Following another great breakfast provided by Nich and Alta at our accommodations, we again began the day at Elim School. Pastor Ian Edwards joined us from the Mariannridge Methodist Church, near Durban. Mariannridge is part of the Clerpine Circuit of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, with which Resurrection has partnered in an initiative to build new churches.  Pastor Ian was accompanied by Mathe Msawenkosi (“Msa”), one of his parishioners who had been part of a youth experience during an earlier Resurrection serve trip to the Mariannridge area. Pastor Ian and Msa went with us to Elim School, where Msa spoke to the older students from his own experience about the dedication required to succeed in gaining educational success in spite of starting from difficult circumstances. The rest of our team continued with instruction, art, play, and building relationships with the teachers and students. At the end of the morning, Principal Motsei took the team to an informal settlement area nearby in the township as she distributed food packets from the church to the subsistence-level residents.

In the afternoon we returned to Ditshego to work on evaluating and setting up computers from staff training, helping to relocate the facility’s kitchen and art projects with students. That evening, three more of the adults were hosted for dinner and Bible study by members of the West View church.