Today we arrived in the Philippines
after 14 hours of flights and 15 hours sitting in airports. So far
it has been great in Manila. We have a phenomenal place to stay and
had an amazing spaghetti
dinner waiting for us.
In
the morning, my team along with 4 others are catching a plane to
Mindanao,
which is the south eastern most island in the nation.
It sounds like we will be pretty far from civilization, but we are
next to a banana and pineapple farm, so we should have awesome fruit.
I still have no idea what our ministry will hold, but it should be
something involving kids.
Here
are some final thoughts about South Africa and Nkosi’s Haven.
Nkosi’s
Haven is a truly special place, they get mothers and children from
terrible situations. Their stories really broke my heart. The best
part is that the end of their stories is much better than the
beginning. One of the big tasks Tiny, our main contact and a board
member of the Haven, is working on is trying to get the mothers
employed in some form and back out in society.
Some
of the kids and mothers come in with very little since of right and
wrong and the staff really works tirelessly to teach them the values
of hard work and integrity.
One
of the big problems in South Africa is the stigma attached to HIV.
People with HIV are often looked at as less than human. So many
people are in denial about their status, don’t get tested, or hide it
from everyone. So some mothers at the haven are going to start
training companies on how to handle HIV infected employees so that
everyone benefits from their experiences. This will help bring in
money for the mothers and the haven.
One
person that is really making a difference and has a huge heart for
the kids and mothers is Tiny. I know there are a lot of amazing
people there, but we got to spend the most time with him and really
see his heart. He ran a successful company up until last year and
had all the wealth anyone could want, then his partner drained the
company dry. Being the honorable man he is, he put in his own money
to make sure his clients were made right. Overnight he went from
living in a mansion to being homeless. Not many people would have
made that sacrifice voluntarily.
Now
he works full time at the haven and although he is working on the
legal stuff associated with his old company and working to form a new
one, he plans to continue to work at the haven full time because it
is his passion.
Besides
his obvious love for the people at the haven, the thing I like the
best about his is that he has huge dreams. His opinion is that the
biggest problem in South Africa is no longer HIV, which has become
more of a chronic disease than a fatal one with modern medicine, it
is the millions of kids affected by the loss of their parents. His
dream is to take over a facility that can house 8,000 people and show
the world and the country what a few people can accomplish. He wants
to not only care for as many people as possible, but also to inspire
others to do the same.
I
am so blessed to have been able to spend time at such a great place
with such amazing people. We asked the Lord to put us where we were
needed and he answered in a big way. I really hope that some more
racers will be sent to the haven in the future because while they
aren’t a christian organization, they are certainly doing his work
and showing his love. James 1: 27 “Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look
after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from
being polluted by the world.”
