Thursday, August 30

J-Bay, South Africa Take: 1


Well, So far so good...  It has been exactly one week now living in South Africa and I can honestly say that It has been a true blessing. The days are filled with a lot of different activities, some things we do are consistent day in and day out, while other things come up un-expectantly.  One consistent activity we get is the pleasure of hanging out with this group of amazing kids. A lot of them are straight off the streets and have no guidance in their lives. It has been a week of new beginnings for me, beginning to get the hang of the new city and culture in South Africa, and learning once again the meaning of prayer. This trip is in need of a lot of prayer; prayer for these kids that have been kicked out into the streets and have no opportunity to better their lives. The ministry I am volunteering with focuses on helping out kids in order to make an impact for the future of this city. This city is filled with a deep history of racism, still to this day racism is present, the blacks and whites live on opposite sides of town and since their is way more blacks than whites, a reverse racism is currently here where only blacks are being hired for jobs. Almost 50% of people are out of work and the ones that are in work get paid pennies. For example, a restaurant waiter gets paid about 12 rand an hour, which equals a little over a dollar an hour. A loaf of bread may cost up to 20 rand... With this, many people turn to crimes such as theft to make due. By prayer and time spent with these kids Aleph Surf Foundation hopes to instill a sense of right and wrong in their lives early on and at the same time give them hope for a bright future that many of them don't have. Only with Christ will these kids be saved and it is the ultimate mission to lead them to know that they are loved by a father in heaven. We do this through consistently being in their lives as a witness of a Christ like character and through sharing with them lessons from the Bible. It has been fun here in J-Bay, the surf is un-real. It has consistently been 6-8 ft days with at most six people in the line up. I have for sure been enjoying the culture here and the friends I have met. More importantly however has been the impact that the kids have already started to make on my life. I hope to help them as much as I can, however in the end without Christ it is impossible. Keep in touch, and I will continue to share my stories throughout these months. 

Below are some shots from various events, some from the airport, others from a skate competition we helped out at, and the others from a garage that we have been cleaning and transforming into the new meeting place for Aleph Surf....Enjoy. 










1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the update and the pictures Matty! Keep them coming:) Praying for you! MIss you!

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