Not only are we amazed by the gorgeous sights of yet another country we are privileged to visit, but we are experiencing some unbelievable people-sights as well. We're not talkin' celebrity sightings...although I may get weak in the knees if I spot Bono across the street!
We are thoroughly enjoying getting to know the folks involved in Kiltonga Christian Centre and The Storehouse. The Storehouse is an inter-church initiative giving immediate help to those in need, regardless of their faith or if they have any at all. In Manitoba, we would call them a Food Bank. They work solely on donations and volunteers, two afternoons a week, making up packages of canned food and dry goods, to be delivered to those struggling to make ends meet.
However, sometimes food hampers would be delivered to a home that had no table or chairs to eat the food at, nor dishes to eat the food out of. Herein, enter some folks at Kiltonga Christian Centre. They are a church congregation that meets on Sunday mornings and evenings for what some of us may call traditional worship and spiritual feeding times. But, as some of them put it, there is more church going on during the week. One of their ministries is to run the area of The Storehouse/warehouse that handles donations of furniture, appliances, clothing and household items. They spend five or more days a week collecting donations of these items, sorting and testing, and then furnishing up to ten houses or flats a week for free. They describe it as "plugging gaps in the social welfare system".
Kiltonga congregation meets in a former leisure centre with much space to use for all kinds of other unique ministries. Just to name a few: they provide space and cater coffee breaks for conferences and meetings for health and charity organizations like the Diabetes Association, for example. They have Craft Day once a week, where people of all abilities can come and make cards, get their nails painted, or paint some reclaimed furniture for themselves or to sell for charity. There are also squash courts that can be rented and a ballet teacher that runs her studio classes out of the Centre. For that bit of traffic that comes through, there is a wee shop in the Centre that sells some of the gently-used wares (clothing, jewellery, dishes, small furnishings).
How are we helping? Emery and Braden spend most of their time at the Warehouse ~ all 70,000 square feet of it!
Emery has been testing and prepping washing machines, fridges and stoves. To give you an idea of the size of this operation, he has finished about 15 appliances and isn't half done, as every day more appliances are added to the pile.
Braden's favourite part is riding on the van with Campbell (our gracious host), helping load and unload, pick up and deliver.
The girls and I get to do something different almost every day. It is very rewarding packing grocery hampers at The Storehouse. It is like grocery shopping for someone else, where everything on the shelves is free! I get goosebumps watching my girls carefully pick out which soup or which shower gel this "Single Adult Female" might like in her package.
We, of course, LOVE Craft Day as well and have started a few painting projects. They won't fit into our suitcases to take home, but we hope they will bless someone else who may not have had the time or opportunity to make these reclaimed beauties.
Helping with coffee breaks is a pleasure (I'm even learning to run the espresso/milk frother machine <insert small squeal of delight here>!). Other days we have been spring cleaning at the Centre, and just helping out wherever we can.
When you look around, and have the time, it's easy to find ways to bless people, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in bigger ways. I remember Emery and I discussing this before we left home in October. We said then that this year might be more about us blessing the workers who are over-worked in their ministries, help them out to lessen their load, and give them an encouraging boost so they can continue their work long after we are gone. We are rather enjoying the backstage work, feeling
we are getting our socks blessed off.
