Two Week Break - Africa

I will not be posting for two weeks because I'm co-leading a missions/community development trip to South Africa. This is my third trip to Africa and my second as a leader. I originally wanted to make a difference in the HIV/AIDS pandemic and joined a trip sponsored by my church. Over the past few years it has become apparent that HIV/AIDS is really just a side-effect of extreme poverty. Last summer we searched for a new organization to work with and landed with Bridges Of Hope outside Cape Town. This will be our first team with this new partner ship.

We've since adopted Sweet Home, one of the poorest places I have ever been and a place with zero opportunity for residents. Bridges Of Hope has been working for the past five years in a neighboring community called Phillipe and the changes are miraculous. Their goal is to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of the community by raising up and listening to leaders in that community. Once the leaders have identified the needs we work on the top needs until that top need changes. It is a drastic change from the normal American solution where we come into a community and give them something they may or may not need, like a well, a sewage system, a road or a house. It is also different in that it is mostly development with relief when absolutely necessary. We help the community meet felt needs, not simply meet those needs for the community. This is done through training, micro-lending or just coming along side and helping to solve the biggest problems these communities face.

This is such a simple change, but has made a profound difference in the behaviour in both the community residents and we who are serving that community. It is an amazing process and I'm excited to see the changes in Sweet Home over the coming years.

If you would like to know more about the trip, we have a blog here. It will probably not be added to on our trip, but will be updated on our return.

We have also been looking at ways to bringing these principals to local communities where we server, including Santa Ana, Watts and Mexico.