First Few Weeks in South Africa

I’m so sorry for not blogging in a while. Wi-Fi has been difficult to get and lots of other challenges so this blog is being posted about a week later than it was written. Should be getting another one up soon.

I have now been in Africa two weeks which is so crazy, time has flown by. After a crazy three days of travel with flights canceled and lots of sleeping on the ground at airports we finally made it safely to Jefferys Bay Thursday night. We are staying at Global Leadership Academy which is a Christian school here in JBay. They have hosted many World Race groups and have close relations to Adventures in Missions. Our host, Wendy, is such a kind lady and truly has a heart for the Lord. My group and I are staying in a huge log cabin which is called the mission house here on campus. They have all the missionaries stay here that come to serve with GLA. The house was built in memory of Wendy’s son and daughter-in-law who were missionaries. Sadly they died in a car accident a day after they had gotten married which was devastating to everyone so this house means so much to everyone here.

Saturday we helped with a soccer tournament here at the school and the wind was crazy! The weather is definitely not what I was picturing when I thought of Africa. It has been crazy windy and very chilly. My group did not pack for this cold of weather but thankfully it is starting to warm up and the winds are dying down. My group was split into two smaller groups each week to work with different ministries. One team is serving at a local ministry called beats and books which is an after school program to help kids with academics and teach music. The other half which is the group I am in is working at a place called Timion. This is a really cool ministry which builds chairs and beds out of wood for kids with cerebral palsy. We are helping in the garden at Timion where they grow lots of veggies and foods to give to these families. There are lots of donkeys, cows and even an ostrich that live at this place which keeps things interesting. Our favorite is a donkey who we names Melvin who always comes running over when he sees us. I will be working at Timion until we leave and head to Eswatini formerly known as Swaziland. This last weekend we helped out at the local church we are attending that is connected to GLA. They put on a missions weekend every year where missionaries from all over South Africa come to attend. My teams job was to run the kids program. The theme was mission unstoppable and it was lots of fun to interact with all of these kids.

Our favorite local coffee shop which is located in town, about a five minute drive away is called First light. It’s owned by Christians and is a very cute spot with lots of big surf stores located around it like Roxy, Quicksilver, Billabong and lots more. It has been hard seeing the poverty here. There are some beautiful neighborhoods where you would think you’re in Florida with beautiful canals and palm trees, then you look across the street and you see hundreds of homes being held up with tarps and old scrap metal. You can’t help but feel guilty for how good you have it. It hits you really hard when you’re walking down the street and young kids maybe only 5 years old come up to you begging for money or food because they are starving. It has really changed my perspective and opened my eyes to so much. Thank you all so much for your prayers for me and my team. Getting blogs out has been hard with not having access to wifi. I will keep doing my best to send them out each week. Thank you all again!