It’s pronounced “buy a donkey� but, no, I’m not telling you
to go buy a donkey (although that would be really funny). That’s how you say “thank you very much� in
Afrikaans and I can’t say it enough right now to all the people we’ve met and
been blessed by in Cape Town. This place
has so much to offer, so much to do, and the way God blessed us through the
Jeremiah Project and Amazing Grace Ministry has redefined my idea of
hospitality all over again.
We stayed in a suburb of Cape Town called Elsies River—a
place that outsiders make sure they don’t wander into without a very good
purpose because of how much crime and violence goes on there. Our Jeremiah Project hosts, whom we lovingly
call “Maw� and “Paw,� made us part of their family as soon as we walked in the
door. They have dedicated their lives to
the kids and families in their neighborhood.
Their house is on a cul-de-sac and next door to a large playground and
has become a place of safety for kids all over Elsies River. Let me just run through all the things we’ve
seen Maw and Paw do this month:
·
Hosting an after school program for about 100
kids Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (honestly more like 5 days a week)
·
Serving a meal for those kids at least twice a
week
·
Running a small tuck shop from their front door
so the kids don’t have to walk across the neighborhood just to get a snack or a
sweet
·
Traveling to one of Elsies River’s shanty towns
to serve a meal and hand out clothes to hundreds of people once a month
·
Putting on a “Friday Night Live� concert in
their cul-de-sac, which brings in several very talented local bands and gives
the kids an opportunity to show off their talent through song and dance once a
year
·
Help friends and family who are struggling by
giving them a place to stay in their three-bedroom house that has only one
bathroom
·
Making special visits to local primary schools
to talk about Christ calling us to be servants
·
Prayer walks and visits to pray for sick
neighbors
I’ve learned a lot about how to talk and relate to kids
about very serious issues such as violence, drugs, relationships, sex and
leadership. We’ve seen kids accept
Christ, straighten out their paths and even start to volunteer their time to
become a leader of this community through serving after some pretty heavy
discussions.
Everything Maw and Paw do is for this community and it was
such an honor and a blessing to be a part of it for a few weeks. This is definitely one of the places we’ve
been where I will fight to come back to.
There’s just so much to do here…both in ministry and in just plain fun. This blog wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t go
through all the awesome things we did on our days off.
·
Two nights at the Waterfront—the downtown
attraction of Cape Town
·
A hike up Table Mountain (took us about 8 hours
to go up and down)
·
Visits to several local beaches, including Hout
and Camps Bays
·
Tour over to Seal Island to witness thousands of
seals basking on a rock no bigger than three acres
·
Stood at the very bottom of the African
continent, Cape Point or “The Cape of Good Hope�
·
Were invited to a few family dinner parties
That’s acting as if we didn’t have the time of our lives
doing ministry. What made this month so
amazing weren’t our days off. It was the
days where we got to be a part of these kids’ lives. God lives in this place and I’ve received
more than a tan while being here. I’ve
received a calling to return. Any one
wanna come with? I’m thinking we should
stay for a month, minimum.
