Ten Thousand Homes

We’ve now been living with the ministry of Ten Thousand Homes close to White River for two weeks. The base consists of a kitchen, several little cement houses and wooden huts for the volunteers, an outdoor bathroom for everyone, 3 dogs, about 10 full-time volunteers, poinsettia trees (!!) and a lot of red dirt that slowly changes the base color of all of our clothes :). The base of the organization is basically in the middle of nowhere and even though there have been significantly less break-ins in the recent past, we are still advised to have a “bathroom buddy” (one other person in our room) to take with us if we need to go to the potty in the middle of the night… The 6 girls in our team stay in one room that is attached to the main building and therefore stays a little warmer at night than the wooden hut the 3 guys stay at. During the day, the temperatures rise up to mid 70F but at night they drop to about 30F-40F. So far, my favorite personal investment since coming here has been a cheap prissy winter coat, gloves and a hot water bottle!

During the day, our team helps out at the base or within the community. So far, we have helped one of the volunteers finish building their house, prepare food for community dinners and the highly valued African tea time and on Wednesdays and Thursdays we are assisting with orphan feedings within the close communities Dwaleni and Mbonisweni. Several hundred children show up for the feedings – but not only to receive a nourishing meal but even more to soak in love, smiles and piggy-back-rides from the volunteers. This is my favorite time of the week! I have fallen in love with several of the little children with the huge brown African eyes that can melt a heart of stone! I would LOVE to take (at least) one of them home with me…

 

South Africa is such a beautiful country. And while the communities are clothed in simplicity and poverty, the surrounding landscape is painted with the richest colors and stunning beauty. Last Saturday, we were able to rent a blue baki (pick-up truck) to go sightseeing – what an amazing experience! Our trip took us first to God’s Window, a stunning overlook of the entire area where I, believe it or not, met a friend from Calvin College! The world is getting significantly smaller, I believe ;) For lunch, we went to Harry’s Pancakes, where I had some of the best pancakes I have ever tasted (including one filled with juicy beef with almonds and mango chutney and one filled with ice cream and cinnamon). Afterward, we went to the Bourke’s Luck Potholes, some amazing cliff formations and dozens of little waterfalls. And finally, we went to the Blyde River Canyon, the most breath-taking view I have ever seen besides the Grand Canyon and the Hawaiian coral reefs! We all broke out into a sudden yell of amazement when we got to the rim of the canyon… how wonderful when God’s artistic brushstroke of nature catches you by surprise!

Tomorrow, our team is leaving for 5 days in Swaziland. We will be staying with a family with 13 kids, no electricity, no running water and – obviously – no central heating…

Oh, and did I mention that our ENTIRE TEAM is in the middle of KNITTING scarfs for everyone in the Swaziland family? Yeah, we are pretty much the coolest missionaries ever :) 

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer – mine could not be more amazing and meaningful.

Arriving in Joburg, South Africa

At the airport in München

Wow – suddenly we are in South Africa! Well, it actually wasn’t really that “suddenly”…  First, we flew 5 hours to San Francisco, USA, had a 16-hour layover there (where some of us got to explore the city and I almost lost my wallet!), then we flew for 11 hours to Munich, Germany, had some real German cheese cake and Kinderschokolade during our 5-hour layover and finally got on our last leg for almost 11 hours to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. We got picked up from the airport and are staying with the “Joseph Project,” a Christian after school program (part of YWAM) that tries to even
out the shortcomings in education of the public schools in the area. Eungyu (South Korea) and Time (England), who are currently staffing the institution, were wonderful hosts to us from the very beginning! After

In front of the Joseph Project

a good night sleep, we first got to explore the community. Johannesburg is one of the two highest crime rate cities of the world and in our specific neighborhood, pizza does not get delivered anymore after 6pm because it is too dangerous to be outside after sunset… Unfortunately, Joburg shows all of the tragic after effects of the Apartheid: segregation between Whites and Blacks, the gap between rich and poor, and incredibly run-down communities. Since the Apartheid was over, the white people moved out of the cities and created richer and safer communities, while the streets of the cities and many sub-communities are almost exclusively full of black people who are still largely marked by poverty.

Mphu - the guy with the greatest smile!

For these first couple of days of our time in South Africa, our team decided to spend 72 hours in prayer for the community. Switching out in groups of two and meeting together several times a day as a whole group, we spent 3 days worshiping and praying with people all around the neighborhood – what a powerful and cleansing experience! Within these 72 hours, I made great friends with some of the African youths and we learned from each other the different ways that our cultures worship God – and we even got to exchange some African dance vs. swing dance moves :)  

"The Underground" aka our prayer cave :)

Tomorrow we will leave for White River to work with 10,000 homes – an organization that works with children that have lost their parents at a young age (mostly due to HIV) and are now running their households at the age of 8 or younger… 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue our journey...