I cannot believe it is October already and for the South African schools, the forth and final term before the end of the year and SU planning towards our December camps and looking towards schools work for 2018!
Last week I had the joy of leading a camp for King's School. We had a group of 11 grade 6s for three days to look at biblical leadership through experiential learning. For this camp we used an SU campsite in the mountains an hour outside Cape Town called Bain's Kloof, although this site is basic its surroundings provides space for activities that many of the children have never done before. I used the character of Moses using activities and challenges such as night hikes, scavenger hunts in a valley and classic leadership exercises to draw out learning in 5 main areas: Listening, Speaking, Humility, Integrity and Responsibility. Part of the purpose of running school camps is to build relationship with the school, so for this term on of the Fieldwork teams from SU will be going into the school to do follow up sessions on the areas we covered to reinforce and deepen the things learnt through camp. With December being one of our current focal points Froggy Pond camps come back into the picture with our next boys camp in the second week of December and girls camp second week of January. Last weekend we had our first core team meeting to start the planning for this camp to clarify roles, decide a theme (L'vaya Mzansi Road Trip, a road trip around South Africa) and plan of execution for the up coming camps. The campsite we partner with to run these camps is managed by the Cape Times Fresh Air Fund. This relationship is slowly growing stronger, partly due to a meeting with the CTFAF, campsite managers and SU. However, we received some sad news of the death of one of the campsite managers, Mike Young, who died last Monday. Daryl and I attended his funeral Friday last week and I am visiting the campsite later this week to see another camp running and to see his wife Pat. If you could pray for her in this hard time that as SU we would have wisdom in sharing the hope, love and peace which Jesus can bring to her. I am in the process of developing a relationship with a local school near our Scripture Union office. We were approached by the school to do sex education (partnered with morals) and a leadership training course for two days. Although these are two very practical ways to serve the school it has provided opportunity to encourage, support and pray for the teacher who is coordinating these activities and explore what a Christian Union/other christian presences could look like in the school.
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This past month or so has been an interesting one. I had some time off which was very relaxing and a good moment to reflect on my time here in South Africa and look forward to the rest of the year. I now feel like I understand the rhythms of SU in the Western Cape. Regarding the actual work I have been doing and will do there has been a small change in Cape Town which I work, this is because Marc (another staff worker) is leaving SU at the end of the year and so I will pick up some of our “Southern Suburbs” projects. What this will look like will become clear this week as we spend time away developing the staffing structure and planning for next year.
Last week I visited the Fish Hoek prayer meeting which has been meeting since the 70s to pray for SU. It was such an encouragement to be with these four ladies which faithfully meet to serve SU through prayer. In the last couple of weeks, I have been able to connect with a like-minded youth pastor and organisation in the Muizenberg and Lavender Hill areas of the city. I am strategically developing these relationships so that as SU and the larger church we can reach more children and young people with the message of Jesus. Another area which is developing is the core team for the Froggy Pond camps, drawing in some new people to the team, walking with them to develop their leadership and to develop the camp further to make it the best experience for the 400 children who attend it throughout the year. Next week I have a meeting with the Cape Times Fresh Air Fund who fund this camp fully. Please do pray that SU has favour with the CTFAF so that we can continue to share the good news of Jesus with these children. At the end of this month (26th -28th September) I am running a camp with 15 children for a school centered on leadership with biblical values using listening, speaking, integrity, humility and responsibility as the core areas of the camp. Please pray that myself and the two other leaders can lead these children well. What a month! I think I have finally caught up on my sleep from my time in the UK with Natasha and Celest. We had a truly brilliant time seeing some of the work of SU England and Wales. Our time was spent visiting staff members and events such as a holiday club and a beach mission. The primary purpose of our trip was to have some cross pollination of thinking between SU England and Wales and SU South Africa to develop our partnership.
The three of us came away from the two weeks in the UK with three areas we would like to develop in the Western Cape.
I have now been in South Africa for 6 months and the time has flown. In that time I have become settled into home, work and a church small group. There has been lots of familiarisation of South Africa and SU and building foundations for the six months to come. While I have been here I have led a camp, coordinated a camp and a training weekend, ran training sessions for churches running holiday clubs, been involved in developing strategy for SU Western Cape and started building relationships with schools. Some of the things I will be doing in the next 6 months: running a school leadership camp, running a training weekend for summer camps, running a another Froggy Pond camp and developing the CU in Muizenberg High School. Sorry for a very late update this month, the team from the UK and my camp were upon me before I knew it!
The past month has consisted mostly of camp planning, holiday club training and having meetings to prepare for when schools return after the winter holidays. I lead our camp training weekend at the beginning of June which just over 30 leaders had attended. After this we had a staff retreat in an area called Betty's Bay to realign ourselves to the vision of SU (leading young people to know and walk with God). A team from SU England and Wales (including my parents) arrived on Wednesday 28th June to assist with holiday clubs and the Froggy camp happening the following week. They spent a couple of days seeing Cape Town and having some orientation before diving into their activities which ran over the first week of July. I had three of the male team on Froggy camp which also ran during that week. On camp we had 95 boys aged 10-12 years old along with 24 leaders. On the whole the camp ran smoothly with the team working well together to make it a great experience for the boys. We were sharing stories from men in the bible as role models to these boys. The second half this month I will be in the UK with Natasha (a staff member) and Celest (a volunteer) from SU Western Cape as we continue to build the partnership between SU Western Cape and England and Wales. We will be giving Natasha and Celest exposure to a holiday club, a camp and a mission. Thank you for your support be it financial, prayer or encouraging messages. If you do support me financially via Scripture Union you should have received a letter explaining a changing in funding route. Please let me know if this has not been received. Welcome to June and welcome to the South African winter!
I feel privileged writing this update on the eve of the 150th year anniversary of Scripture Union around the world. It makes me even more excited to know that tomorrow I am leading a training weekend for the leaders of our July camps and investing in their character for the long term as well as their skills for the short term future. I am confident that some of the relationships built and conversations had over this weekend will be with people who will carry Scripture Union forward for the coming years. In May I continued to to meet with the lad I am now mentoring, lead some training for a holiday club team, had partnership meetings with another Christian organisation in Cape Town, shared about SU at a Bible College, prepared the training camp for this weekend, met with a school principle to discuss an upcoming camp with his school and started the thought process for an advanced level leadership camp for some of our long term volunteers. June is now here and it will be a very camp focused month, either being on camps, preparing for camps, training teams for camps or meeting with campsites to develop partnership. Also at the end of this month a team from the UK (includes my parents) are joining us here in Cape Town for two weeks to be involved with Holiday Clubs and Camp. It is exciting and encouraging for the South African team here to have people visit and take an interest in some of the work which the local church is doing in this challenging and still divided society. So it has been two weeks since I last sent an update and since that update I have had two Skype calls with Wallingford Baptist Church, the first with their main congregation updating them on what I am doing here in South Africa and the other with there Youth Life Group. The fortnight has also included much of the normal activities, camp planning, mentoring, prayer meetings, strategy plans. Doing activities to help young people in the Western Cape to know and walk with God.
This update is a far more personal update than normal in what I will share. Part of my weekly routine involves time for read, I have just finished The Christian Atheist which questions how our actions are impacted by what we really believe. Now I have started two books, Pierced for Our Transgressions and Building Below the Waterline. The first is more for my own personal musings as I no longer have to write assignments to keep my brain ticking and the later is for myself and those I mentor. In the opening pages of Building Below the Waterline the writer comments: 'If we don't know ourselves and what shaped us, what neutralises us, and what our limits are, we invite disaster. Many men and woman [...] are insecure. Some struggle with large unresolved areas from the past.' I found this statement to be a bit of a wake-up call. This quote is targeted at leadership but I see it played out in everyday life. I have been shaped in different ways and by different things, I act in a specific way, use certain words, I have done regrettable things which now inform my decisions and I have limits in what I can do. If I do not know myself then how can I be fully available to others and God. The book quotes Charles de Foucauld: 'present to God...present to people'. If I do not know my weaknesses, my limits, my past and the experiences which formed me, how then can I be effective in being present to God and present to people? So, that is what I am doing, I am processing my past, my character forming moments, my limits and my weaknesses so that I can be present to God and present to people. Here in Cape Town autumn is in full swing with leaves starting to fall from some of the trees, a little more rain, fresher mornings and darker nights. The first week of April was Camp HavaGo. We took a diverse group of 40 teenage boys away for a week long camp with games, activities and an evening programme presenting who God is and how he can influence each person's life. During this week we were able to identify some boys with leadership potential which we will invest in. We also had the chance to chat through some of the situations which the boys face, especially around father figures. The rest of the month has felt quite broken with lots of public holidays. We have not had a whole 5 day week for the whole month. Last week I took one of the boy from camp who had leadership potential for coffee to discuss camp and his plans to join the team at a Christian Activity Centre when he finishes school later this year. This weekend (also another long weekend) I had the chance to go to Cape Infanta (a couple of hours out of Cape Town) for a few days. This was a relaxing time and I am ready to hit the ground running again. Through out May I am recruiting and training the leaders for the Froggy Pond camps and developing the activity and teaching programme for the camps. For more info on the work of SU Western Cape do like their Facebook Page.
So I am three months in. I am feeling settled in my new home with the Peers Family who live about 10 minutes away, work is getting into the swing of things after the Easter break, camp prep is in full swing yet again and I am starting to mentor a lad who came to Camp HavaGo who is looking to spend a year serving at a Christian Activity Centre next year, this is to help develop his leadership and transition into the next phase of life.
April is a interesting month in South Africa as there are a large number of public holidays meaning the 5 day working week almost disappears and you loose track of the days. This week coming as Thursday off, the schools shut Friday too and then the following Monday is a public holiday again so we have effectively a 5 day weekend just after the Easter break. This weekend just gone I spent some time with a few people from a small group I have joined. We hiked up Table Mountain and then went for a swim. I am constantly in awe of the beauty of this country, the richness of this culture and the size of some of the challenges this country faces. Over the weekend a prayer meeting happened in the middle of the country where around 1 million people attended to pray for the nation. This was a display of the realisation that there needs to be change in the corruption, violence, crime, injustice, rape in all areas of society, including the political system. To all the issues that I see here in South Africa, in churches, organisations or anywhere else there is no simple solution. On a day to day level we seek to show unity, diversity and integrity in our work. This week has been a quiet week with recovering from camps (we had both a boys camp and a girls camp happening last week). Catching up on emails, creating communications guidelines and developing the social media for SU Western Cape (Instagram: @suwesterncape and Facebook: facebook.com/suwcape). In creating communication guidelines means exploring how to keep SU Western Cape presenting the same image in all areas we communicate, so face to face, using technology, in print etc.. This is all to help raise the image and brand of SU Western Cape, so people know when the see the movement, who we are, what we do and that we are an organisation which does things to a point of excellence. In knowing this is how we want to be seen also brings accountability to how we interact with others. Also over the past couple of weeks there have been protests against South Africa's president Jacob Zuma over the way he manages the country, this includes the sacking of the finance minister and his deputy. One of the biggest challenges the country seems to be facing is the political situation which has knock on effects in all areas. (We think the UK has it messy!) Over the next term I will be in full swing preparing for camp (and it's training weekend), finding and developing leaders and giving direction on the camp for the future and starting to develop a camp happening at the end of September.
This week we were on camp with 40 boys. This was my first experience of an SU South Africa camp since moving to Cape Town. The camp ran in a similar way to many of the camps I have lead on in the UK. Games were played, songs were sung, large spiders found, and with every camp their is always a competitive edge which seemed to be taken far more seriously than it often is in the UK (of course my team won). On HavaGo we had boys from all backgrounds getting to know one another and interacting together. Having this diversity brings a beautiful atmosphere into the camp. Whilst on camp as leaders we look to see who has leadership potential so that we as SU we intentionally invest in the leaders for both the movement and the church of the future. Doing this means we can draw them into other events and camps we run to develop their skill. See the camp highlights in the video below (not viewable on mobile devises). |