Just the Beginning

It's been awhile, huh? We are so busy here that I haven't had the chance to sit down and process a blog. So here is my feeble attempt at expressing to you what a week and a half in South Africa has been like.

I am living with a host family here in Lambert's Bay, a sweet, sweet single lady and her brother. It's a quiet, lovely home complete with a guard dog that has become my little buddy. During the day we partner with a community program named Huis Van Liefde (house of hope), in the morning we go out with caretakers on home visits. They check in on elderly patients who need help bathing and they also check meds, help them find better care and make sure their blood pressure is okay. We spend about 4 hours walking around the town visiting with people and getting to know the caretakers. Then we help with meals on wheels, or go to a local preschool to play with the kids. Then it's lunch and after lunch we go to a gym here in town to sit in on Stepping Stones, a counseling service for the youngsters. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are for the boys and Tuesday and Thursday's are for the girls. Here they talk a lot about drugs, alcohol, abuse and safe sex. Although its all in Afrikaans, I can see its doing great work. After the session, Mirki, the leader, instructs us in Tae Bo, it's a great way to get some energy out and promote healthy activity. I don't have any pictures of this time because I am waiting to build good relationships before I take pictures. I never want them to feel like they are living in a zoo. Ya know what I mean?

The problems in this community are mainly dealing with drugs and alcohol. Parents spend their money on their drink of choice over their children's school. The children roam the streets and find trouble of their own. Kids start drinking and doing drugs at about 7-9 years old and start having sex soon after. It's a big problem around here. I think one of the most telling times, was an afternoon I spent at the preschool. The boys out on the playground were constantly fighting, I mean really fighting not normal boy wrestling. Choking, punching, kicking, tackling, and head butting. We soon figured out that they were coping wrestlers they have seen on tv. Once we showed them some positive attention it seemed to decrease, but it just one indicator of the lack of care in the parenting. Children interact what they see, and it's evident there are problems going on. One little boy as I was playing with them make the motion of smoking weed...something I am sure he is used to seeing. Kids are being sold as prostitutes for drug money, and the government grants people are receiving for not having jobs or raising kids alone aren't used for the kids at all. Along side the problems are those people who want change, the teenagers we hangout with that want to be the change, and the churches that are daily involved in the change. It isn't hopeless, not at all. Here there is hope of a future different from the past. There is hope of restoration and it's my prayer for this community. Everyday we spend here relationships are deepened. We have earned their trust, become their friends and lived beside them. It is my prayer that as more time goes by, the more they see Him, the more opportunities we have to share His hope and the more encouragement and passion is shared.

Thanks for all your prayers!! Keep em coming! :) hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon!