Isn't God's timing a funny thing? I don't know if the American news media has picked this up but we have run found ourselves caught up in a serious emergency. We arrived in South Africa just as the country is experiencing a human tragedy which they call xenophobia, which is defined as the intense irrational fear or dislike of people from other countries. There has been a huge influx of refugees from Zimbabwe into South Africa for the past several years and just a few days before we arrived there was an eruption of violence in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and oddly enough in the township of Du Noon where we are going to help the school. The poor in the townships or blaming the foreigners for all there problems and have decided to take matters into their own hands. Local Zimbabwe residents who have been here for several years are being beaten or killed and at the very least forced out of their homes, shoved into a bus and sent back to Zimbabwe where there is nothing waiting for them. It's incomprehendable. 30,000 people are now fleeing for their lives back to Zimbabwe where they have nothing. Over 50 people have died and thousands have been injured or displaced. Rolf's family church, His People, have 500 refugees now in their church. Lizzie, Rolf's wife called us right before our flight to Cape Town and said they had a 1 month old baby and couldn't find the mother or father. They need people to cook food so Nancy and I are going to see if we can help. We will also see if there is anything else in terms of blankets, clothes, shoes and other essentials for these helpless people. Please pray for them. We have no way of understanding this kind of suffering.
God seems to have a different agenda for us right now so we will keep in touch as we walk this situation out. I will have some pics and videos uploaded in a day or two.
ps. We are hoping to meet the builder and some local government officials about the school this week and will start working out a proposal for the building project.
We arrived Thursday night feeling pretty tired but very excited about what we were going to see God do over the next 4 weeks. Rolf picked us up and the next morning we left to go see the Emoyeni missions team finish a house they were building in a township in the city of Badplaas which is about 3 hours from Johannesburg. It was an amazing trip and it's an amazing ministry. The little girl's name is Gugu
and lost her parents to aids and now is living with Elizabeth, a single mom with one younger child. Elizabeth was overwhelmed by the new 2 bedroom cinderblock home complete with running water which is not the norm for this community. The awesome thing is how much this community, which has been ravaged by AIDS, has turned around just by the investment of time and a few small houses by the Emoyeni missions team. They also bring medical/dental teams which really minister to the locals. They have seen the love of Jesus and many people are turning their lives over to Him.
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