Thursday, June 16, 2011

Pretty Dirty Feet


This project in 2005 is another beautiful story from my Vision Africa site which I don't want to loose in the revamp.

Networking : getting our hands dirty together while serving each other.

“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to walk through the valley of shadow again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires.”
–Nelson Mandela, September 1953 –


March 19, 2005…introducing everyday Americans to everyday Africa
Saturday afternoon. Sunset. The DTS campus lies lazily quiet before the last six strenuous weeks start. Several students approached me about the possibility of going to Africa with me this summer. I dedicate this short story and first international initiative to you. May this encourage you to take the risk and broaden your horizons at the cost of being disillusioned, but also blessed and a chance to direct your personal calling to ministry.

Breath-taking sights and raw beauty will blow your 1st world mind and I pray that you will return with an addiction to finding humble content in simple things and spending time in community with one another. However, do not allow the exciting adventures you will encounter on African soil to still the ancient cry for relief, rescue and resurrection of mankind. Nobody except Nkhulunkhulu* can bring the liberation from intimidation and corrupt powers to Africa. Only God’s children can show the compassionate kindness and love to human souls tortured by centuries of abuse and neglect.

Countless of my African brothers and sisters have relinquished any sense of dignity and purpose as unattainable. Their hearts are so hardened in fear and revenge that building new relationships appear impossible. Despite the resistance, verbal abuse and emotional manipulation you might experience during your visit, remember that ultimately nobody can resist the power of God’s love. Prepare your spirit for the difficult process of remaining humble and teachable at all times, especially when working with government officials.
This visits to Mozambique and Namibia should not be viewed as an outreach from educated theologians in the West to an illiterate community of uneducated people living in the dirt.

Rather see this as an opportunity for us as absorbent sponges, dry from over-exposure to propagandist media coverage and false stereotypes. Let the majestic Zambezi river saturate us by submitting to her violent waters as we glide along toward several rapids, fresh pools and the Victoria Falls! I promise you that this will be wilder than your most vivid imagination.

My dream is that you will come to understand the pictorial language in which Africans communicate. May you return with a default vocabulary of existential images, sounds, smells and movements. My goal with introducing you to this initial contact is to translate African needs and joys into American, in order for our fellow students and church members to hear the truth from reliable sources. My hope is to serve as a catalyst between African and American Christians. Connecting congregations and individuals with each other, sharing our stories of the unimaginable miracles God is doing here and there.

This is your opportunity to become part of His wave of intervention in a spiritually dark continent before it is too late. To do this, I can join your hands with existing groups and initiatives in Africa but I need your words and experience there to connect with a people here.
*the Greatest of the Greatest – Zulu for YHWH

Introduction to 2005 Mozambique-trip:
The explanation of how God had brought all the parties together to join this trip demands a long evening, good food and a big camp fire. Trust me when I say that it has been an unbelievable story…

In order for you to understand the table below, you need to know the following:
• I work from the standpoint of serving under a local church congregation wherever I live in this world and requiring my local church’s blessing on any spiritual initiative I lead as a condition for me to proceed.

• Having lived in three different countries, I submit to three different leadership teams: in South Africa, it is Pretoria-Oosterlig (means Light in the East), in Namibia it is Emmanuel and in the US, it is Skillman Bible Church.

• The church we will be visiting in Mozambique is located in the province of Manica, near the village town, Chimoio just east of the Zimbabwean border in line with the harbour town of Beira – you should be able to find it on the map now. The local pastor there is Thsupi.

• Pretoria-Oosterlig has been working with the church in Manica for several years and has established a strong relationship with the local missionaries and pastor. Church members from Oosterlig have been making annual visits to Thsupi’s church over the years and often goes more than once a year. Since our initial church-plant, the congregation has grown from 50 to 500 and they need a permanent church building to house all the believers.

• The greater vision of our work with Tsupi’s church relates to wonderful relationships forged with several American churches (outside my involvement) and another team of Americans will be traveling the same route as we will with the same team from Pretoria-Oosterlig in the end of August 2005 (part of the camp fire story).

• The purpose for our (relatively small and short) trip would be to confirm needs, expectations and final preparations before orchestrating the more challenging plan for bringing in the manual labor and building materials for the new church next Summer (2006).

So, these are very exciting times and our journey there will be full of unforeseen variations, surprises pleasant and less nice. All of it giving you a real taste of how things work in Africa.

What serves as main motivation for me to feel comfortable to take you guys and girls along on this trip, lies in the very experienced team leader and long-time friend of mine, Fredrick, who has done this a zillion times and is such a pleasure to be around with. He is also the youth pastor at Pretoria-Oosterlig , where his wife, Antoinette, also serves as an ordained minister working primarily with the kids and young mothers.

As you will notice below, the dates of the actual trip is from 1-10 July. I will be meeting you personally at the Johannesburg International Airport (ORT) whenever you arrive. If you are traveling from the US, you need to plan to arrive in South Africa by Monday the 27th of June at the latest. You will need at least two days to recover from jet-lag and we must budget Wednesday and Thursday for the laborious process of getting your visas, for which we need your passports.

We are planning to travel very safely and have ample time allocated either side of the time we need in Chimoio to deal with any surprises. We plan to have a short feedback opportunity in the Sunday church service on the 10th.

Thereafter, you can decide individually what you would like to do. These are my suggestions:

• spend a few days in South Africa (very cheap for US$) and I will have a great excuse to take you too some of the most beautiful part around my province – we could get some game watching in and maybe visit my Godfather’s trout farm a few hours away from Pretoria

• you can fly back whenever you want to

• accommodation will be free, depending on where you want to go traveling in SA, your budget will change

• the costs for the actual trip is US$20/day including everything – thus the total cost (excluding the flight) will be less than US$300 if you want have a few days of fun afterwards

• I have two contacts for cheap flights directly to Johannesburg from Dallas – STA Travel in Dallas, near SMU if you are a student (www.statravel.com)at Raptim International Travel in New York if you are a missionary (www.raptimusa.com)

Skillman Bible Church Motivation:
• introduce teammembers to African mission opportunities
• plant friendships with African ministry teams
• generate interest into future mission initiatives

DTS Motivation:
• introduce African mission opportunities to students
• inform about future plans (www.dreamforafrica.com)

Oosterlig Motivation:
• short prep-trip to confirm needs assessment
• inform Tsupi and get permission for American initiative
• introduce Deon to Chimoio congregation

Manica Motivation:
• receive annual encouragement from our visit
• confirm official progress of building plans

Vision Africa Motivation:
• enable Americans to discover the need inAfrica
• reveal mutual biases - foster unity and friendships
• traveling though Zimbabwe (dictator in 4th term) good experience
• white farms reposed and famine 5 years later
• Zimbabwe after 17 years of civil war against Marxism
• have Oosterlig discover American brothers & sisters
• see South Eastern Africa and South Africa

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