SOS Kindergarten and Creche

Okay, so I've been volunteering at the SOS Children's Village Kindergarten and Creche (pre-school) for 2 weeks now and I'm really enjoying it!! I am there on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9 - 12. For the most part I am just assisting the teachers with the activities, however, twice I've been able to work one on one with a several kids who are behind and I loved it! I hope to do more of this as the teachers have their hands full just getting the whole class through each lesson and don't have much time for one on one time. I have also been able to read books to them on two occasions. It's a challenge keeping up with the energy of these 3-6 year olds! Plus many of the kids have been through so much in their young lives. The teacher was telling me one of the kids has been living at the Village (meaning he was orphaned or abandoned) since he was 6 months old and last year his SOS Mom retired, so he has already lost 2 moms and he is now only 4! The kids attend for 3 years so there is a class for each year and I have visited the two older classes. Above are pictures of a couple of the kids in the classes. I'll keep you updated with more stories and pics as time goes by. Please pray for these kids!

Breakthrough Camp for Youth

Thursday evening and Friday morning the whole team went to a southern suburb of Cape Town called Strandfontein to do a program at Breakthrough Camp - a 10 day camp for youth ages 14 - 25 who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. It was an awesome experience! It's a Christian camp so the kids are learning to deal with their addictions by giving their lives to Jesus. Our program on Thursday night was titled "Are You Free?". We asked them to think about freedom in their lives and to look at what areas they are slaves to sin and can't break free without asking Jesus into their lives. We showed a short video, did a skit and one of our volunteers shared testimony. We then had an open worship time, where they could choose to quietly read, draw, chat with someone, write out their prayer requests and read other's requests and pray for them and we gave them a red ribbon they could nail to a wooden cross - signifying they were giving some issue or sin in their lives to Jesus - the next morning we had replaced the red ribbons with white ribbon - Jesus had washed their sins away with His blood. It was really meaningful to the kids. At the end we also gave them a sheet of paper to write out their confessions on and then we took them outside and burned them, just to show that once we confess and ask forgiveness the sin is gone.

On Friday the program was titled "Puzzled" and just dealt with the confusion we feel sometimes about what we should do with our lives. So the activites were designed to show that God has a plan for our lives and when we are puzzled or confused on what to do we can turn to Him, that He loves us and wants to show us a better way of living. The kids really opened up about their lives and where they need are suffering and need Jesus. We all agreed the experience was great and we learned just as much as the campers did (as always seems to happen when you are ministering to someone!)! We hope to do more camps like this in the future! Please pray for more opportunities for this to open up!

Blessings!

Quad-biking in the sand dunes!!

So we went quad-biking in the sand dunes by the coast for 2 hours! It was soooo much fun!! I didn't get very good pics of the bigger sand dunes because we were on the bikes then, we stopped in flatter areas and thats what the pics are from. Enjoy!

Etosha National Park!!

Just a sampling of the wildlife we saw at Etosha National Park, a 6 hour drive north of the Namibian Capitol of Windhoek. We camped here 2 nights!

Hodygos Training Centre, Okahandja, Namibia

More pictures fo the training centre in Namibia. The sign at entry, the chapel and the last picture shows one of our volunteers on one of the obstacles on their obstacle course they use to teach Christian Leadership Skills to youth.

Okahandja, Namibia

Here is some of the YFC Namibia staff and their offices. We had a good time hanging out with them and finding out about their programs. They also have a dance and drama team that goes into schools and does ministry like our Khanya team in Cape Town.

Namibia!!!!

So Awesome! Over the school holidays, when our programs are not running, six of us international volunteers decided to go to Namibia for 10 days. It was an incredible adventure and for all of us further proved to us that God is good and trustworthy! This post is a little long, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!!

First, we took the bus to the capitol of Namibia, Windhoek. The bus ride took 21 hours! Once we got to Windhoek we would need to get to Okahandja, an hour from Windhoek to the YFC Training Centre there. We had asked the bus line rep on the phone if the bus would take us to Okahandja and she said she thought they would or they would assist us in making arrangements. Well we asked them on the way there and they said no they couldn't take us and they had no idea if any buses went there or how we would get there! We were a little shaken by this, so we prayed. In the meantime, Steffi, one of the volunteers from Germany, started talking to the lady sitting next to her and come to find out, she is a South African who now lives in Namibia and she travels back and forth many times a year and she said it would be no problem to get us to Okahandja, she would help us once we got there! So once we got to Windhoek she showed us how to get to the main bus and taxi area and then asked around about taxi fares (too high she said!) and then while we waited she went over to the bus area, asked around and found us a bus that would take us for much cheaper than the taxi! It was so great - we would have been wandering around lost without her help!! First answered prayer! Also this lady, Reikie, now lives in Swakopmund, our last stop in Namibia and she said when she got there she would look up info for us on all the activities in the sand dunes!

Ok, so we get to Okahandja to the YFC Training Centre and get settled into our cabins. We spent a couple days there and were able to go into town and check it out. It’s a cute small town, not unlike many in the states. Namibia used to be a German colony, so much of the architecture and names are German and so most of the international volunteers at YFC there are from Germany. The two German volunteers with us, Tina and Steffi, enjoyed getting to speak their mother tongue with the volunteers in Namibia. The Training Centre is very nice though it’s kind of out in the bush and isolated. They have a conference center, chapel, offices and many cabins to accommodate all their volunteers as well as for youth camps they have throughout the year. We got to go on the obstacle course they have there as well. It was fun, each obstacle is aimed at teaching leadership skills based on Christian values. I had a hard time keeping up with the youngsters again, but it was a good time! They have plans in the future to make the centre completely self sufficient; they already have cows and plans to plant a large garden, they have water and if they could get solar panels, could provide their own electricity. It was a cool place; the volunteers there live much differently than we do in Cape Town.

We had planned to stay at the Training Centre for 5 nights, but because we wanted to see the capitol city and weren’t sure when the YFC staff could take us there, we decided to take an opportunity to go there a couple days early and get accommodation there instead. Only problem was, its Easter weekend, and most of the hotels are booked! We could have stayed at a Backpacker’s one night (Thursday) but it was booked on Friday. So we prayed about it and then later in the day we got out the phone book and the first place we called was “Pete’s Place” and they said they could accommodate us for both nights! Yeah! They said they had 4 single beds and one double bed, and could bring in another mattress if we needed it. So we booked it, but then started to get worried that it was going to just be some room at a house and were a little anxious about “Pete”. But this wasn’t our only worry. We were headed to Etosha National Park on Saturday but we needed tents to camp out in. We had asked the YFC Centre if they had any or could make arrangements, but when we got there they said they didn’t have anything for us! And the head grounds keeper at the Centre used to work at Etosha as a Nature Conservationalist and told us a story of 2 Australian guys who camped outside of the area they were supposed to in just their sleeping bags and they got attacked by lions! So we were quite worried about our sleeping arrangements in Etosha. And again, it a holiday weekend so they told us everything in Windhoek would be closed on Friday, so we didn’t even think we could buy tents! So more prayers!

Well, we get to Windhoek to Pete’s Place and it’s awesome! They have a whole separate flat that they let out. It had two separate bedrooms and then a living room with two beds in it, satellite tv, a kitchen, pool and patio area we could use and the kicker – they are a Christian couple and Pete used to serve on YFC’s Board! They invited us to their church with them, so we went to Maundy Thursday services with them. They were so great! So second answered prayer!!

Then Thursday night before church we walk down to the grocery store a couple blocks from the house to get some food and there in the back aisle are – yeah you guessed it – TENTS! Three-man tents for 300 rand a piece (just over $30) So we bought two tents and sang praises to God the whole way home!! Third answered prayer!!

The rest of our answered prayers were not quite such big deals, but here are few of the other things we were concerned about and that God took care of quite handily… We were worried about what the vehicle we were renting for the last 5 days would be like…it was awesome, Steffi and I loved driving it and we were able to fit in all our bags and didn’t feel too cramped for our 6 and 7 hour drives up to Etosha and then to Swakopmund on the coast….. We desired to see lots of animals at Etosha and were treated to giraffes, elephants and zebras walking across the road right in front of us! The only thing we didn’t see was lions….. We were worried about the drive to Swakopmund once we realized a good part of it was on gravel roads (had we known ahead of time, we’d have picked a different route!) but though the going was slow for a bit, we made it safe and sound and before the sun went down! Plus got to see so much of the beautiful Namibian countryside that seemed to change every hour, sometimes mountainous and rocky, sometimes grassy plains, then lots of desert – fabulous! ….. Then we wanted to go quad biking in the sand dunes and we were worried they would be booked because of the holiday weekend, but we made a reservation for the next day, no problem. And the quad biking was soooo much fun!! A highlight for me – I LOVED IT!

Everything worked out so well! We had a fabulous time! I highly recommend you come see Africa, my friends! So many things to do, beautiful landscapes to see and the people are so welcoming, friendly and helpful!

Anyway, I’ve probably gone on for too long and you all probably think I’m just here to have fun! Not true!! I have been doing ministry work in the office, at the SOS Village with the orphans and am excited to start volunteering at the kindergarten there on Monday the 16th. We are hopefully starting some new projects in the coming weeks as well, so stay tuned…..It’s just that when the holidays come along, I will take full advantage and see as much of Africa as I can! It seems crazy not to! I hope you enjoy pictures I will post separately....

Cheetahs!

I was blessed to be able to go to Stellenbosch, an hour from Cape Town and heart of the wine region in South Africa with another of our volunteers, Sara and her Dad a couple weeks ago. We visited a couple different wineries, but the highlight of the day was seeing cheetahs at the Spier Winery. They have a cheetah outreach there to educate the public about cheetahs and raise donations to further efforts to protect cheetahs in South Africa. They told us that cheetahs are more docile than most large cats, they usually only go after prey smaller than them and that more often they are the prey themselves, so they said the numbers of them are dwindling. They also said that cheetahs in the wild can be killed by farmers if the farmers believe the cheetahs have attacked their livestock and that the farmers take full advantage of this. They have 13 cheetahs at the outreach and you can actually pay to have a "cheetah encounter" where you can go in with the trainers and pet the cheetahs and spend a little time with them in the yard. We didn't do this, we just paid to get in and view the cheetahs. Above are pics....enjoy! I can't believe the experiences I have already been blessed with since I came to South Africa....God is so good!!

Robben Island

Hello, my friends!

A couple weekends ago a group of us went to tour Robben Island. Its right off the coast of Cape Town and has been used for many things, at one time it was a leper colony and most recently it had been used as a maximum security prison for black political prisoners. Nelson Mandela was in prison here for 18 years. Now it is a museum and former prisoners are the ones who give the tours. The most interesting thing is that former prisoners and former guards now live side by side on the island and get along fine. It is amazing to me after the atrocities I hear about from the apartheid era, that people here are able to forgive and move on. Not that it is without racial strife, but for the most part it is not violent. Most crime arises more from poverty and hopelessness ....anyway, here are some pictures - Nelson Mandela's cell and there is also a penguin colony on the island, so I had to include a pic of this!!!