a love story...

maz outside 'love story' HQ

this week has been a bit of roller coaster and as we look to leave for england tonight on the eleven hour flight from cape town to london we thought we'd update the blog for one last time from south africa.

its always hard to end a road trip but this one was especially long and we knew the end would result in us leaving africa for at least six months. over the last few weeks we had driven over 4400kms through some stunning scenery, met up with some amazing people and enjoyed each others company during the long drives between destinations.

after leaving anthony in kenton on sea on monday morning we drove to port elizabeth where we spent the evening with some friends who run an awesome charity called love story (more of which later) and then endured the long 700kms drive back from port elizabeth to grabouw, this journey is pretty straight forward but there are long stretches of road which can get a little boring and the whole trip took us just over eight and a half hours, however as we arrived we were welcomed by our good friends ali and sandy who shared a wonderful and welcome meal with us.

feeding on the streets of port elizabeth

the highlight of the week had to be our flying visit to the guys in port elizabeth, luke and elaine are friends of our eldest son, chris and his wife claire, who met in bath a few years ago. upon returning to south africa they have undertaken to give something back to the lowest of the low via their charity, love story. on monday evening we had the pleasure of joining their team as they shared a meal with the many hundreds of homeless people living on the streets in port elizabeth city centre.

young man outside government buildings

love story is so much more than handing food out but this daily programme ensures that those in most need get a health meal, monday it was a lamb soup served with rice a pap. 

it was a truly humbling experience to serve these people who came from all walks of life, white, coloured and black all congregating in front of the city hall at 6pm to receive this meal served with love by the dedicated team who not only fed the people but had opportunity to talk and pray with them as the familar faces come back each night.

elaine watson (on the right) with willie and his wife

over the last six and half years of living in south africa we have continued to see people divided by race and even though there have been many steps forward over the last twenty years, mainly under the leadership of nelson mandela, the picture south africa paints is of a new rainbow nation with everything sorted and everyone happy, however it was the poverty and desperation that joined these people together on monday evening and for anyone to get to a point of walking to a feeding station and opening themselves up shows that we have a very long way to come before we can truly say that there is harmony and peace in this incredible country.

so it is with heavy hearts that we sign off on this part of our journey but we pray that the good work that we have started will continue and that the lives that we have impacted will be changed for good forever.