UK, using the skills of South African doctors/surgeons so desperately needed in their country of birth.

We had several sessions with key members of the church exploring ways of working together to support the church building and, of equal importance, how the Huhudi and Moulsford congregations could grow their Christian faith together. Inevitably, time was spent on financial issues. We were impressed at the administrative processes established by Fr Tong and his Committee and were pleased that the congregation in Moulsford had been able to assist, in a small way, with the re-building of the church. Our major discussions, however, centred around spiritual matters and the creation of a 'vision of hope' for the next three years with the development of a shared prayer ministry being a key focus. An encouraging start has been made with the writing and exchanging of a prayer each month for use by both congregations at Sunday Mass…we look forward to seeing where the Spirit will lead us in the coming year.

A most memorable part of our visit was the opportunity to join the congregation in Huhudi in worship…..very different from the UK and an uplifting experience. The singing was in Tswana or Xhosa and soared out over the area as the walls of church remained at present open to the elements. The Peace was an amazing display of witness and joy- singing, clapping and dancing. The service after the post communion prayer became an exchange of greetings to us and we were invited to talk with the congregation. We explained the purpose of our visit and hopefully the mutually beneficial relationship we were keen to develop. We handed over the blankets made by the young people of Moulsford, a scrapbook of our church's year. There was much clapping and singing as they expressed their appreciation. Suzie was invited to also speak and used the opportunity, after she had recovered from the shock, to speak of her work related to safe HIV/AID health and mother-craft practices. After this exchange the service closed with blessings and singing which appeared not to want to stop, some two hours after the worship began.

We welcomed the opportunity to learn about the work Hope Tshunkeng and others undertake to support people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS….the garden initiative, craft activities and care support…..resulting in the Moulsford congregation making this a prime focus during Lent.

In conclusion: we were humbled by the warmth of our greetings; amazed at what people can achieve with few resources; the strength of Christian commitment despite the huge social and health challenges. Reluctantly we left with lots of hugs and hopes for future trips, working opportunities and sincere thanks to them all for making our visit so special.

Spotlight on Christmas

In Kimberley we join our Christian siblings in the Northern hemisphere singing renditions of  In The Bleak Mid-winter,  writes the Rt Revd Ossie Swartz. And we do so while wiping copious beads of sweat from the brow because it’s almost 40 degrees Celsius over here, which means there’s unlikely ever to be a white Christmas for us.

When Christmas arrives we have already been bombarded by amplified strains of Christmas carols and all shapes and sizes of Father Christmases beckoning us to part with our cash in the department stores. On that level, the commercialism of Christmas here is hardly different from in other parts of the world.

But Christmas is a family time for us in South Africa. It is one of the occasions when Ubuntu comes into its own. Ubuntu is a South African philosophical concept that empasizes the importance of community, sharing and generosity. We visit each other and on the day you are quite likely to be part of a extended family gathered around a laden dinner table.

Ah! The fare.  Not exactly what you would have on your table in England  Brussels sprouts? Not likely! Turkey? Definitely, yes, in many homes.  But we will also have a choice of gammon along with all the meats that will grace our table.
It is a day for feasting, for fun and fellowship.  We go absolutely mad in selecting presents and some of these are exchanged after the midnight service. We then do the rest of the exchange of presents when we meet for the great Christmas lunch – usually at Granny’s or the home of  another matriarch who represents family unity.

Christmas is a wonderful time of celebrating with lively worship services that can go on for several hours.  We also decorate our homes, switch on the fairy lights and make it such a festive occasion.  We bring on the mistletoe, but we don’t really go for the kissing bit!
My favourite moment comes after the hurly-burly and mad dash for presents, when I sit in the Cathedral and it’s all nice and quiet.  The mad world has come to a stop and suddenly the strains of Once in royal David’s city fill the church.  The glorious service of nine lessons and carols is underway – Christmas is here! “Tis the season to be jolly”, yes, but much more a time to hear again the exhortation for us to “hush the noise, ye men of strife and hear the angels sing …”