Namibia Mission

This is most of the team members on Day 2 of our journey to Oshakati, Namibia. We passed the Tropic of Capricorn on the way up.

We have now been back from our Namibia Mission for just over 2 weeks now. We pretty much went straight back to college after our trip, so I haven’t had a chance to write a blog entry until now.

What an absolutely amazing time we had! Words cannot express all that we learnt, experienced, saw, felt….changed. But I will try my best to convey some of the things that happened. I was a bit apprehensive about going because it was with a team of nearly 40 people from churches around Cape Town, ranging from all ages – from 60 years old to 9 months old! From our college, there were 5 of us that went – Jekonia (a Namibian in 1st year), Tish (a white South African who is intending to be a missionary in Nam after college. She is in 2nd year with us), Johan (a white South African in 3rd year. His wife was the team cook and she fed us very very well. I actually gained weight, something I wasn’t expecting to do on mission) and us.


As an initiation, all first timers had to eat papani worms - the Namibian version of witchety grubs. I actually quite liked them as they tasted like seaweed; The weather was varied. At night and in the mornings, it was freezing cold but the day times would be boiling hot. This frozen bush and the frozen grass in the background shows you how cold it gets - especially if you're living in tents!

Most people already knew each other as they had been on the mission previously (they try and encourage people to keep going every year so that the Namibians will become familiar with you). Chester and I knew a handful of people, but not that well, so I was worried that we wouldn’t get along with everyone or that it would be really awkward.

The first day, we had to get up at 4am to meet everyone and start our 3 day journey to the north of Namibia. That’s when I found out that they also expected me to drive one of the convoy cars. Eeeek! I have hardly driven over the last 18 months as we don’t own a car here, so it wasn’t a good start for me. Plus we had to tow a trailer, which I had never done before. But then we saw the sweet ride that we would be driving – a Hyundai Tucson 4WD with sunroof and the works – then I felt a bit better! Actually, all the cars that we drove up were really nice – most were donated by church members for us to drive for the next 2 weeks. I thought it was a great way to use your vehicle for ministry!

In the end, it was actually Chester who crashed the car, not me. We drove into the campsite late one night and Chester didn’t see this big wooden pole in front of us and drove straight into it. Then he panicked and reversed quickly so the trailer jack-knifed and smacked the back of the car. Luckily there was no damage to the front of the car as the pole got dislodged when we hit it. Unfortunately, there was a massive scratch to the back of the bumper where the trailer hit. Further, someone pulled the trailer off the car before they unhooked all the electric wires that connected the trailer’s lights to the cars, so the trailer and car lights both blew. Oops! When we approached the owner about paying for the damage, he refused to let us pay. What generosity! It really challenged me to think about the way I treat my ‘possessions’. Firstly, would I be willing to offer up my car (or any other big asset) for ministry purposes like this? Secondly, what type of reaction would I have if someone damaged my car?

The car ride up was really great, Chester and I stayed in the Tucson the whole time, but the other passengers would swap in and out of cars, so we got to know people quite well over the next 3 days as we drove up. Our journey was relatively without incident, however, as we crossed the border from SA to Nam, one of the ladies in our team was rejected as she didn’t have a Visa. She held a Congolese passport and even though she didn’t need a visa last time she went on the Nam mission, they recently changed the rules and wouldn’t let her in. So sadly, we had to say goodbye to her on the first day.


This is us helping others put up their tent and pretending to know what we are doing; This is our camping site. Our tent is in the top left, in front of the Hare Krishna coloured bungalow.

Our camping site was pretty swish too in comparison to what I expected. This is the 5th year that CESA (Church of England in Southern Africa – the denomination we are part of whilst we are here) have sent a team up and they usually stay at a campsite that’s in the middle of nowhere, no hot showers, no electricity, no nothing. But this campsite that they decided to try this year had a proper restaurant, waterslide, pool, hot showers, playground, BBQ area and even DSTV (go the Disney channel – I must admit that whilst ‘fellowshipping’ with the kids, I got hooked on Hannah Montana and Zac and Cody)! Even though they had bungalows for an additional fee, Chester and I decided to sleep in tents just like everyone else. It was actually really fun as we got a big 4-man tent to ourselves, whilst some people had to cram 4 people in theirs. But we didn’t have the best tent, that prize went to 2 families who created a monstrosity of a taj mahal tent. They had 3 tents which faced each other and in the middle was a ‘patio’ area and they had wires coming out of their tent into the electricity socket to power all sorts of things in the tent. I walked into the kids tent and it really looked like I stepped into their bedroom at home.

In terms of ministry, there were several teams which I have detailed below.

Women’s ministry
4 of the older women went to several churches to disciple and teach the women. They have been going to these women for the past few years and this year they saw a remarkable increase in the number of people consistently coming to the bible studies and committed to the Lord. In their first year, they taught only a few women, but this year they had up to 20 women consistently. One of the big problems is that our team of women only come up once a year and then the women are left mostly on their own until the ladies return the following year. Fortunately, we met a lady called Rebecca, who was working at our campsite and is a strong Christian. She is willing to meet up with the church ladies on a regular basis throughout the year. We really thank God for Rebecca as it will be great to have a local, speaking in their native tongue, to teach the ladies continually.

Men’s ministry
Similar in structure to the women’s ministry, 4 of the older men went and taught at several churches, held 2x2 day lecturing conferences and visited a prison. Most of the men in our team also got a preaching slot on the Sunday as there were many churches eager to hear from us. Chester preached at a very remote church and said it was the highlight of his trip. He had to preach with an interpreter and everytime Chester got fired up about a point, the interpreter would also get fired up. The church was very bare and minimal and in the middle of nowhere. People would walk for ages to get to the church just to hear God’s word being preached and to have fellowship with people. It made Chester realise how much we take church for granted sometimes – we are so fortunate to have a proper church building and facilities, creature comforts, be able to hop into our car and get to church and bible studies easily.


Chester getting fired up as he preaches to a riveted congregation.



Children’s Ministry
There were 7 in this team and they worked so hard each day. They would be one of the first to leave each morning (around 6am) and the last to return for supper. Each day consisted of going from primary school to primary school and addressing either classes or full school assemblies with a pre-prepared Gospel presentation. They also got to lecture at a bible college conference about Children’s ministry. I was amazed at the amount of energy and passion that they had. They were like Energiser Bunnies – always on the go and never stopping – they set a great example for me and challenged me to be as enthusiastic to serve as they were.

Deaf Ministry

The playground at Eluwa Special School for the Deaf and Blind. The building at the back is the mess hall where we taught.

I was part of the Deaf Team and taught deaf children with a lady called Lisa at the Eluwa Special School for Deaf and Blind Children. Lisa graduated from GWC last year and has been pursuing her passion for teaching the deaf about Jesus. She has started a ministry called ‘Talking Hands’ and comes to GWC to hold sign language classes for people like me! We also had the privilege of having 4 Deaf people on our team – Richard, Agnes, Papang and Vivian. Richard and Agnes are married and have a beautiful 6yr old child called Happiness. However, Happy is not deaf – so it is so interesting to see how she interacts with her parents. She will be chatting away and then suddenly she will be silently signing to her parents. It is also quite a sight to see how they discipline her in sign language. Richard was actually born deaf, whilst the others became deaf through sickness when they were children. Funny thing is that Richard’s parents didn’t realise he was deaf until he was about 6 years old. They just thought he was really naughty as he never listened to them.
When we first got to the school, there were around 100 deaf kids who came up to us and crowded around us. Although there were so many kids around, there was hardly any noise. It was actually quite eerie as you expect lots of voices talking and laughing, but all you hear is small grunts every now and then. It was quite overwhelming everytime we went to the school as you would have about 20 hands tugging at you all the time as this is the way they get your attention. Everyone wants to talk to you at the same time, so you are literally getting pulled in every direction from children who just want you to acknowledge them and say hi.


Lisa teaching them about Jesus being the light of the world; I'm teaching them a song with Nambinga (in the red shirt, one of the teachers at the school), Happiness (a 6yr old, in the yellow shirt) and Angelique (a 13 yr old, in the beige shirt).


The Deaf Youth. The Deaf people from our mission team who taught them are - Agnes (in red in the very centre), Richard (squatting in front of Agnes in a red shirt), Papang (to the left of Agnes with a head torch on his head) and Vivian (2nd row, 2nd from the left with a blue scarf around her head). Happiness (Richard and Agnes' daughter) is standing in the foreground on the table dressed in pink.; These are the deaf kids that we taught in the mess hall.

Lisa and I taught the young kids (about 100 of them) whilst Richard, Agnes, Papang and Vivian taught the deaf youth (about 20 of them). We taught them in the mess hall which was also quite challenging as the kitchen team would want to set up for dinner at the same time. There was one stage when the kitchen team (who were deaf too) were moving the tables around and it was making an ear piercing noise as it scratched the floors. Lisa and I were in the middle of teaching and were quite annoyed at the noise, but then we realised that we were the only ones that could hear and were disturbed by it!

We had such funny times teaching the kids because we would be signing to the kids and at the same time, we could talk to each other verbally and ask, ‘so what’s the next thing we need to do?’ ‘I don’t know but just keep smiling and signing so the kids don’t know anything’s wrong!’.



We taught them about how Jesus is the Light of the World and that when we believe in Jesus, then we need to be the light of the world to others (ie be a good witness to others about Jesus). Lisa would do the main teaching section and I would teach them a memory verse and a song each day. The deaf love to sing and they sing through signing with their hands. I was so happy that I could use the limited sign language that I knew and still be able to teach the kids about Jesus. You forget that sign language is actually a language in itself, just like German or Japanese. It was funny because after the first day, we realised that the kids spoke a different dialect of sign language (yes its true – there are many different dialects in sign too!), so some of the words we were using would not have made sense to them. So that night we had to learn a whole bunch of new signs quickly.

I really hope I can keep using sign language in Australia. It is such a descriptive and beautiful language. For example, the sign for ‘Jesus’ is using the middle finger to point to the centre of each palm, to indicate where Jesus was nailed. The sign for ‘bible’ is the combination of the signs ‘Jesus’ + ‘book’, which is actually very theologically correct because the bible really is the Jesus book! Ive actually started using sign language in Sunday School to teach songs. It’s a great way to incorporate actions into the songs, which at the same time, have a real meaning.

As sign language was a new language for me, sometimes I would get frustrated or worried that I wasn’t communicating clearly. I remember one day the kids were all really distracted. They were all having their own private sign conversations and none of them would sit down. To get their attention, you cant shout and tell them to be quiet, you need to flick the light switch on and off to get their attention, and even then, many of them kept talking. The frustrating thing is that deaf children can have a conversation with each other from 10 metres or more away. They don’t have to be next to each other to ‘talk’ as all they need to do is sign to each other. So you sometimes don’t know that a child is talking to another child until you see their fingers moving. Anyway, we were getting frustrated that no-one was listening to us, but we persevered and kept teaching anyway. Afterwards, one child came up to us and said in sign language ‘I have decided to follow Jesus, no more darkness for me, I will be light’. When he said that to us we nearly burst into tears. Although in our eyes we felt like the lesson went badly, we were reminded that we are not the ones that convert people. We are reliant on the powerful message of the gospel. It was in our weakness that God’s strength could be seen clearly.

At the end of the week, the whole team was sharing about what had encouraged them the most throughout the week. Agnes told us about how much she enjoyed teaching the deaf youth. She said that even though she is deaf, she is not sad about it but realised that God made her deaf so that she could glorify God through teaching the gospel. That just blew me away when she said that! It made me ashamed to think that even though I have all of my ‘senses’, I am not using what God has given me to glorify him.


We had a farewell party at the end where the kids all got chips and lollies; Some of the deaf are really great at drawing. As they have lost one of their senses, their other senses are very sharp and they are able to draw with such great detail.

Blind Ministry
Chester was part of the blind team and also taught at the Eluwa Special School for Deaf and Blind Children. He and Stephen taught the Blind Youth (about 15 of them) and Kirsten and Kirsty taught the Blind kids (about 20 of them). I was surprised by the amount of albino kids that were at the school. Because of their sensitive eyes, they were prone to blindness so that’s why so many were there. One of the deaf kids was touching my skin and then she pointed to one of the albino kids and used the sign word ‘same’, indicating that she thought I was an albino because I had the same colour skin as an albino! I thought that was so funny!



Chester with John, one of the Blind Youth. He is completely blind and must rely on others to take him around; The team had to teach the blind kids outside.

The blind team taught the same message as us, however, they had a trickier time in trying to convey to blind people the message about Jesus being the ‘light ‘of the world. Some of the kids were not blind from birth, so they had seen light before. Others were partially sighted, so they could also see slivers of light. But for the ones that were completely blind from birth, they taught them that light was like the warmth of the sun. You can feel the warmth when you stand in the sun, but when you are in the shade then you are in darkness (ie without God). The kids also got bean bags and gospel bracelets so they could feel the interesting textures. Unfortunately, some of the deaf kids would come and prey on the blind kids and steal their things. We sensed a lot of tension between the deaf and the blind because of this, which really saddened me.


The Blind Kids with Kirsty and Kirsten; Chester and Moses, another Blind Youth.


It's a tradition that the mission team play soccer against the Blind and Deaf kids. First they played against the Deaf kids and won 4-3 because Richard is a soccer player for the SA National Deaf Team. Its quite weird watching them play soccer because there is no sound - no cheering, no talking, nothing. Although every now and then, I would hear Chester yelling at Richard to pass the ball. Then I would have to yell back - 'He can't hear you, he's deaf!'. Playing against the Blind kids was quite funny too. You would expect it to be easy, but it wasnt! They could cleverly wrap a plastic bag around the soccer ball so that they could hear it. In the space of 1 hour, we went through about 5 bags as they would kick so hard. I expected them to smack into each other quite a bit or get hit by the ball alot, but surprisingly, they were not many mishaps. The funniest was when Stephen (one of the guys on the mission team, who I must add, is fully sighted) had to go for a penalty kick against a blind goalie. As Stephen went to kick the ball, I thought there was no doubt that it was going in. But sure enough, this goalie listened out for the ball and smacked it away when Stephen kicked it!!! Amazing!; Some of the blind kids with their bean bags.


Playing around with the deaf kids; Chester, Stephen and their group of blind youth.


We walked with the kids to church on Sunday. I was holding the hands of 2 blind girls and chatting away to them but I forgot for a split second that they were blind. I stepped over a big rock but one of the girls tripped over it. From that moment on, I was the most careful navigator! It just made me realise how hard it was to just get to church - walking in the heat for 30 mins, crossing busy roads and avoiding rocks they cant see. It was nice to see how much the blind and deaf look out for each other in these circumstances; One of the kids broke her shoe so we had to take turns piggy backing her.


The church service was really great. They had an preacher who spoke in English and then it was translated into the local language and Nambinga (in the brown, sitting on the chair) would also translate in sign language. The blind youth sang an item too; Before the service, the church holds bible studies.

Youth Ministry

Our ministry at the Deaf and Blind schools was only in the afternoons after school had finished for the kids. So during the mornings a few of us went to some high schools around the area to teach. At some schools we would go to the school assembly and teach the whole school at once. At other schools, we would stay for a few hours and a different class would come to us every 45mins.

We prepared a skit called the Purple Bandana Club. This is actually a rip off of the Red Tie Club skit that the Aussie Mission Team did when they came over here. Basically, there were 2 people (Kirsty and Kirsten) who were trying to get into the club but the bouncer (Chester) wouldn’t let them in because they didn’t have a purple bandana. The girsl would tell Chester about all the good things they did and how they knew a lot of people who were already in the club, but they still couldn’t get in. Finally, they speak to the Manager (Stephen) who explained that they couldn’t buy the bandanas because they were too expensive, but he has already paid the price for the bandanas. So the only way to get a bandana was to just ask him for one. When they finally ask, they get a bandana and are allowed in the club.

This skit is actually a euphemism for heaven, that is, people think that they can get into heaven because they do good things or go to church or know a lot about the bible, but the only way is to believe that Jesus (the ‘Manager’) has already paid the price for our sins. So to ensure the kids understood the skit afterwards, Lisa and I did a gospel presentation of ‘2 ways to live’ where we would have pictures and explain elements of the skit.

Most of the kids said they were Christian. But when you ask them why they are Christian, they would say it was because they were baptised, or confirmed, or because they go to church or even because they own a bible! One lady asked a student for their bible but the kid refused to give it because they truly believed that if they didn’t have their bible anymore, then they wouldn’t be a Christian anymore. Hopefully, we got through to some of them that it wasn’t about what you do that makes you a Christian, but it’s about believing in what Jesus has already done, that makes you a Christian.

Preaching 'in the round' outside. What an amazing experience!; The school hall of one of the assemblies we attended.

It was such an amazing opportunity as I had never done something like that before. I was really nervous as I had to explain the gospel to all these kids, but the Holy Spirit gave me this bold confidence that I had never experienced before. I found myself so fired up and zealous. At one stage, we were in the playground of a school (which was just a big patch of dirt) and had hundreds of kids around us in a circle. Some were so eager to hear us that they had climbed a tree. As we explained the gospel, we had to keep moving around so that everyone could hear and see. It was an amazing feeling and I couldn’t help but think of how the apostles would have preached in the New Testament times – no microphones, standing in the dirt, surrounded by people.

One of the nights, we attended a Zulu Dance class and had a great time!; The dance teacher came to our campsite on our last night and gave us a private lesson (yes we needed it!).

The thing that I loved most about being on mission was seeing the kids serve with their families. There were 8 kids that came from 4 different families. They ranged from 13 years old to 9 months. It really taught me how to include kids as part of the ministry. The older children would wake up at 6am just like the adults and be part of morning devotions and then head out for a full day of ministry just like everyone else. I thought it was great as they served with their parents and with people of all ages, so they had a lot of great Christian role models to look up to. Hopefully it will help them realise when they grow up that being a Christian isn’t daggy but is something that brings great joy. It also just encouraged me to remember that having children doesn’t mean that you stop serving, but that you can incorporate your children into your ministry.

We went through Etosha National Park on our way back to SA. The Salt Pans at Etosha were really cool. It was just cracked mud for miles and miles and if you stepped in it, you would sink like it was quick sand; Chester relaxing at one of the watering holes where Zebra, Buck and Elephants were hanging about.

The mission to Namibia is one that I will never forget. If anyone ever has a chance to go on a short or long term mission, I really encourage you to go. It is definitely the best ‘investment’ of your time and money. You wont regret it! But be careful – once you go on a mission, you will never be the same again. God will show you so many wonderful things that you will be changed forever.