Mafeking January 7-8

On arriving in Johannesburg we were picked up by Joan and her husband Stan for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Mafeking. (Joan is our Godly Play person in SA and Stan has been ably assisting with the building of shelves and materials. Stan will also be trained this coming weekend as an accredited GP practitioner.)

Mafeking is known by many schoolchildren occupants of the former British Empire due to the brave defense of the town by a small force against vastly superior enemy forces.   Notably it was the occasion for Colonel, later Lord, Baden Powell to make his name. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Mafeking

Obviously the siege and the Boer Anglo War in general is remembered differently by Afrikaners.  It has been interesting and educational to hear of this perspective from our South African friends.

Our purpose in Mafeking, or Maheking it's African name, was to introduce participants to Godly Play and to deliver some training on the spirituality of children in general. The 30 or so participants work with a German Lutheran NGO and work with children in homes, in after-school  programmes, and for many, in church. Their first language is Tswana and while many of them spoke good English much of our content - especially Andrew's! - was translated. We were especially inspired by the singing. Back home it is common to take a break from learning with a stretch or a with a walk around the room; here they sing and dance. And what singing and dancing!

A focal shelf in Mafeking!

In the picture below we are being sent on our way in song.

We will take away many memories from this short experience, the most imminent and ubiquitous of which are the many mosquito bites covering our bodies! Back to Johannesburg for our next Core Training.