XENOPHOBIA!!!!

This is a word I don't think I even had in my vocabulary before last month, but here's the official Webster's definition for those of you like me:

xenophobia: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

Yeah, so if you don't follow the International News, perhaps you don't know, but there were outbreaks of xenophobic violence last month in the townships here in South Africa. The local South Africans are angry that foreigners from countries such as Somalia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have come to South Africa and taken their jobs and homes. So they acted out in violence. As a result some 50,000 people from other African countries were kicked out of their homes in the townships and are now refugees living in shelters scattered throughout the cities. There were an estimated 15-20,000 such refugees here in Cape Town. Our YFC volunteers helped serve breakfast and lunch at a church (His People) here in Cape Town that was housing some of the refugees for 3 weeks. Now they say most of the refugees have left the church because it wasn't an official shelter, so they've either moved to other shelters, moved back to their homes in the townships (the violence has ended for the most part) or they have went back to their home countries. There are still thousands in shelters, waiting on the government and UN to come up with a permanent solution for them. I read that most want to receive passage to other countries - not their home countries - such as France or Canada, but apparently the UN is giving them the options of returning to the townships or returning to their home countries, which I guess they aren't too thrilled about (I don't blame them!) so some have been staging hunger strikes to try to make their plight more widely known. I don't know what the future holds for them...please pray that God will guide them, the government and UN leaders and that God will turn the hearts of the people in the townships that perpetrated the violence, so it will again be a safe place for people to live!! Here are some pics our volunteers took at His People Church where they were volunteering.....

Goodbye Jonathan, Joni, Josh!!!

Josh (thats what he decided we should call him in November, after 2 months of calling him Joni!) was one of the few people who lived in both of our volunteer houses; first Blouberg, Sept - Dec, then Kylemore, Feb-June! He first served at Vissershok Primary School, helping teach life skills in the 6th grade class. Then in Kylemore he helped teach life skills to the High School classes. He also helped coach volleyball in Kylemore. He was the only guy in the Blouberg house, surrounded by eight women!! This was quite a challenge for him, seriously, he struggled a lot and strived to make male friends whenever he could! We had several conversations where he expressed his struggle with how "girly" the girls in the house were! Poor guy!! In Kylemore there was one other guy, Arjan, so I think that was easier on him!! Here is a pic of him in the back of the bakkie (truck to you Americans!) and then with some of the kids from Vissershok on an outing to the beach! He will be much missed by all of us!!!

Goodbye KT!!

So Katie actually hasn't left YFC South Africa, but she has left Cape Town...well more accurately, she left Kylemore! In May she decided to move to Knysna (5 hours from Cape Town) and serve with their Team there through the end of November. While living in Kylemore she volunteered at the Kindergarten and Creche there and also coached the girls soccer team. This was our first group of volunteers living in Kylemore and they were really welcomed in by the community. They all really enjoyed getting to know the kids, I think there were always kids at the house, so they got to know them in a way they aren't really able to in Cape Town. I know Katie is greatly missed and Knysna is lucky to have her! She will be back to Cape Town occasionally - I know she'll be here for July 4th, so us Americans are going to have a big celebration!! I'll try to update with some pics!! Here's a pic of Katie with some of the kids in Kylemore and a pic of us (and Amber) at Kirstenbosch for the Plush (Emelio, our Operations Manager is in the band) concert!!

Goodbye Danielle, Corine, Riette and Esther!!!

Better known as the Dutch girls! These four all came to us from the same college in Holland. They were doing their last project before graduating. Danielle and Corine wrote a manual for our Pre- and Post- Abortion Counseling program. So they worked closely with Rosa, our Options Care Center program manager. They had to also visit the Karl Bremer Hospital, where the counseling takes place to do their research. But mostly they were in the office a lot, doing research and writing the manual. It was a lot of work, but they did a great job! Its so nice to have these manuals for our volunteers that come, so they have all the information they need at their fingertips! Riette and Esther were also doing their final project, only they did theirs at the SOS Children's Village where we do a life skills program, that frankly is quite a struggle for the volunteers. So Riette and Esther researched the village, the kids, the volunteers, etc and put together a training program that can be used when new vols come to give them the understanding and skills they need to effectively lead the life skills program at SOS. Again this was a very daunting task (and they are still working on it back in Holland) but I've read some of it and it's really spot on!! Good stuff that will be a huge asset to the program at SOS!! Heres a pic of all of them with Rolf and his wife Lizzie and one other vol, Debby.....they will all be missed!!!

Goodbye Amber!!!

Oh my word!!!! My girl, Amber!!!! She lived with me the last 2 months she was here, so she and I got pretty close. We saw eye to eye on most things and just really had a good time hanging out. She actually left 2 months ago, so I'm just really tardy getting my site updated! Here in Cape Town she worked a lot in our office, trying to set up manuals for the SOS Village program and for Christian Union. She also did some brochures we could use for promotion and helped Emelio get our website set up. She is 27 so living in the house was a struggle for her as well, so we were kind of kindred spirits on a lot of things. We did a lot of stuff together, so I miss her immensely!!! She is joining MCYM, the military youth part of YFC, probably going to be in Italy to serve the military kids there. She has such a heart and passion for this work that I think she will be there for a long time! Right now she's back in the States doing some fundraising before heading to Europe, so I'm sure she'd appreciate if you said a quick prayer for her funding efforts - believe me - its not an easy task!!!! Anyway, here's a pic of Amber and I at my flat and then a pic of her with my little buddy, Joanen and another boy at SOS (lookin good with the braids!).....miss you so, so much Amber!!!!