Redeeming The Past

Last night I had the pleasure of going to the book launch for Fr. Michael Lapsley's new book "Redeeming The Past." Fr Michael is originally from New Zealand, but moved to South Africa in the 1970s during the height of the apartheid government. He worked for years to end the suffering and oppression of the apartheid regime. Due to his active dissent towards the government he was forced to move to Lesotho, where he continued his work. In 1990, while working in Zimbabwe, Fr Michael received a package from the South African government that contained a bomb. Upon opening the package, the bomb exploded and severely injured Fr. Michael. He lost both of his hands and one of his eyes, but he survived. He has gone on to work with the victims of apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, homeless veterans in the United States and many more. His story is truly inspirational. Fr. Michael still does some work in Lesotho, so hopefully I will be able to work with him his year. 

The book launch was attended by many members of the local government and had many speakers, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu! It was quite an honor to hear Bishop Tutu speak. Fr. Michael and Bishop Tutu had worked together over the years to help end the apartheid government. Bishop Tutu spoke about how far South Africa had come, and how far it needs to go. His words were filled with love, humor, and passion. He made strong warnings about not letting the sacrifices that the South African people had made for freedom be in vain. "But I ask myself, why were we in the struggle? The highest price was paid for freedom, but are we treating it as something precious?" 

He also spoke out against such a large gap in the wealth in South Africa and throughout the world. He said that it was a shame that some people can live so well, while others are left with next to nothing. He asks, "Yes it is legal, but is it moral?" It was a true honor to have heard Bishop Tutu speak. As Delene and I rode back from the launch she said, "It is nearly impossible to hear Tutu speak and not act upon his words." And it is so true. It is easy to see how this man has inspired so many to fight against oppression. 

Cape Town

Greetings from Cape Town! I arrived in South Africa safely on tuesday night and was met by the lovely HOPE Africa team. The greeting was warm and inviting! Although the flight was long, the time passed quickly. Luckily, the flight was not full so I had plenty of space to stretch out.
During my time here in Cape Town, I have been living with the family of one of the HOPE Africa team, Mpho. She and her family have graciously accepted me into their house for the week. I've spent my time divided between the HOPE Africa office and Mpho's home. My time at the office has been spent learning more about what HOPE Africa does and what I will be doing in my placement in Lesotho. I will be headed out to Lesotho on friday with Delene, the CEO of HOPE Africa.
Cape Town is absolutely gorgeous! We have been driving around and looking at all of the breathtaking bays and getting acquainted with the city. Its been a little chilly, but spring has just begun. They say it will be full summer weather by October. My time in Cape Town has been wonderful and I am looking forward to getting to my permanent placement in Lesotho!

Camps Bay

Mpho and Tskani

A Cape Town sunset

A photo from my Aunt Claire at the airport

My workstation

The HOPE Africa office

HOPE Africa 

The South African Flag

Departure

The time is here! I leave today for Lesotho. Its been a fast paced month of getting everything ready, and I think that I finally have everything ready. My flight leaves around 4 today and I wont get to Cape Town until 9:40 PM Tuesday. That is a lot of travel time! I've never spent any where near this long on a plane before, so it will be an experience. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible! I couldn't have done it without a lot of help from a lot of people. I am deeply grateful. I would love to hear from all of you, so please keep in touch throughout the year. My next post will be from Lesotho!!

Everyone Is Leaving!

This is the week! This is the week that most of the YASCers for the 2012-2013 year leave for their placements. I am so excited and so proud of all of them. I cannot wait to join them. I finally have a departure date! I leave for Lesotho on August 27th, so I have about a month left here to get everything ready to go. There is still quite a bit to do! Ill be working on all the important stuff like packing, shots, financial stuff, travel arrangements, but I will also be preparing myself mentally. This includes lots of prayer and reflection, but also spending time with people that I wont see for a whole year! I still dont think that fact is processing yet. A WHOLE YEAR!!

I did get the chance to spend two weeks in Toronto during July with all the YASCers and also a group of missionaries from the Evangelical Lutheran Church. We spent two weeks learning about what it means to be a missionary and what we can expect while serving others. Meeting and talking with the group from the ELCA was great because they had so much prior missionary experience. I feel much more prepared to go after these two weeks in Toronto.

The group from the Episcopal Church and ELCA in Toronto

Please take some time to read over the blogs below of the current YASCers. As I said, most of them leave this week and their blogs will be filled with great stories and great experiences. They need your support and prayers just as much as I will over the next year! Although we may all be serving in different places and doing very different work, we are all working toward fulfilling God's mission. 

New Placement

I'm going to Lesotho! Lesotho is the land locked country in the middle of South Africa. My placement will be in a town called Mantsonyane. I will be working in St James Mission Hospital. A group called HOPE Africa as started at program at the hospitial that I will be assisting with. Im not clear on all of the details at this point, but it looks like I will be helping the program get started and established in the community. It is such a relief to finally know where I will be going in August. I am incredibly excited to learn more about what I will be doing and where I will be living for the next year. Thanks to everyone for the kind words and support over the past couple of weeks! Looks like I will have to think of a new name for my blog.

The Situation in Itipini

Hey everyone. The past few weeks has been a crazy turn of events. About two weeks ago, The local government and police in Mthatha decided to bulldoze the Itipini community where I would have been working. Itipini had been built on top of an old landfill and the government made the choice to force the people off the land. Whether or not the government had good intentions in doing so is up for debate, but that is irrelevant right now. Itipini had been home to thousands of people for nearly 30 years. Many of these people relied on the health clinic to provide the drugs that kept them alive, and now this community is gone. Initially, the thought was that the clinic and the community center would stay open and continue to administer care to the displaced community, but that is no longer the case. I just found out today that the clinic and community center were shut down the the local police. The people of Itipini need your prayers and support more than ever right now.
Due to these recent developments, I will no longer be going to Mthatha in August. The YASC office is working on finding another placement for me, but this will take some time and I will not know for a couple weeks. Right now I ask for your prayers for the people of Itipini, for Karen (the current YASC member in Mthatha), and me. It is going to take a long time for the people of Itipini to get back on their feet. As much as it sucks for me to not be going to Mthatha, it does not even begin to compare to hardships that this community will face in the coming weeks, months, and years. Thanks for your continued support.

And The Winners Are.....

Thanks to everyone who bought a raffle ticket! The raffle went really well, and it raised a good chunk of my $10,000 goal. There is still a long way to go, so if you missed the raffle and want to help out just let me know. I'll be taking donations all year! Here are the winners to the raffle:

First Prize: Katherine Ledford- Boone, NC
              Katherine won the weekend for two at Lake Logan
Second Prize: Will Bryant- Chapel Hill, NC
              Will won the Merlefest Tickets
Thrid Prize: Beth Chestnut- Asheville, NC
               Beth won gift cards to both Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Regal Cinemas
Forth Prize: Susan Pattterson- Asheville, NC
               Susan won a gift card to Ingles

Again, Thanks to everyone who bought a ticket and made this raffle a success. Congratulations to the winners! I also want to thank my sponsors who donated such great prizes. This raffle wouldn't have been possible without them.