Hope and Grace

Living Hope Community Centre has made a profound impact here in the Cape Town area. Here’s one example. After LHCC began its after-school Children’s Clubs in the townships, sharing the love of Jesus and teaching Bible-based values, the government noticed something: Those kids’ behavior in the public schools improved! So Living Hope (http://www.livinghope.co.za/) was invited to send staff workers into the schools and teach those values (along with things like hygiene and good nutrition) to all the students. What a concept, one unheard of in American public schools. But circumstances are so desperate in South Africa, where HIV, poverty and other social ills are so widespread, the government is open to anything that might make a difference, even Biblical values like sexual abstinence.

The LowCountry team is working with the Children’s Clubs in Red Hill, a mountaintop community where we worked during our trip last year. The kids here are awesome. They’re so playful and joyful, they just capture your heart. Part of the team is also leading crafts and Bible studies for women, helping plant vegetable gardens, and will be helping with a health clinic next week to test for HIV, tuberculosis and hypertension.

Another part of the team is spending mornings at Living Grace (http://www.livinggrace.co.za/), a homeless facility in the pretty seaside town of Muizenberg. Folks there can come in for hot meals and showers. They attend a devotional program before each meal, and we’re helping with both those efforts. After they sang songs of praise this morning, one man told me he’s thankful for everything he has, even the bad times. Just like Job – the Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. It’s instantly humbling to see people praise God in dire circumstances. Not everyone has such a sunny outlook, though. There’s a lot of pain and hopelessness on people’s faces here. Lots of drug and alcohol abuse, too.