Neil Henry visited Pierre in August 2011...
Pierre Roux, two staff workers from Living Way (Richard Lundy and Joey Lankford) and myself have just returned from Beaufort West and George. We had safe trip and are grateful to the Lord for His provision..
We visited several projects that are funded through HIS Trust and met with some key leaders with respect to various options for job creation, alleviation of poverty and leadership development.
· In Beaufort West we visited three out of the four feeding schemes that are funded through HIS Trust:
o Pure Hearts (an outreach ministry to children and teens caught up in the extreme poverty. Rudi and his wife reach out to young ladies offering free sanitary towels because so many girls don’t go to school during their period because they can’t afford sanitary towels). I met Rudi Oranje and his family – a godly man and a real asset to the ministry in BW. He has a deep passion for the gospel and is greatly burdened by the plight of kids and depth of despair that sin has plummeted the community into. He also works part time for ATAIM and represents all their interests in Beaufort West. He lives a very modest lifestyle and is greatly in need of additional support. It would be a real pity to lose him as he serves with great sacrifice to his own family.
o Helping Hands (a feeding, care and counselling ministry that provides for about hundred and ninety kids with “dread” diseases). This ministry is run my Mrs. Stoney in the heart of a community from a “run down wendy house” where support for these kids is all but non-existent except for the food that has been donated by a church from Canada. What really stood out was the extent of the effect that these social evils have had on this burgeoning community.
o It was a great privilege to meet Nosi, a 61 year old Christian lady with a huge heart, who just pours her life into providing feeding care and refuge for many kids who are left destitute and abandoned by “absent” parents. She would often take them in, in the evenings and provide shelter for them by keeping them off the streets where prostitution and substance abuse is rife. She also feeds mothers ravaged by HIV/Aids and the mentally retarded.
· We met with the leaders of St. Francis Centre and particularly with Pastor Eugene Le Fleur (the Anglican Archdeacon of the Karoo). The water tank and pump have just been installed at the St Francis Centre (after 3 years of trying to find someone to install them) and the potential for development of the Olive groves is great and the growing of vegetables which will go a long way in supplementing the fresh food for the children of Helping Hands. There are several ministries at the centre which has five arms of outreach to the community: Home Based Health Care for HIV and TB, Annex, a ministry dealing with child prostitution and child trafficking, Schools Outreach and job skills programme; ABET training, Sompumalela HIV/Aids support group and Church community development. There are no training facilities and the few opportunities offered by government are not Christian based. There was great appreciation for the interest shown in basic Bible and Theological training. A leadership course offered by Leader Mundial has been previously hosted at the centre. Facilities are available, but the great challenge will be developing relationships within a fraternal that is largely distrusting, divided, disengaged and disinterested.
· We also had fruitful meetings with the pastor of Christian Centre, Stephanus Jooste (who is also the District Manager for BW) – this local church has excellent facilities, and is willing to host seminars, leadon leadership development and teams on mission trips and short term outreaches. Richard and Joey discussed extensively with him the possible tender for the takeover of the hydroponic tunnels project just outside the town, which if run successfully, would assist with job creation, feeding the poor and providing a huge economic injection into this already impoverished economy. We visited the site and the 30 tunnels have been abandoned, vandalised and neglected since October 2010. The potential of this project in huge, but much wisdom and careful investment with a strong Christian ethos would be a powerful witness in this community. Pray for pastor Jooste as he has to balance his political office with its huge responsibilities, with his work as a pastor and shepherd of a local church.
· Pierre also arranged meeting with Church leaders from the local Methodist Circuit which was represented by the pastor, Jabu, the secretary of the local WA and several lay leaders. It was encouraging to find a group that were enthusiastic about getting involved in the local community and this meeting led to the church volunteering their labours to help paint a few classrooms at a local school. One can imagine how encouraging this is to a rather frustrated school principal who last had his school painted 23 years ago. This is a great way to bring the love of Jesus to the children.
· A visit to the dumpsite showed the desperation of a community where 50-80 folks live on the smouldering heaps of trash and garbage rummaging with skinny children and dogs for discarded food or anything that could be salvaged so that they could eke out some kind of existence. This was probably the most emotionally devastating visit of our trip and it was with relief that we drove out of the dumpsite, so that we would not continually be plagued by the desperation and hopelessness of people there. The district municipal manager also indicated that there was a fully fitted kitchen container that he would try and make available to ATAIM to put at the dump to feed these people. Christian Centre Church has volunteered to do the cooking and feeding if we can raise the food.
· Our stay at the Karoo Gateway led to a meeting with the owner of the property. Pierre had reported this at a previous Trust meeting, and Bambi again confirmed the use of a house on the facility for use by ATAIM to house ATAIM workers to bring costs down when travelling to Beaufort West and to help fulltime Christian workers whenever they visit the area. Teams will be accommodated at the B&B, A farm outside the town was also offered for ministry use at a lease of R50pa (... yes that’s right) - that could be developed into a Christian Conference and Camping Centre, Children’s Adventure Farm for outreach to local school children, a Retreat for fulltime Christian workers and a working farm with produce and livestock that could provide a much needed boost in the local job market.
In summary, the trip was exceptionally fruitful, many contacts made and new relationships developed, a good understanding of the need and the major difficulties, as well as a look at potential opportunities for the future. One big observation that stands out is the sense of “hopelessness” amongst the local people. The evidence of children on the streets near the truck stops, adults sitting around in stupors under the influence of some or other substance abuse, large numbers wandering aimlessly evidencing the 67% unemployment rate, disunity in the churches with many church splits and the discouraged expression of forlorn and lonely pastors left us all emotionally devastated.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Yours in Christ
Neil Henry
