A thought for Christmas!

Christmas has very much been put into perspective this year... last week we gave out Christmas parcels to the widows that Smile sponsor, and I've never seen anyone so excited and appreciative of some cooking pots and toiletries! It really made me think about how materialistic and superficial Christmas has become back home in the UK and how important it is that we focus on celebrating the birth of Jesus! and also appreciating our loved ones and taking special care of those in need. I promise I'm not trying to put a downer on your Christmas Eve! but tomorrow as you open all your presents and tuck into a big roast dinner, spare a thought for those people around the world who can only dream of such luxuries. Give your loved ones a hug (and if you see mine - give them one from me!) and I pray that God blesses each and every one of you 

"this is the day that the Lord has made..."

Yesterday the widows that Smile sponsor came up to the Smile house to receive their Christmas gifts! Smile has around 17 sponsored widows and we've visited lots of them in their homes whilst we have been here. 

Each widow received three casserole dishes of different sizes. Then in the bottom dish we had put a selection of toiletries like soap, body lotion, toothpaste, shampoo and some children's toothbrushes - as they often are caring for children or grandchildren.

We helped the ladies to look through the boxes, and the highlight was when they opened the last box! Their faces just lit up! They were so thankful, and we received lots of hugs and handshakes! 

We tried to explain what everything was in the box. Some of the ladies are very good at speaking English, but for the others, trying to communicate the difference between body wash and body lotion proved interesting!

 Afterwards the widows were able to choose some tshirts to take home with them.

 Whilst going through her boxes, one of the widows, Rose, starting dancing. With every new item she found in the box, she danced some more! She then started singing "This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it".  It was so humbling to see how excited and pleased she was with a set of cooking pots and toiletries! 

All the widows then got together and sang a song. We love spending time with these ladies as they are so friendly and welcoming. It is definitely so much better to give than to receive! 

South Africa!

On Friday 6th December I left very early in the morning for Entebbe Airport! I was chosen to be part of a team that was going to represent England and Wales at an International Girls' Brigade Gathering. The Gathering was being held in Stellenbosch which is near Cape Town in South Africa! Once I had arrived at Cape Town airport, my cousin-once-removed (my Mum's cousin) Pip came to meet me. We went back to her house and I stayed over for a night before the Gathering! Thank you Pip and Andrew for having me and taking me out for pizza and ice cream! On Saturday morning Pip drove me down to Stellenbosch University where the Gathering was being held!

Myself and Pip with her lovely baby bump!

On arrival I was given a lovely bag of goodies which had been very generously provided by Girls' Brigade South Africa! In the evening we had a 'Colour Party' where we had to wear our national colours and had the chance to meet all the girls from round the world! 
The countries represented at The Gathering 2013 were:
- Ghana  -Malawi  -Nigeria  -South Africa  -Zambia  -Zimbabwe  -USA  -British Virgin Islands  -Cayman Islands  -St Maarten  -England and Wales  -Northern Ireland  -Ireland  -Scotland  -Australia  -Cook Islands  -New Zealand  -Papua New Guinea
We then got into our reflect groups which gave us the chance to chat about the day and pray together. I was in the 'Joy' reflect group which consisted of Hayley from Scotland, Nicola from Northern Ireland, Jemila from St Maarten, Chongmel from Nigeria and Aimee from South Africa. 

On Sunday we all had to wear our national GB uniforms for church. We went to the beautiful Pniel Congregational Church which sits at the foot of a mountain. The church service was dedicated to Girls' Brigade and also to the memory of Nelson Mandela. They welcomed each country and I went up on stage to present the English (and Welsh!) flags. After the service, some people from the congregation provided a lovely lunch for us. We then went to another hall and GB South Africa put on a presentation of songs, dances and a nativity for us. A marching band were also there and when they started to play, two girls from Nigeria got up to dance, Ruth Chikasa - the International President - joined them and then started pulling people up to dance! By the end of the song we were all up and dancing with each other, despite having only met the day before! We went outside and released balloons that had prayers attached to them for the future of GB.

 In the evening we had a birthday party for Girls' Brigade as this year it turned 120! GBSA did a wonderful job of setting up the courtyard. The girls from the Cook Islands were wearing beautiful flower headbands which I had been eyeing up all day - so was very happy when they let me try one on!

In the evening, we had our reflect groups again. They then showed the film Girl Rising which is an inspirational film about 9 girls from 9 countries who are overcoming their struggles, often caused by the simple fact that they are female. If you get the chance to watch this film, it is so worth it! I've always been quite interested in gender equality and campaigning for women and girls, but it was still eye-opening and quite shocking to see what some girls are faced with. 

Monday was the Pacific Fellowship's sharing day so they taught us some of the games and songs they do with their girls. We also had a chance to try some Pacific snacks in our refreshment break. 

In the morning we had our 'Because I am a Girl...' presentations. Each country presented an issue that they feel is the biggest struggle for girls living there. GBEW (England and Wales) decided to talk about anorexia and eating disorders. Myself and our group mentor Kim were nominated to talk and ended up being the first country to go! We were the only country to present the issue of eating disorders, but some of the other countries covered self and body image. Other countries presented topics such as gender inequality in the workplace, education, inadequacy, forced marriage and teenage pregnancy. It was really interesting, but also heartbreaking, to see what girls are facing in these different places, and where similarities lie between counties. It got us thinking about how GB can help to tackle these issues and be there for their girls. 

After these presentations, a lady from the charity A21 came in to talk about human trafficking. We heard some absolutely shocking statistics and stories about trafficking that is going on today. What surprised me is that there are MORE slaves today, than when the slave trade was legal. She also told us that the average age of a trafficked person is 12. 12! It broke my heart to hear about it and I can't believe that it's happening in the 21st Century. If you want to know more about A21 then their website is www.thea21campaign.org.

Tuesday was our 'equpping' day so we chose two workshops to attend. I went to 'Being an influencer' and 'African Craft'. It was also the African Fellowship's sharing day so we tried lots of interesting food and played a game called 'mosquito' which left us all singing the song for it for the rest of the week! In the afternoon we took part in some outreach by making up over 1000 food packages that were going to be given out in South Africa's townships. It was great to do some practical work to help these people.

In the evening, the Africa day concluded with an African drumming lesson! I was very excited about this and even though we were supposed to wear our country's national dress, I went for my Uganda trousers! I loved the lesson so much and at the end some of us got up to dance which was pretty funny! I'm now seriously considering buying myself a drum.

(If you're still reading this - I'm impressed!) Wednesday! Wednesday was our day out in Cape Town. We went to a museum dedicated to the effect of the apartheid on the local area. We then went to a craft market where I got to try out my haggling skills! The highlight of my day was definitely Table Mountain! We went up in the cable cars and walked out onto a very windy mountain top! The views were stunning and I fully agree with the fact that it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We had dinner in the cafe at the top and I suddenly remembered half way through eating that I was on top of a mountain! 

Thursday was the Caribbean-America Fellowship's sharing day. From what I was told, the Caribbean sounds like a very good place to live! During the day we were focusing on the next 120 years of Girls' Brigade. We split in to four different groups, communication, creativity, advocacy and the GB girl declaration. I chose advocacy as I really believe that Girls' Brigade can really make a difference in campaigning and fighting against social injustice. My group decided to focus on getting girls into education and keeping them there! At the end of the day we presented our ideas and suggestions to the rest of the delegates and the International President of Girls' Brigade. We're hoping that our ideas will be put forward at the International Conference which is happening next year.

On Friday morning we went to the beach! It was so so sunny and we were all eager to get in the sea! They had arranged some games for us to play on the beach which were pretty interesting! It was really nice to spend some time just chilling with the new friends that we'd made over the week.

In the afternoon we returned to Stellenbosch where GB Europe had the chance to share our snacks! The table was basically just sugar, sugar and more sugar! But it was great for me as I've missed English food so I tucked in! 

We then had time to reflect on how God had challenged us throughout the week and what we had learnt. Lots of people came up to the front to speak and it was a really lovely time.

In the evening we had a Christmas BBQ, or 'braai' as the South Africans call it! Presents were handed out to the amazing planning team and we had a lots of good food! Afterwards we went upstairs for 'GB's Got Talent' where the GBEW team blessed the audience with a One Direction tribute! 

The time came to pack my suitcase and start saying my goodbyes! I had such an inspirational group and I can't wait to see how GB will take on our ideas. Hopefully there will be another Gathering in the future! I made lots of friends from all round the world and it just proved to me that I have an amazing family of GB girls that have the same enthusiasm for God and Girls Brigade. I hope we stay in touch!

Leaving our legacy!

I travelled back to Uganda, nearly missing my second flight (again!) and was picked up from the airport by Alex and Susie - who let out a rather high pitched squeal when she saw me haha! Thank you Alex for all the airport runs you did for me :)

Now it's time for us to start preparing for the run up to Christmas!