Sunday, September 11, 2011

This morning's drive through the dusty streets of Thabong, dodging chuck holes, avoiding the walking multitudes, passing beer-drinking African men, ended at a neat little brick building surrounded by the usual fence -- a not-so-effective fence, I must say. Someone has been breaking a window panel to sleep inside.

Whatever misery permeated the alleys outside the walls, the joy of the Lord infused the family meeting within. Our worship, interlaced with exuberant songs in Sosotho and English and accompanied by rhythmic beating on a Bible, a tambourine, and a police whistle, began with corporate prayer, testimonies, and spontaneous solos.

Pastor Franz Manaka opened God's Word with fervor and truth, teaching from Romans 2:6-10. He preached in English, which a church member translated into Sosotho.

This afternoon Dave, Don, Phil and the boys toured the world outside our gates, looking at the mine dumps, the old shafts, the buildings being dismantled, and the evidence of the gold pirating that is increasingly a menace to the area.

I've attached a photo of a couple Zama Zamas. Thousands of unemployed migrants from Lesotho come into the area between Johannesburg and Welkom, risking their lives in the illegal gold trade.

At this time an fight between two rival syndicates has grabbed the attention of the police and the media. Fifteen men were executed, bodies thrown down a mine shaft. Follow this connection to a two-year-old article from the UK that clearly describes what is happening: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6850786.ece


This gold piracy represents another eruption of evil that continues to ooze from the gold mines -- unwed mothers, malnourished and abandoned children, HIV, pain...

How refreshing to drive through the gates of The Pines, walk the halls to the sound of laughter, see chubby, cheeky children who were expected to die, and see God at work through the hands of His people.

Judy Steenwyk