Day 6

//Thursday 8.10.17//

Another class day in the books. Today we spent the morning discussing the timeline we had created yesterday and wrapped up Cry, The Beloved Country for now. We started discussing Nadine Gordimer and her short story Once Upon a Time, a tragic irony that left us feeling betrayed in the end but a very telling story of the Cape Town/ South African scene.

Our lunch was at the BI and we headed out right afterwards. We then traveled to Cape Flats, an area of poverty and unfortunate crime. For those who do not know the whole history of this area, here’s a snippet- during the reign of Apartheid, whole neighborhoods were relocated due to skin color. The majority of these relocation were whole families with their possessions being thrown onto the backs of trucks and moved to the middle of really nowhere and being dumped, having nothing and nowhere to live except the dirt beneath their feet. Thus 'shanty towns' started popping up, whole neighborhoods consisting of shacks made of metal sheets and wooden planks. Fast forward to today- these towns have grown in number, but not in wealth. The crime rate is so high in these areas, and young people are dropping out of school at early ages and getting involved in crime for lack of anything else to do or any other opportunity.

It is in one of these places that we were able to meet with the founder of Hope Africa, an organization that comes alongside the people of this particular area and empowers them by teaching them skillsets to help them provide for themselves. They teach basic computer skills, life skills, hairdressing skills, and mechanical/carpentry/electrician skills. One of the really cool things about this organization is that it is completely non-profit and it aims to enable the people of this community to become independent. Along with these skills, they also enable local pastors and disciple the people that come to learn.

It was so great to see this organization and the people involved and dedicated to it who are so passionate about the cause that they were working for. Many of them told us that they were working where they were originally from, Norway, Australia, the US and felt God calling them to give up their time to come and help out others, some spending 6 months out of every year to work at Hope Africa, others taking off anywhere from 2-3 years from work to help.

I think that it is awesome the way the newer missions movements are recognizing the issues and seeing the needs of the peoples they are trying to reach and meeting them. People need Jesus, yes, but they also need to be shown how to live in such a way that enables their children and themselves to get out of poverty and provide for themselves and then in turn help others do the same.

Tomorrow we go to Knysna and see Elephants!

#InAfrica #CapeTown #SouthAfrica #Africa #CapeTown #SASA