Bringing Hope. Breaking Despair.

One thing about Capetown: the view at any given moment is stunning. Whether you’re looking from the Team House to the beach, from the mountains to the Team House, or from the city to the mountains, every scene is worthy of framing and hanging on your living room wall. But as I reflect on our four days of Holiday Camp, I think I speak for the whole team in saying that the smiling children we were blessed to serve this week are so much more beautiful than even the view from the Cape of Good Hope.

Thursday marked the end of our time at Capricorn and Overcome, and as we left the kids, each of our hearts melted, though some more than others, as evidenced by the tears shed (read: weeping) by a few of us. Perhaps more heart wrenching than leaving the kids was leaving the LSEs we had been working with all week. Every one of them carried through their communities a powerful story of dedication to the Lord and a love for the young generation. As Joanna wrote Wednesday night, the LSEs do this work 48 weeks a year. Tired as we are after only four days of their job, our respect level for the LSEs is through the roof.

After sleeping an extra hour Thursday night, we spent Friday learning more about the ministry and city we’ve been working with this week. In the morning we toured the four branches of Living Hope’s ministry (Living Way, Living Right, Living Care, and Living Grace). The locations we toured were more focused towards adults than the rest of our week had been, with rehabilitation, job training, and hospice care serving as the focuses of these ministries. Parents, this is when we all bought the cool picture frames made from reclaimed wood (from pallets or fences, for example). We also toured the “tunnels” (South African for greenhouses) in which men and women learn to make a living off of agriculture, vermiculture, and fish farming. Following a late lunch and a quick dip in the Atlantic, we visited Hout Bay Market, where disgusting juice, fine jewelry, and yuppies (South African for hipsters) abound.

Saturday started quite similarly to Friday evening with a trip to the Old Biscuit Mill, the market made especially for yuppies and overpriced products. However, the kudu breakfast burgers that Nicholas and I ordered were well worth the 65 rand we paid for each (South African for $6.50). Later, we hopped on the ferry to Robben Island to see one of the prisons Nelson Mandela stayed in during his 27-year incarceration throughout South Africa. The island itself has a lot of history aside from the prison, but walking the same paths as anti-Apartheid political radicals of the 20^th century held a unique significance. Although the struggle those leaders faced was very alien to us Americans, the conversation of native South Africans made it possible to feel the importance of the anti-Apartheid movement.

Lastly, we ate dinner at Marco’s African Restaurant. I think our time there will be some of the most memorable for several reasons, the first of which is probably the Smiley that Nicholas and Emma shared with the table. In case you didn’t know, the Smiley, a traditional African dish, is simply a sheep’s head served in a bowl. Nose, ears, eyes, and tongue are all included, and it holds a central place on the menu’s Starter section (note: I’m pretty sure the band at Marco’s played the melody from “Mary Had a Little Lamb” at one point…). After we ate, we danced with the members of the all-percussion band, who allowed Nick, Logan, and Annie to try out the marimba in front of a packed house.

With only part of a day remaining in South Africa, I think it’s safe to declare this vacation a success by all standards. I know no one is looking forward to the plane ride home, but considering all the love, beauty, and culture we’ve experienced on this trip, it will have been well worth it. We still have a trip to Table Mountain (the 8^th Wonder of the World) waiting for us tomorrow, so even though our time remaining is short, we have a lot left to see.

From the Mother City, with love,

Jeff 

Can I get a HOLLA for the Holiday Club?!

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.

Since You Last Saw Us...

Hello concerned parents and internet lurkers! I promise we're all alive; South Africa's incredible vistas and scrumptious food have lulled us into a relaxed state the past few days in which we have completely neglected our duties as responsible children to contact the outside world. I have the past four days to cover so buckle up, put your tray and seat into the upright position, and enjoy your flight with British Airways!
First stop: Atlanta (the least exciting place we've visited so far so let's fast forward nine hours.) We woke up to some quintessential fog in London. After donning our Hogwarts robes and best British accents, we hopped on the Tube. Upon our arrival in Leicester Square, we gobbled up some fish and chips then hit the town. We ran through the city at the rate of South African gale force winds (more on that later,) and hit all the highlights: Trafalgar, Big Ben, Parliament, the Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Picadilly. Exhausted from our whirlwind sightseeing, the team zombie-walked back to the Tube and on to the airport. Next stop: Cape Town!
We landed in the Cape early in the morning and everybody's new best friend, our driver Frans, picked us up and drove us to the Team House, our home for the week. The Team House is situated on one of South Africa's the world's most stunning beaches, Noordhoek Beach. During a quick introduction by American expat Danielle who is the "house mom" (we're in good hands Mom, I promise,) it began to pour so we cancelled our outdoor adventures and opted for a ukelele concert headlined by myself, JoJo, and Emma. Once our tinny strumming wore on the team's last nerve, Frans took us to the Pick n' Pay, a local grocery store. The shopping spree came to an end; JoJo left with a pawpaw (go Google it!) and Jeff with a Springbok Rugby shirt. That night, we experienced our first meal cooked by the Team House cook Nadine, who is my new favorite person in the whole wide world. No worries moms, we are more than well-fed. Day One on the ground ended happily with Magnum bars and Nerts (you can Google those too!).
Yesterday we attended two church services, one at King of Kings Baptist and one at Massiphumelele Baptist. The first is very much like Brookwood Baptist. Just imagine going to Brookwood but everyone has cool accents. The second was the most unique service any of us had had the privilege of attending. We drove through streets lined with tin shanties and stray dogs and arrived at a nondescript white building. Chill-bump-inducing African voices emanated from the church. These voices would bless us for the next hour. It was the first time I'd truly realized we were in Africa (up till then, I'd honestly felt like I'd been in a more beautiful version of Northern California). After a lunch of bobotie on the waterfront in Simon's Town, we drove to see African penguins (which crack me up because they walk hilariously... some Japanese tourists gave me dirty looks for laughing at the awkward featherballs.) Next, we drove to the end of the world, literally... the Cape of Good Hope which is the southwestern most point on the African Continent. It was definitely one of the more breath-taking things we've seen since we've been here, besides the awesome kids we worked with today (yes, we actually do work, the first two days are meant for orientation.)
This morning, Day Three, we split into two teams that are doing the same work in two different locations. My team spent the morning in Capricorn, a Capetonian township fraught with gangsterism and drug abuse; two awful aspects of the community that the kids we met miraculously overcome with their joy and love. We helped lead VBS (Africa style) in Capricorn which involved soccer, dance-offs, a skit from Logan as King Solomon, and science projects with Dr. Caleb. After a coffee break at a super hipster place on the beach, the teams switched work sites and my team helped with what Living Hope calls Teen Club in Overcome, the township the other team worked in this morning. After games and songs, Emma and I shared our testimonies and we all talked to the teenagers. We got back around five and have spent the past hours playing the name game.  Which brings us to now, sitting up in my room with a view of the Atlantic and praying that the house doesn't cave in. It's storming and the winds are louder than the female members of our team (Emma included because she rocks the guitar and every instrument ever.) Good night from Cape Town! Or as they say here: goeie naand!

PS: I promise we will be posting pictures soon. The WiFi is slower here and we have so many awesome ones to choose from.

Final Day of Kid's Club

First of all, we would like to apologize for neglecting the blog yesterday. In our defense, it was the 4th of July, and we were all diligently reading the Declaration of Independence pretty worn out from a busy day that concluded with John and Avril Thomas coming over to the Team House for dinner (what an amazing experience). The Thomases had so many incredible stories that I can't wait to share when I get back to B'ham...they are two of the most awesome people I have ever met.

Today truly was bittersweet. It has been such a blessing to work with the Living Hope staff at the Holiday Kid's Camps this week, and I think that I speak for the whole group when I say that we are really sad that today was our last day (I may or may not have cried). Over the past four days, we have experienced so many different emotions: joy as we spent time with the children and teenagers, heartbreak as we heard the stories of their daily struggles, hope as we witnessed firsthand how God is working here, and frustration as we asked ourselves how we could return to our comfortable lives when we have seen what life is like for the people living in Capricorn and Overcome.

This week, I have had the joy of working in Capricorn in the mornings and Overcome in the afternoons. As you can tell from the earlier posts, both groups have had amazing experiences. One of my favorite things about Capricorn is the praise and worship times we have had each morning with the kids. It has been so encouraging to watch them sing their hearts out every day, completely joyful and uninhibited as they praise God. I am 100% confident that if I took a poll and asked the kids which song was their favorite, they would all say "the coconut song" (more commonly known as the "Fruits of the Spirit song"). Thanks to Garner, it quickly became one of the most entertaining parts of the kids' camp. For us, it has been so much fun to learn new songs from the kids (and they have found our attempts at trying to sing and speak in Afrikaans totally hilarious).

At Overcome (where my group does the teen camp), we have done everything from jewelry making, to cricket playing, to group dancing, to spray painting, to carpentering (I'm pretty sure it should be "carpentry," but I really wanted it to fit in with the other -ing words--nerd alert!). And I am fairly certain that at any given time, someone in our group (typically Kinsey) is singing and/or dancing to "Waka Waka."

It has been so awesome getting to build relationships with the kids and teens at Capricorn and Overcome this past week. I feel like I have known them so much longer than just four days, and I will miss each of them so much. Saying goodbye today was so difficult, especially at Overcome, because we are going to church in Capricorn on Sunday and will hopefully see many of the kids from camp one more time. Several of us keep saying that if we could we would stay another week if we could (Mom and Dad, please don't take it personally).

Tomorrow morning, we are going on the full tour of Living Hope with Natasha (the fabulous volunteer coordinator), and tomorrow night we are going to Youth Night at Capricorn. I feel certain that it will be another wonderful day in Cape Town! I hope that everything is going well at home and that y'all are staying cool (it's so weird to say that when most of us have our heaters on full blast in our rooms).

-Sarah

P.S. Hannah wanted me to add that she forgot to say that Katherine Thomas came over for dinner on Tuesday night. Not surprisingly, we had a blast.

Oh and I just realized that I forgot to talk about the "Arctic Plunge" that took place today. Over half of the group (myself not included) went swimming in the ocean right outside the house. Pure insanity. That's all I have to say about that.

Kids Club Day 2!!

Day Two of kids camp was another early start with the breakfast bell at the Team House ringing at 7 AM. After some delicious french toast made by our talented chef Nadine, it was off to Capricorn for the entire BBC crew.  Allison started our morning with an encouraging devotion reminding each of us to take heart in the Lord.  After we prayed, we split into our two site teams to start kids club.

I have the honor to be in Overcome in the mornings.  Unfortunately today, the staff leader (Stacy) for our site was sick, yet we managed to keep the kids highly entertained.  Please keep Stacy in your prayers so that she may be healed and back with us tomorrow! We danced our hearts out in Overcome with "Waka Waka" being a crowd favorite and endured more hair braiding sessions while the Capricorn team also played endlessly and spent some powerful time praying with their children.  Bible story skits were performed and memory verse chants were shouted out again today at both sites as we continued to help the Life Skill Leaders of Living Hope teach their lessons.

For lunch, we ate under the sunshine at False Bay while watching surfers catch some waves then we all hit the coffee shop, Knead, to fulfill our daily coffee and pastry cravings.  Today we did better about waiting outside for our lattes and macchiatos instead of clogging up the front counter. What can we say? Rookie mistake.

From our discussion at night during the BBC team devotional, it was evident that teen camps at both sites ran just as smoothly as the first day, which all of us were thrilled about.  In Capricorn, we spent the last hour of teen club with Connor doing a wonderful job sharing his testimony and Anne Galloway (who has decided to tell everyone in Capetown that her name is Annie) followed with a moving devotional. And boy, can a couple of the youth at our site sing! Apparently we have a special surprise in store for us tomorrow with it being the Fourth of July that involves some vocal talent, so keep your eyes peeled to read more about that on the next blog post.

Much talk once we were back at the Team House for the day consisted of the Brookwood Beach Retreat coming up this month, so parents, watch out- you might be getting either personal texts from Caleb or emails from your kids asking if they are allowed to bind themselves to this awesome upcoming event.  Also, I think I finally found the best time to take a shower, but there's no way I'm letting the cat out of the bag on the blog, sorry guys! After several days in the house it has become apparent that Rebekah is the target of Will and David's bullying so don't be surprised if you continue to see embarrassing photos of her on twitter or instagram.  Another fun fact for the day, wind at night is not by any means a light breeze. It can definitely be more accurately compared to the sound of a tsunami and we are easily distracted during dinner conversations in fear that the house is about to fall apart. But no worries, we were forewarned that the house is rock solid.

All joking aside, it is safe to say that our eyes were truly opened today. Day One at the camps was SO much fun getting to meet all the joyful kids and teens, but today we grasped a deeper understanding of the darkness they all live in.  After many of the club attendees opened up to us, we realized all of them battle one or more of the following: drugs, alcoholism, gangsterism, or neglect.  Most have family members that expose them to these difficulties and they come to clubs in order to stay out of the trouble that runs rampant in the townships of Overcome and Capricorn.  This caused our hearts to break even more for the youth of Capetown.  We know they are safe when they are with us at camps and we are blessed to be a part of their safe havens for the day, but we ask that you pray for their safety and well-being when they are not with us at the Living Hope facilities.  We also ask that you will pray they continue to be the light in their poverty stricken communities and that all 24 of us on this mission trip will continue to be an outlet of encouragement to them.

No pictures again today due to Living Hope's rule of photography restricted the first couple days of camp.  This rule is in place in order to prevent barriers being built up between the kids and us workers; after much opening up from the kids today, we are all in agreement that this rule is very wise and are glad that we have not wasted any time with the children.

Thanks for reading,
Your Overcome celebrity- Hannah Montana

First Days of Kids Club!

Today we all had the privilege to meet and hang out with the kids that we will be hanging out with all week. We have been split into two groups for the two different sites: Capricorn and Overcome. Last night, we got together in our groups to prepare for the skit we would be doing for the Bible story and the games we would play. So although we were a little tired heading into today, we were also excited to finally start our mission work.

My group went first to Capricorn. Capricorn is a community center run by Living Hope that has a basketball court type area to play rec games, and a relatively nice inside area with offices and a big open space to worship, eat, etc. Meagan is the head Living Hope counselor there, and she is awesome. She pours a ton of energy into her job and can relate better than any of us to all the kids. After Deanna led us in a devotion before the kids came, the day began.

There was an onslaught of kids in the first hour, which was pretty much designated as a time for them to get energy out outside. They were climbing all over us, playing a "catch your nose" game where they tried to grab our noses (ouch), and playing with all sorts of hula hoops and basketballs. It was a great way to start the day because we didn't have to control the kids or anything; just straight crazy fun and games. After that, we led a skit about Jesus healing the blind man, Garner did a great job leading worship, and we just got to know the kids.

The other group spent the morning doing similar things at Overcome, the other site. Alex DeVilliers gave a wonderful testimony and Hannah Patterson gave the lesson. We all met up for lunch at the beach and went and got coffee at a small shop, where we were reprimanded multiple times for being in the way of everyone. Being in people's way in public places is becoming a theme of the trip. 24 people will inevitably do that.

My group's afternoon was at Overcome. Overcome is in a worse part of town and is just a small shipping container with a small dirt space outside for playing games. It is surrounded with the slums that are sadly all over Capetown. Despite the conditions, the kids are joyful. It was less structures; we just played with them and let them feel our hair (props to Anne Pell for enduring a long "braiding" session from several girls) and climb all over us. Best part of the afternoon: when one of the kids, about age eight, lip-synched an Adele song in dramatic fashion with serious hand motions. Great fun.

Other highlights of the day:
--the kids at both places seem to think that we are celebrities. Jennifer Terch=Jennifer Lopez, Alec is a "movie star", they call me (Will Hightower) Justin Beiber.
--Several of us jumped in the ocean today. It was horrendously cold.
--The group at Overcome this morning helped someone push their car from their house after it broke down in the road today.
--There's constant talk about when the best time is to shower. The showers quickly lose hot water, and therefore everyone is trying to find the best time to take a hot shower. No one has found a sure solution yet...

It really has been an incredibly fun and funny trip. My sides hurt from laughing so much, especially at our group's attempt at rehearsing our skit for tomorrow. Garner playing the role of Pilate is hilarious. And Capetown is the most beautiful place I've ever seen, especially the coastline.

I've been asked to clarify that David Foster bought the Zulu spear, not Garner.

Also, we weren't allowed to take pictures today so we don't have any for tonight's blog.

--Will Hightower

WARNING

This is an excessively long blog post because a lot has happened in the past 48 hours. Annnnd we're kinda playing catch up because we neglected our blogging duties last night. So where to begin...

Yesterday, Saturday (also known as Day 2), was filled to the brim with adventuring all over the Cape Town area in our two white passenger vans chaperoned by our fearless leaders, Gordon and Cedric. We arose somewhat well rested after our 35 hours of traveling ("well rested" being used very loosely; slightly cognsant jet-lagged would be a more adequate term) and first went to the District 6 museum. For those of you who need some brushing up on your South African history, it was an area somewhat similar to a Soho or Harlem-esc melting pot of cultures in the 1950's that was cleared of most black or coloured residents after the apartheid was established. One of the workers there was actually born into the district and was relocated himself! It was prime time for the history buffs of the group. After, we went to an open market to do some souvenir acquisition and practice our negotiating abilities. Some of us were pros in this area, scoring major deals but unfortunately coming off as slightly abrasive to the vendors. Others, however, couldn't handle the heat of the action and got two pencils for 50 rand (ANNE GALLOWAY). But it's okay because "y'all, they were so nice to me!" Some items collected were rugby and soccer jerseys and scarves, coffee mugs, assorted bracelets, scarves, tribal masks, key chains, and one Zulu spears. Start wondering now which one of you lucky parents get to unpack these gems in a week! One downside of this experience was that now our team expects that we should be able to bargain with all other stores in Cape Town. I'll even admit to looking at a price of lunch and thinking of what an appropriate counter offer would be.

Now the highlight of my day personally, the Old Biscuit Mill. Think of a large area, filled with literally every single type of European/African hipster-ish cuisine and retail in booths with prime people-watching, and you have the Old Biscuit Mill. We ate smoothies, tea, ice cream, sandwiches, burgers, and the single best waffles on the face of the planet. I literally found myself thinking that I would fly to South Africa again just to go back. I realized that was ridiculous but you catch my drift. We followed our 2 hours in market bliss with a casual stroll in the gardens to view the former President's residence, and some other Cape Town sights. Other Saturday afternoon leisure activities included pigeon feeding/disturbance, and squirrel observance. Fun fact: the squirrels in South Africa are HUGE and will come right up to you! I kid you not they rival the ones on the Quad at Alabama, and they don't even attack you! Our afternoon concluded with heading to the top of Signal Hill where we harassed even more pigeons but couldn't really see any spectacular sights due to the blanket of fog. No worries though, we had plenty of entertainment between the local fauna and rain jacket fashion show. 

Dinner was at Marco's where we all got the sampler African platter, complete with chips (fries), and small portions of ostrich, kudu, and springbox (antelopes). I still can't determine which was which, but they all basically tasted like steak. We worked off all the red meat by dancing and playing the xylophone with the African band and were more than likely a greater source of entertainment to the other local diners. Can you say Americans requesting "Waka Waka" to be played and then Wobbling to the beat? Get on our level.

Today's morning (Sunday, Day 3) was spent at King of King's Baptist Church and a local kosi church. Clearly some of the team was still suffering from jet-lag and pure exhaustion due to some of the late night bedtimes, and so we had some stragglers throughout the first service. But we genuinely loved seeing a church in a completely different part of the world, worshipping so similarly to us. At the next church in one of the settlements was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Not only was it unlike anything we have ever experienced, but it was literally impossible to fall asleep, or even remain seated for more than 30 seconds. We clapped, we danced along, we tried to sing but didn't understand a lick of the language, we sat down and stood up, then sat down again, then stood up, then repeated the whole sequence again followed by a big "AAAAA-MEN".

Lunch was at a cluster of restaurants nearby that were absolutely precious and had warm bread from the bakery that we may have or may have not purchased a bottle of olive oil to dip into. We ate paninis, pizza, and individual chicken pot pies with a heart on them! AKA chick food at it's finest. Some ate at one restaurant that had the most beautiful view, or so I heard. I was at front paying and never got to see it myself but apparently it was desktop background worthy. We then hiked up to Cape Point and saw the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean AT THE SAME TIME. A plethora of pictures were taken (surprise, surprise) and we stayed on our toes keeping an eye out for baboons. While none were sighted, we walked in constant fear that they would dart out and attack the peanut butter crackers stashed in Mark's backpack...wait that was just me. Other animal sightings include a 2000lb antelope (the largest in Africa), and ostriches. Oops, we ate your relatives for dinner last night. #awkward. And we thought we saw a whale. Turns out everyone except me knew it wasn't a whale, just a large rock, but I was convinced there was a giant blue whale stationary on the edge of the Atlantic ocean for 45 minutes. Talk about a major buzz kill. We also climbed down to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western most point of Africa. NBD. More rocks were climbed and mermaids were imitated. Get up, South Africa.

We came home for some much needed down time spent napping, reading, and beach time. Some of our more fearless friends went on a hike with our chef, Nadine. They returned at 6:45, sweaty and slightly physically and emotionally exhausted, due to the fact that the hike turned into a "scale the mountain" type thing after the sun set early. The day ended with a delicious dinner (beware, we might come home slightly pudgier because all the food down here is the bomb), and devotion time completed by prep time for tomorrow. Because guess what...

CAMP STARTS TOMORROW!

Estactic is an understatement. Keep us in your prayers that we have the energy and the humility to give these kids and staff members the experience that they deserve. Capricorn and Overcome, prepare yourselves. We're comin' for ya.

Finally, thanks parents for sending us on this experience. I know this is uber cliche, but this really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we appreciate every single second. Love y'all, mean it.

Your Brookwood Team

(Blogger de jour: Allison)