The Adventure Continues

My teammates have deserted me. I rode with the LCC team to Cape Town International this morning, bid them goodbye and returned to my accommodations in Noordhoek. Here I’ll remain for the next seven weeks. I had envisioned this would be a moment when I stopped and asked myself, “What am I doing here?” But that moment actually came right after I arrived almost two weeks ago. Once we dove into the day-to-day work, God has affirmed to me that this is where I’m supposed to be.

Psalm 16: 5-6 says, “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places …” This seems fitting for where I am. (And not just because there's a stunning beach outside my living room window. And whales.)

The team enjoyed a fruitful final day of work on Wednesday, beginning with a visit to the Living Hope Health Care Centre. We sang songs for the patients, then split into groups – ladies washing and massage feet in the women’s ward, and Tom and I teaching a board game called Cat & Mouse to some of the men. Interacting with HIV and AIDS patients is a totally different dynamic than the previous work we had done. It was good for us to get an up-close look at another one of Living Hope’s core ministries.

Our ladies ended their time with the ladies of Red Hill by washing feet, and serving tea and dessert. After teaching her Bible lesson, Patty asked for song requests and the ladies responded with an impromptu worship service (top photo). It seems like everyone here has an amazing voice. No instruments, no percussion – they keep the rhythm with their voices and harmonize like a professional choir. “Mine, mine, mine, Jesus is mine” … “ It was a happy day when I was born again” … “We’re marching upward to Zion, that beautiful city of God” – I can still hear those voices ringing in my head.

After that, we threw two parties for the Red Hill kids. Red Hill is divided into three sections, lower, middle and upper, and Children’s Clubs are held in the middle and upper camps. We talked up the parties and told kids to invite their parents. About 80 people showed up in the middle camp. When we drove up the hill for the upper camp party (bottom photo), those kids were waiting by the front entrance with party hats on. It was a spirited celebration and a great way to end a mission trip.

Now my volunteer assignment begins. Some of it is already familiar, as I’ll continue working mornings at the Living Grace homeless facility and spending afternoons in Red Hill. I also get to use my communication background, working on some documentation for strategic mission work in the townships, and writing a history of all the Fish Hoek Baptist Trust ministries. If I had any doubt whether I’ll have enough to do in these coming weeks, those doubts have been dispelled.

An Uphill Battle

When people live in poverty, troubles feed off one another. Unemployment means boredom, which leads to alcohol abuse, and sex among multiple partners, which causes HIV to spread. Living Hope and its parent organization, Fish Hoek Baptist Church Community Trust, battles these issues with a wholistic approach that seeks spiritual, physical, emotional and fiscal health.

HIV is made worse by the fact that those who have it in this culture are stigmatized by their community. So they’d either rather not know about it or just live with it until they die, instead of being tested or treated. But with the right medications, and the right counseling and education (all of which Living Hope supplies), people can survive and live healthy lives. They just have to be convinced.

The LCC team had a hand in this effort on Monday. Living Hope held a health fair at Red Hill to test for blood pressure, blood sugar, HIV and TB. We were told that a turnout of 20 for the HIV test would be a success. About 30 were tested and maybe 100 total showed up for the blood pressure checks. Unfortunately a handful tested positive for HIV. They’ll be counseled, cared for and directed into followup support groups.

The work of Living Hope and Living Grace is a great illustration of the principle behind James 2: 15-17. “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

I got a first-hand look at how bad alcoholism is in poor communities like Red Hill, particularly among men. As Tom and I walked around to invite people to the health fair, we came across guys who were already drunk at 10 in the morning. One guy took me to their general store (it’s a shack, just like the homes) and bought me a Coke. Then he drank and smoked with his friends as we chatted. (Don’t worry Mom, we’ve been assured Red Hill is a safe place in the daytime.) One guy told me to pray for him because he’s under so much stress. Several of them say they want to be free of the alcohol. But when they don’t have transportation and can’t find work and they’re hungry, they drink to numb the pain. It’s a vicious cycle and there are no easy answers.

Light in Dark Places

Just as a flashlight – or a torch, as South Africans call it – shines in dark corners, the love of Christ illuminates some pretty shadowy locations in the Western Cape. We got another first-hand look at this last Friday in Khayelitsha, a township of 1 million-plus. This place has a reputation. Even one of the regulars at the homeless ministry warned me not to go there. But we had a knowledgeable guide and all was well.

We learned about several positive initiatives in Khayelitsha: Learn to Earn, a Christian-led vocational school that guides residents into the workforce; LOVE (Lily of the Valley Educare), a series of daycare centers that feed kids Biblical values along with two hot meals a day; Rainbow Sports Ministry, which uses soccer and netball (sort of like basketball) to build relationships with teenagers and steer them away from trouble (teen sex, alcohol and drug use are huge problems); and a new auto repair shop that will train prospective mechanics. As Christopher, one of the Rainbow Sports leaders, told us, God is calling His people to work in ministries like this and there’s no option but to obey if we’re serious about loving others as Christ commanded.

This week brings two more days of work at Living Grace. One of our team members, Tom Lawler, will be cooking a big chili lunch for the guests there on Tuesday. Today’s a big day at Red Hill, where Living Hope will be running a health fair for HIV testing and counseling, and blood pressure and TB tests. Nancy Lawler will be helping with this; Patty Friesen and the other ladies will continue to lead women’s devotionals; and Tom and I will go out and invite people to the event. We’ll also continue to do children’s ministry in Red Hill and will finish up there on Wednesday with a party for all the kids and parents. I’ll continue to work in both Red Hill and Muizenberg for the remainder of my stay until mid-December, so the relationships we’re forming over these two weeks will be a big help in my continued work here.

More Scenes from Cape Town and Beyond

Pictured, top to bottom: Women’s Bible study at Red Hill; Khayelitsha neighborhood; Cape Town.

It's All Yours God

Cape Town is a land of juxtaposition. A homeless center next to a stunning seascape. A shantytown on a mountaintop. People in despair alongside people with hope. There’s so much that’s hard to look upon. A homeless family (parents with two kids) showed up Thursday too late for lunch. Not a scrap of prepared food was left, but “Auntie Joan,” the dear woman who helps run the place, managed to find some bread and rice to send them away with. In Red Hill, we learned that a man hanged himself last week, leaving a family behind. Another family had recently adopted a child when the adoptive mother suddenly died of an asthma attack.

It’s easy to become discouraged. But we also meet people like Craig, a 21-year-old who was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight six years ago and is in a wheelchair for life. He has a home nearby, but he comes to Living Grace every day to help out. He has a sweet spirit and an ever-present smile and the love of God in his heart. He could easily be mad at God, but he’s not.

Steven Curtis Chapman has a song called Yours. Substitute Cape Town for some of the places mentioned and you have a picture of the suffering in this part of the world, and the comfort we try to take in knowing God is still in control:

Yours
I walk the streets of London
And notice in the faces passing by
Something that makes me stop and listen
My heart grows heavy with the cry
Where is the hope for London?
You whisper and my heart begins to soar
As I'm reminded that every street in London in Yours

I walk the dirt roads of Uganda
I see the scars that war has left behind
Hope like the sun is fading
They're waiting for a cure no one can find
And I hear children's voices singing
Of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded that every child in Africa is Yours

And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper
Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours

And I walk the sidewalks of Nashville
Like Singapore, Manila and Shanghai
I rush by the beggar's hand and the wealthy man
And everywhere I look I realize
That just like the streets of London
For every man and woman, boy and girl
All of creation
This is our Father's world

And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper
Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours

Scenes from the Cape

Pictured from top: Playtime or naptime, not sure which; mingling at Living Grace; transformed lives in Red Hill.

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.