I am sitting on my bed with gloves and three blankets, under
a thatched roof as I hear the sound of jackal outside. I am fenced into miles of the African bush
along with zebra, giraffe, buffalo, monkeys, leopard, ostrich, and many types
of buck. I have only seen the monkeys, which live right outside my little bungalow,
but I know the rest are there. Josh,
Tim, and I will be staying here at Shikwaru Game Lodge for the next three days
where guests visit to observe and hunt the animals. Shikwaru is owned by the organizations
Reaching a Generation (RaG) and Book of Hope; which receive all of the profits
from this lodge.
Shikwaru means peace.
The brochure on RaG tells of their vision, “RaG is an
organization that partners with companies, communities, churches, schools,
hospitals, and other Non Governmental Organizations. Our aim in life is to bring a message of hope
to the children and youth of our world amidst the desperate circumstances that
they are facing every day.” As I
understand it RaG is focused on orphan working and HIV prevention. www.rag.org.za
Book of Hope produces the books of the gospel in an easy to
read entertaining format with pictures and activities. The organization goes into local schools to
do a drama presentation. At the end of
the presentation they present the book to each individual child one at a
time.
This afternoon I worked on scraping paint and cement in
order to prepare a wall for a new coat of paint. The boys worked on putting up a ceiling in
the gift shop. The two organizations
seem to be doing amazing things in Africa, so I am grateful for the opportunity
to help them out in a behind the scenes way.
I love that my work of scrapping and painting frees up the long term
missionaries to go out and do more work with the children of Africa. Tomorrow I will probably paint and help
unload a truck of donated cheese soup that just arrived from the US. Tonight I get to enjoy my own room with my
own bathroom and my own double bed and wireless to boot. I am so spoiled.
I guess it is a World Race thing to be so excited about amazing accomodations that I forget to take pictures of the actual game park.
