EXTREME HOME MAKE-OVER

EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER

THE PLAYERS

 MARTHA---"SQUAT" OWNER

The full story of Martha is found on my blog entry the cleaning  lady.

Facts:

• Husband of many years forced her out of her home because he decided he was choosing a younger wife
• They were both endowed church members
• Husband threatened to have her done away with if she tried to get the 50% the court allocated her in the divorce
• Ran to hide, no money, no source of income, every thing she owned was in the "squat"
• Slept on the dirt  with a blanket for 8 years. (more later)

THE CONTRACTOR / NEGOTIATOR:

President Banda from the Branch Presidency found and negotiated with the builders.

THE FINANCIER   

Elder Hunt, with "a little help from his friends" acted as the banker. Additionally, on a few days he was the "labor boy".

 

 

 

 

 

THE CONSTRUCTION TEAM 

Lucas and his boys.

 

 



The famous "Loo" maker

Periodically, a few volunteers from

the Branch Young Men!
Sanele, Thabang, and Peace

THE DAILY CHEERLEADERS

THE HOUSE THAT MARTHA BUILD

When I first met Martha at church, she was reluctant for me to visit her house.  It soon became apparent that she had very little in the way of food.  Over the course of several weeks her story unfolded. One day a sister at church brought her some food.  I asked her if she had enough food, "Ishhh Sister Hunt, it is hard.  I have not money. I just find piece jobs and some times people will give me something".  She told me of after her husband ran her out of the house she came to this area because she had a sister that had given her a "stand" (lot in the USA) for R50 or $5 in the USA.  She rummaged around and found some old corrugated tin, boards and an old door and built her self a house.  I told her she should never be ashamed of her house, she built it herself and she was self reliant.  That was what the Lord expects us to be.  She need to be proud of that.  We started visiting her home and it was worse that I ever expected.

I hired Martha as my cleaning lady so she would have some income.  The rate here for domestic help is around R120 ($12) a day.  I struck a deal for one day a week and  at R150 a day ($15).  I am telling you the pay for domestic help and labor is shameful here.

Martha had lived in this "squat" for 8 years, sleeping on the floor with only a blanket, all the food she had you see above, no electricity, no refrigeration, she cooked on a kerosene burner about 3 inches in diameter, she toileted in the bushes (and yes snakes live there---how would you like that as a potential bite on the butt.) Her squat was in a dangerous area at night and she told of running in to the bushes in the middle of the night when some drunks would come down her road and would come to her stand.

Elder Hunt and I had many sleepless night about her condition.  She is a good lady, knows the gospel, sings hymns all day but what a life.

Elder Hunt said, if we do nothing else we are going to help her.   We had to have a local to negotiate with the locals so we didn't get robbed and we knew we could not be there because of our mission work.  Elder Banda became the one.  He pretended to be the one helping her and we are so thankful to him.  He was there daily to make sure the workers were doing what the needed to do and he gave hours of selfless physical work.

THE HOUSE THAT BANDA AND BOB BUILT

BARRIERS TO HOUSE BUILDING

TERRIBLE ROADS!

RUTS

5 FT WIDE IN SOME PLACES---INTERESTING GETTING DELIVERY TRUCKS THERE

ROCKS

BUT, IT WAS LIKE MANY ROADS WE TRAVEL 

 

THE WORST!!!

SCARY MONSTERS LURKING NEAR BY--

THE SEEN AND UNSEEN

Martha's daily guests.  She tells of waking up one night with a large snake in her squat on top of her blanket. She ran out side and slept there.  Now, I would have been long gone forever---We American ladies are faint of heart!  I did get use to these lizzies.

WEEK 1

 

MOVE ROCKS

DIG FOUNDATION

MAKE FOUNDATION

START WALLS

 

WEEK 2

FINISH WALLS

FRAME IN WINDOWS AND DOORS 

WEEK 3

MOVING ALONG

WALLS

ROOF

BURGLAR BARS

lots of neighbor visitors---They can't believe it is going so fast!

WEEK 4



 Electric Power is another story here.  She went to sign up for it and they said great.  They would come when they had an enough in the area that wanted some work done....We were sure it would be 6 month.  But, Heavenly Father knows!  Had it in 3 weeks.

Funny Story: 

After Martha moved into the house, she came to church the second night after getting electricity.   "Sister Hunt, Lucas (the builder)  he did not do a good job on the power.  We must call him."  Me:  "Why is that",   Martha: "Because all night these lights outside my window come on and off, on and off".  Elder Hunt had told Lucas to put in security lights on the outside so if there were people out there she would know.   I explained to her what was happening and she definitely wanted to keep the lights.

WEEK 5

GLASS IN THE WINDOWS

FINISHED THE LOO

AND MARTHA HAS A BEFORE AND AFTER HOUSE LOOK

Before she moved in and the house was complete, we came one morning and the squat was gone.  I asked her why she did not wait for someone to come and help here.  She said, " Sister Hunt I made this squat with my own hands,  I lived in it for 8 years, I wanted to be the one to take it down.

The toilet or "loo" was a major controversy.  Elder Hunt and I tried to convince her to have it in her house and then make a little tiled area where she could bathe.  She was concerned, she doesn't like those "bathroom sounds" in her house.  She also worried that it is not a clean thing.  We went back and forth for several weeks and she finally agreed to have it in her house, then one day we arrive and she had a loo built outside...not sure what the deal is with these folks and there out houses....(refer to a prior blog).

MARTH'S NEW HOUSE

To most of us, this is a humble house.  But, it is very typical for the area and Martha thinks she has the most wonderful house and that is all that really matters.

Martha loves her new bed and wardrobe.  From day one she just wanted some place so she could sleep in a bed and have a wardrobe.  Thanks to one of you it happened.

The refrigerator was beyond her wildest dream.  This was a gift from two couples that just heard about the house.

Even the Loo got decorated up!  She wanted an outside water source for her laundry and now she has inside and outside water.

Every week Martha reminds us that the Heavenly Father sent the Elder Hunt and me to answer her prayers.  She talks about laying in bed at night crying because she saw no hope.  She knew she would grow old and die in that squat and she did not want others to find her there.   She prayed incessantly that she could find a way out.  And, she is sure that we were the answer from Heavenly Father to help her.

I am not sure about that, but I am sure there was a lot of intervention from our Heavenly Father.  The make over cost about 6x more than initially estimated, but it has been the best money we have ever spent.  Every time there was something needed, prayers were answered by your generosity.   You will all be blessed.

There were many tears during these 6 weeks.  I rarely cry anymore, I think my Reid event used them all....but, there were constant tears of joy here. Every few days, to see Martha's excitement was more than I can describe.

Thank you, thank you for helping make this possible.  We know the best, caring people.

 

 

THE PASTOR

Since we have been here Elder Hunt is always being called the Pastor.  The guys at the security gate call him Pastor, people in KaNyamazne call him Pastor.  Elder Hunt will say, "I am not the Pastor, I am a Missionary."  The reply is always the same, "yeah we know Pastor."  I love it makes me laugh when he is trying to explain what he does. On the other hand, it comes in handy when he is stopped by the traffic police.. he pulls those Missionary Papers out pretty darn fast and plays every card he has. 
The Traffic police are pretty prevalent here. They have road stops everyday somewhere.  They have it figured out where someone will have a tendency to speed and they set up their little station right there.
Now Bob, the Pastor, has had some problems with lead feet meeting the pedal. We have been stopped a few times....well a number of times...well, there was only one ticket the first month we got here, but, now the minute they stop us he pulls out the missionary handbook.  If that  doesn't work he starts talking about his work in KaNyamazane that ends it. They always seem shocked that we work in KaNyamazne then they tell us good luck and let us go.  Over all they are very nice and they know the little white missionmobile now.

The best Pastor story was a call the Pastor got in December.  December is the end of the school year and they have these big awards meetings.  He was asked to give a devotional and prayer at the school.  Again, Elder Hunt explained he is not a pastor and told them he is a missionary.  It was the same response that they knew that, then principal said, "Pastor can you be there at 8:00 am.
Here is the story of the Pastor and the school program.

South African Schools

The program was at the Vulumasango School.  This is a primary school of about 1200 students. It is the school we meet at for church.   It considered a good school, as all schools it is very deficit in teaching supplies (pathetic really).  The physical structure is okay but not great.   But, it is better than many schools.  In January  a six year old fell into a pit toilet and drown in a town near here.  This school does have flushing toilets.  The class sizes are huge,  52 first graders in one class and 53 second graders in one class. It is the same for all grades.  The teachers have no teaching assistants or anything.  It is sad to think of all the money being siphoned off by illicit politicians with no regard to the needs of the people that live here, especially the children. It is millions of dollars.

 

The Event

The invite said 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.   It finally ended at 3:30 pm.  We left at noon because we teach seminary on Saturday afternoon.

 

It was held in the Community Center and they had decked it out in decorations. White, Blue, and Gold Draperies (I think they are the ones used at a funeral held there several months before).
There were lots of flowers. some for me, one for the Pastor, and one for all the dignitaries.

 The students took 1/2 of this huge auditorium.  They were all very excited.  I took some pictures before the event started. 
We did arrive at 8:00 an and it finally started at about 9:45 pm.

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Some Community dignitaries were there.  They represented some large companies in South Africa: Cannon; Old Mutual (big investment/insurance company); and several others.  The girl on the end was a former student that has become a hospital dietitian and does well working at a big hospital.  She got a distinguished alumni award and gave a little speech.

 

The pastor is giving a spiritual thought and the prayer.

 

 

 Each class grades k-8th gave a little presentation.
They were cute.  Some were music or dance.  The little group in the costumes had the jive going.  Then the best student in each grade level gave a talk.

The Thing I loved about the talks was the fact that every person that gave a talk, addressed God and Jesus Christ and gave thanks that they have been blessed in so many ways, (many of these people have very little compared to most of us in the USA.   

 

They pray in school here.  Schools invite ministerial people to talk to the students.       The principal asked me the other day if I could play the piano because the school is going to sing the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah for the Easter program about Christ.  After I finished rolling on the floor with laughter I assured him I couldn't play chop sticks let alone sing.                                             

 .
 But, the point is religion is taught freely, gratitude to God is expressed openly at school.  I find that more than refreshing,  What has happened to America.

 

Represented from Grade 8 giving her talk....it was good.  She talked about following God.

 

Principal Peiri giving Pastor Bob an award for being so helpful to the school! It was a nice pen set,

 

 

 

It was fun, especially because the children were so excited.  In many ways it reminded me of home and going to school programs there.

The longer I am here, the more I realize how much alike all of Heavenly Father's children are.....more about that at about another time.

 

 

 

 









THE FASHIONISTAS

 KaNyamane Ladies Sewing Club Fashion Show

(I might add it was an event)

Elder Hunt and I were invited to the KaNyamazane ladies sewing club's fashion show.  Sister Nobela  and her son Bhekisisa have been sewing for the past 5 months with these ladies and at the end of the term there was a fashion show.  It was scheduled to go from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  We also had Seminary that day so I decided we would go 30 or so minutes late and leave early.  When we got there they had been waiting for so they could start-----duh we were the honored guests.
The Fashion Show begins:

 LOCATION

One of the ladies in the sewing club had the event in her front yard.  Many yards do not have grass other than the natural grass that comes up during the summer months.  In her yard was a pile of junk with long metal things that could have cut off your leg if you rubbed against it. So, it was kinda like a war zone with land mines. They had put up canopies to protect the guests from the sun (bless their little hearts--the sun here is blazing).  They had invited their neighbors and others from around the area.  They had draped the front of the house in white draperies.  They had a nice table with flowers where the MC of the fashion show sat.

It was a pretty festive look!

The Canopies were helpful.  In this picture

there is a white man and lady.  RARELY have we seen other whites in the township.  Mostly just us.  But, The lady owns a sewing franchise of some sort from the states and she teaches sewing to some ladies and they go back into their townships and hold these sewing classes.  They are not free by any means.  Any little cost is pricey to the folks that live here.  She was going to be the narrator and he was braaiing for us.  At the fashion show they served wors (huge hot dogs), some bread, and juice.  I am use to little sandwiches, and cakes at fashion show, so that was a change.  But, it was okay.

 

All of the friends really like the braii.  Elder    Hunt is in the back of these two pictures of    the guests.  It was funny because a couple    of drunks wandering down the street walked  in and sat by him.  They loved the braii and the models.                                                 

.

These folks were a great audience. They hooted and hollered and did the tongue click thing.  It was fun.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

Throughout the show they had these little dancers.  They did traditional dances.  They had on little Zulu skirts.  The leg kicking is a common thing in this dancing.  They will kick so high that they fall over backwards and that is part of the dance.  By this time I started too see why the fashion show would last so long. 



THE MODELS

The night before the fashion show I was talking to Sister Nobela.  She was all worked up because the lady had told them they had to do this pose or that pose.  She was terrified and said she did not think she could do it.  But, I knew better because these Africans love to pose for their picture.  I was right, they were fashionistas and they had it down pat.

Now, it is important to remember that this was a beginning class these ladies had not touched a sewing machine before the class started. They started by sewing some shoulder bags, of which I am the proud recipient of one given to me as a gift by Sister Nobela  I was pretty amazed at what they had made.  The pictures show them modeling their own clothes that they made.

 

Bhekisisa Made two pair of pants and two

T-Shirts.  This kid is so off the wall and people like him.  He is known all over the township.  But, he is a bit ADD and it is a hard to believe he was focused enough to do this.  But, the sewing ladies loved him.  He kept them smiling.



Sister Nobela made her self these jammies, some sports wear, a couple of dresses and some tops.  And, her poses were just great.  It was fun to see how excited all these ladies were.                                                             

 

The dress to the right is the one she  made for her cleansing.  I was impressed.  In a prior post I talked about the cleansing and there is another picture of this dress in that post.  At the time I did not know she had made it.  I was impressed. 

The models below all made the clothes they are wearing.  Some were hesitant, but a few really thought they were models.  The was fun.  And the audience, what can I say, they whooped it up for their friends. 



The Fashion Show was at the lady's house dressed in the black suit.  I would say that is pretty good sewing for only 5 weeks            

 

This lady was the real model.  She kicked up her heels and she had the moves.  Very cute and she had been sewing the world up making outfits.

 

 

THE FINALE

 

 

 

I WILL SAY THIS IS A FASHION SHOW I WILL REMEMBER.  I AM NOT SURE ELDER HUNT LIKED IT,  BUT, I DID!  IT WAS PRETTY FUN!

 

 

 

 



 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

 

HAPPY  NEW YEAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Elder Baxter was the decorator...
I felt like I was at the Gold & Green Ball.  (if you are too young to know what that was...don't ask)!

 

 

I am too old for this....made it to 1:00 a.m.

The South Africans love the fireworks!

 

Wishing Everyone a great 2014!

I Met a Sheik --- A Mission Vacation!

On Tuesday the 19th of November I took off on Air Emirates to visit my adventurers (Wade and Katelyn). They seem to find themselves in strange lands and places. They moved in September from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Whitt arrived on November 3rd and I took a little time to see this new little member of our family. 

Bob stayed home and "missionaried", and I went off for a week.  The best part of the trip was seeing our cute little family that lives there.  It had been a long time since we had seen them (summer of 2012) when they came on their yearly excursion to the home land. 
They were all great and have a busy little life in the Arabian Desert.
Bode has own style walking around in soccer clothes and is African Drum made out of Elephant hide. He has lots to say about everything,
Tessa is still a ballerina, rides her bike and has grown up. She goes to an English School so she wears her uniform and she looks dang cute.  Bode goes off to pre-school
and his gymnastics class. I got to watch him right before I left to come back to SA.
Christmas trees were decorated,  Hibibi(sp) the Arab elf arrived from the North Pole and we were all excited.  It was fun for me to see baby Whitt.  He looks great after his scary entry into the world.

Dubai was so much more than I expected.  It is an oasis out in the middle of a very arid desert.  As you drive from one place to another it is sand everywhere.  Then you come in to these little areas that are amazing.   The city has three different business areas.  Each is amazing, you drive into the area and the landscaping is beautiful.  The architecture is unbelievable.  It is like you are going into a city of the future.  The look is ultra modern and then sprinkled with a few amazing building with traditional architecture.  The two hotels below are examples.
Everything is very new, while I was there they were celebrating "National Day", the beginning of United Arab Emirates.  The country is officially 49 years old.  Forty Nine years ago the Sheiks of Abu Dhabi and Dubai realized they had a dying area.  The source of income was pearls!  They decided to develop this international  financial mecca.  Pretty wise.  The current Sheiks are still committed to being at the very edge of all new tech stuff.  It is a very international community.  Some of the best Tech minds from all over the world live there.
The crime rate is extremely low, almost non existent and it is immaculate.  In one week I saw one item on the ground.  A cigarette but tossed in a bush and that was it. The standard of living is high, it is expensive and it is very pleasant.  I worry that the wanderers will never come home.  The seem happy, like the job, like the ward, like the friends....Echhhhh.
The ward building is a restored villa.  The church had it redone so they could have a place to meet.  There are two wards in Dubai.  There are no signs on the building.  However, I was impressed that I saw a number of references to Christmas, decorations etc in the malls. Generally, that is a no go! But, it is a very progressive culture and society.

The malls are something else.  There are something like 7 in Dubai. They are a shopping women's wonder. They have all of the big name boutiques from around the world.  I did see a Bloomingdales.
The two largest are 1) where the Burj Khaif  is (Burj means tower and Khalif is the name of one of Sheiks).  2) The other is where ski Dubai is located.
Burj Khalif is the tallest building in the world I think I was told it is once and a half taller than the Empire State Building.  I kept looking up at the windows to see if I could see Tom Cruze crawling around outside, no such luck.  This mall was four stories, surrounded by a lake, dancing fountains, apartments, and really pleasant places to eat dinner.  You sit outside on veranda and watch the dancing water as you eat. The shops were stunning.  There is an aquarium in this mall.  Wade told me the large piece of Plexiglas below was the largest single piece ever constructed, it was broken as they were trying to install it.  They just had another one made.
Mall 2 is the home of Ski Dubai and a Cheese Cake Factory!  It is also the home of an artificial eco system that allow the Arabs to ski.  They do it.  It was strange to see them in their big robes with heavy quilted Jackets. There was a bakery similar to the Magnolia Bakery in NY, NY.  I tried to take a picture to two young girls in their garb (Women there are beautiful.  They look like they have their make professionally done before they leave the house), I wanted a picture to show you all how beautiful they are.  Suddenly, they rushed over to tell me that I had to erase their pictures, it is not allowed. They wanted to see the pictures in the my camera and they stood there while I deleted the 3 pictures of them.  They said their family does not allow it.  I did not argue, because I did not want to end up in a jail in the middle east with my name plastered all over the world as the dumb broad that took pictures of the Sheiks princesses or something.   They really were very nice and we chatted for 15 minutes.  They asked how I liked Dubai,  I said it was wonderful.  They said yes, just like the United States.  I told them that I love the United States, but most places are not as clean and beautiful as Dubai.  They liked that and did not call the military police on me!

 I really think Little Mr Hollywood thinks he lives in Hollywood  (but, it beats Hollywood all to heck).

Below are pictures of the most fantastic aquarium I have ever seen. It is located in Hotel / Resort In the pictures talking about architecture.  This place is on the beach and huge.  It is on Palm Island,  This is a man made island extending out into the ocean.  It is in the shape of a Palm Tree.  How they ever made it is beyond me. And, how do they keep the land eroding from the water? The aquarium is designed after the lost city of Atlantis that sunk into the sea.  It is pretty realistic.  You walk through chambers with fish and artifacts all around you.  The fish were awesome and the designed artifacts seemed that they could be authentic.  It was pretty neat! The little princess and prince are residing in a huge oyster shell.

I liked it a lot.  I definitely want to go back there sometime when I can spend more time and go to the camel races and visit the attraction more in depth.    I just need to keep reminding my kiddos....There is no place like home!