Transformation

What does transformation mean? We have been working in the township of Sweet Home out side of Cape Town South Africa since our initial visit in 2007. When you land in a place like Sweet Home the needs seem overwhelming. Where do you even start? What are your goals? What can you possibly expect to change?

We partner with Bridges of Hope (http://www.bridgesworldwide.org/about/mission-story/). Through the use of a CHE (Community Health Evangelist) model Bridges organized a group of community leaders who want to transform their own community. These leaders make hundreds of home visits every year bringing spiritual and physical lessons to the residents of the community. With a deep knowledge of their own community these volunteers direct resources towards the greatest needs in the community.

This has been the biggest learning curve coming from the US. We alone cannot transform this community. We want so badly to just pour a ton of money and donations into every situation and think that can solve all the problems. The money and donations create a dependency and actually causes more problems. Instead, it is all about long term, deep relationships, and through Jesus Christ that we are all transformed through this shared mission. Physical conditions improve slowly, but they need to improve in concert with spiritual conditions. Which is why just throwing money at a problem can make things worse. We need to create a relationship before positive sustainable changes occur.

We have seen many success including a growing pre-school, a new church in a community that has no school and has never had a church before. There is also the start of an elementary school run by community leaders. Those are the external signs of a slow progression. The internal signs are things we may never know about. Many CHE volunteers end up finding permanent employment through their training. This leads to a better outlook and hope for their family and neighbors. Hundreds and hundreds children attend after school programs. Orphans and vulnerable now have a support group with male and female mentors giving them a better support system. Those same orphans have the opportunity to attend Bridges Academy which is a top tier boarding school specifically for kids from Sweet Home and the surrounding townships.

When we started we never expected to see over night transformation in an deeply impoverished community. We made a commitment to create deep relationships over an extended period. After five years the external change is only like a blade of grass peeking through the ground after a devastating forest fire, but the spiritual transformation has been remarkable. The people of this community can see hope and jobs and a future for their children.

I've been lead to see this in terms of God transforming Moses and the Israelites for 40 years through the wilderness. Real transformation takes a long time and a deep relational commitment. It is my hope and prayer that we can continue walking with each of our global partners for many many years to come and we can look back and see our own paths through the wilderness as the communities we work in reach the promised land.