Sanibonani (Zulu for hello) from South Africa! We are stoked to share with you about all the Lord has been doing this month. We leave our base home here in South Africa in 8 days and are so grateful for this first month on the field. This time of adjustment has been sweet and the Lord had really blessed us through the staff and culture here at Impact Africa. We live on base with a two long-term missionary couples and a few of their interns.
As mentioned in the previous blog, a lot of our ministry with Impact has primarily been in a community called Diepsloot. We have also served in other squatter camps around the city. Impact has 4 avenues of ministry we have been partnering with in a variety of ways. They serve through Impact Students (IS), Impact Kids (IK), Impact Baby Rescue (IBR), and Impact Community Outreach (CO). They have a few other ministry programs, but these are the ones our team has been engaged with. Another awesome part of Impact Africa is how they run their programs. They have a long-term presence here, 15+ years, and if all the American missionary staff left, the ministry would continue. They employ 50+ local Africans to run the different programs and engage in their own communities through the ministry. There are only 11 full-time missionary staff. Their structure is done so well, it’s really encouraging to see and be a part of.
Impact Students is an amazing opportunity to pour into primary and secondary school kids in the area. We go and put on large assemblies at schools and teach individual classes though a curriculum Impact has developed. We have gone into the schools and taught powerful classes on Identity, Achieving our Dreams, Bullying, Suicide, Drug Abuse, the Power of Words, and making choices that Bring Life. These kids are so hungry. In these classes we are able to pray, integrate scripture into our classes, share personal testimonies, and just love the kids. There is a lot of pain and hardship in their lives. They all come from the squatter camps and have a lot to overcome. They are so strong though and have big dreams. Many future doctors, teachers, and pilots fill those classes. Looking them in the eye, listening with all of our attention and affirming them is so powerful. That may be the only one-on-one attention they get from a caring adult. Austin and I both have been able to share pieces of out testimonies with the kids and that was really powerful. The schools have quite the fight against drugs, drinking, and gangs, even in kids as young as 4th and 5th grade. As well as a lot of teenage pregnancy. Be praying for those kids. For freedom and an understanding of their worth in Christ. They are beautiful.
About to start assembly in front of 500 kids!
Impact Kids is another big part of the ministry. Impact has 4 preschool-K schools. We have been in one in Diepsloot and one in Kaya, another squatter camp. They are all run and taught by the African staff of Impact and they are doing a beautiful job providing a quality educational start for kids who otherwise wouldn’t get to go to school. They receive 2 meals a day at school as well as curriculum that teaches them about Jesus. We go once a week and put on a special program for them with fun songs and jiving (dancing), memory verses, and a Bible story. They love it. So do we. Then we help teach classes the rest of the day. Ally has been in the kindergarten class and Austin has been in the 4-5 year old class. They are so fun. Being able to provide one-on-one attention to kids in the class has been sweet. As a part of IK ministry we also put on a program on Fridays in the communities called Jabulani (happy in Zulu) Kids. They have been doing these programs in the communities on Fridays for years. Kids gather the moment we show up. Our teams puts on a VBS style hour for the kids. Songs and dancing, games, memory verse, Bible story, and everyone walks away with a sweet treat. The kids have the songs and verses memorized and just love the dances. They are precious and the opportunity to hug, love on, and pour into the hearts of these kids is a gift. Luke 18:16 says “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” The Kingdom belongs to the children. If they have it, I want to be where they are.
Austin giving the Bible story at Jubilani Kids!
The other aspect of ministry Ally has been able to engage in is the Impact Baby Rescue. This ministry has a few fronts here in the community. Impact Baby Rescue was birthed out of the need surrounding baby abandonment here in the communities. The reason for the high abandonment rates is multifactorial, but statistically 3 babies are abandoned every day. To help combat this issue Impact has a community center in Diepsloot that has a baby box where mothers who want to can safely leave their babies, rather than leaving them in dumpsters and other places like that where they ultimately die. Yes, that happens. Every day. The truth is hard to digest, but necessary to be aware of. The baby box, however, is the last resort. They aim to support mothers and families through the parenting and pregnancy counseling they offer at the center. They have a crisis line as well that together help them support and point parents to the resources they need to keep their babies at home. Additionally, they have a baby home. Ally has helped here alongside the staff every Wednesday this month due to her experience with neo nursing. They have had 5 babies, but just got a 6th a few nights ago. This home is a peaceful haven full of love for these little ones. All of them here are up for adoption, which happens in-country here in South Africa. Loving on these little ones has been a sweet gift to give and receive. The last area the ladies on our team have been able to serve in with the baby rescue is in community awareness. We’ve done this by going into the pre-natal clinics and talking with moms waiting to be seen, encouraging them, praying over them and their babies, as well as providing Impacts resource information. Ally’s favorite was last week we partnered with an organization called The Baby Box Project and went to a community government hospital and threw a baby shower for all the mama’s on the maternity ward who had just delivered in the past few days. We gave them gifts, got to sit with them, hear this stories, encourage them, and pray over them and their babies. The time was really sweet. I had the chance to really pour into a 17 year old first time mom and a speak life into her hesitations in motherhood, as well as a sweet mama that had her baby prematurely two days prior. I told her I was NICU nurse in the US and we had a really sweet conversation about her baby and her journey with eclampsia. I was able to just pour into her, affirm her strength as a mother and pray healing over her and her baby’s bodies. I also went into the NICU there with the director of the Baby Box program to see it, which was a blessing. We met two mama’s doing Kangaroo care with the tiny preemies and were also able to pray over and gift them with preemie gifts. These women are so resilient, beautiful, and strong. They live through more than many can fathom. Ministering to mama’s is an area that the Lord is really giving me an increased heart for.
Another amazing avenue of ministry we’ve had the opportunity to do and the Lord has really used Austin is in community outreach. We go out in small groups into the community and build relationships, hear people’s stories, and share the love of Jesus with them. Austin has been able to pour into many men, pray over them, encourage deep conversation and we have seen many give their lives to Jesus. There are many strongholds over people’s lives here. The community has a lot of drug use, violence, gang activity, alcohol abuse, and the rape rates are high. The men and women here need freedom. Jobs. To know their identity as sons and daughters of the Creator. We have been attending church in the community we do outreach in and seeing friends we made during the week at church the next Sunday is so sweet. Austin also spoke at church last weekend and shared his testimony, which was really powerful, and I know the Lord used it to speak to many in the crowd. We have also been partnering with that church in Diepsloot and helping with construction projects at the church. The church is growing such that they need a bigger meeting area, so we spent days laying dirt, cement, bricks, ect to help them along in that process. The work is being completed all volunteer by men and women who attend the church. Helping them has been an honor.
Two men Austin has ministered to in the community.
Seeing each other thriving in the gifts the Lord has given us separately, yet together here, has been so amazing. We have been super thankful to have our own room this month on the base. Another sweet gift from the Lord, for sure, as we ease into this year. Thank you all so much for praying for us and playing such a vital role in our ministry to these beautiful communities alongside Impact.
These ministries are amazing and if you’d like more info on The Baby Box Project or Impact Africa here are their web addresses.
Impact Africa: https://www.impactafrica.org/
The Baby Box Project: http://babyboxproject.co.za/
Love,
Austin and Ally
