Several weeks ago, Dr Dan Claughton came to this service telling us that he was about to leave for South Africa where he would work in a rural hospital in Natal province as an Associate with CMS. He expects to be there for six months.
This week he has sent the first batch of photos and some news of what life is like for him there. Just in case you have forgotten what he looks like, or perhaps was not at the service on that day, here is Dan at his desk with his African colleague alongside. He writes of dealing with some horrific medical cases, some as a result of drunken fights with bush knives. Other cases involve dealing with sexual assaults. Some of these are resulting from the false belief that having sex with a minor, even a little child, can cure HIV-Aids. We need to pray for Dan for strength to care and love those who are so much in need of it.
He is living in a small demountable alongside other medical colleagues. His visits to the fresh markets has yielded a plentiful supply of cabbage (!) which he does not exactly love, and lots of tomatoes. Coffee is pretty well impossible to come by, and the milk he manages to get is often 'off' anyway. Food that he is used to is not easy to get, but there is a lot of security surrounding the procuring of it anyway! Food queues are long and then the security guards check all the dockets before you leave the market.
He doesn't speak the Zulu language but he wants to mix with the local people as much as he can so he was pretty thrilled to be invited to a local Zulu gig. There were lots of big bowls of cooked meat and damper made with ground corn - and lots of Zulus dancing to the beat. He was the only white guy there and he felt pretty cool being part of the local scene. He did not send us pictures of that but he did send us one of his African colleagues in her ceremonial dress.
Let us pray for Dan that he will keep well, that the Holy Spirit will fill Dan with his love for the people in Natal, and that in the midst of all these challenging changes, Dan with sense God's strength to be God's servant and example of the life of Jesus there.
This week he has sent the first batch of photos and some news of what life is like for him there. Just in case you have forgotten what he looks like, or perhaps was not at the service on that day, here is Dan at his desk with his African colleague alongside. He writes of dealing with some horrific medical cases, some as a result of drunken fights with bush knives. Other cases involve dealing with sexual assaults. Some of these are resulting from the false belief that having sex with a minor, even a little child, can cure HIV-Aids. We need to pray for Dan for strength to care and love those who are so much in need of it.
He is living in a small demountable alongside other medical colleagues. His visits to the fresh markets has yielded a plentiful supply of cabbage (!) which he does not exactly love, and lots of tomatoes. Coffee is pretty well impossible to come by, and the milk he manages to get is often 'off' anyway. Food that he is used to is not easy to get, but there is a lot of security surrounding the procuring of it anyway! Food queues are long and then the security guards check all the dockets before you leave the market.
He doesn't speak the Zulu language but he wants to mix with the local people as much as he can so he was pretty thrilled to be invited to a local Zulu gig. There were lots of big bowls of cooked meat and damper made with ground corn - and lots of Zulus dancing to the beat. He was the only white guy there and he felt pretty cool being part of the local scene. He did not send us pictures of that but he did send us one of his African colleagues in her ceremonial dress.
Let us pray for Dan that he will keep well, that the Holy Spirit will fill Dan with his love for the people in Natal, and that in the midst of all these challenging changes, Dan with sense God's strength to be God's servant and example of the life of Jesus there.
BT
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment