Nsoko Ministry Overview
· Clinic – the clinic is open and functioning. 50 children were chosen from among the surrounding care points to receive the free medical treatment.
· Church – When I attended church there were around 20 Swazi’s attending. It is meeting in the community building (which we are using as a dorm see below) since the roof structure does not provide shelter in bad weather.
· Community Building – We’ve converted the community building to a multi-purpose building which includes a dorm for the visiting teams. Since the RLMT in June there have been teams staying there almost constantly from RLMT, STM, WR and soon Novas.
· Womens Meeting – Philile is leading the women’s ministry every Tuesday afternoon. This seems to be going well as several women attend. Philile is very busy with school.
· HIV/AIDS Support Group – There are around 50 people in the meeting. Since the group is growing but also people within the group are dying there is a need for trained counselors. I suggest this be part of the leadership development piece we do in Nsoko.
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Soccer Team – I wish you could have been there the Sunday I was there. Here is a report I have from the donor of the soccer uniforms: I wish I had a video of one of the most moving scenes yet in Africa for me. We were having lunch and the soccer team pulled up in the back of two pickups (picture 30 people in the back of two Toyota trucks) singing and chanting in the rain. They had just won a match with a goal in the last 5 seconds and were returnig to the Nsoko center in victory! They danced and sang outside the community building/center for some time – church just ended and we joined the celebration. Wow – it was awesome and Gift was in tears.
Gift tells me two of the guys on the team have offers to play at the next level in South Africa. God is bringing meaning to the lives of the men on this team – they are undefeated and tied for first place in their league.
Foster Home – Basically there are 4 young boys and a 14 year old pregnant girl with no place to live. Pastor Gift has put them up with a nearby gogo. We are providing food for the homestead.
· Building Projects – All funds for this have come from team funds.
1. We are almost finished adding showers to the back of the community building for team use.
2. We will be adding another water tower and tank and upgrading the system there to save the wear and tear on the well pump.
3. The septic system for the community building was not installed correctly. We will have to do it over. Sewage back-up is a problem.
4. We hope to soon build walls under the metal roof structure to make it the new community center/church. We will also build two rooms behind it one being an office and another a storage room.
5. This coming summer there is a returning RLMT member with his construction company father and brothers who want to fund and build another house or two like Gifts. I am working on a good floor plan that will allow maximum flexibility for use there. These will be temporary staff house and intern housing making it easier for people to some serve for several months at a time. It will also be an income generator for the center as people will pay rent.
