So I just wanted to write a little blog about Camp Joy. This our ministry for the month and the kind of people we get to be apart everyday. So we have been at the camp for about a week and then came in a young woman, lets call her Sally, that came to get help with her addiction of heroin. She was a light skin young lady that had to be less than a 100 pounds. She was skin and bones. Her hair was crazy and she laid in bed all day long. Every time she moved, she ached in pain and would talk to herself. She was suffering from hallucination and other affects from heroin. Also, she was extreme pain during this detoxing process because the unnecessary drug she had been using messed her body up physically that she needed to just lie down. Addicted for many years, watching her detoxing process has been very sad. Sally comes from a really rough neighborhood, the worst in Capetown and she has been in and out of drug houses. Leaving her two kids with her mother and leaving her lost in a very dark world.
Well, after 4 hard days of detoxing and the pain about to be through, she wants to leave. The day before they asked us to encourage her to stay and Kylie went over to her and asked her "what is your purpose in life?". Well she had no response except she wanted to be clean for her kids. So Kylie asked her if her pain was worth it for her kids and she had no real response. So the next day when we got the news, it was hard to hear. Immediately Kylie asked if we could maybe go to Sally's neighborhood and try to bring her back.
So we did just that. The camp got a man and woman that work at the camp but came from Hanover Park. Because of the danger and knowing the lay of the community, this is important. So we went about 45 minutes away and two cabs later we pull up to a community with lots of children and many people all over the street. Broken community with many people living a poor life. Streets ran by gangs and low income housing. So we went immediately to Sally's house and no answer. So they said she was most likely in a drug house and that was where she was last spotted. Allister recommended that we head to the First Community Church and center to have them find her. Our safety was important and it was not safe to go to these places and look for her. When walking into this kind of community, you think that you would be scared since we are white and unfamiliar but not at all. I realized that Jesus goes before us and behind us. Also, walking onto the premises of the church…I hear the words of Chris Tomlin playing out the window, "and if our God is for us then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with the what can stand against". Fear has no place in your heart in these situations where you think you may fear most.
We walk into the building and wow, incredible people. The pastor has amazing visions for that community and wants to hopefully put an end to the gang and the power drugs have in this community. There is also an incredible team of men and women that have been saved by Jesus and now their purpose is to do the same thing for others in their communities. It is not an easy battle. A group called "ceasefire" are ex American gangsters( the most famous and violent gang in Capetown) that have found hope in Jesus and now are conflict mediators. Incredible men that walk into gang wars and try to mediate between the gangs without using any kind of violence or guns. They just go in and try to talk some sense into them before they make a stupid decision of maybe shooting someone or getting themselves in prison. These men walk in the door knowing that Jesus goes before them and the gangsters on the street listen because they know Jesus is with them. Sometimes there is success and other times not. I remember a sign hanging on the wall when you walk not their headquarters that said "number since last killing" and the number was 1. It was sad because I had heard previously that one of the guys at camp, who is 17, lost his friend in the gang. That number on the wall stuck with me. In my mind I can not grasp this lifestyle. Where it is nothing to take someone's life because they are in a different gang or the revenge and power on the streets. Truly sad and thankful there is such a place like that church and group that just want these people to experience Jesus and change.
So back to Sally. They came back, the guys from Ceasefire, to tell us that they could not find her. I was thinking well she must have went into a house or was hiding somewhere getting sleep on the street. I asked if they had drove around to look for her and they said they checked a couple spots that she usually stands. Then reality hit me, she went to prostitute herself for money so that she could buy more drugs. Once she is picked up,they can not find her. That is Sally's cycle. She goes to the drug house with her "friends" and then passes out there for hours, then when she runs out of the drug or the money, she takes herself to the street to only be picked up by a man who will pay her for sex. My heart broke. This is all she knows because this is the common scene in her neighborhood. Yes, she knows there are places like camp joy but then she does not feel strong enough or even worth it. All that can save her is Jesus. It will take the hope of Jesus that will change her life forever. That is not easy because we want to change the addict, but that does not always happen. We wonder why, it seems so easy and we judge.but when you step into their lifestyle and their community, you realize that Jesus has to overcome the odds because of the darkness that reigns in a place like that.
So these days I get the opportunity to listen. Listen to stories and pray that God can do a work in these people lives. That he can break the chain of addiction and that they make the choice to follow Him because without Jesus, many know they can not go to same friends, family, and community because they have to say no everyday. It takes outrageous strength to face the pressure to be so completely different. Please keeps us in your prayers that every person that steps into this camp will experience Jesus and find hope in a dark community.
