Last week the whole team went on a tour of Manenberg, a poor area of Cape Town, it's not really a township, but it is certainly a disadvantaged area. As we walked along on the tour and listened to the different people talk, it was interesting how the issues they deal with in this community are so similar to the issues facing our inner cities in the US. Drugs, gangs, unemployment, minimal education....it was great to see the programs they have going to try to combat these issues. The organization that gave us the tour is called SelfHelp Manenberg, they aren't waiting for the g
overnment or more privileged people to come "rescue" them - they are taking the initiative themselves and doing something about it! They have various training programs going to assist the people get skills required to get a job. They train the people and also assist them in finding employment. They served us a meal made by some of the people in the catering and hospitality programs. Once they finish the programme they are assisted in finding jobs at hotels and the like. Here are
pictures from the tour....first pictures along the street of the shacks built in front of apartment buildings, we visited one family who has a little convenience store in the front room of their house. They sell coffee and sugar in little baggies that residents can buy for 1 rand (14 cents!)....a picture of kids hanging out along the road....a picture from the church we visited where they talked a lot about the gang activity that has plagued the area the last 30 years but has been better lately, the house the church is in used to be a hub of gang activity but the leader became a Christian and gave the hous
e to the church....the last picture is of a man who is a former gang member and has now also become a Christian and runs this fruit stand, he had a sign hanging that said "no Jesus, no life...know Jesus, know life!"
Last week the whole team went on a tour of Manenberg, a poor area of Cape Town, it's not really a township, but it is certainly a disadvantaged area. As we walked along on the tour and listened to the different people talk, it was interesting how the issues they deal with in this community are so similar to the issues facing our inner cities in the US. Drugs, gangs, unemployment, minimal education....it was great to see the programs they have going to try to combat these issues. The organization that gave us the tour is called SelfHelp Manenberg, they aren't waiting for the g
overnment or more privileged people to come "rescue" them - they are taking the initiative themselves and doing something about it! They have various training programs going to assist the people get skills required to get a job. They train the people and also assist them in finding employment. They served us a meal made by some of the people in the catering and hospitality programs. Once they finish the programme they are assisted in finding jobs at hotels and the like. Here are 
pictures from the tour....first pictures along the street of the shacks built in front of apartment buildings, we visited one family who has a little convenience store in the front room of their house. They sell coffee and sugar in little baggies that residents can buy for 1 rand (14 cents!)....a picture of kids hanging out along the road....a picture from the church we visited where they talked a lot about the gang activity that has plagued the area the last 30 years but has been better lately, the house the church is in used to be a hub of gang activity but the leader became a Christian and gave the hous
e to the church....the last picture is of a man who is a former gang member and has now also become a Christian and runs this fruit stand, he had a sign hanging that said "no Jesus, no life...know Jesus, know life!"
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