Tomorrow morning a team of four from Every Nation Stellenbosch will be leaving for Lesotho with the Semonkong Hospital Project (http://shp.org.za/). They will be joining about 80 team members from various backgrounds, heading up into the heart of the Lesotho highlands to serve the community in the village of Semonkong, as we did last year December and in April this year (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KO4wgH3yHE for last year’s feedback video).
This trip forms part of a greater project to build a financially self-sustained and eco-friendly hospital to serve not only the people within the direct community of Semonkong, but also all the surrounding villages. The nearest hospital is four hours away by bus over a bumpy 4×4 track. Although building is only scheduled to begin in September 2012, the organization sends up two to three volunteer groups every year to serve the community in the areas that they need it most.
The hospital will be built in collaboration with the community, as the SHP team includes the chiefs in every step of the planning process. Over the past few years, teams of volunteers have been sent up to serve the community, build relationship with the people and get to learn about their cultures and their way of life so that we can learn to serve them better.
Doctors, medical students and paramedics make up the medical team which provides much needed relief and essential training by volunteering their services to the two basic clinics which are run by nurses and are rarely visited by doctors. Veterinary teams travel from village to village to treat sick animals. The people are mostly subsistence farmers that rely heavily on their livestock for food, transport and ploughing. Construction teams lend a hand to the clinics and the community where there is need for roof repairs or fences and other handy work. The evangelism and prayer teams support all the efforts of the projects with prayer, make hut visits and join up with the medical staff to pray for healings. The team assigned to children’s ministry arranges fun activities for the 300 to 500 kids that join in, including drawing, games, sports and a Christmas party.
Ultimately the project is about glorifying our Risen Lord through our lives and contribution! Carin Main from ENSTB will be documenting what happens across all of the teams in order to provide meaningful feedback and communicate prayer requests to intercessors back home, pretty much fulfilling the role of an onsite journalist. “I am incredibly excited for the transformation that the Lord has planned for this community and that He has chosen me to play a role in doing his work. My aim is to provide a holistic perspective of the on goings of the mission in order to provide an outside observer with real insight into what the Lord is doing in the community and in the team. Through a couple of feature articles I hope to mobilize missionaries by highlighting less obvious ways of getting involved. Prayer requests and updates will be sent at least every two days to our supporting team members back home. I will embrace the opportunities that taking and collecting photos create to include and connect people. The feedback video at the end of the mission will not only be an ENSTB one, but a joint video with testimony from the entire team, our greater family,” she said.
In order to be included in the prayer list that will be receiving regular updates, please email cilnette8@gmail.com with your phone number details. You can also join the Every Nation Stellenbosch Missions group on Facebook for regular updates from our teams in Devon Valley, Jamestown and Lesotho.
