Leaving Durban!

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It is my sixth and final week in South Africa!
I can't believe it's nearly time to go!
It doesn't seem like enough time has been spent with the friends I have made here, and the projects I have been working on.

BUT I am more than excited to see my long lost friend Miss Jessica Irwin! OH MY GOODNESS. Just 2 and a half days untill our embrace!

I can't remember where I left you in my last update, but this past week has gone so quickly!
I went to a game reserve yesterday and saw some beautiful animals in the african landscape.. so amazing to see them so close. Beautiful.
The landscape is just stunning, and I am so in awe of what God has created on this earth! Such diverstiy and creativity.

I have also been more and more aware of the abundance of suffering in this nation. It seems more than common for a child to have lost one or more parent... and lack of food, transport and electricity are not a suprise to most people.

But, in reflection of my time here, I think I have seen more than ever, HOPE. People are moving forward.. and the needs are being met again and again by the church in this city.
It seems that though the need is great, people have risen to meet those needs where they can.. and there is hope that more can and will be done. So the sadness of seeing suffering, is matched by the encouragement of seeing hope.

One guy I have gotten to know a little, has particularly inspired me. He is 20 and finishing his last 2 years at high school.
He walks on crutches, having being shot when he was a child and never getting medical help for the bullet stuck in his foot.. his whole ankle is now gone and he cant use his leg.
His father died when he was a young teenager, and his mother shortly after. He was left to look after his siblings and provide for them.
I dont know what would have happened if he was not then supported by kwacare... who have been committed to making sure he is fed and educated.
He gets given monthly food parcels from them, and is on their education program that pays for school fees (yes all schools charge here) and books, uniform etc..
while i have been here, we have been driving around doing the tedious task of applying for a disability pension.
He wants to study buisness, but is under pressure to work to support his family... his brother is younger than him, but dropped out of school to work.
When I first met Enoch, I had no idea of his story as he sat smiling in the car next to me. He was shy but seemingly content.. never to complain or even talk about himself.
It makes me wonder how many more smiling faces are hiding stories like his.

Seeming the impact on individuals like these, is what is all about.
The commitment of meeting the spiritual, emotional and physical needs is so amazing to see.. as so many organsiations focus on one and neglect others.

As we drop off kids to see pyscologists, take them to church for mentoring, cook with volunteers from the community, distribute food and clothes, help families breed rabbits!... and as I have gotten to know my sisters and brothers in kwadabeka who are supported to come to bible college... I am reminded of what it is to be Jesus to the world.

If this is not the image that people see when they think of church, then the church has a lot to answer for. Christians get a lot of bad things said about them... none of them refelcting the Jesus we are meant to be imitating.

Joy, hope, peace.. all of these are to be found in the church of south africa!

I will next to speak to you from Germany!

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