Saturday, November 3, 2018

One Happy Missionary!


South Africa Team 1824 Blog
11-3-2018

“One Happy Missionary!”


My hair was always a mess, I seldom wore make-up, so it’s not the most flattering picture, but it captures my joy!

We met with great success, our South Africa Team 1824! Sandy Hardies' email says we saw 706 people during the week’s five clinics, and gave out 720 pair of glasses, which the South Africans call spectacles. We also gave out two white canes to clients who could not be helped with glasses but whose life might improve with the type of cane used by blind persons in the US.

The very last client to come to my fitting station one day was a young lady whose spectacles did not fit. I mean they really did not fit. What’s more, they were made of thick plastic-coated metal. I could not get them to budge. They were way too small for her face, and way too bulky to alter. I went back to Carol who was packing up the glasses to see if I could get this young lady a pair which I could get to fit properly. The stubborn young lady took one look at the new pair Carol and I found and said, “No. This,” pointing to the hopelessly small ones.

We went back and forth, I called an interpreter, but no matter what she would not budge. I gave up. I packed her chosen spectacles, the ones that would not do her a bit of good, into a plastic bag for protection, handed them to her, told her they were a gift from God because He loves her, and sent her on her way. Bye-bye. So maybe the number 720 above should be 719, reflecting the number of useful pair of glasses we gave out!

I did my best to treat each client with respect and dignity. I didn’t want anyone to see the new spectacles as charity, but as a gift, freely given. So each time I finished a fitting and handed a pair of glasses to a client, I stood, and said their name (if I could). I said, “These are yours. They are a gift from God, because He loves you. May God bless you.” And that was my own spin on the eyeglass clinic!

When I had an opportunity toward the end to train some Caring Friends, I told them to stand, show respect, say the glasses were from God. I watched the faces of the clients light up. It was wonderful, spiritual. A gift to me!

We were told as part of our training that we should embrace the South African culture wherever practical or possible, which we tried to do. There were a few surprises along the way, but it all turned out so good.

LANGUAGE

According to Wikipedia: “The most common language spoken as a first language by South Africans is Zulu (23 percent), followed by Xhosa (16 percent), and Afrikaans (14 percent). English is the fourth most common first language in the country (9.6%), but is understood in most urban areas and is the dominant language in government and the media.”

I learned and used a few Zulu words. The one I used every day, several times a day was sawubona (sow h bow nah). It’s a greeting, meaning ‘hello’ or ‘I acknowledge you.’ I just found out in researching this blog post that ‘sawubona’ is to be used greeting ONE person. I used it willy-nilly whenever I walked in a room where lots of clients were waiting. They usually laughed, which I took to be a good thing. Now I’m not so sure.

When talking to an elder female, it’s respectful to call her either “Mama” or “Koko,” where the ‘k’ sound is very soft, almost like ‘gogo.’ An elder male could be addressed as “Mkulu” (mm koo loo). Also, we all learned Nkulukulu Akubusise, or ‘May God bless you.’

After Zulu, the next most popular language is Xhosa. You know when someone is speaking Xhosa to you, because you hear clicks. I tried, I did, but I could NOT re-create those clicks. I gave up and let my interpreters speak for me when communicating with clients whose primary language was Xhosa.

Afrikaans is considered a daughter language of Dutch. The origins of the Afrikaans language are with the Dutch settlers of South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. It seems to be a combination of Zulu and Dutch speech, and is recognized as one of the official languages of South Africa. The Afrikaaners have their own customs and religion. They are the reason we saw so many road signs in two languages, English and Afrikaans.

Nearly all South Africans speak more than one language. While in the Middelburg area, almost everyone understood some English. Out farther from the city, the interpreters were more important. Many people have a little English at least, and Zulu or one of the dialects. Our driver Knut speaks Zulu, English, Afrikaans and Swedish (his parents’ native language, spoken at home). What a fantastic resource he was for us!

FOOD

Our first stop for food after deplaning in Johannesburg was at a fast food place. It’s not called carry-out; it’s take-away. French fries were called chips. All I had was a large order of chips, thinking I saw ketchup on the tables. Nope. Only barbecue sauce and Thousand Island Dressing, neither of which sounded good to me at the time, so I opted for salt. Except the salt was flavored, and a bit spicy for me! Live and learn.

Tuesday evening we were invited to Bishop Khumalo’s house, where his wife and daughter had prepared a meal for us. I had been told by my husband Phil before I left that I should try everything, so when going through the buffet line I didn’t neglect any of the dishes, but dutifully spooned even the most unrecognizable things onto my plate. 

One thing the Khumalos served was pap (pronounced ‘pup’), which looked like very thick grits. I was wishing for butter or gravy, but there was neither.

Image result for chakalaka and pap
Pap and chakalaka

Next to the pap was a bean and tomato relish called ‘chakalaka.’ It looked kind of like salsa with kidney beans. Onto the plate! When I sat down to eat, I tried the chakalaka. Hoo boy was that ever spicy and hot and burned my tongue! I was happy for the comparatively bland pap, which cooled it down some. I soldiered on, and cleaned my plate. The meal was very good, and we were rewarded with some of Bishop Khumalo’s wine. Lovely!

Everywhere we went, we were offered mushrooms. At David and Jane Hannay’s house, the main course was a delicious chicken dish with mushroom gravy.

The dessert served at the luncheon on Sunday and at both the Khumalos and Hannays was called Malva Pudding. Excellent! It’s a moist ginger-bread type cake, made with apricot jam, and topped with vanilla custard, served warm. I could happily have made a whole meal of it.

Malva pudding

When out to dinner at a restaurant one night, several of our MOST group ordered game, like kudu steak. I did not. My adventurous spirit was wearing thin as far as food was concerned, so I had a nice beef filet with mushroom sauce. I thought beets would be safe, and they looked so good served with blue cheese crumbles, but nope. Spicy hot.

CUSTOMS

During the Sunday worship service, the one that lasted 4 ½ hours (see blog post entitled ‘Safe arrival, wonderful worship’), the ushers brought out little chairs and put them in the aisles. The kiddies moved from the pews to the aisle seats, and sat where their parents could see them. In this way, the children could see everything that was happening, and participate in worship, and still be under the watchful eye of the parents. When there was dancing in the aisles, they danced around or with the kiddies.


This cute little girl was beside us the entire morning, every now and then looking at us and smiling. When I went to use the restroom, she followed me and was waiting outside my door when I opened it. I guess she missed me!

While at Bishop and Mrs. Khumalo’s home Tuesday evening, Sandy, our Team Leader, determined that it was time to go, as we had a pretty busy day coming up. She stood, we stood, we began making our good-byes and thank-yous, until Bishop Khumalo stopped us with an announcement. He kindly told us that in South African culture, when a guest in someone’s home, you must ask permission to leave. I sat back down, as did a few others. After a little while, Sandy had David Hannay speak to Bishop Khumalo, and we were granted leave to go.

This surprising twist on the customary behavior of guests was good to know, as we needed this info in the next few days. We had travelled a long ways to do our clinic in a remote area. We stopped at the home of a doctor of herbal medicine, by far the wealthiest man in the area, to ask his permission to enter this neighborhood, of which he seemed to be the overseer. Permission was granted, and we drove a ways further and set up our clinic.

When the day was over, we hurried to pack up and go, as we were expected at the Hannay’s home that night for dinner and still had a long drive ahead of us. We stopped back at the doctor’s house to ask permission to leave. Then we were told we must each present ourselves to the doctor to show respect. We did so. We entered his house, payed our respects, and were served soft drinks. When I thought we were leaving, we were led to another room and given a plate of food! Knowing the Hannays were preparing dinner, I tried to nibble, but was compelled to clean my plate. I think I had chicken and rice. If not, I don’t want to know.

Happily, there was plenty of time before we arrived at the Hannay’s home, and we all ate again. The food was delicious, the company excellent, and we were sorry to leave when the time came.

A custom I had learned about before we left the US was that men were expected to enter the door before the ladies. But Muzi kept waiting, and asking me to go first. When I explained what I had been told, he looked surprised, and said, “We are modern!” So I gave up.

Late afternoon on Tuesday, Muzi said we were done taking new clients for the day. It takes roughly an hour for one client to go from registration through to fitting, and after seeing our last client we still had to pack everything up into the trailer before we could head for home. He apologized to the people who had been waiting, and asked them to come back in November, the next clinic day at that location. All of the ladies and some of the men complied, but a group of seven men stayed put, and I guess said, “Oh yes we ARE being seen today.” They staged a sit-in! I don’t know why they got their way unless Muzi saw them as his elders, but eventually, all seven of them were seen, and were our last clients that day, which meant we closed a little late.


SURPRISES

On the road to the east from Middelburg, on our sightseeing day Saturday, we stopped for bathrooms and a bit of shopping at what I would call a large roadside vegetable/produce stand. I was shocked to see dozens of zebra pelts for sale, completely covering the two side walls. Knut later told us that the zebra herds must be thinned, so they cull the herd and sell the zebra for steaks and their pelts.

When at the grocery store for supplies, I noticed that several magazines were being sold in two different languages, side by side; Afrikaans and English.

 

Middelburg is in coal country. Large power plants seen on the horizon were thought by us to be nuclear, but were actually powered by coal. Lots of coal mining going on in the area, with large trucks continually transporting coal from the mine to the plant.

You see hardly any wood homes due to the lack of natural forest, and the destructive force of termites. Most homes in Middelburg are brick and mortar, all with high brick walls surrounding the property, topped by razor wire or spikes, and with large electronic gates. We never saw screens on windows, but everywhere the windows and doors had bars.

This was my bedroom window at the Mission House.

Also due to termites, there are no wood fences. I saw pasture fencing I thought was wood; it looked like a tall, thick picket fence. It was actually concrete!

Knut kept us well informed. Whenever there was something we needed to know, or some point of interest, he fired up the microphone in the front of the van so those in the back could hear.

HOME AGAIN!

It was so good to see my husband at the airport when I landed. I couldn’t wait to fill him in on everything, and to be back in my own home and sleep in my own bed.

I don’t think I realized, though, even though I had been told, what an adjustment this would be. Getting back to the US, to our homes and families and usual routines, can require some fine-tuning, not to mention jet-lag recovery!

We’ll each be helped by talking to our individual ‘debriefer.’ This is the person chosen before we left who we would talk it all out with: what was good, what wasn’t; what we experienced physically, mentally, and spiritually; how we would take what we learned and use it in our life going forward.

We also have a bible study given to us by MOST Ministries, called the Re-Entry Bible Study. What God-given skills did we use during our time in South Africa? What are our desires for future mission trips? What limitations might we have discovered? How do we incorporate this ‘mountain-top’ experience into our lives going forward?

Perhaps you’d like to pray for Team 1824 as we make our transition. Perhaps, after reading this blog from a novice missionary, you think you’d like to try short term mission work in the future. If you live an easy driving distance to Ann Arbor, you might like to volunteer at MOST Ministries every so often. If you sew, you could make eye-glass covers. If you don’t, you could make witness bracelets. I can help you with either.

Pray for Team 1824, and also pray that God will lead you to discover how you can be a part of it all. Go to mostministries.org for more information. You can go, you can send others, you can lift the mission teams in prayer, you can volunteer. Pray, and listen, and God will guide you! Sounds easy, but there it is.

One question I was asked several times by Muzi and the Caring Friends, was “When are you coming back?” I said I didn’t know when or if I would be back, but that I would never forget my time in South Africa. Muzi said, “You will be back.” I tried to explain that it takes a good deal of money, and that we are not independently wealthy. That a lot of people, friends and family, donated funds for me to be able to take this one trip. I asked Muzi, "How many times can I go to the well?” He said, “As many times as you thirst.” So I guess we’ll see. God is good, all the time!

Thank you so much for your prayers, your support, your kind comments on the blog and on Facebook. I appreciate each of you so much!

Linda Meier
One happy and fulfilled missionary,
back from the mission field,
ready to see what God has in store for me next

Friday, November 2, 2018

All creatures great and small

South Africa Team 1824 Blog
11-2-2018

"All Creatures Great and Small"


I woke up at 2am again today, having trouble getting myself back on US time. It's 8am in South Africa, so our friends there will be starting their work days. I can't stop thinking about all of them, and of all the experiences our MOST team shared.



By time the sun came up on Sunday, we were on our way to the Kruger National Park for our safari day. I have to admit I wasn't really thrilled. Being in an open-sided vehicle with wild animals around was never on my bucket list. 


            


Here's me, all beige, sitting in the middle seat, so when the feasting began the wild beasts would have plenty to eat before they got to me. The laughing lady is Jean, who had just been caught pretending to be a large creepy crawly thing on my leg.



You can see in this picture that the seats are graduated like movie theater seats so each row can see over the heads of those seated in front of them. In the front were Knut and our safari driver, then a row of 3 seats with me in the middle, then two more rows of three seats each.


Knut explained that the animals look at the vehicle as a whole being, and don't see individual people (entrees) unless we wave our arms out the windows. That made me feel better. Really, they didn't pay us much attention at all, except for the monkeys. There were a couple of lookouts in the monkey family we saw who never took their eyes off us.


Water buffalo


Giraffe


Impala, maybe? They and the antelope are called "fast food."


We must have seen a hundred elephants! My favorite.


Don't remember this guy's name, but he was impressive. Kudu maybe?


It's hard to tell from this pic, but these zebras have brownish stripes in between the black ones.


Lizard on a rock. That's an aloe plant in the background; it was huge.

We also saw a few dozen hippos in a lake (looked like grey rocks), a crocodile, two lionesses sharing an impala for lunch, a leopard sunning on a rock, and lots more. It really was a great experience, especially since everyone in our vehicle made it out unscathed.

God's magnificent creatures on display were an awesome sight, and I'm blessed to have been a part of this wonderful day.

Next blog, I'll share some observations, food, customs, and things that impressed me enough to write them down!

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all!

Glad to be home, but missing South Africa a bit.
Respectfully,
Linda Meier
Missionary

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Nkulukulu Okubusise

South Africa Team 1824 Blog
10-30-2018

“Nkulukulu Okubusise”

Sorry this blog has been missing for a bit. After one very long day when there was no opportunity to write a blog, we moved to another location where we expected internet access but there was none. I’m writing this on the final leg of our journey home; the flight from Washington-Dulles to Detroit. I have so much to tell you!

The last clinic day went off without a hitch on Friday, and we spent a good amount of time making sure the Caring Friends were trained in all aspects of running an eyeglass clinic. You’ll notice in today’s blog pics that the Friends were mostly conducting the clinic, while the MOST team acted in an advisory capacity. Our three-fold plan for this mission trip was 1)spread the Gospel, 2)show God's love by getting eyeglasses into the hands of needy people, and 3)train the Caring Friends team, led by Muzi Khumalo.

This is the eye chart we used for distance vision. The client held their hand in the position the clinician pointed to on the chart. Instead of using letters, we used what we knew they were familiar with; their own hands. A similar, smaller chart was used for close (reading) vision.

Here, Elizabeth is showing a client how to read the chart as part of the vision test.

Muzi is doing the “is this better or worse” test with flippers, while Tebogo did a great job photographing every bit of every day.

The really difficult part of the day came when the clinic was over, the equipment was packed, and we all realized it was time for the missionaries from MOST to say goodbye to Muzi’s group - Caring Friends. I couldn’t believe how close we had grown in five short days, but tears were shed (starting with me).

We all boarded our vans and met at McDonalds for ice cream, after which we headed over to the Caring Friends clinic building we had just dedicated five days before. We left with them all the extra eyeglasses which weren’t distributed during the week, to give them a leg up on building up their inventory.

The goodbye was a long one. They had a special little ceremony for us, where the MOST team from ‘the States’ planted tiny little carrot and spinach seeds near their greenhouse. Planting seeds is what we had done all week, side by side, as we shared love, eyeglasses, and the Gospel with our South African clients.

We had a little surprise for them also, when our MOST team said as a group, “Nkulukulu Okubusise,” which means, “May God bless you.” Aubrey, one of the Friends, taught it to me, and I wrote it out phonetically so we could memorize it - oon koo loo koo loo, ow koo boo see say. The Caring Friends were so surprised and pleased! We all sang together one more time, danced (of course), then the MOST team loaded ourselves into the van and drove away with Knut.

Saturday morning we said goodbye to Charlotte, who was leaving for home earlier than the rest of us. This is her all locked up at the Mission House, waiting for her ride to the airport!


Bye bye Charlotte!

Knut took us on a scenic drive on the way to the Krueger Game Park, with a stop at the town of Graskop for lunch and shopping. Knut then drove us to see the breathtaking God’s Window, and Blyde River Canyon. I thought that Knut was saying we were going to see the Kenyan. I didn’t know who that was, or what Kenyan person he was talking about. But it turns out he was saying “canyon,” so that cleared it up. That South African accent of his threw me off more than once. Here are some photos from the sight-seeing day.

The countryside. These may or may not be macadamia nut trees.


God’s window. Gorgeous!


From L to R at the Blyde River Canyon, located at Mpumalanga: Lynne, Linda, Ruth and Jean.


Surrounding the parking lot were street vendors selling their wares. I bought this batik print the vendor is holding up.

After seeing the lovely sights and doing a little shopping, we checked into our rooms near the Krueger Game Reserve for the next two nights at Aan De Vliet, a country estate. This is the hut I shared with Ruth and Judy - very comfy and cozy! The estate was surrounded by an electric fence to keep out the monkeys, hippos and crocodiles. Yikes.


The huts had no wifi, so another few days with no blog posted. Next blog, I’ll tell you about our Sunday safari, which was amazing. Thanks so much for following along as we’ve tried to do God’s work in South Africa. It’s good to know that so many of you have been interested and excited with us.

Until tomorrow, Nkulukulu Okubusise!

Respectfully Submitted,
Linda Meier
Full Fledged Missionary

Friday, October 26, 2018

Big day...

We’re beat. All is well. Will post in the morning. God is good, all the time!

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Have thine own way, Lord

South Africa Team 1824 Blog #9
10-25-2018

“Have Thine Own Way, Lord”

Wow, what an interesting day! All I can say is, this wasn’t our plan, but it all worked out. This morning we were driven by Knut to a remote locale to the south and east of where we stay.


Here he is! Knut serves us every day as our driver, tour guide, babysitter, restaurant-chooser, heavy-thing-carrier, and friend to each of us. And he makes us laugh. We’d be lost without him, literally and figuratively.

We stopped at a compound on a tree-covered hill. We spent some time at this lovely property and enjoyed the flowers and plantings. After staying for a while, we left, because it was the wrong place.
This tree is called, “Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

I don’t know what this one was called, but it was gorgeous, so I took a pic. I’ll ask Knut later and plug in the name. Jacaranda! Charlotte knew it.

This is the abject poverty surrounding the lovely complex we visited. Heartbreaking. It’s called an informal settlement, meaning there is no electricity, no water in these homes. If they’re fortunate, there may be a communal outhouse for several families to share. If not as fortunate, a trench, which will eventually be filled in with dirt.

When we were told we were at the wrong place, we loaded the trailer back up, and drove to a school. Since school is in session, we’re setting up outside on the road!


Charlotte and Ruth are entertaining the school kids while the rest of us set up. They’re singing all the active vacation bible school songs they can think of, so the kids who have no English can act along!

Ruth Martin is the new Executive Director of MOST Ministries, and although she’s a very experienced world traveler, this is her first mission trip with MOST. She’s not just an observer, though, Ruth works as hard as any of us!

A nice, shady location for Distribution and Fitting!

Muzi and crew are setting up the ‘waiting room!’

Carol is all set to start pulling spectacles, on a lovely spring day with a nice breeze! So unusual to be outside, but not unheard of. I’m hearing of other mission trips with much worse conditions than outside on a breezy spring day!

We always open our clinic with prayer, sometimes a singing prayer. There are some lovely voices in our MOST group, but when we sing with our local friends, Muzi’s group called Caring Friends, there is an added richness to the a capella music!

Our first clients are just now coming over to Distribution, so it will be our turn next. No crock pot, no candle (stiff breeze), so whatever bending needs to happen will be done by brute force and needle-nosed pliers. Will check in later to give you an update.

It’s evening now, and we’re back at the Mission House. The ladies around me are fixing tomorrow’s lunch, so I have to keep writing or I’ll have to help them.

The unusual setup for our clinic today worked great. God’s will for the students at the school we were diverted to was that for those who needed them, they would receive the gift of spectacles. My forefinger and thumb on my right hand are a little sore from man-handling the glasses into shape without adding heat, but all for a worthy cause.

God’s will WILL be done!


Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Thou art the potter I am the clay
Mold me and make me after Thy will
While I am waiting yielded and still
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Search me and try me Master today
Whiter than snow Lord wash me just now
As in Thy presence humbly I bow
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Hold over my being absolute sway
Filled with Thy spirit till all can see
Christ only always living in me

Love to the folks back home!

Respectfully Submitted,
Linda Meier
Missionary (!)