I’m sitting here in bed, the reflections of the past 8 ½ months pushing their way to the front of my mind, creating a mad rush of emotions unequal to anything I’ve gone through in the past. Despite it being 1:30 in the morning and holding back the kind of tire that hurts your head, I cannot sleep. This is due partly because I’m listening to an inspiring new Hillsong United album, but mainly because I’m trying to identify the emotions which have taken over. To just say I am sad would be quite a disrespect to the other feelings. Anxiety, worry, excitement, gratefulness, joy, and just a general feeling of being overwhelmed all deserve mention and thought. I try to handle these emotions, each one more extremely felt than the next. Yet as this incredible journey comes to an end and the next one begins, the one thing which provides me with any sort of stability is the knowledge that a truly all-might, all powerful, ever graceful, encouraging, protective, genuine Father is standing with me through all of it. The fact that it hurts so damn much to be leaving Cape Town behind is testimony to how greatly my Father has blessed me during this time. Through joy and sorrow, courage and desperation, familiarity and the unknown, social prosperity and loneliness, God my Father has stood by me and upheld me with His overwhelming love. When difficulty showed up, I had not but to cry out to my Father to be reminded that I would never be alone. In the hardest moments as well as in those of purest joy, by no doing of my own, my Father came alive and clearly spoke the words “I am with you” into my soul. His love crashed over me like ocean’s waves over its rocks, powerful and without care for consent.
A new stage begins in my life. New challenges will present themselves and the context of ministry will change. Yet the constant company of the one whose love knows not even the boundaries of paternal sacrifice will accompany me all the days of my life. The end of these 9 months bring with them a great sorrow for having to accept them as past, but through the pain, I will bow down and worship the Lord my God whose blessings have poured down on me like the sun’s rays overwhelm the desert sand. How great is His love that He has allowed me to meet the people I’ve met, seen the places I’ve seen, and experience the moments I’ve experienced, all through the love of people like you who support, encourage, and allow me to follow His urging call on my heart. My prayers are full of thankfulness and joy for unsuspecting angels like you that He has sent upon my life, for people that have made His love known to me by so many means. We serve a mighty God who suffers in our agony and delights in our joys that we may NEVER feel alone; a God who came down from the highest throne, that we may be able to witness his glory; the One who forgives time and time again, despite knowing that we our sins will hurt him again, and again, and again. This is the God we serve and the God in whom I delight. If I have but one prayer to lift up, it may be that you may know this amazing and empowering Love. Thank you for shaping my life into what it is and for believing in me. I love you more than you know.
“O How He Loves Us.”
Andy
Monday, July 5, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
My view on racial relations
I have now been in South Africa for over 7 months. I have lived some of my most memorable experiences, visited awe-inspiring places, and met wonderful people. Some of these experiences I have shared with you through this blog. But what came to my mind the other day is that I’ve never really shared my reflections/observations on the frailty of racial relations in post-apartheid South Africa. So, I will do my best to express some of my conclusions on such delicate a topic.
Perhaps the greatest advantage to being here with Ubuntu Sports Outreach is that I actually get to live in a South African township. Now, most images that spring up when the thought of a township comes to mind are that of dirt roads, 10 X 10 ft metal shacks, and children everywhere. That image is actually quite accurate. However, that’s the image that is portrayed of the more exposed Black communities. That image is slightly different from that of Coloured communities. As you may know, I actually live in the latter.
Coloured people in South Africa are a small minority. Not having reaped the wicked benefits of the Whites during Apartheid, nor the assistance of an all black government, Coloureds have been caught somewhat in the middle. Unarguably closer to the poverty of Blacks, most of the nations Coloureds have settled in Cape Town. The ‘Cape Coloureds’ make up almost all the Coloured population in South Africa, and seldom populate the other major cities like Johannesburg (the ‘Black Concrete Jungle’), Pretoria, or Port Elizabeth.
Underrepresented in the government, unable to relate to the wealth of the Whites, Coloureds suffer a major struggle with identity. During Apartheid they were given a few more rights than Blacks, but were secondhand citizens in the oppressive system nonetheless. Where then, should they find their identity? Are they supposed to embrace the overwhelmingly white sports of Cricket and Rugby? Or are they to invest their passion into Soccer, the sport of the poor? The do not have a history with Cricket or Rugby as they weren’t allowed to participate until the mid 90’s, and Bafana Bafana (the endearing term used to refer to South Africa’s soccer national team meaning “Our Boys”) is an almost all Black team. Coloureds cannot fully relate to Blacks because they have White heritage, but neither can they relate to Whites due to their Black ancestry. They are caught within the struggle of not knowing where they’re from and instead find identity in their culture’s deepest problems: unemployment, substance abuse, promiscuity, domestic violence, etc… They see these evils in their communities and assimilate them with their own culture. Not even their language is uniquely their own as is the case in the Black cultures. Their primary language, Afrikaans, is the language passed down from the Afrikaners who believed Coloureds to be animals in the first place.
One of the saddest things that I have gotten to experience while living in a Coloured community is the extreme racism that exists towards Blacks. Speak to just about any Coloured in Ocean View, and the feelings towards Blacks are basically the same. Even among passionate Christ followers whose faith can move mountains, racism is ever prevalent. In their case, they wouldn’t consider themselves racist, but offer every other symptom of racial resentment imaginable. As one friend and fellow church member said, she is “not racist, just anti-Black.” Perhaps too vain, I would have thought (and understood) their racism towards Whites. But this is not the case. Towards them exists almost a sense of a vague unacknowledged admiration. A sense that when you really look at things deeply, Coloureds are also ‘White.’ So much so that you will often hear Coloureds refer to Blacks as Africans, dismissing any insane thought from foreigners that they too belong to this continent.
A relationship between a Coloured and a White isn’t too common. Relationships between a White person and a Black one are rare, but exist. Yet when I stop to really think about it, the idea of a Colorured and Black couple is almost laughable. It simply doesn’t exist.
When Nelson Mandela took charge in 1994 after decades of oppression and violence towards his people from Whites, everyone expected him to unleash 27 years of prison-induced pain out onto the nation’s White population. Yet, when he was released, this most formidable of men did the unimaginable. Instead of cleansing the nation of the Whites that represented a century of oppression, President Mandela forgave those who had made him suffer. FORGAVE!!! He was unjustly imprisoned for 27 YEARS! AND HE FORGAVE!!! I have visited Robben Island where Mandela was imprisoned. The place is a putrid dessert with very little vegetation, millions of rocks, and miles of ghastly dirt. His cell was the size of a very small bathroom and the beds were as comfortable as lying on a highway. On top of it all, Robben Island has one of the most beautiful views of Cape Town and Table Mountain. Prisoners on Robben Island were forced to look upon this taunting view of beautiful freedom which for them was utterly unattainable. I say this to emphasize how illogical it was for Mandela to forgive. Another case in which the light shines brightest in the dark.
I say all this to help you understand the concern that many South Africans face about a post-Mandela future. Now 92, Nelson Mandela probably doesn’t have much longer to live. Many fear that with his death will rise much of the vengeance that was postponed 16 years ago. With the leader of the ANC (African National Congress) recently singing the song “Kill the Boer (basically kill the White man),” this outlandish fear doesn’t seem all too unreal.
When thinking about South Africa’s racial problems, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of resentment, borderline hatred, towards Whites. I always get this image of a big white man’s hand coming down on two men, one Coloured, one Black. In this mental image, both of these men are blindfolded while the ‘big white hand’ slaps and irritates the two black and coloured men. Irritated but not sure about the source of the irritation, the two men try to helplessly fend off the ‘big white hand.’ Seeing this, ‘the big white hand’ finally removes the two men’s blindfold. When the coloured and the black man, angry at being bothered, make eye contact after the blindfolds lift, they automatically think of each other as the source of the annoyance and began to fight. Finding it amusing, ‘the big white hand’ retreats back a bit in order to better see the fight going on bellow, laughing intensely as the hand has now transformed into a face.
It’s hard to explain a picture which has never travelled outside my brain, but hopefully you understand a bit better how I inevitable think of the situation. The White Man came in and caused horrific problems through his disturbed system of Apartheid. He abused, beat, degraded, humiliated, and killed innocent people, whilst growing richer. Once Apartheid ended, the Coloured Man and the Black Men were left with nothing while the White Men went away to enjoy his wickedly gained wealth. Coloureds and Blacks may not be fighting themselves every day, but thanks to Apartheid they now battle much worse problems. Disease, alcohol abuse, dismal education, domestic violence, drug use, lack of identity, unsanitary living conditions, undignified housing, self-hatred, lack of confidence, and the list continues. Racial relations in South Africa may appear at peace from the outside. But when you really get to examine the problem from the inside, reality dictates something other than peace.
The likes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu are very unlikely to repeat themselves. But the One who will always be present is our Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through Him that we find leaders to set an example through love, peace, and forgiveness. Please pray for South Africa and its people. The world is beginning to arrive for the nation’s greatest ever event. Pray that the people of this great nation will feel great pride in their country and that they will learn to live in peace, free from the resentment of their heart. Thank you so much for wanting to hear some of my observations on such unique a problem. I look forward to discussing many more of my experiences with you when I see you again. I pray that you are well and living in the peace given to us through Jesus Christ.
Love,
Andy
Perhaps the greatest advantage to being here with Ubuntu Sports Outreach is that I actually get to live in a South African township. Now, most images that spring up when the thought of a township comes to mind are that of dirt roads, 10 X 10 ft metal shacks, and children everywhere. That image is actually quite accurate. However, that’s the image that is portrayed of the more exposed Black communities. That image is slightly different from that of Coloured communities. As you may know, I actually live in the latter.
Coloured people in South Africa are a small minority. Not having reaped the wicked benefits of the Whites during Apartheid, nor the assistance of an all black government, Coloureds have been caught somewhat in the middle. Unarguably closer to the poverty of Blacks, most of the nations Coloureds have settled in Cape Town. The ‘Cape Coloureds’ make up almost all the Coloured population in South Africa, and seldom populate the other major cities like Johannesburg (the ‘Black Concrete Jungle’), Pretoria, or Port Elizabeth.
Underrepresented in the government, unable to relate to the wealth of the Whites, Coloureds suffer a major struggle with identity. During Apartheid they were given a few more rights than Blacks, but were secondhand citizens in the oppressive system nonetheless. Where then, should they find their identity? Are they supposed to embrace the overwhelmingly white sports of Cricket and Rugby? Or are they to invest their passion into Soccer, the sport of the poor? The do not have a history with Cricket or Rugby as they weren’t allowed to participate until the mid 90’s, and Bafana Bafana (the endearing term used to refer to South Africa’s soccer national team meaning “Our Boys”) is an almost all Black team. Coloureds cannot fully relate to Blacks because they have White heritage, but neither can they relate to Whites due to their Black ancestry. They are caught within the struggle of not knowing where they’re from and instead find identity in their culture’s deepest problems: unemployment, substance abuse, promiscuity, domestic violence, etc… They see these evils in their communities and assimilate them with their own culture. Not even their language is uniquely their own as is the case in the Black cultures. Their primary language, Afrikaans, is the language passed down from the Afrikaners who believed Coloureds to be animals in the first place.
One of the saddest things that I have gotten to experience while living in a Coloured community is the extreme racism that exists towards Blacks. Speak to just about any Coloured in Ocean View, and the feelings towards Blacks are basically the same. Even among passionate Christ followers whose faith can move mountains, racism is ever prevalent. In their case, they wouldn’t consider themselves racist, but offer every other symptom of racial resentment imaginable. As one friend and fellow church member said, she is “not racist, just anti-Black.” Perhaps too vain, I would have thought (and understood) their racism towards Whites. But this is not the case. Towards them exists almost a sense of a vague unacknowledged admiration. A sense that when you really look at things deeply, Coloureds are also ‘White.’ So much so that you will often hear Coloureds refer to Blacks as Africans, dismissing any insane thought from foreigners that they too belong to this continent.
A relationship between a Coloured and a White isn’t too common. Relationships between a White person and a Black one are rare, but exist. Yet when I stop to really think about it, the idea of a Colorured and Black couple is almost laughable. It simply doesn’t exist.
When Nelson Mandela took charge in 1994 after decades of oppression and violence towards his people from Whites, everyone expected him to unleash 27 years of prison-induced pain out onto the nation’s White population. Yet, when he was released, this most formidable of men did the unimaginable. Instead of cleansing the nation of the Whites that represented a century of oppression, President Mandela forgave those who had made him suffer. FORGAVE!!! He was unjustly imprisoned for 27 YEARS! AND HE FORGAVE!!! I have visited Robben Island where Mandela was imprisoned. The place is a putrid dessert with very little vegetation, millions of rocks, and miles of ghastly dirt. His cell was the size of a very small bathroom and the beds were as comfortable as lying on a highway. On top of it all, Robben Island has one of the most beautiful views of Cape Town and Table Mountain. Prisoners on Robben Island were forced to look upon this taunting view of beautiful freedom which for them was utterly unattainable. I say this to emphasize how illogical it was for Mandela to forgive. Another case in which the light shines brightest in the dark.
I say all this to help you understand the concern that many South Africans face about a post-Mandela future. Now 92, Nelson Mandela probably doesn’t have much longer to live. Many fear that with his death will rise much of the vengeance that was postponed 16 years ago. With the leader of the ANC (African National Congress) recently singing the song “Kill the Boer (basically kill the White man),” this outlandish fear doesn’t seem all too unreal.
When thinking about South Africa’s racial problems, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of resentment, borderline hatred, towards Whites. I always get this image of a big white man’s hand coming down on two men, one Coloured, one Black. In this mental image, both of these men are blindfolded while the ‘big white hand’ slaps and irritates the two black and coloured men. Irritated but not sure about the source of the irritation, the two men try to helplessly fend off the ‘big white hand.’ Seeing this, ‘the big white hand’ finally removes the two men’s blindfold. When the coloured and the black man, angry at being bothered, make eye contact after the blindfolds lift, they automatically think of each other as the source of the annoyance and began to fight. Finding it amusing, ‘the big white hand’ retreats back a bit in order to better see the fight going on bellow, laughing intensely as the hand has now transformed into a face.
It’s hard to explain a picture which has never travelled outside my brain, but hopefully you understand a bit better how I inevitable think of the situation. The White Man came in and caused horrific problems through his disturbed system of Apartheid. He abused, beat, degraded, humiliated, and killed innocent people, whilst growing richer. Once Apartheid ended, the Coloured Man and the Black Men were left with nothing while the White Men went away to enjoy his wickedly gained wealth. Coloureds and Blacks may not be fighting themselves every day, but thanks to Apartheid they now battle much worse problems. Disease, alcohol abuse, dismal education, domestic violence, drug use, lack of identity, unsanitary living conditions, undignified housing, self-hatred, lack of confidence, and the list continues. Racial relations in South Africa may appear at peace from the outside. But when you really get to examine the problem from the inside, reality dictates something other than peace.
The likes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu are very unlikely to repeat themselves. But the One who will always be present is our Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through Him that we find leaders to set an example through love, peace, and forgiveness. Please pray for South Africa and its people. The world is beginning to arrive for the nation’s greatest ever event. Pray that the people of this great nation will feel great pride in their country and that they will learn to live in peace, free from the resentment of their heart. Thank you so much for wanting to hear some of my observations on such unique a problem. I look forward to discussing many more of my experiences with you when I see you again. I pray that you are well and living in the peace given to us through Jesus Christ.
Love,
Andy
Sunday, May 23, 2010
May
It is my belief that the light shines brightest in the darkness. In the darkness, light has its chance to come through and really make an impact on the dark that surrounds it. No matter how dark a room may be, if you light a match, the light will shine bright regardless of the darkness that encircles it. I have found this week to be one that really depicts that.
Monday nights are a productively busy time for the Methodist Church and the Prince household. In the church, an Ubuntu team meets to plan what promises to be a remarkable ‘Community Festival’ in September. Just 10 yards away, in the house, Ocean View’s women gather for their regular support group meeting meant to be a safe haven for the women of the community to share their ever-prevalent problems with domestic abuse. As we do live in South Africa (a British colony), tea is an essential component of any successful meeting. Obviously wanting this meeting to be a success, water was set to boil in the kettle as the women greeted each other with love. The water having finally boiled at an incredible temperature, a first cup was poured and left, unintentionally and temporarily, unattended. Being age appropriate, beautiful little Kieren saw the tempting cup sitting on the edge of the counter. After smiling at Kyle, one of our favorite boys who was watching Kieren that night, the 16th month old baby proceeded to make one of her short life’s biggest mistakes. Reaching up, Kieren grabbed the cup, pouring the boiling hot water on her face, neck, chest, and shoulders. As all would, she began to cry furiously as terrible pain took over her fat little body as the skin quickly melted off. After being dipped in cold water (which is what you must know to do when a burn occurs), Kieren was immediately rushed over to the nearest hospital. After taking the necessary steps to prevent the burn from worsening, an ambulance took Kieren and her distraught parents over to Red Cross Children’s Hospital. She was then placed in the ward for children who have suffered severe burns and was given proper treatment to lessen the pain and prevent infection.
This all happened Monday night. As of Friday, Kieren is still being taken care of in the hospital. Today (Thursday) was a great day for her, as Sarah told me. It was the first time she smiled and began acting so that we could recognize that Kieren’s awesome personality was still there. Though she has lost her voice from the crying caused by the agonizing pain, it’s a huge cause for happiness to see that this baby that I, and everyone, love so much, is now regaining her personality. I first visited her on Tuesday. She was asleep thanks to the many drugs she’d been given for the pain. As Casey says, she looks like the Bionic Woman, having all her neck, parts of her face, and half of her chest and belly looking completely raw. She had a successful surgery on Wednesday and has been doing a lot better ever since. I spent time with her on Thursday, and although she looks like a mummy after being completely bandaged from her waist up with the exception of her eyes and mouth, it was such relief/happiness to see my baby being herself again.
If you don’t know Kieren, well then your life is that much worse. Not only is she the most beautiful baby in all of Africa, she’s also the funniest, flirtiest, most persuasive, most stubborn baby in the continent, and perhaps the world. She is charming like you know you should wish she wasn’t. Feeling bad about some of the other babies in her community which often don’t get to eat, Kieren takes no chances with food, eating what seems like everything. This has developed into a belly which seems to be a whole being on its own. We didn’t understand why her belly had to be so big, but thank God for that, not joking, because if her giant belly hadn’t been there, the boiling hot water would have also fallen on her adorably fat legs.
According to the doctors at the country’s most prestigious hospital for burns, Kieren will recover with no real problems and should develop little to no scarring. Casey and Sarah are both exhausted, physically and emotionally, having had to sleep on the floor of the waiting room for most of the past 4 nights. They’ve had a few heated discussions with some of the hospital staff and haven’t eaten a ‘real’ meal since Monday. On top of that, the incredible work that God is doing through them in Ocean View has gone through an atypical week.
As dark as the whole situation is, God’s light is shinning brighter than ever. The discussions with the hospital staff have happened because the ward has been invaded with visitors for the o so many people that love the Princes. Their work in Ocean View has gone through an atypical week because the regular meetings have been extended to fit in the amazing amount of prayer that everyone has been doing. All sorts of people have extended their love and support by bringing incredible amounts of food over, constantly asking me for updates (I’ve been staying at their house during their absence), and travelling close to an hour to make sure that the Princes know that they are loved. This is what the Church should look like. This is what it means to show love as Jesus would. It has been an enduring week. But faithful as he is, our Father has heard our prayers and turned the enemy’s evil doings into something full of love and of life. I am so grateful to our Father for hearing our prayers and for showing me how He moves through people to comfort His faithful children that He loves so much. I believe God has made something great for His Kingdom out of this dark situation. No matter how dark it may be, His light will always shine bright.
Also on Thursday, two new volunteers arrived to work with Ubuntu. One of them was supposed to arrive on Monday night, a couple hours after the incident. Due to the Icelandic volcano ash cloud and a technical problem on the plane, he wasn’t able to get here until today. Praise and thanks be to God for using the ash cloud to prevent him (Ben) from getting here in the worst of timing.
Please continue to pray for the World Cup and everything that comes with it. My excitement is unexplainable, but at the same time, too many problems come attached to be able to fully enjoy it. As I mentioned the past blog, human trafficking is a huge problem and PROSTITUTION WILL BE LEGAL FOR THE 30 DAYS OF THE WORLD CUP! The politics in this country are beyond complaint and the president is quite literally a disgrace. He’s just had his 20th child and is about to marry his 6th wife. No divorce; polygamy. O and when being investigated on sex charges before being president, he was asked how he knew he hadn’t contracted AIDS after having sex with an unknown woman. His response, in all seriousness, was that he knew he didn’t have AIDS because he showered after the act. Yes, this is the president. And yes, I suppose this IS Africa. But still.
Please pray for Kieren’s healing, and just as much for Casey and Sarah as they go through this physically and emotionally strenuous week. Please pray that they will continue to see just how much He loves us.
I pray that you are well in your work, with your families, with your studies, and in your relationship with our heavenly Father.
My love and gratefulness goes out to you.
Andy
Monday nights are a productively busy time for the Methodist Church and the Prince household. In the church, an Ubuntu team meets to plan what promises to be a remarkable ‘Community Festival’ in September. Just 10 yards away, in the house, Ocean View’s women gather for their regular support group meeting meant to be a safe haven for the women of the community to share their ever-prevalent problems with domestic abuse. As we do live in South Africa (a British colony), tea is an essential component of any successful meeting. Obviously wanting this meeting to be a success, water was set to boil in the kettle as the women greeted each other with love. The water having finally boiled at an incredible temperature, a first cup was poured and left, unintentionally and temporarily, unattended. Being age appropriate, beautiful little Kieren saw the tempting cup sitting on the edge of the counter. After smiling at Kyle, one of our favorite boys who was watching Kieren that night, the 16th month old baby proceeded to make one of her short life’s biggest mistakes. Reaching up, Kieren grabbed the cup, pouring the boiling hot water on her face, neck, chest, and shoulders. As all would, she began to cry furiously as terrible pain took over her fat little body as the skin quickly melted off. After being dipped in cold water (which is what you must know to do when a burn occurs), Kieren was immediately rushed over to the nearest hospital. After taking the necessary steps to prevent the burn from worsening, an ambulance took Kieren and her distraught parents over to Red Cross Children’s Hospital. She was then placed in the ward for children who have suffered severe burns and was given proper treatment to lessen the pain and prevent infection.
This all happened Monday night. As of Friday, Kieren is still being taken care of in the hospital. Today (Thursday) was a great day for her, as Sarah told me. It was the first time she smiled and began acting so that we could recognize that Kieren’s awesome personality was still there. Though she has lost her voice from the crying caused by the agonizing pain, it’s a huge cause for happiness to see that this baby that I, and everyone, love so much, is now regaining her personality. I first visited her on Tuesday. She was asleep thanks to the many drugs she’d been given for the pain. As Casey says, she looks like the Bionic Woman, having all her neck, parts of her face, and half of her chest and belly looking completely raw. She had a successful surgery on Wednesday and has been doing a lot better ever since. I spent time with her on Thursday, and although she looks like a mummy after being completely bandaged from her waist up with the exception of her eyes and mouth, it was such relief/happiness to see my baby being herself again.
If you don’t know Kieren, well then your life is that much worse. Not only is she the most beautiful baby in all of Africa, she’s also the funniest, flirtiest, most persuasive, most stubborn baby in the continent, and perhaps the world. She is charming like you know you should wish she wasn’t. Feeling bad about some of the other babies in her community which often don’t get to eat, Kieren takes no chances with food, eating what seems like everything. This has developed into a belly which seems to be a whole being on its own. We didn’t understand why her belly had to be so big, but thank God for that, not joking, because if her giant belly hadn’t been there, the boiling hot water would have also fallen on her adorably fat legs.
According to the doctors at the country’s most prestigious hospital for burns, Kieren will recover with no real problems and should develop little to no scarring. Casey and Sarah are both exhausted, physically and emotionally, having had to sleep on the floor of the waiting room for most of the past 4 nights. They’ve had a few heated discussions with some of the hospital staff and haven’t eaten a ‘real’ meal since Monday. On top of that, the incredible work that God is doing through them in Ocean View has gone through an atypical week.
As dark as the whole situation is, God’s light is shinning brighter than ever. The discussions with the hospital staff have happened because the ward has been invaded with visitors for the o so many people that love the Princes. Their work in Ocean View has gone through an atypical week because the regular meetings have been extended to fit in the amazing amount of prayer that everyone has been doing. All sorts of people have extended their love and support by bringing incredible amounts of food over, constantly asking me for updates (I’ve been staying at their house during their absence), and travelling close to an hour to make sure that the Princes know that they are loved. This is what the Church should look like. This is what it means to show love as Jesus would. It has been an enduring week. But faithful as he is, our Father has heard our prayers and turned the enemy’s evil doings into something full of love and of life. I am so grateful to our Father for hearing our prayers and for showing me how He moves through people to comfort His faithful children that He loves so much. I believe God has made something great for His Kingdom out of this dark situation. No matter how dark it may be, His light will always shine bright.
Also on Thursday, two new volunteers arrived to work with Ubuntu. One of them was supposed to arrive on Monday night, a couple hours after the incident. Due to the Icelandic volcano ash cloud and a technical problem on the plane, he wasn’t able to get here until today. Praise and thanks be to God for using the ash cloud to prevent him (Ben) from getting here in the worst of timing.
Please continue to pray for the World Cup and everything that comes with it. My excitement is unexplainable, but at the same time, too many problems come attached to be able to fully enjoy it. As I mentioned the past blog, human trafficking is a huge problem and PROSTITUTION WILL BE LEGAL FOR THE 30 DAYS OF THE WORLD CUP! The politics in this country are beyond complaint and the president is quite literally a disgrace. He’s just had his 20th child and is about to marry his 6th wife. No divorce; polygamy. O and when being investigated on sex charges before being president, he was asked how he knew he hadn’t contracted AIDS after having sex with an unknown woman. His response, in all seriousness, was that he knew he didn’t have AIDS because he showered after the act. Yes, this is the president. And yes, I suppose this IS Africa. But still.
Please pray for Kieren’s healing, and just as much for Casey and Sarah as they go through this physically and emotionally strenuous week. Please pray that they will continue to see just how much He loves us.
I pray that you are well in your work, with your families, with your studies, and in your relationship with our heavenly Father.
My love and gratefulness goes out to you.
Andy
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
April
Six months have gone by since I arrived in Cape Town. I’ve lived incredible experiences, formed exceptionally strong relationships, witnessed how ALIVE Christ really is, been to some of the world’s most beautiful places, and grown to appreciate the complexity of suffering. With everything external that I witness, the internal changes are just as big.
Because of who God made me, I process a lot of ‘random’ thoughts. Mostly these are questions to which the answer is something very relevant and significant to me. There often are questions to which I cannot find a satisfying answer, but it is the search or the answer that is important and many times leads me to even bigger questions. This whole process of how my brain works is amplified when I get to spend so much quality time with myself and my Heavenly Father like I am during these 9 months. This explanation may make sense only to me and be lost on everyone else, but it is the path by which I find conclusions to some of the things I share with you on this blog. That said, I want to tell you a bit about a few of the many things that have been on my heart and mind during the past month.
One of my recent revelations is, perhaps, vague, but vast and meaningful to me at the same time. I have to come to learn/appreciate how beautifully infinite the possibilities of existence are. We don’t often stop to reflect on it, but when you think about it, it is such an incredibly remarkable thing that despite there being over 6 ½ Billion people in the world, not a single one of them will ever live the life that you have. The experiences you experience, the people you meet, the places you see, they’re all entirely uniquely to your life. What’s more, you can make of your life absolutely anything you want. Now, while I appreciate and understand that certain things are restrained by one’s upbringing, abilities, and ‘fortune’, you can do ANYTHING you want with your life. Maybe you want to be a free lance writer travelling across South America. Or maybe you want to train to be an astronaut and travel to space only to retire in a few years and open a butch shop in Nepal. Perhaps you want to make jewelry and donate your profits to a farmer in Nigeria. It’s possible that you want to be an artist who finds inspiration in European architecture. Now, I know these things are completely random and seemingly mindless. But I think that’s what’s so great about it. In a manner of seconds, I came up with different possibilities of what you or anybody’s life could be. There is such an infinite amount of possibilities completely unique to who you are that you can do with your life. Maybe it’s a stupid and obvious thought, but I find something beautiful in it.
This leads me to another thought. I always knew that I would do what I wanted to because it was what I wanted and not because I felt any type of social or family pressure to do it. If I didn’t think that way I would never be where I am today. But I only slightly deviated from the path. I still went to high school, got the grades I got, and am now going into university. I promise you I know the importance of education. I get to see what a lack of it looks like every day in Ocean View. But I cannot help but think how overrated a post-secondary education is. Yes, being knowledgeable and fully preparing yourself to be better at whatever it is you want to do are important. I just feel that, even though you can choose your own career path, everyone just does the same. People go to college, get a job, find a compatible mate with whom they can begin a good family, work, take vacations, live special moments every so often, and die. I make it sound quite dull. All of these things can actually be quite beautiful. But yet, they’re all the same thing in a way. I feel like we are all cattle just following the same marked path. Once we pass through the gates, there is an open fence which gives a sense of freedom and specialty. But without realizing it, we are all in the same enclosed space. I want to live outside of that space. If I don’t want to go to college and do something of actual importance in my life, I need to do it. Don’t worry, I’m still going to go. It’s just the thought of knowing that people do all these things: college, work, family, maybe church; and despite how well they may do all these things, whatever they may have accomplished in any aspect of their lives, in the end it can all be in vain. There is no satisfaction in what they did no matter how well they may have done it. You could be very famous, incredibly wealthy, successfully devoted to your family, and reach 70 without knowing what the heck you did with your life. I find that thought depressing.
As depressing as it all may sound, even if you don’t become a Martin Luther or anything near it, there is one and only one thing that can fill the satisfaction of living worthy life. That is, knowing that you lived a life in full devotion to Jesus Christ. Not just in devotion to a good cause, but to Jesus Christ alone. A life lived for him is literally the ONLY thing I can rationalize is worth living for. It’s the only thing that I could picture myself at 75 looking back at, and finding genuine satisfaction with what I did with my life.
This has also led me to wonder what the world would look like if ‘Christians’ looked at their life from the perspective of their faith. In other words, what would it look like if our first priority truly was our work for the Gospel? If, instead of having a job in which we occasionally were inspired to try to let others know about our faith, the main reason why we had a certain job was because the setting was the right one to make God’s love evident. What if, instead of being teachers who happened to be Christians, we were Christians who happened to teach? What if we chose a university primarily because it was the right place for us to minister to others? I may not be explaining myself well. I just think the world would look completely different if those who call themselves followers of Christ actually followed Him. Faith with no deeds is no faith at all. There’s a quote that by Dallas Willard that says “Faith is treated as something that only should make us different, not that actually does or can make us different. In reality we vainly struggle against the evils of this world, waiting to die and go to heaven. Somehow we’ve gotten the idea that the essence of faith is entirely a mental and inward thing.” Unfortunately, I find him to be right. The American church, generally speaking, is just too bland, too vague.
Now that I’ve been able to say some of that, I’ll let you see a glimpse of what has happened in the past month or so.
At the end of March we held clinic at a new primary school called Christian David Primary. We were supposed to have 25 kids but ended up with over 30. As great as it is that kids are wanting to go, 35 kids is a lot for 2 or 3 coaches. Situations like these are really teaching me how to use discipline and meanness when dealing with kids sometimes. The clinic was a success and we have a coach starting to work there next week.
During around that time, I was also hugely blessed with the opportunity to help run a soccer camp in a town 2 ½ hours away from Cape Town called Gansbai (the G is really a harsh H or J sound). As part of a larger holiday club for kids, Casey and I, as well as other coaches from around the country, came in to run the soccer camp that was going on at the same time. The club was run by an organization called the Football Foundation for South Africa. We had about 150 kids show up every day for the kid’s club part, and I believe 6 soccer teams with around 16 players each. Me and another one of the coaches organized a certain ‘station’ each day where we would work on different aspects of soccer. It was a great opportunity to affirm myself as a coach and to work with black children, a completely different culture and language than the Coloureds I live and work with.
Though working with the children and doing soccer was awesome, it wasn’t the best part of the trip. During our stay there, we were hosted by an American family, the Johnsons from Tennesse, who own a resort called Mosaic Farm. This 5 star resort is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I’ve been to. We were fed amazing food from their 4 star restaurant and treated like royalty by their incredible staff. A lot of the pictures I have posted are of this unique place. More importantly than being able to do all this, for free, was the friendships we built whilst helping out there. We spent an amazing time with our new New York friends who were there to record the work that was being done by everyone in Gansbai. It was great to see these MTV and Nickelodeon producers come to see the beauty of this incredible country that is South Africa. It was really an awesome experience and I am so grateful to God for allowing me to live it.
Also, it’s been extremely inspiring to see the great work that Sarah Prince has been doing with Ocean View’s women. I’ll let you find out more about that if you want on their blog, www.caseyandsarahafrica.blogspot.com. They are WAY better with their blogging responsibilities and I’m often doing the same things they talk about.
There have also been some wonderful things happening with our boys. We’ve been having a few of them whom we have grown particularly close to come to church on Sundays. This is usually to the Methodist church that Sarah pastors. But two Sundays ago they also went to Hillsong United, a Sydney, Australia based church known for its amazing worship. There, after the sermon, the people attending were asked to raise close their eyes and raise their hands if they were ready to seek Christ. When this moment came, all three of the boys that went raised their hands to indicate that they wanted to put Jesus first in their lives. It’s really beautiful to see how our presence here is working in their lives. This also opens up the doors to directly share the Gospel with them. Hopefully this week we will be meeting with them to have a Bible study of some sort. Please pray for that.
There are some more things that I need to write about which I’m hoping I’ll be able to do by the end of the week. Writing this thing can be quite fun and quite a pain in the butt, and right now it’s the latter. There are some great things happening but I want to do them justice so I will write about them sometime this week when I’m in a writing mood. My writing tends to suffer when I’m now, like now.
I do want to ask you for prayer for something specific. With the World Cup coming up, and all the foreigners that will be coming in because of it, child trafficking is alarmingly relevant right now. Kids of all ages are being taken to be used as sex slaves during the time of festivity that the country will be living. I know it’s something that we hear about sometimes, but it’s a whole different thing when you’re actually in the places where it’s taking place. Please pray for this in whatever way you find useful. For the protection of the kids, awareness of the problem, governmental interference. This reminds me to tell you that they’re thinking about making prostitution legal in South Africa for the World Cup. Please pray for the situation. It’s such a huge, horrific problem, yet we don’t always think much of it in the United States.
Thank you so much for all your love, support, and prayers. I thank God not only for the incredible experience lived here, but for the people at home who so greatly represent His love. I hope and pray that things are going well for everyone. Please let me know if there is any way in which I can be praying for you, whatever it is. (andychenlo@hotmail.com)
Love,
Andy
Monday, March 15, 2010
February-March
I apologize for being so slack with my blog duties. No excuses, but I have been having to do a lot of college business whenever I get the chance to be online.
Another month and a half have gone by in beautiful Cape Town. It has definitely been the hottest, the last few days being in the high 90’s, low 100’s. It’s quite a feat to survive these temperatures without a/c, and in my case, without even a fan; truly agonizing to the point of near insanity. And you can never emphasize the brutality of the wind enough. It really is like being in North Carolina during a bad hurricane. So much so that it destroyed the Prince’s backyard patio, lifting up the large wooden poles from the ground. But other than the irritating weather, God is continuing to show me His love for me in everyday life.
March 1st marked the half-way point of my stay in South Africa. It was a good place for me to reflect a bit on life here, and everything which that encompasses. More than anything, it made me realize how incredibly long of a time 9 months is. It’s like a whole year of my life. A seriously long period of time, something which I had thought of before coming, but not really grasping the idea fully. Anyways, I’ll be back home on July 6th, only after enjoying some of the World Cup, to which, by the way, I will get to go to 3 games.
Since I’ve been so undisciplined about keeping up with this thing with any sort of time structure, I can’t really remember the order in which certain things have occurred. That said, I’m going to talk about some of the highlights of the month of February and early March.
Perhaps one of the most memorable experiences thus far was getting to hike up Table Mountain. One of the best things to do while in Cape Town, this hike was made much better by us being able to bring along 4 of the boys with whom we work. Ocean View (the township where we live) is on the Southern Peninsula of Cape Town. So to actually get to the main part of Cape Town, one must drive over another mountain just 10 minutes away from Ocean View. Two of the boys who went with us had never been over this mountain, so seeing their faces as this whole new world opened up was quite rewarding in of itself. Anyways, the hike is definitely a challenge, a harsh 2 ½ hours of steep rocky steps. It being the hottest day of the year didn’t do much to help either. Though we started at around 7:30, the heat’s harshness was inescapable. Our water supplies never seemed like enough, especially for some of the boys who have yet to learn the concept of pace. However exhausting the climb may have been, few things are as gratifying as finally reaching the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, pictures are the best I can do, though never sufficient to really make you understand what it’s like to be there yourself. God must have smiled when he pictured people at the top of Table Mountain. It’s quite breathtaking.
On a not so jolly note, I had a scooter/motorcycle accident about a month and a half ago. As in a lot of third-world countries, dogs roam the streets as if it was theirs. Most of them aren’t huge scooter fans, and will often run along as you drive, barking and bickering as they go. However annoying they are, most don’t do much other than run beside you. But as I turned onto my street, one of the dogs ran right across my path, causing me and my bike to fly in complete opposite ways. Perhaps even more annoying was that while I was on the ground, the dog, still alive, continued to bark at me as if I had caused it a disturbance. I have never been much of a dog fan, so this situation was not a good one for me. More than pain, I was in extreme hate and anger. And I couldn’t really forgive the animal too easily as it has no soul and the boundaries of my mercy do not include dogs. Fortunately, the stupid dog is now deathly fearful of me. I sincerely believe I would have killed it if it had crossed my path anytime soon after the incident. Anyway, I’m obviously in good health despite a few scars and some broken parts on my bike.
On February 27th I also got to attend one of my best South African friends’ wedding. Despite the inconsiderate tornado like wind, and the sermon given during it, the beach wedding was quite delightful. It was a great cultural experience and I got to enjoy some delicious food.
I should also tell you that I am playing for a team now as well (soccer team.) I am the only ‘white’ person on the team and am really enjoying it. Most of the guys are former professional or semi-professional players so the level is really quite high, which also means that I am staying in good shape and getting to know a lot of unnecessary Afrikaans. We practice a couple times a week, and play every weekend. It’s great.
The first week of March, Casey and I got to attend a TREC Coaching course. TREC stands for “Training, Resourcing, and Equipping Coaches.” It was a basic level coaching course that involves important concepts of ministry into soccer coaching. Though going over some of the soccer concepts which you are taught when you are 5 years old could be a bit tedious, it was great to get to see the factors of working with kids that transcend the sport itself. I’m excited about bringing some of those concepts into our work with Ubuntu.
On March 15th, the Cape Town Argus Cycling race took place. It’s a 109 km ridiculous race over an insane amount of mountains. But I supposed if that’s your thing then that’s just who you are. 38,000 people took place in it and part of the path took them right by Ocean View. So from 7 AM till around 4:30 PM, a constant typhoon of bikers rode by Ocean View, creating a big community event with food and music to cheer on the tired bikers, one of them being Casey. Another one, the one I really cared about, being Lance Armstrong. So I woke up at 6:30, got dressed and went down to one of the main curves on which they would be turning. At 7:12, I got to see Lance riding down, just 10 feet away from me. I was pretty excited.
I think those are most of the main events that I wanted to talk about, although I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few. But being here, and just going through a natural maturity process regardless of where I’m living, I am continuing to learn new things. One of the things which God has pressed on my heart is the power of prayer. I find it incredible how real God is and how much He wants to show us His love. When we pray with an open, humble, Christ-centered heart, our Father hears us. When we are open and accepting of His will, God hears our requests. Now, I am completely against the theory of prosperity and I think it’s blasphemous, so that’s not what I’m talking about. But the Word says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” It’s such a beautiful thing to know that no matter what, there is ALWAYS someone who loves you in unimaginable ways listening to the needs of your heart. My prayer over the past few months as I look ahead into my future is that I will be able to do my Father’s will. I pray that the opportunities will open up for His will to be done with my life, and that if I am not to understand it, that at least I will be granted the courage, will, opportunities, love, and support to follow Him where He leads me.
Not wanting to be redundant, I have to thank you for your love, support, and prayers. A day does not go by where I do not think of the people who have helped my time here be a ‘success’. Please continue to pray for me and God’s work through me. That I may be efficient in bringing Christ to the people with whom I interact, and that through His grace and power, South Africa will be a nation renewed. The African continent is in deep suffering; it is only through the name of Jesus Christ that it can be healed and restored. Please keep Africa in your prayers, especially the generations of its future.
I hope and pray that all is well at home. Wherever you are, if you are reading this, you are my home.
Love,
Andy
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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