South Africa: Not Even a Week

Dear Friends and Family,

I've been in South Africa (Cape Town, to be exact) for a little over two days now. David and I flew in together, and Pastor Ohm, Simon, and Angela picked us up from the airport. Angela is one of the long-term missionaries living in the mission house. She came from Brazil and has been here since February. Simon flew down to South Africa from Germany specifically to help lead the Stanford team and our work here. For the past two days, Simon, David, and I have been working closely together with the people in Khayelitsha. Before going into details, let me say, again, just how wonderful and sweet it is to be able to work with people from, literally, all over the world. Simon has built a great friendship with David and me over the past couple days.

Once David and I arrived safely at the mission house in Cape Town Sunday night, we met another team of short-term missionaries from Canada. They're either from Vancouver or Toronto. There are so many teams from Canada that I cannot keep them straight! Anyhow, this group of high-school students was headed to Transkei (another town about 12 hours away by car) the next day. So we took the best opportunity to talk to them and hear their experience so far. Afterwards, with over 24 hours worth of traveling under my belt, I was glad to lay my back down on a bed and call it a night and slept soundly that night.

Come Monday morning, we were taken to the local Bible college, where the local staff of African Leadership met for early morning devotions and to share prayer requests. We were then whisked away to a local preschool. I imagined the usual American preschool with the nice playground, pristine facilities, and all the jazz we think children need. But when we got there, the building blew my mind away. It was built out of metal sheets, nailed to wooden boards for support. The wooden boards were planted firmly in the ground. There were no lights; no running water. The preschool was one giant room--a giant shade made of metal, if you want to call it that. The walls were painted by amateurs (by the kids and other short-term missionaries, I suppose). And, to top it all off, the structure sat in the sand. Apparently, the entire town of Khayelitsha is a sandy beach. Try building a town that houses over 1 million people on that kind of soil! I think it's a feat of engineering, but maybe it's just from sheer force of will. So, here I am, first day in South Africa, inside a preschool that's a far cry from the American preschool standing on a structure sitting atop a sand dune--whatever happened to building on the rock, right? And yet the little children were so happy that day! David led them in a couple rounds of song and told them a Bible story. I was caught completely off-guard, thinking that Monday would be orientation; but, instead, we were thrown in the fray. The children here are so precious and so innocent! Maybe it's not the building that makes the preschool, but the children inside that make it the preschool.

Later that day, David and I got a glimpse of the other side of life for these kids. We went with one of the local pastors to visit his aunt. This lady raised a couple children single-handedly, and her son was her treasure. She was telling us the story of how he cooked soup for her. When he found that the soup wasn't as flavorful as he had liked, he left the house to go and buy more meat for the soup. But then he never came back. He was murdered on his way home; her neighbors had come to inform her that her son was lying, covered in his own blood, out on the street. She was the one to go outside and, as the authorities came to take away his body, close his eyes and close his mouth. It was a heart-wrenching story to listen to. It is hard enough for a mother or father to see their children pass away; I can only imagine the grief of a parent when his or her child is murdered in the streets. And to be the one to close his eyes and shut his mouth--to be only minutes away from the killing. It is almost evil in its rawest incarnation.

And I was asked to pray for this woman. Needless to say, I was at a loss for words.

Khayelitsha is not a town with many opportunities for the little kids who go to preschool here. What awaits them after education and adolescence is a life of crime, drugs, and premarital sex. Their families are often single-mother families; their houses are little shacks made out of metal; their streets are made of sand; their toilets are communal, shared with their neighbors; their water, in a touch of grace, is the cleanest in the area--but they have to pump it themselves. The little kids are just as innocent (maybe even more innocent!) than the children in the United States; but without the opportunities afforded to us, their lives are cut short from their potential. The disparity between the rich and poor sickens me. And, yet, it is so hard to love the poor and the less fortunate! The white South Africans here drive around in BMWs, Benz's, and Audi's--and not one of them sets foot in the poor, black neighborhood. Though apartheid is over, the damage it has done will take much longer to undo.

The vision of African Leadership is to exact change on a small scale--starting with the children, giving them opportunities for education (with the preschool) and keeping the adolescents off the streets by giving them a place to play soccer or netball (netball is a cross between ultimate frisbee and basketball). Through these avenues, the Gospel will be preached to the youngsters, who then take Christ into their homes. And slowly, but surely, as an entire generation is transformed, the nation will be, too.

On Tuesday, Panayiota, another member of team, flew in safely, and we picked her up from the airport. We spent the day digging holes for fence posts to protect one of the preschools in Khayelitsha. The children were excited to see us working and joined in with the work. At the end of the day, we had brand, spanking-new fence posts solidly planted in the sand. For those who have been to Palo Duro, imagine that kind of work, but repeated 10+ times. :-D I had great fun digging.

This evening, I had the opportunity to share a short part of my testimony with the boys that are part of the soccer ministry here. I told them about Daniel from Tien-Wei. He's a blind and deaf boy in Taiwan who has profoundly affected me and some of my closest friends because, despite the reality of who he is--blind, deaf, disabled--he burns with a bright passion for Christ. I spend my life seared by my own pride, trying to make people know me--but Daniel shared Christ to everyone he came in contact with. I encouraged the boys here--that even if they may think their lives are going nowhere--they can change the world with a passion for Christ and for God's Kingdom. David shared a short message from Matthew about worrying, and our translator, the boy's Bible study leader, gave an altar call at the end. Many of the boys came to Christ then.

Please pray for them.

* Pray for the young boys of Khayelitsha, who have accepted Christ, that they may shine brightly in this community--that even though the town is built on sand, these boys may be the generation of solid rock the community needs.
* Pray for the young children (the preschoolers) here who don't have the plethora of "American" opportunities and their families. Pray for their salvation and the role they will play in God's Kingdom.
* Thank God for the safe travels of Panayiota--her flight was delayed on the way here.
* Continue to pray for safe travels--Carl's flight was delayed as well, but he is currently on the plane.
* Pray for the rest of our work here, as the team finishes building the fence and as we continue to interact with the youth here.
* Finally, please pray for the old lady whose son was murdered. I don't know how to pray for her, but I trust the Holy Spirit does. ;)

I miss you all very dearly,
Eric.

PS. I hope this email isn't sitting in the spam-box again. :-D