All Africa Mormon Helping Hands Day--Aug. 18, 2012

All Africa Mormon Helping Hands Day is in its 6th year this year.  All across Africa,
the wards and branches mobilize into a huge work force.  Some projects are small 
(painting the house of a single mother) and others are large (painting 2k of cement wall 
around the city cemetery.)  There are 30 countries in Southeast Africa (our area) and 
there were thousands of people helping and thousands of hours spent in various 
projects.This Moslem friend started a school for a large township across the street  They 
have to date over 600 students.

Part of the project was to plant trees around the buildings.  Ward members and students
of the school joined hands and worked together.

The school and some of the gardens that were planted.

One of the teachers is named Sipho.  He is a black man with albinism.  He has also started
his own church and he said he has 4 "branches" of his church.  He was so impressed with
the Mormons and their example of service.  "I need to teach the members of my church
about putting service into action and not just talking about it," he said.  We felt very strongly
that there is a great missionary opportunity with Sipho and when we spoke with the
Stake President, President Von Reenen, he said he felt the same thing.  We'll have to stay
in touch and see where this friendship may lead. This is a great example of the power
of the Helping Hands Activity.

Just an example of the homes they live in.  No running water, no bathrooms, no heat, etc.
The leaders of the school and President Von Reenen have a plan to have the LDS
Bishops come and teach at their school in the evenings about such things
as chastity, family, education, etc.  They are planning on using the "Strength of
Youth" pamphlet as their manual.  Good idea!

By our standards their living conditions seem very hard and yet, look at the smiles
on their faces.  They are all well fed, dress well, and seem very
happy.  Maybe we value possessions a little too highly in the US.

A 2nd example was a hospital for disabled children and adults.  Some had cerebral palsy and
 others were mentally challenged.  

They housed children from about 1 1/2 years of age to adult.

The project was to paint over 220m of hallways.

And they took pictures of all the patients and made these large collages on a piece of wood.
They were then going to line the walls with these pictures in selected areas.  I can only imagine
the smiles on the kids' faces when they find themselves in these pictures.  Helping Hands Day
and tabulating the results from all over Africa has been one of the greatest parts of the mission
for me so far.  Such a lesson about the value of charity and how it can change lives.