First of all, South Africa is amazing. Now that the cliché sentence is
out of the way, I am going to tell you what we have been doing for the past 3
days. We have all been working with Living Hope at their Holiday and Teen
Clubs, and I'm going to use this post to explain what exactly that means. There
are two different places that we hold each club; Capricorn and Overcome. In the
mornings, we all head to Capricorn to have a devotion with the Life Skill
Educators. The LSE's are wonderful men and women who live in Capetown and help
out with the Kid’s and Teen Clubs that occur 48 weeks out of the year. We have
been so blessed to have the opportunity to meet the LSE’s on a personal level,
and to see them work with the kids they know and love. After one of our Brookwood
members leads a short devo in the morning, half of our group hops in Fransi’s
flaming van and heads to Overcome. Although we are in different places, the
work is similar. Kids from age one to age thirteen come around 9am to play games
and learn about the Lord. We start off with some fun games to wake the kids up
and get them somewhat tired…but they don’t get tired. They could honestly play
all day long and love on us all day long, and we are having a blast with them.
After some football (soccer) and tag, everyone gathers in a huge circle and
says the Lord’s Prayer. We sing songs (both African and American), and perform
skits, and do crafts. We also have a bible story time and discussion time
afterwards. We then get the pleasure to feed the kids, then hang out a little
longer before they head home. When all the kids have left, our half of the team
heads back to Capricorn to pick up the other half, and we all go eat some lunch
on the beach and grab a cup of coffee on our way out. When we leave lunch, the
half of the group that was in Capricorn goes to Overcome, and those in Overcome
go to Capricorn. Teen Club begins around 2pm, with kids ranging from thirteen
to nineteen. This half of the day is really cool for us because the kids are
closer to our age, so we can connect with them on a whole new level. It is
crazy to think about the fact that we live in different conditions but have
some of the same struggles. We start out Teen Club the same way we do Kid’s
Club. Play some games, sing some songs…but instead of a different craft
everyday, we hand out pipe cleaners and get creative. We share the same bible
story with the teens, but in a more mature way. Then we discuss the story and
answer some questions. We play games like football (soccer), shuffle your buns,
and little Sally Walker. After passing out some food, we have a
mini-rave…Capetown style. The kids head home after that and hug us goodbye. The
Clubs are so great for the Cape. They bring fun to these kids who may not have
parents or siblings to play with and have fun with, and they teach the sweet
children about our Creator. Living Hope is a legit organization, and I have
fallen in love with not only the organization itself, but also the LSE’s and
the kids. It really is life-changing to see how joyful these kids are when they
don’t have near as much stuff as you. It has made me a grateful person and it
has humbled me in unimaginable ways. Caleb warned us that Africa would change
us in some way or another, and he was so right. I think I might just stay here. Not
sure if I can handle another British Airways English Breakfast anyways……….yikes.
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