This past week we found out the townships we will be working in for the next 9 weeks and I got placed in Oceanview. I wanted to give you a little background on the community so you had a little bit of a picture of what Oceanview is like. Oceanview is the only Coloured township that All Nations currently works with. It is estimated that 30,000 people live in Oceanview. The community was created during apartheid, when they were uprooted from their homes in some of the local tourists towns and placed in what is now known as Oceanview. The community of Oceanview has really experienced being caught up between the black and white cultures in South Africa. Many still feel neglected and abandoned with no hope or ambition for the future. The main issues that the community deals with are alcoholism and drugs, and HIV/AIDS,teenage pregnancies, unemployment, and a high drop out rate in schools. The three main religions in Oceanview are Muslims, Christians, and Rastafarians. The main language spoken is Afrikaans and English.
Our first day in the community was this past Friday. My team is made up of 3 families, 3 Afrikaaner's, a couple from Florida, and me. We split into teams of three and went out to meet people in the community and to familiarize ourselves with the area we are going to be working in. The area of Oceanview we chose to work in is called "Ghost Town" because no one has ever gone that far back in the community to work. A lot of the people we met we so thankful that we were there. This gave us extreme favor with a lot of the people we came in contact with. There was one girl that I ended up walking around and talking with for 2 hours named Cher, she is a 20 year old single mom that works full time, and she was so easy to talk to. I really connected with her and am super pumped to spend more time with her. I got to share bits of my testimony and story with her, but I really loved being able to hear her story. She was amazing, and I get to hang out with her again on Thursday. So I am really asking the Lord for favor with her. I really want to speak truth and identity into her heart.
I am really excited to work alongside the families on my team. Two of the families have 2 girls each-Macy,Nali,Emmy and Jenson. And the other family has a 6 month old boy, Ethan. I have already really loved getting to know the families and seeing how they do missions with their kids. The little girls are bringing a ton of joy to my heart-we have done a lot of adventuring and dance parties with them-they are so much fun. I am really looking forward to doing ministry in the communities with kids. Boom. God's army!
We had a game night Saturday and played Apples to Apples with people from Germany, India,America, and South Africa. It was entertaining to play with so many different cultures because what Americans thought was funny, no one else did and vice versa.
This week is our first week of our normal schedule for the next 9 weeks. We have Mondays off, Tuesday and Wednesday we are in class from 8-5, Thursday, Friday and Sundays we are in the communities, and Saturdays are work days slash days off.
I thought I would leave you with my random observations slash terms of South Africa"
-none of the windows have screens, just bars to keep the baboons out!
-eggs,mayo, and certain brands of milk are opened, used, and NEVER refridgerated.intersting.yet I am still consuming these things.
-they don't split checks at restaurants...oh and they have no idea what a check is..you HAVE to say bill
-we get a tea break during class
-hooting=honking
-just now= in a couple of minutes
-chips=fries
-crisps=potato chips
-are you ok with?=do you understand?
-sort that out-take care of it
-light evening meal=dinner
-now now-RIGHT now
-takkie=sneakers
-hash=is the pound sign your phone (that took me awhile to figure out what the lady on the phone meant)
-you are not tall you are long (which they have never said to me)
-cresh=preschool
-top it off=refill
and one my favorite gifts of all from the Lord this week is I found Dr Pepper in South Africa. I was not having a good day on Sunday...and I turned the corner in the mall and there was a place called the American Corn Dog Stand and sitting on the counter was a Dr Pepper can. I had to ask Whitney if it was real! haha WOOO! I was so excited. So thank you Jesus!
We had a game night Saturday and played Apples to Apples with people from Germany, India,America, and South Africa. It was entertaining to play with so many different cultures because what Americans thought was funny, no one else did and vice versa.
This week is our first week of our normal schedule for the next 9 weeks. We have Mondays off, Tuesday and Wednesday we are in class from 8-5, Thursday, Friday and Sundays we are in the communities, and Saturdays are work days slash days off.
I thought I would leave you with my random observations slash terms of South Africa"
-none of the windows have screens, just bars to keep the baboons out!
-eggs,mayo, and certain brands of milk are opened, used, and NEVER refridgerated.intersting.yet I am still consuming these things.
-they don't split checks at restaurants...oh and they have no idea what a check is..you HAVE to say bill
-we get a tea break during class
-hooting=honking
-just now= in a couple of minutes
-chips=fries
-crisps=potato chips
-are you ok with?=do you understand?
-sort that out-take care of it
-light evening meal=dinner
-now now-RIGHT now
-takkie=sneakers
-hash=is the pound sign your phone (that took me awhile to figure out what the lady on the phone meant)
-you are not tall you are long (which they have never said to me)
-cresh=preschool
-top it off=refill
and one my favorite gifts of all from the Lord this week is I found Dr Pepper in South Africa. I was not having a good day on Sunday...and I turned the corner in the mall and there was a place called the American Corn Dog Stand and sitting on the counter was a Dr Pepper can. I had to ask Whitney if it was real! haha WOOO! I was so excited. So thank you Jesus!
