Rock Harbor South Africa

Hey Family and Friends!

...BT here! Just completed day 4 with the team and already maximizing every hour of the day! The team split today with half going into Sweethome an the other half staying at the Academy with the students. Two awesome stories coming to you from Kim (our amazing, fantastic leader of the VBS team and CHE training/early childhood development expert) and from Dustin (humble, soft spoken, but apparently the man-of-steel human jungle gym to 30 pre-school students!)

Mark 10: 16 says, "And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." This is the verse that the VBS (Vacation Bible School) team has adopted as their verse for this trip. Today, we definitely saw scripture come alive. Within 10 minutes of arriving in Sweet Home, I turned around and saw every single member of our team holding a child with another group of other kids eagerly waiting their turn to be held. It was pure joy to see how tangible God's love can flow in and through people who are willing to serve others just by holding them in their arms.

Since it was the first day of VBS, we had the opportunity to share about the story of Creation. Everyone on the team did an amazing job of encouraging the kids to participate through games and crafts that echoed the story for the day. It's such a great opportunity for us to be able to share God's story with children who may have never heard it before. Today's overarching message was definitely that God loves them best. We hope this message continues to become alive and real to all of the children who come to VBS over the next 4 days.

Today in Sweet Home, we also had the opportunity to train the teachers working at the informal school (grade 1-6)and the creche/preschool (0-5 year olds). These women are simply amazing. They haven't received any sort of formal training about how to teach children. They are volunteers from the community in Sweet Home who have recognized how important it is for the children to receive an education and to come to a place where they feel loved and cared for. Their story and heart bring such a light to a place where so much darkness can prevail. You can definitely see God's hand print covering the work that is being done in these two schools.

Our training today was about language and literacy. Through shaving cream letters and puppets, the teachers were actively engaged from start to finish at the training. Their openness toward what we had to teach them made the training both easy and fun for Lailanie and me. From last year to this year, I am amazed to see how much growth has taken place within both of these schools. Student attendance has increased. There is a new building being built where the schools can take place. One of their teachers has now gone back to university to receive more formal training about how to run a preschool and to learn more about early childhood education. It's encouraging to see how just a few people can make such a life-long impact on children.

~Kim

Here's Dustin....

Hey all! Today was such an amazing day in South Africa! There were a lot of stories tonight from our team of amazing experiences throughout the day with the children of Sweet Home and the kids at the academy.

Like Kim said, upon arriving at the academy we were literally rushed by at least 30 preschool aged kids who wanted nothing more than to jump on us all at once. It was amazing to see the pure excitement in the children's eyes and the joy on the faces of all the volunteers who we all holding a child, or two, or three. I encountered a small boy named Naboo who decided he wanted to latch onto me and never let go. Throughout the day he was either in my arms or on my shoulders and even fell asleep at one point. Even then, with his little hands clenched onto my shirt. It made me realize that even though we were unable to communicate so much as one word with most of these children directly because of the language barrier, the act of simply holding a child and showing them the love that they desire so badly can be so powerful.

In short, our arms got quite a workout today!

Later in the day when the whole team was together back at the academy, we were able to have dinner with the kids and then leads small devotion groups. This was another amazing experience for all of us as some of the kids were willing to open up to us almost immediately and share. Some of the boys I was talking to were completely honest about their thoughts and struggles in their life in the townships, and questions that they had about some really amazing topics such as faith and miracles. I also got to hear some amazing statements of faith from another boy who was more than an encouragement to me.

It helped us to see what an amazing place this academy has been for these kids and how much it has shaped them despite how hard situations can be all around them. God has most definitely been at work in this organization and through the leaders here at the school. Please continue to be praying for our group, the leaders, and the all the incredible children!

Until tomorrow!

Dustin