Month 2 is done. WHAT?!?!?!? When did that happen? I literally feel like I was just arriving in South Africa for my first month of the World Race and now it’s time for month three already. Anyways, this past month has definitely been a challenge in terms of ministry, mostly physically challenging. This past month our ministry site was at Fellowship Bible Church in Ottery, Cape Town, South Africa. The church is run by Pastor Daniel Du Plessis and his wife Vivienne Du Plessis. This church is located on the same premises as a rural farming community in which alcoholism runs rampant. In turn, the church has set up a mission in providing a school free of cost for the children of the community. Roughly 100 students currently attend the school and 50% of them suffer in some way, shape, or form of fetal alcohol syndrome. The school provides the children with free education which enables them a chance at getting a scholarship to possibly further their education and give them a shot at a better life. It’s not always that easy though when half the children have FAS.
Due to this terrible syndrome, many of the kids are slow to learning and obeying, but quick to anger. They have extreme trouble obeying authority and at first it seemed as if nothing would ever get through their heads. Through perseverance and love, God used us to display the love He has for these children to them. The children rarely receive love and home; most of the time they receive the complete opposite. There is much abuse, molestation, and pain which occurs in the houses. This also, contributes to the kid’s behavior. Children learn from their parents how to act, and when they’re parents are fighting, abusing, and so forth, the children follow suit.
As two teams at this ministry site we were split up into different areas in which the school needed help. The girls worked with the students while us guys attended to the manual labor which needed to be accomplished. So….Conner, Alex, Jon, and myself chopped down trees, all day, every day, for two weeks straight. The reason behind doing so was that 1: that land will hopefully be used for farming one day, and 2: to protect the children. The trees are alongside the paths which the children use on their way between the school and their homes, allowing men to hide in the trees until children pass. On multiple occurrences, men would hide in the trees and as the children pass they would grab a girl, take her into the trees and sexually molest her. We found many condom wrappers, not even to mention all the clothing we found. When we heard this we were completely shocked that something so perverse was happening. This in turn helped motivate us to chop down as many trees as possible, even if our tools were necessarily what they should have been. So, although chopping down trees doesn’t seem like ministry, it played a crucial role in protecting the children.
The third week at this ministry, us as guys just helped do menial everyday maintenance work around the facility of the church/school. There were so many odds and ends that needed fixing and we were definitely able to tend to those.
Overall, this was a really good month. Pastor Daniel and his wife Vivienne love the Lord so much and in turn love the children of that community so much. They are the perfect people to run that church and that school. They don’t try to push their own agendas, but rather follow the Lord’s will for the ministry He has given them. I know I will miss the teachers, Pastor Daniel and his wife, and most of all the children.
