Mormon Helping Hands

For those of you who read the Church News or the Ensign Magazine, you will be familiar with the Mormon Helping Hands Projects, particularly the one held each August on the continent of Africa. On August 22, 2009, we were fortunate to be involved in one of the 260 different projects that took place all over Africa. Over 50,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined to 'lend a hand' to a host of projects where material and labor came together to fix-up, paint-up, clean-up and spruce-up orphanages, old peoples homes, other churches, schools, community centers, parks, and on and on. Several hundred thousand man hours were donated to see that the selected projects were left far better than they were found that day. In the true spirit of service and helping those in need, members stepped up and assisted the downtrodden, the aged and the displaced. It was a great day to be alive, get dirty and tired, and witness such improvement and gratitude.

Reenie pictured here with our good friends Gawain and Gayle Wells from Provo, Utah. All are wearing their bright yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" vests.

Our particular project was cleaning and fixing up the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg. This church has been turned into a center for Zimbabwean refugees that have fled the cholera epidemic, 80% unemployment and general oppression in their land. Zimbabwe, the former Rhodesia, has gone from the most educated population and the bread basket nation of all of Africa, to one of the most impoverished and diseased countries in the world. It is a tragic story of what comes at the hands of a powerful despot, like Robert Mugabe, who was put in power after the days of British colonialism, and has ruled with an iron fist for the last 45 years. As a result, our neighbors to the north are fleeing in astounding numbers (about 5,000 per day) to South Africa, and despite having the blessing of the government of SA to come, there is no support system in place for them when they arrive here.



The Central Methodist Church has been turned into a refugee center. I was awakened immediately to the difference between a 'mission' or 'homeless shelter', and a refugee center, the latter being a very desperate and dirty place for people to come as a very last resort on their journey to escape intolerable conditions. It beats sleeping on the unsafe streets with your children and babies, but not by much. These people have a serious look and feel of hopelessness about them.



Above are some of our folks painting the common areas to give the place a look of cleanliness.



Here are some more of our members scraping the paint-chipped and cracked walls in preparation of a fresh coat of paint. These were some brave ladies, as this area was a home to not only refugee's, but rodents and roaches as well.

Here I am, hanging on to a window sash with one hand while washing windows with the other hand, while balancing myself on a ledge 15' above the stairs below.

I made Reenie take photos here so she would focus on doing that, instead of lecturing me about how foolish I was being by just barely hanging on. The difference in daylight was pretty amazing once the years of dirt was removed from the window panes. In such a dark and depressing place, any and all light was a welcome guest.

Here is my lovely and dedicated wife, cleaning pews that are used for sleeping on each and every night of the week. The pastor at the church said that they average 2,500-3,000 refugee's sleeping in this church each night. She was very emotionally moved as she watched our 250 members move through this building, leaving improvement in our wake.

Here is another shot of the sanctuary and our people giving it a thorough cleaning. This room is used for worship on Sunday morning only and the rest of the time it is a congregating area and a bedroom.

This is what used to be a kitchen/serving area in the church.

It is now one of 30 rooms where everything these people own is stashed, and meal prep is performed daily.

Here are our guys putting a fresh smell and look on the hallway walls of CMC with loving energy, enthusiasm and detail. Many on our crew had never ever painted before, so it was not only an act of service to others, but a day of education for our guys and gals as well.

Here is the main lobby and entrance to this facility that was a beehive of activity all day. This was a very dark and dingy looking place when we got there that morning. It was transformed into a much more inviting and fresh looking area. One that we hope will serve to lift the despair that these fellow members of the human family from Zimbabwe carry...even if just a little.

Happy with the day's effort.

One hard working helper who is ready to go home and get a hot bath!

Clearly a day to remember and one to remind us of how good we have it.

"And behold I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

"What a different world this would be, if we could forget our problems

as quickly as we forget our blessings"

(anonymous)

Stay well...