madness in mfuleni

Okay - so I want to tell you about our final ministry.

First, here's the way it came about (a funny story):

We went one afternoon with Gabriel Mwamba, a Zambian missionary who is on staff at the YWAM Muizenberg base, to a nearby township called Mfuleni. He wanted to take us there because he had been coordinating some soccer clinics with boys in the community, and he knew some of our team was interested in doing some soccer ministry. By ministry, I just mean that they are doing more than just soccer- the leaders can share the gospel, and their major goal is to raise up future leaders in the community by teaching them good skills like responsibility and teamwork.

So, Gabriel knew that some of our team doesn't play soccer (the girls mainly), so he said he'd take us to do "door to door evangelism". Okay, so just that phrase makes me nervous. But, I thought, hey, why not? So we start out at the home of a woman who is a church leader. Gabriel knew this woman, Mama Sandra, because he pastored the church where she is a member. So we mainly just went to talk with and pray for her. A good start! As we went outside, we noticed that the gate for the house across the street was open. Gabriel took this as a sign that we were welcome to go in, so we did, and we talked with the girls inside. They were all around my age, with tons of little kids running around as well. We started talking with them and realized that some of them were Christians, others weren't, they were all sort of wishy-washy with God. So Gabriel just randomly told them that we were starting a Girls Club that would meet every Thursday at 4PM to talk about girls issues and struggles that we all face. So we invited them all to come along. And that was where the idea was born!

The next Thursday, and every one since then, we've been meeting with these girls and talking about issues like poverty, sex/purity/marriage (an interesting topic because a couple of the girls have children and are not married), alcohol/drugs/peer pressure, dreams/hopes/goals. It has been so fun/scary/crazy to meet with the girls every week because we never know what their responses are going to be. I remember the week we talked about alcohol, one of the girls was like, "I don't even know what to think anymore", putting her head in her hands like she was really confused. I think it was just because she likes to and wants to drink (get drunk) but she knows it's wrong. So I'm hopeful that they are actually listening and taking some things in. This girl's club is all about planting seeds and just trusting that God will water and harvest. But it's just been a lot of fun getting to know the girls and spending time with them. It's been an awesome privilege. One week it started raining and because their houses have tin roofs, the rain sounded like hail, sooo loud, and I had to keep our lesson going. It was so hot because we had to shut the door, so there I was, sweating, yelling above the noise about what the bible says is right and wrong - - I felt like a tv preacher. So crazy.

This past weekend we took all the girls and their kids to the beach for a fun day. It was really fun to get out with them (something they definitely don't get to do often) and just do something special. Then they came with us the next day to Gabriel's church (in their community) where we were speaking that day. It was so nice to have them there supporting us - - however, the service was 4 hours long!! In a room with no AC in the middle of summer probably 100 degrees outside! WOW!

This week, our last week, we're having a little graduation ceremony for them and made them all certificates and printed pictures from the beach to give them, and some gifts that they need, like school supplies, that kind of thing. It has definitely been a great opportunity to try to "disciple" some girls, and has been extremely messy, unpredictable, and everything you would imagine. Something I won't forget.

masiphumelele

On Monday afternoons, we go to a nearby township called Masiphumelele, for short, "Masi". The first time we went in, we recognized how lively the township was. There were tons of people walking around, music playing, storefronts open. There is definitely a more welcoming feel to this township versus some others we've been in. Our purpose for going is to partner with the community library there to help with the tutoring programs they run.

So, the first time we went to help tutor, I was sort of expecting it to be easy. I've always done well in school, and I'm pretty good at teaching and explaining things, so I thought it would come naturally. Little did we know we'd be tutoring 11th and 12th graders, in subjects I haven't thought about for 5 years or never took (they have accounting in high school!). So, it was a rude awakening to realize that they needed help with calculus and physics. Not to mention, they don't have the kind of textbooks we had in school that explain everything in detail - - theirs are more like practice problem books. So, doing the tutoring is actually really difficult. It is humbling to not feel like the smartest kid in the class anymore! And because I don't remember the subjects well, I overthink every problem because I'm nervous. And that would be one thing if it were just me doing my homework, but when I have to drag along a twelfth grader who's coming to me for help into my crazy thought process and probably confuse him more than he was before he came, it doesn't feel so good! However, there have been some good moments too and I think one of the most important parts is actually just being there with these kids and showing them that somebody cares enough to try to help.

Two of the girls from our team didn't want to do tutoring, and luckily the library has a "Girls Group" that meets on Monday afternoons and they were in need of some volunteers for that. I actually joined in last week to help with teaching the girls some dances - the, the electric slide, the cha cha slide, and the cupid shuffle! The girls are anywhere from 7 to 14 years old and it was so much fun! They were really excited about it, and they even macarena had Erin, Elise, and I sing them our national anthem. The girls are very sweet. Next week we're teaching them how to make salsa and guacamole (you can imagine there's not a heavy Mexican influence in South Africa!), and then the week after that I'm teaching the girls how to write their names in pencil calligraphy :)

justice ACTs

Third on the list of our activities is working with a local organization here in Muizenberg calledJustice ACTs. It's actually an international organization but began here in South Africa. the ACTs stands for "Alliance of Christians against Trafficking", and the organization is devoted to stopping human trafficking in South Africa and around the world. For anyone who isn't aware, human trafficking is when someone is:

-TRICKED into leaving their home

-TRANSPORTED to an unfamiliar location

-TRAPPED in that place, and

-USED for forced prostitution, forced labor, forced marriage, or organ removal

Essentially - modern day slavery. It's a crime, it's happening in South Africa and all over the world. There are more slaves in the world today than at any point in human history. An estimated 27 million. And not just that, not just a number. But real people. Just recently, Justice ACTs actually aided in the rescue of 2 girls that had been trafficked into South Africa and helped to get them back home safely.

So we're partnering with this organization to help them get their message out across South Africa. We got some training from them and now we go out 2-3 times per week to public areas and do a little demonstration. Here's what we do:

-All wear black t-shirts (so we look semi-professional)

-Tie up 3 team members so their wrists and ankles are bound with rope, and put duct tape over their mouths. Also tape a bar code to their chest. This sounds intense I know! We do it to catch people's attention, so it's really effective.

-The rest of our team then hands out flyers to everyone who walks by. The flyers explain what human trafficking is and give a national helpline and the justice ACTs website. We try really hard to get into conversations with people, not just hand out the flyers silently. Usually my lead-in line is something like "We're raising awareness about human trafficking today, have you ever heard of human trafficking?" just trying to get people engaged instead of walking past us hurriedly. We hand out about 400 flyers each time we do a demonstration.

We've had some interesting experiences doing these demonstrations to say the least. The biggest struggle has been finding places where we can do them. Often, the best places are malls. But, at a mall, you have to consult with mall management which is sort of a bureaucratic nightmare. The team that came here last year said that they found mall management to be very open to them doing this, but we haven't had the same experience. I think part of that was the buzz from the World Cup last year. Trafficking increases dramatically when big sporting events happen in a city, so the team last year could use that in their favor because their presence was really needed in order to protect and inform the local communities. So, we've struggled a bit with getting our foot in the door many places.

On the other hand, if we just go out on the street, it's sort of a gamble as to whether many people will be there or not, whether we'll be in a safe area, plus just the awkwardness of setting this whole thing up in the middle of the street. Which should not be underestimated!!! hahaha, imagine a group of 8 white people (we already definitely stick out), wearing all black tshirts, walking with a purpose, then tying up three people in the middle of the street. You can imagine - it's awkward. But this is generally what we've been doing.

Once we get going, things usually go really well. We've been able to get in some great conversations with people, sometimes people just thanking us for what we're doing and encouraging us to keep going, sometimes people with terrible stories of how their lives have been affected by human trafficking (we've talked to people whose grandchildren, children, and even they themselves have been trafficked), and many times just being able to inform people who have never heard of this issue. It's definitely one of those things where we don't know for sure if we are helping people, or actually playing a part in the prevention of human trafficking, but one thing is for sure - there's a much greater chance that we're helping by doing this than if we were just sitting at home thinking about it. And even if it only helps one person, we would all agree that it's worth it.