Here are a few
updates our teammates sent to family and friends upon returning from South
Africa. I’m just getting around to
posting them (I’ll blame it on the holidays).
I think it’s cool to get another perspective on the trip. The letters below are as I received
them. If you were on the trip and would
like to add comments to the blog, please send them to my email address.
JUMP TO:
From: Deitra S
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 10:38:07 -0500
Subject: Update on our Dream for Africa Trip
It is hard to put into words how incredible this
trip to South Africa was! It certainly exceeded our wildest dreams and
imaginations but I'll try to express what we did and what it meant in a short
email.
(Boy, was it hard to only pick a few pixs out of
334 I took!)
First of all God gave us a heart for
Africa! The people were kind, gentle, appreciate, hard workers, content,
even with the little they had. If I had to choose one word it would be…joyful!
I never could have imagined that would be their attitude.
The poverty these people live in is unimaginable
and we were in some of the "classier" areas. Typically they
lived in houses made of wood and dirt, some concrete block, tin roofs, plastic
sides on some. They have no electricity, use candles at night, no water
except a central spicket that is only turned on certain times of the day.
Some have gardens (great soil) but most have no money for plants. Our
coordinators worked with pastors in the area who told the people to prepare the
soil and we would come and help them plant. We did individual gardens and
community gardens, some at churches. At the community gardens we always
had a big crowd of kids who were excited to plant. At the individual
homes, kids and grownups helped also. Our entire team of 26 planted over 7000
gardens so your investment in us paid big returns to the people of
South Africa. Twelve plants is considered a garden, we planted beet
root, spinach, green beans and tomatoes. We were on Team 1 (of course!)
with another young couple from our church and we also had a driver, Lynne, who
did much of the coordination setting up the garden opportunities as well as
conducting three orphan Xmas parties that we participated in. And we had a
host/translator, Vinnie, who was Zulu, a hard worker who was always smiling.
More on him later. Our Team One planted over 1500 + gardens! It
felt so productive to be able to give something practical to the people through
our service to them. Often many kids would gather as we planted and I
would gather them together, pull out my bubbles and they would squeal with
delight as they chased after them. Then I would distribute
lollipops, balloons, bracelets and take their pixs with a Polaroid I-Zone
camera that would give tiny pixs. For many, it was the first time they had ever
seen themselves! They got to keep those pixs. Then I would ask them to
sing and they sang everything from Jesus loves me to their national
anthem. I also got to share the gospel through some hand motions we were
taught and prayed with a huge group of kids. Only God knows what harvest
will come from those seeds planted.
The three xmas orphan parties
we helped give were incredible. These were for kids who were orphans
staying with a relative or underprivileged kids. At the first party there
were 300, the second had 500, the third 700! They each got a small gift,
a bag of chips and a coke. Coca-cola donated all the cokes and squeezey
bottles. The cokes came in glass bottles and we had to un"cork"
each one and pour it into the squeezey and recap those and put the glass
bottles back into the crates. (they do this b/c the kids will keep the
glass bottles and turn them in for the deposit, like the "old" days
before plastic). It was amazing how quick we got at this job! As
each child entered the room, they got a sticker on their forehead. When they
came through the line to get their gift, drink, we took off the sticker so no
one could go through the line twice (or no uninvited guest could get in the
line). It was quite an organizational feat and went very well. WE got 700
kids AND their caretakers through the line in an hour. How about that for you
preschool/elementary teachers!
One day we also got to go to Kruger
National Park which was an incredible blessing. It is hard to
imagine the size of this part, over 5 million acres, the size of Israel! So
it's the luck of the draw (or prayer) if you get to see any animals since they
easily could be elsewhere in the park. Well through lots of prayers we got to
see antelope (most prominent in the park are impalas but we got to see Kudu as
well, more rare), zebra, giraffe, hippos, baboons (the head male was eating a
fresh kill of impala, rare to see).cape buffalo, two lion and on the way out an
elephant. The most incredible though by far was the lowly dung
beetle. He rolls the elephant poop into a perfect ball and carries it
away with the female hanging on to the ball for dear life. She lays her eggs in
it and the cycle starts all over again. Isn't it just like God to have a sanitation
team in place for the elephants? They were fascinating.
WE are still trying to process all that God did
in us while there. Gaining an understanding of what the people of
Africa face, especially in light of the AIDS pandemic, was hard to get your
head around.
Have I totally overwhelmed you????
So, how can YOU make a difference in all of
this?
Pray!
Pray for Africa and Dream for Africa as they target widows and orphans for
their gardens and have an AIDS initiative called Beat the Drum to inform teens
about AIDS. Consider going on a
missions trip with Dream for Africa. We plan to go back in Fall, 2006 and would
love to take you with us. Please let us know if you are interested!!!!
Truly it will be one of the most unique trips of your lifetime!
Check it out on www.dreamforafrica.com.
A footnote on our translator Vinnie. We
returned home on Saturday; that evening Vinnie was driving home in a friends car.
He was coming from the hospital visiting a Christian friend (18 yrs old) who
had been shot and paralyzed by a drive by shooting. On the way home, he was in
a car accident and killed. We were shocked by the news of the death of
this precious 24 yr old who we worked alongside of all week long. Our hearts
are heavy with the loss and for his mom (who he lived with, he being the only
one to take care of her) and all who knew him. We are praying that his
life and death will bring many into the kingdom of God. His life certainly
brought much glory to God as he voluntarily served Dream for Africa and many
others.
Life is so brief; make yours count…for God!
We can't thank you enough for all your support in prayers, finances and general interest and support. Our prayer is God continues to bless you with benefits of your investment for Him. Through your support, you made a huge difference in many lives, giving life through much needed food and spiritual food as well. THANK YOU!
Love, Rob and Deitra
"If you give a cup of cold water to the
least of these, you've done it unto Me." Jesus
I'll be sending an email with pictures from
Kodak, look for it!
From: Hood, R
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 4:17 PM
Subject: RE: Jason's website
I am writing to thank each of you for your
generous donation to my recent mission trip to
God is there!
If you are ever searching for God go there and you will see Him. He shows up like clockwork, most of the time
just in the nick of time to perform literal miracles on the hour. There is no room here to list all the miracles
I saw first hand, but it got to a point where all we did was ask, and God
provided the drama. I do not know why
that does not happen here in the states.
Do we not need miracles as much?
Are we just not asking? I do not
know, but I will tell you it is otherworldly there. All of God’s work in
We spent the week planting gardens for food,
throwing Christmas parties for orphans, and spreading God’s love to the most
deserving people I have ever met. We
even got to take time out and go on a Safari to see the most exotic of God’s
creatures, as well as His sense of humor.
Words could never do justice to it all, but I
will leave you with four words: “Thank
You” and “Go There!”
Sincerely,
Ryan Hood
-274 People die an hour in Africa of AIDS
-26,500,000 people in Sub Sahara Africa have
AIDS
-14,000,000 children are orphaned in
-----Original Message-----
From: Alison H
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: Jason's website
… My
brain is overflowing with thoughts of "What now?" - I really want to
provide something that could encourage support, both prayerfully and
monetarily. Perhaps there could be a link to "Hopes and Dreams"
so people could see the orphanage side of what goes on.
(Return to www.atlantaclimber.com)