Vampires

There are so many kinds of people here. Really fascinating people, with rich, unexpected backgrounds. There is also a wide variety in the beliefs that people here hold. Today, Todd was telling me about what he had learned about one of the men Glenn, from Grace. Glenn had told him that he used to be in the navy, until he left to begin his own business. When the business went under, his wife at the time left him, taking everything, which is why he is on the street. It is difficult to tell if these stories are true or, in the very least, even partially true. Later this morning, Glenn was helping us to cut bars of soap in half. The ladies were putting out garlic buns, that were really strong smelling. We started talking about the old myth of garlic warding off vampires. Glenn began saying that although he doesn’t like to often talk about it, that he has seen some vampires down at a section along the waterfront. He went on to explain that vampires are real people that have a deficiency of plasma in their blood, and that this very real medical problem has led to people attacking others. To be honest, he spoke with such a calm tone and confidence that he could be very convincing. Being here and talking to people is opening my eyes to the reality that a lot of these men live in, whether real or self-created.

Rugby

Last Saturday, 20 of us loaded into the vans and went to view a Rubgy game. Rugby is HUGE in SA, and Mandy, the girl that takes care of all of our house needs (groceries, transportation, etc.) is friends with one of the best players in the world. Pre-game, we all made rain jackets from green garbage bags and some people bought shirts. The stadium is in downtown CT, where we could get orange fanta, hot dogs and chip rolls, which is a hotdog bun filled with french fries. The game was great, very fun to watch, even knowing almost nothing about the game itself. The only down part was that it rained almost the entire time, so we were completely soaked. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold or windy. Afterwards, we drove down to Victoria Waterfront to have hot drinks at a coffee shop that has blankets on the back of the seats. Oh, and the SA Springboks beat Italy 26-0!

Day to Day Ministry: SA

Day to Day Life:

7:00-7:30 Breakfast/pack lunch

7:30-7:45 Devotions (we rotate doing this!)

7:45-8:00 Leave for daily projects

8:30-3:00 Living Grace Homeless Project

3:00-4:30 Kids Outreach Program in surrounding township.

5:00-6:30 Hopefully walk (it gets dark by 6:00 and is unsafe to walk after that)/shower.

6:30 Dinner (made by the ladies hired at the house)

At night, we seem to have a rotating list of things to do, but usually includes a game, TV, email, SKYPE etc.

Right now there are 13 of us, so life is community based. One common dining/living room where we all eat, email etc.

MINISTRY- Living Hope

Tuesday morning we took a tour of the various sites. Living Hope itself is a health care center for people with AIDS. They are given the Anti-retro-viral drugs and counselling (stigma surrounding AIDS is extremely high) and after a stay, will be discharged.

Living Way is a sewing program for that teaches women skills for both at home and for work. When the women graduate the class, they each receive their own sewing machine.

Then we toured the various kids programs. The city of Cape Town is surrounded by various townships, or settlements. Most of the homes are like shanty towns, with tin sides and roofs, with bricks on the top of then so the wind does not dismantle the home. Kids programs present activities based on biblical principals. Most of these take place in shipping containers (train containers) and have no resources. After songs, games and some teaching, the kids are given a sandwich (sardine on white bread) and half a glass of juice. This is usually the only meal they eat that day, and kids programs are only 1-4 days depending on the site.

The last place we went to was a town called Muizenburg, an area with a high number of homeless. There, across the beach shore, housed in a beautiful old white bank building, is Living Grace. Living Grace serves mostly men, many with the same problems of our homeless-alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness, but it is also likely that 40% of them are suffering from HIV.

First thing in the morning, a devotion/singing time is held, followed by serving coffee and a roll/biscuit. Some of the people stay after that, and help out, or just stay warm, so there are some opportunities to get to know them. We also chop vegetables and get lunch ready. Lunch is always bread and ‘stoup’, a cross between soup and stew, and made from whatever donated frozen food is available. Then, at 12:00, there is another time of singing/devotion before lunch is served. After that, we clean up, organized food for the next day etc. The man who just started running it worked for 18 years with the Salvation Army and his wife is a nurse at the health center.

At 3:00, we leave with a team to go to a nearby township, Capricorn. The team that leads kids club is an amazing group of local 20-somethings who work tirelessly for the kids. Many have moved to the site of the kids clubs in order to be more effective. The

community of Capricorn has a heavy presence of drugs and is largely controlled by gangs. About 100 kids come out, ages 3 and up.

Living Grace-two stories

For morning devotions, Joan talked about the parable of the lost coin. To demonstrate, she had 9 coins which she dropped on the floor, one under the row of men sitting on along the wall. Jokingly, the men all jumped towards the money, pretending to grab for it. Then, with a broom, she acted out the woman looking desperately for the coin. With a sweep of her arms, she ushered to the men to ‘get up and help her look.’ About six men all jumped up and started to pretend to look under their seats for the coin, which of course was right there. After a minute, Joan asked ‘did you find it?’. The men all laughed and shook their heads saying ‘Oh no, no!’ and laughing. They all had a great sense of humour. It was a very funny and real moment.

Later that day, right after lunch, a donation of food came in. Out of the fruits and vegetables, likely about 85% of it was rotted. The workers worked really quickly, tearing open bags, trying to find one or two good tomatoes out of a bag of molded ones. A big bag of mixed produce got thrown on one of the tables. The people could look through and take something if they wanted too. The bottom of the bag had about an inch of moldy water in it. I had a flashback of us a few weeks ago in a Tim Hortons in Brockville. We had started talking to the girl serving us. She told us that because of food regulations and possible lawsuits, they had to throw out all of the food every night, rather than donate it. I thought about all of the food regulations we have in our schools, and restaurants. Like so many things, these seem a double edged sword. Although a necessity, these regulations often border on extremes, We throw out bread if it isn’t as soft as we would like it. Our homeless friends today were fighting over rotted food.

Kindred Spirits

South Africans are incredibly friendly people. One of the couples we met, Amelia and Anton, volunteer at Living Grace to do fundraising and such. The second week we were there, they offered to pick us and Amanda up from LG early and take us around for the day. Their two daughters, Dani and Abi, were off school for two weeks on holiday, so we all went down to the Waterfront for the day. We had lunch and then we took the girls to the Aquarium for a few hours. Afterwards, we got ice cream and went on a beautiful scenic drive along the coast. The next week, we went to Amelia and Anton’s house with Peter, the director of LG, along with his wife Sandy and daughter Amy. Anton and Amelia have an open room which has a braai, where Anton cooked snook (local fish), chicken and toasted sandwiches. It was so good! For dessert, we had a malva cake, a type of warm cake soaked in something like maple syrup with custard and fruit. People are so generous here, we were truly blessed to have them welcome us into their family so warmly. Abigail and I had a special relationship; We hunted cockroaches on the days she came to LG, we danced during devotions and she always brought me a chocolate treat! I’m really going to miss them! Two weeks into being in Cape Town, the group that had been there when we arrived all left within a few days of each other. I mentioned in a previous blog that this group was great, but somewhat difficult to connect with. Among the new group of people that arrived, came two girls, Amanda and Becky that had actually just come from two weeks in Mozambique. Soon, they had a new roommate, Kelly, also visiting from the US for a month. These girls are awesome- really funny and easy going. We got along right away. Todd and I definitely wanted to be within a community for a number of reasons, and I realized when they arrived how much I had missed my girlfriends and sisters. One weekend, we all rented a car together and drove to Simon’s Town for breakfast and to see the local penguin colony in the rain. The next day we went to Stellenbosch to the wineries and to look around the shops. Becky and Amanda gave me their left over malarone pills, so I don’t have to take the scary ones my doctor prescribed. When we left, Amanda had a card signed by some of the guys from LG and presented it to us with cheesecake and chocolate cake. I am so grateful for these girls. They really brought me a lot of joy and laughter in Cape Town. I’m really hoping that Todd is brought some good guys in the near future. Amanda would always egg him on to say mildly inappropriate things, which she thought was hilarious and to which I would roll my eyes. They were definitely trouble together. For about a week, Todd was a really good sport, driving around with four girls in the car. The last week when Rob came, he finally had another guy to talk to, outside of at LG. Our last day there at lunch, we presented Amanda and Rob with a ladle and the songbook, and stepped aside as they took over for us.

Ministry

South Africa has elements of both the First and Third Worlds. Despite its clean water and relatively good infrastructure, there is much to be done here. Living Hope has a long arm into the communities of Cape Town. They run a HIV/AIDS health care facility that provides drug treatment and counseling to infected individuals of all backgrounds. They have just expanded Living Way, a work program in which local women make and sell handbags to earn a living. They also run children’s programs in many of the townships that play games with the kids, teach biblical concepts and feed them, which is often the only meal some children have. All of these programs, especially the children’s, are vastly understaffed and underfunded. The Life Skills Educators that run the programs are completely overworked, run programs in shipping containers, and have no resources. Living Grace is another branch of Living Hope’s ministry that has just become independent. Although it feels like the people we encounter there are very similar to the homeless in North America, and that the causes of homelessness are similar, the issues here seem to run deeper and more generational. It is likely that at least 40% of the men who come through Living Grace have HIV. I feel very much like I did when I was working at GSC- that you get to know each person individually and it is easy to get comfortable, but that you must still be vigilant. I was reminded of this when one of the guys, while helping to peel potatoes, cut himself and tried to cover it up. I personally was very challenged there, as I will talk about in some later writings, but there were great rewards too. We did devotions twice a day, which always began with some singing followed by a message by someone. One of the most things we did that I really saw the fruit of was during devotions. We did different songs, added some actions to spice it up, and when Rob arrived, he played guitar. Todd especially brought a lot of joy to this time. One amazing opportunity we had together was to mentor a couple, Kevin and Natasha. The way this couple came to us was nothing short of a miracle, with God really moving especially through Todd. I’ve never quite seen anything like it. Kevin and Natasha have a very interesting history, but the point is that at this moment in their lives, they are really truly seeking God. After a few conversations with them, Todd felt led to give them his Bible, right before the weekend. On Monday when they returned, they were already on the fourth book! (I’ve only read that far since January!). We had the privilege of spending time each day with them, answering questions and encouraging them. It was amazing to see them on fire for God and at such a pivotal time in their lives. We really became close to them and miss them a lot. I suppose that if we did nothing else here, made no other difference, perhaps that would be enough. Would just the lives of Kevin and Natasha changing be enough to justify the expense, time and distance of this trip? Is one life enough reason to go across the world? I think one life for each of us, where ever we are, would be enough reason. That is why we are teachers, or parents, or say hi to someone we don’t know. Each of those lives could be our lives, or our children’s lives or our best friend’s. I don’t think God sent me across the globe just to hand out coffee or bread, although that is certainly a part of showing His love. Maybe He just sent me for Natasha.

Random Facts About SA

Clean Water
6 hour ahead of Amherstburg.
Driving on the left side of the road.
Robots=traffic lights; As in “Go to the first robots and turn right!”
Coffee is usually instant and always offered with either hot or cold milk and sugar
Chip Roll= a bun filled with french fries
Right now, SA is entering their winter, so it is becoming cooler (50-60 degrees F), with lots of rain and wind (therefore, sideways rain).
Kombi= VW van
Rusks- a really popular treat, very similar to biscotti, a hard cookie made for dipping in tea or coffee. They come in all flavours; chocolate, muesli, buttermilk, marmalade. Mmmm!

Money is the SA Rand: $1 US = R8. Some things are cheap, others the same price. For example, both a coffee and a beer are the same price, about R10 or $1.25

Afrikaans:
Hoe gaan dit met jou?
How are you doing?

Communal Living

Ok, so obviously I’ve learned a lot about the culture and people of SA. This month also presented many different situations in which I had to choose how to respond or act, and this process revealed to me different things about myself. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced, and probably the one that I learned most from, was living again in community. The first 2 weeks, there was a group of 18-21 year olds that had all been there together for a month and were quite bonded. To be honest, it felt a lot like I was back in University, with dishes all over and empty boxes of cookies. Their energy, interests and discussions were very different than mine. At first I really struggled with this. We met at 7 am for breakfast and group devotions, then all piled into the Kombi’s to go to our work locations, where we were in ministry all day. At 4:30 or 5:00 it was back in the Kombi again to go home and have dinner as a group. Many nights, we had activities already arranged for us. Other nights were free, but by the time some emailing was done, we were all pretty tired. Being a fairly strong introvert in a very extroverted day, I tried to immediately be very conscientious about my time. This meant that I had to get up at 6am if I wanted an hour to myself, and also that I would have to pass on some nightly activities in order to maintain some time alone and with God. The thing I realized during that time was that it was OK for me not want to stay up until midnight with them or go shark cage diving just because they did. I definitely felt more level because of this and was really comfortable just being who I am. After about two weeks, the original group was almost completely replaced by a new one. Over those weeks though, I really grew to appreciate their uniqueness and dedication. Here was a group of people not yet 20 who were in South Africa volunteering. Their hearts and courage were awesome. Plus, there were times when living with that many people was really fun. The first week we were there, we were all going over to Mike and Pam’s (volunteer coordinators) for dinner. Two people had rented cars; one was an old blue beetle, covered with graffiti, and the other, a rusty old red car dubbed The Red Baron. The front passenger door of the Baron wouldn’t open, so you had to climb in the window or go through the drivers door. Four of us piled in back. Jeff, the driver, had only actually begun learning to drive stick two weeks before, when he first got the car. The whole drive was a scary, somewhat thrilling series of jerks to try and clear intersections before getting hit and also while trying to remember to stay on the left hand side of the road. We thought we had safely arrived at their street, when we rounded the corner and discovered their flat was at the top of a large, steep hill. We all laughed as they watched us from the top and Todd yelled out “If you can’t find ‘em, grind ‘em!” To top it off, we left Mike and Pam’s a few minutes behind the other group. As we came close to the house, our headlights caught the beetle being pushed by the others. It had conked out and had to be towed the next day!

First Sunday

Our first Sunday here. The team usually goes to King of Kings Church, which is affiliated with Living Hope. King of Kings was running a camp this weekend though so we went to Masiphumelele for church. The church is in the heart of Masiphumelele, which is a very poor township about ten minutes drive from the team house. The service was already in full swing, although we arrived before the 11:00 start time. The first 45 minutes or so was a vibrant worship time. Everyone would stand and sing a song loudly, while the children ran around and some people danced, accompanied by two keyboards. In between songs we sat down and someone prayed or said something to welcome everyone. After worship, we were welcomed as a group and Mike, the coordinator, spoke a few words via a translator and then introduced each of us. Mike then called up two of our group to speak about their own journey with Christ. After that, one pastor spoke about a Faith Giving, followed by the main pastors sermon on who Jesus really was. It was a great message that addressed different religions and how they view Jesus. After 2.5 hours, the service ended. It was a wonderful first experience with an African church and how passionate they are for the Lord, in both their worship, and in their offerings to the church, despite how poor they are.