2009 Trip Blog

We will be taking two trips to South Africa in 2009.

The trip blog is here: http://rockharborafrica2009.blogspot.com

2008 Trip Dates Selected

We've confirmed our trip dates for the 2008 trip to Cape Town with Bridges Of Hope. We will be going from August 1 - 14.

A new blog has been started for that trip.

http://rockharborafrica2008.blogspot.com.

Monica's Rehoboth Update

Hi,

I hope you are doing well and having a great summer. We had a great trip and George and Anne-Marie are still working on the garden and having success with it. Last year, people drove from Windhoek to buy their corn! One issue with the garden is that in the winter there is not much that will grow. In order to balance that out, they have expanded to include chickens, a few pigs, and orange trees. Also, they are starting a bakery at the same site as the garden. A huge praise is that George has made a contact with an organization that has agreed to buy all of the crops and bakery items they produce. In addition, the organization will help fund some of the raw materials they need upfront.

The Children at the Ark were doing Ok. They have about 23 there now as some like Anita, Chico and Dumpty (we saw them on Thursday)

have gone to live with their families and the others are with George and Anne Marie. CHI has struggled to get house parents at the Ark since October. You can tell this has had a huge impact on the children! The older kids especially were having a hard time. Please pray that CHI might find the right parents for the ARK. Also, it is George and Anne Maries dream to someday have the Children's Home . Please pray for that as well. We were able to visit with the kids after school for three days and do crafts and play games with them. They really enjoyed getting the love and attention. They asked how you all were doing and wished you could have come too!

Auntie Johanna and Selma are still at the Ark and the rest of the aunties are new. Auntie Suzzette is staying at the building in the garden and working for George and Anne Marie and doing care and compassion with Anne-Marie a few times a week. Auntie Jennifer got married and moved to Windhoek. Auntie Rachel is doing well and still lives right behind the Ark. She has such a huge heart and prays for us all daily.

At the schools, we were greeted with open arms. The principals gave us their classrooms for the day and the students yelled out our names in the hallways. They asked about many of you by name. The impact you made on the kids is tremendous! One of the highlights for me was having a girl come up to me at school with her " Choose to Wait" photo from November 2005. She carries it with her every day.

We spent time with the kids in block E. It was great because we took the afternoon to bring some crafts for the kids and just hung out with them for a few hours. One boy kept saying to us, " You must come every Saturday." They had such pride carrying their crafts to their homes.

Many of you had the opportunity to meet the young boy, Daniel, on the last trip. He is much stronger and has put on weight. Elly's Mom is taking care of him on a regular basis. It is inspiring to see Elly's Mom taking care of him since she lost her own.

For those of you who know Wisey, he is doing well. We met his fiancée from Holland who was visiting there are a few months. Wisey is working at the furniture store in town.

Also, we spent some time with Giovanni. He was helpful in many of our meetings and is a solid young guy. We sure surprised him when we tracked him down!

Have a great weekend! We miss you.
Monica Harter

Leaving Johannesburg

We are in Johannesburg waiting for the flight home. We had an amazing trip. Sorry for so few posts, the last week has been very busy and we have been far from any Internet connections. I will be adding blog posts for each day over the next two weeks so please come back here to see what happened on the trip.

The past few days in Rehoboth were amazing. It was great to see old friends and see a lot of progress in the work George has been doing for the past few years. The garden is growing and looking great. It is winter so it is not in full bloom right now, but the pictures from last year are incredible. George is also starting a bakery that already has a major customer that has also been buying vegetables from the garden. Care and compassion is their main mission and they continue to grow the garden in order to fund the care and compassion mission. We will give a lot more details over the coming weeks.

Worked in schools. Meeting with EBC.

The team went to Dr. Lemer at 7am expecting to work with one of the morning classes. Upon arriving they were each give their own classroom for 45 minute periods which lasted most of the day.

Wood drove with George to Windhoek to help buy equipment for the bakery. The money we had brought with us as a gift was enough to purchase an oven (2 x 20 loaf ovens), a mixer (20 loaves) and a bread slicer. George and Alan had spent a lot of time working out the business aspects and came up with a spread sheet covering all aspects of the venture.

In the afternoon we had a meeting with EBC Aids program out of Windhoek. They have an after school program that helps hundreds of kids stay out of trouble. I was throughly impressed with their professionalism and materials they brought with them.

This was our last night and we had a Braai (Bar-B-Que) with the Dein family, their neighbors and all the kids. Its was a lot of fun, but also sad to think that we were leaving again. I know we all wished our trip could last for weeks and weeks, but we pray that we will be back soon.


In the year since we have last visited George has made such progress big progress on the garden and grown the care and compassion mission. I know he could use a lot more help during this time of growth and transition. If you know of any way to bring him small teams and financial resources this is a ministry that is well worth your effort.

Choice of rental cars and vans

Who knows if this will be of any use to anyone in the future, but in all the travels we were given a different rental van in each location. This is a list of our favorites from best to least favorite.

Toyota Quantum
A huge 10 seater with tons of space. Very easy to drive and had enough power to keep up with smaller vehicles we were following.

Kombi (Vw?)- The standard rental. Easy to stall in traffic, but a versatile vehicle that stands up well to the work we do.

Nissan - Xtrail. Not really a van, but we twice had this as our second vehicle. It held 5 and was a good vehicle.

Mercedes - We had a Mercedes van in Namibia that was hard to drive, get in and out of and our least favorite of the trip. Maybe someone else can remind me of the model name?

RAP, Care and Compassion in Blok-E, Visit with Daniel

(follow up - added after we returned)

Today we spent half the day with RAP (Rhenish AIDS Program) which is based in Rehoboth. They work in the outlying small communities around Rehoboth and do education and development work. Last week they also opened a new after school program office in Rehoboth. They are lead by Johnathan Van Wyk. We drove with Johnathan to two villages an hour south east of Rehoboth.

We visited a school in the first location and did crafts with one of the rooms. This was an old mining town and home to around 500 people. There were eight school rooms in the elementary school.

We drove a little farther down the road to another school run by the Rhenish church. We did more crafts in the school room behind the church. The church needs funding for a full time pastor. Currently a pastor comes from somewhere else every other week and opposite Sunday's are run by a few of the women.

There was also an abandoned garden project behind the church. The garden was looted and has since been abandoned. Johnathan is looking for resources to restart the project.

RAP was a very professional organization and I can see that they will make good changes in the community.

When we returned to Rehoboth we visited the afterschool program which looked like it was going to be a very good opportunity for many kids in the area. They tend to focus on those children they identify as most vulnerable.

After leaving RAP we returned to George and Anna Marie's. The aunties had just finished their care and compassion trip. We went back out with Anna Marie and autie Suzzette to visit with people in Blok-E. We spent some time with Daniel who was looking like a normal child compared with the photo I saw of him from last year. The only photo we have is a little blurry as I didn't want to use a flash. I don't know the whole story so I'll write what I think I know and try and correct it. Daniel's mother died last year soon after the team returned to the states. His grandmother has been taking care of him since that time. While we were there she was feeding him.

Rehoboth

We spent the morning meeting with the principal of Rehoboth High and Dr. Lemer High. They both invited us back to work with their students. After meeting our meeting with Dr. Titus at Rehoboth HS he allowed us to walk the campus where we saw many of the learners that we have worked with for the past few years.

One of them ran up to us to show us a polariod picture we took with them in 2005 after the Choose To Wait classes.

One teacher spoke with me for a short time and thanked us for coming on campus. She said our presence alone made a big statement to the learners.

In the afternoon we had a meeting with George and Terry at the garden. It was winter so there was not much growing, but the harvest pictures we saw were amazing. George said people drove all the way from Windhoek (1.5 hours away) to buy the corn.

George also planted 80 orange trees in the past few weeks.


Terry works with the catering company (Independence Caterers) that has agreed to buy all the product that is grown in the garden. He has also agreed to buy 150 loaves of bread a day if George can produce that much. George's plans are to take the profit from the garden and the bakery and use them to fund their care and compassion ministry. Independent Caterers has supplies food a raw materials to the Namibian government. I'm not sure how large their operations is, but I do know it is large.

Development which turns into self funding for relief and also builds more development. This is exactly what we learned is the best model for a sustainable future. George is amazing.

Travel to Rehoboth, Namibia

(follow up - added after we returned)

This was mostly a travel day. We planned to leave GNCC with plenty of time to make it to the airport. We had to make a last minute stop at the ATM because were were not expecting to have to pay with cash. Then a stop for gas and coffee took a lot longer than we thought since there were no ATMs working and we had to figure out how to pay for gas with cards.

We barely made it to the airport on time and we barely made checkin. We went through security and ran to the gate and made the last bus to the tarmac.

George and Anna Marie were there to meet us and help get our luggage and donations back to Rehoboth. The only problem was that none of our bags arrived. Nothing. We followed them back to Rehoboth with no cargo and a phone number that no one ever answered. Our bags actually arrived late that night, but they were delivered to a maintenance building and not discovered by the lodge staff until the next day. We didn't actually get our bags until late the next night.

We spent some time at their new house and it was great to see everyone. We paid a visit to the Ark before devotions started and spent some time with the kids. It took a while for the someone to find the key to unlock the door.


After that we drove up to Lake Oanob and had dinner with George and Anna Marie. The main restaurant burned down a few weeks earlier so the summer restaurant was used. It was very very cold and service was slow, but we had a great talk with George and Anna Marie.

Soweto, Rockville, Slovoville

(follow up - added after we returned)

We visited Nelson Manella's home which has now been turned into a museum.

We then had lunch at a famous resturant in Soweto (name now escapes me). We were joined by Buhle (Boothlai) and Pastor Timba.

After lunch we visited the church that they both run in Rockville. Two million people live in Soweto and I'm sure we only saw a small portion of it, but from what we saw it looked like a lot of development had been going on since Apartheid fell in 1994. Buhle had the children sing everyone a song. Everyone in Africa can sing.

We then took a trip to some squatter camps where Buhle does a lot of her ministry. She used to walk between the various camps, but has recently received a donated car and drives to each location and brings as many as she can to Sunday services. The area we visited was called Slovoville. The first stop was at an abandoned farm house.

The next stop was a camp near a cemetary where the cemetary is building a fence around the homes to deny them access to water and resources.

The last place was an abandonded mining area called Bottom. A number of abandoned industrial buildings where people have taken up residence. In the center of the buildings is a small flat cracked cement area that is probably the remnants of another building. It was about the size of a basketball court. There were about 100 kids hanging out on this cement area playing football. Within seconds the kids rallied around Buhle and began singing songs. She has an amazing ability to inspire and lead children.

Water in this area was a single shared spigot for at least 50 entrances to the abandoned industrial buildings. It would be hard to estimate the number of people, but I would guess a few thousand lived there. We left the area as night approached.

We returned to Timba and Buhle's home where we continued our discussion. She also sells goods created by people in squatter camps to help build commerce for the people there. Buhle and her daughter sang a song called "Mango" for Matthew's birthday. They were an amazing duet.

Timba and Buhle were leaving the next day to visit the U.S. for a month where they would be visiting other partner churches.

Church with Paul then with Elias in Zandspruit

(follow up - added after we returned)
It is Sunday and we spent the morning at Paul Siaki's church. A great congregation and we enjoyed the service. We then headed over to the squatter camp called Zandspruit and attended Elias's church in a tent.

It was one of the most amazing services I have ever been to. The music at the end had everyone dancing and Elias was kicking his leg in the air above his head. I don't think it was an experience any one of us will forget.

We then had lunch with Elias. Zandspruit is a migrant camp in which the residents are only there for a few months at a time. The land is government land where people are there illegally, but have virtually taken over every inch of space. All the buildings are make shift and there is no electricity, water or proper services. When we later drove by at night it was pitch black. The area is home to approximately 10,000 people, but that is a rough estimate. It may be more, but may be as low a 5,000. It was very densely populated.

After lunch we returned to a creche "pre-school" deeper in Zandspruit and did crafts with the kids. This creche was also in a shipping container. We helped load the generator, speakers and equipment from the tent church and headed back to GNCC. The work Elias is doing in Zandspruit is truly heroic. He is an amazing pastor and leader.

Downtown Johannesburg Orphanage

(follow up - added after we returned)

We spent the day at an orphanage in downtown Johannesburg. Dennis and Mike were the ones that ran the home. It was a converted hotel with a central courtyard and a church on the upper floor.

Dennis and Paul Siaki

On Saturdays Dennis invites all the street kids to the church/orphanage for devotion and a meal. There were about 50 who showed up. This is one of the hardest lives I have ever encountered. There were a a lot of drug abuse and alcohol issues, but in general it just seems like a hard life. We sat in the audience with the kids some of whom looked younger than 10 and some who were over 20. I spoke with a number of them, but it was hard conversation. One of them I could communicate with I asked what he would do if you could do anything. He said he would be a doctor. I tried to encourage him, but I'll probably never know if it will make any difference.

We were all directed downstairs to the kitchen where our team served them soup.

There were going to be blankets donated to them, but there was a question if there were enough blankets. It had snowed while we were it Cape Town for the first time in 20 years so blankets were badly needed. We offered to run out and buy some more, but when we got to the store it had just closed. The area we were in did not seem very safe either so it was probably a mistake to even leave the building. When we returned they were all gone. When the promise of something free evaporated, they did the same. A survival system where they only work on the things they are sure will help their survival or mask the situation. Dennis says no one has figured out how to rehabilitate street kids and they are common in every culture.

After that we ran a vbs (singing, crafts and games) with the younger kids and a discussion on AIDS, and God's plan for marriage and family with the older kids. This took most of the rest of the day and was a lot of fun. At the end they sang us a song which is always the best part for us. Amazing singers.

Leaving Cape Town

(follow up - added after we returned).

We spent the morning with some final meetings and discussions with Dennis. We did a quick skit for Dennis and his team for fun.

Bridges of Hope does a lot of job creation for the townships they work in by selling the bead and craft work in their store. We did some last minute shopping, packed the vans and headed to the airport. The drive to the airport leads through Cape Flats the large sprawling townships we had been working in the previous days. A sobering reality of poverty for hundreds of thousands of people.

We arrived back in Johannesburg in the evening and drove to Pretoria for another meeting. We could not get in touch with the people were were to meet with so we drove back to Johannesburg and checked into the GNCC (Good News Conference Center). A dormitory style residence where we would spend the next few nights. It was very central to the many places we would visit in the next few days.

Bridges of Hope - preparation for retreat

(follow up - added after we returned)

Bridges of Hope was sponsoring a OVC (orphan and vulnerable children) retreat the day after we were to leave for Johannesburg. We spent the day helping them get ready. Cleaning. Building Bunk Beds, and doing some handyman jobs. It was nice to have a day of labor after all the travelling and meetings.
This is a picture of Matthew, Lailani and Lynne building bunk beds.

Mike Kenyon especially liked driving the ATV and hauling beds, firewood and other materials around the area.

The land and buildings that Bridges of Hope owns are truely amazing. The kids that come there on retreat from Cape Flats are in for a real treat. For most of them it will probably be the first time they have left the township.

Cape Flats

(follow up - added after we returned)
Our day in Cape Flats was both heart breaking and hopeful.

We first visited Phillipe which is where Dennis has concentrated most of his efforts over the past five years. The changes are extraordinary. We visited a large church which was recently completed. It is one of the few 'real' buildings in the area and the pictures of the previous church were just some tin walls and a tin roof. We sang some songs with the youth choir.



We then went to another township nearby called Vlie (pronounced Flay) and nicknamed "Sweet Home" by the locals.


We spent a long time in discussion and praying with an HIV/AIDS support group.

Lailani holding one of the children during our meeting.

Some of the women we met with.

The local leader Joy (male) took us on a short walk to a pre-school called a creche. A shipping container converted into a place of learning and support. This was the only "real" structure in the area besides a phone booth we passed.


At one point Joy broke out into a song "Fire On The Mountain" and got all the kids to chase him around. We were all having a good time and it was nice to forget about the conditions if even for a moment.

In Cape Town with Bridges Of Hope

We spent the day meeting with Dennis Wadley of Bridge of Hope and we all agree this is an amazing ministry. He is making definite changes in one of the largest townships here. He is raising up community leaders and help people in the township start small businesses. We visited two other nearby townships that have not had much access yet that we are considering for future trips. As usual, heartbreaking conditions with amazing spiritual wealth. That same high contrast we have seen on every trip.

The flights were all very easy with no delays or problems. Driving has been full of delays. When we were driving to Pretoria to meet with Hein Van Wyk we sat in traffic for three hours as a truck had overturned across all lanes. There has been a major accident with traffic on many of our key trips, but it has not held us back any. Prayer for clear traffic would be helpful.

We met briefly with Paul of OC International yesterday. We will be working with him in Soweto when we return to Johannesburg. We are looking forward to that.

Our meeting with Hein Van Wyk of Hope For Africa was not as productive as we had hoped, but he is a true visionary and made us think of things we had never considered. A significant blessing at the beginning of our trip to force us into asking some very difficult questions. That has lead us to think in different terms with all our other meetings.

Tomorrow we have another full day with Bridges of Hope.

Have to go. Bridges has Internet access, but it has been hard to get the time.

Wood

Paul Siaki and Apartheid Museum

(follow up - added after we returned) In the morning Wood, Matthew, Lailani and Alan drove the bags to the airport. We didn't have enough room for everyone and the bags so we stored them at the airport for the day. Finding the airport was a struggle, but we got the bags stored. A wrong turn on the way back delayed us for at least an hour, but it was a fun tour of Johannesburg.

We spent the day with Paul Siaki of OC International. We went to the Apartheid Museum and spent a few hours. It was another good point for the team to learn about the history of the area and many of the governmental policies that lead to many of the current problems in the area.

We went to lunch in Downtown Johannesburg at the top of the tallest building.

After lunch we drove to the airport and boarded the plan to Cape Town.

We arrived in Cape Town after dark and Dennis picked us up at the airport and guided us to the Bridges of Hopes future academy where we stayed. Very nice facilities about an hour out of Cape Town.

Johannesburg with Hope for Africa

(follow up - added after we returned) Arrived last night. Easy flights with no delays and short layovers. The travel agent's sister helped us find our accommodations.

We had a noon meeting in Pretoria with Hein who runs Hope for Africa. An hour or so drive from Johnannesburg to Pretoria turned into a 3 and a half hour sit in traffic when a tanker truck turned over and blocked all lanes except the emergency lane. You can see it in the distance. As we inched along to this point we sat here for about 40 mintues as the crane came in a blocked the emergency lane as well.


Our meeting with Hein was very productive. He is a big thinker and asked us tough questions which lead to much better discussions with other potential partners for the rest of the trip. We had a late lunch with Hein near his office and returned back to our hotel in the evening.

Weather lookout

Thursday was the start of Summer and a perfect warm day and we have all packed a lot of warm clothes because it is Winter in South Africa. It will be very cold where we are going. One good way to follow us when the blog is not updated might be to take a look at the weather. Brrrrr!

Johannesburg (June 24-26): Weather
Cape Town (June 26-29): Weather
Johannesburg (June 30-July 3): Weather
Namibia (July 3-7): Weather

Timezone Calculator

Want to know what time it is while were are in Africa?

June 24 - July 3: South Africa
July 3 - July 8: Namibia

Bar-b-que and last team meeting

The next time we all meet will be at 4:30am at LAX on Saturday morning.

Here is a picture of the team.


From left to right (Matthew, Lynne, Wood, Monica, (Kylie - Mike's daughter), Mike, Lailani, Heather, Kristy, Alan)

This was at Mike's house where we went over the last of the business, plane tickets, itinerary, separating the last of the donations and craft supplies, and practicing a couple of songs. In Africa everyone sings and they expect you to sing as well so we are at least ready when called.

George Dien

We called George Dien and family last night to verify the dates and see if there are any last minute changes. He sounded good as usual and we can't wait to visit with him again. He said it is cold now, but not too cold. We have heard he started a tent church in Blok-E and he has not said much beyond that. We are looking forward to working with him and his family in the coming weeks.

There was a last minute change to our accommodations in Rehoboth. Reho Spa mixed up the reservation and we have to stay about 3 miles away now, but this is just a small change.

Blogging while in Africa

There will be limited access to the Internet and limited time to update this blog while we are in Africa. I will try and updated it at least twice while we are travelling, most likely from airports if we have time between flights which there will probably be a lot of. Otherwise, we will want to stay focused on our work and blogging will be secondary to that work. I know you really want to keep up to date with us, but please be patient and check back here every few days.

Wood

Final week of preparation

We have a lot going on at the last minute.

Heather is making books with information on each of our partners so we can all have and review it on the flight.

Monica is coordinating a million little things.

Alan is working on the budgets and donations.

Kristy has a severe toothache and has to have a root canal this week before we leave. Pray for her.

Also, pray for Heather's back it has been causing her severe pain since a car accident in January and of course has been acting up even more as the trip approaches.

Lynn is finalizing our travel and accomidations.

I've been working on phones (we will have a local phone number while we are in South Africa), walkie talkies and the blog.

We are having a final meeting and bar-b-que at Mike's on Thursday.

Everyone c0ntinues to work on the Choose To Wait and VBS programs.

This is a great team and I'm thankful to be a part of it.

Wood

All Things Are Possible

Only a few days before we leave. We saw the most amazing movie last night. God is awesome for giving us that movie through Netflix the week before we leave.

Facing The Giants
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809738431/info

God works a miracle through every one of these young high school football players and their coach. They lose the first three games of the season and have had a losing season for six years. The coach is already prayerful but changes the focus of the team to be thankful for His glory no matter if they win or lose. It makes a huge difference in their attitude and they begin to win while obstacles and miracles are working all around them.

At the end, the coach asks each of the boys in the locker room, "Is there anything that God can't do?" They each say "No coach. Nothing".

I'm inspired. If we have to sit for 14 days on the LAX tarmac waiting for the plane to take off I'm going to praise God's glory. If we touch the lives of thousands I'm going to praise Him just the same. He is awesome!

I don't think that ruined the movie, you should still rent it if you get a chance.

On team 2 I witnessed a number of miracles and I can only sit in awe and hope that I get to see his awesome hand in action again. I am truly blessed to be selected for this trip with this team.

Wood

RAP - Rhenish AIDS program - Rehoboth, Namibia

I've been trying to write up something on each of the potential partners we will be visiting. In Rehoboth, Namibia, we will be meeting with Johnathan Van Wyk who heads up The Rhenish AIDS Program (RAP). This is from an e-mail response early in our conversations.

Dear Mr. Harter

We here at RAP are very excited about your visit to Rehoboth. We would like to propose the following for your visit:

1. Visits to rural areas where we are involved in community upliftment programs, eg. kindergardens(Chreche), hostels, gardens.

2. Roundtable meeting with you to plan future cooperation between RAP and RockHarbor.

We would appreciate it if you could consider us as well in your efforts to gather some educational stuff and clothing. We are now in the preparation phase of starting an after school care centre where children can come study, do home work, and read. Educational stuff especially for kindergardens ( 5 - 7 years old) will be highly appreciated.

Looking forward to see you in July.

Regards,
Jonathan Van Wyk

These are answers to our general questions I thought were relevant.

What are the biggest needs?
Answer: i) Transport; ii) Human resources; iii) financial support.

What other churches or groups are they working with?
Answer: We work Catholic Aids Action, CAFO, Evangelical Lutheran Church Aids Program (ELCAP).

What is the youngest age we could bring?
Answer: To be involved in programs we would prefer 16 years and older.

What is the church like in their community?
Answer: The Rhenish Church is more like the Lutheran church

What is your vision?
Answer: The vision of RAP is: "To help develop a healthy generation free of HIV/AIDS and other Sexual Transmitted Diseases through helping people to make positive decisions."

Would it be a good fit for Rock Harbor? Why or Why not?
Answer: It depends on what the mission of Rock Harbor is. We are open to any organisation/group/church who wants to combine forces with us in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to do community work in order to uplift our communities.

We will be working with Johnathan and RAP on July 5th and 6th.

Our hearts are with this location and we would like most of all be able to continue working in this community. Over the past three or four years of trips to Rehoboth we have all found a connection here and hope that we can maintain our ties to this place and build upon work that we have already done. Those hopes are dependent on finding a long term partner where ever we go and it has been very hard for us to find an organization working in this location. All the more reason for us to want to work here since there is so much need and so few resources.

Updated letter to previous teams

Alan sent another letter to the previous teams. This is much better than a blog entry I could create, so here it is verbatim.

Hello Everyone-

First, we would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. Visiting with everyone was really good for the soul. Those of you that were not able to attend were definitely missed. It is amazing how God weaves our lives and relationships together. To hear about all of the blessings that have been realized and relationships that have developed is quite encouraging.

This letter is simply to give you an update of the status of our trip (itinerary and financial) to South Africa and Namibia. We will be leaving for South Africa on June 23^rd. Our first week will be spent between Cape Town and Johannesburg. In Johannesburg we will be meeting with Hope for Africa and OC International. Hope for Africa’s mission is to encourage, prepare and equip local churches with a Christian worldview to carry out wholistic ministry in their communities. OC international is involved in evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, church growth, missions, and support services. With OC international we are also planning to visit children’s home and provide lunch to street kids in the area. In Cape Town, we will be meeting with Bridges of hope. Bridges of Hope is a social-action organization dedicated to helping in the fight against AIDS in Africa. Bridges of Hope connects people from around the world with people of those nations most affected by the AIDS epidemic, to create long-term, self-sustaining solutions to the challenges they face. Our second Week will be spent in Rehoboth were we will be meeting and potentially working with Rhenish AIDS Program. Our work with them would include visits to rural areas where RAP is involved in community programs. Certainly we will also be meeting and spending time with George and Ann Marie.

Financially, we are only half way to our goal of $25,000. With such a short time left before our departure, we are asking for you to include us in your prayers regarding the remainder of the funds required to go. Please, also pray for our safety during travel and our health. Please pray against opposition and finally that we are able to bring glory to God and that our efforts will be fruitful by establishing a ministry partner for Rock Harbor.

God Bless,

Monica, Wood, Lynne, Heather, Matthew, Lailanie, Kristy, and Alan.

Team Meeting

We had one of our last meetings last night. The trip is fast approaching and we are working out last minute details and long planned events. Things seem to be moving smoothly, but there are also side currents that tend to distract and cause anxiety.

We have no plans to use them at this point, but just in case we have prepared a "Choose To Wait" program and a VBS by splitting the team into two teams of 4. This has worked in the past when we have taught Choose To Wait. When you invite a large number of 8th-12th grade kids to a "Choose To Wait" program they invariably bring all their younger siblings. On our first trips we were not prepared for this, but now we have a VBS program ready for the younger kids so no one feels left out.

We split up the donations and everyone filled large duffle which we will carry with us.

The meeting went later than many of the other meetings, but I think we were all enjoying the time together. This is a great team with a lot of synergy.

OC International

Last night we had a team meeting and met with Barbosa from OC International. Barbosa has worked in Mazambique for 20 years. We will be visiting OC International in Johannesburg July 1 - 3 and are very excited to work with them. They have an amazing organization.

Introductory Slideshow

Kristy created a slideshow video to introduce us and to describe the goals of our upcoming trip. You can look at it here.

http://www.esnips.com/web/RockHarborAfricaFiles/

Travel schedule

Our travel schedule has solidified enough that I can at least post our itenerary here.

Leave June 23 from LAX
June 24 - July 26 arrive in Johannesburg, working with Hein Van Wyk and Hope For Africa
June 26 visit the Apartheid Museum and fly to Cape Town, working with Bridges of Hope
June 29-July1 return to Johannesburg, working with Hein Van Wyk and Hope For Africa
July 1 - July 3 work with OC International in Johannesburg
July 4 - July 7 work in Rehoboth, Namibia.
July 7 return home

Bridges of Hope

One of the organizations we will be visiting is Bridges Of Hope in Cape Town. We met with Dana Sanders yesterday who worked with them two years ago. I was good to get to know a little more about them and see some of the pictures Dana had taken. It sounds like they have an amazing ministry.

Thank you Dana you gave us a lot of information and helped relieve any fear and anxiety.

We will be working with them from June 27-June 29.

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Previous Trips

I wanted to cross post links to our previous trips, to make them a little easier to find.

This is the blog for Team#2. http://rockharborafricateam.blogspot.com/

This is the website for Team #3 and #4. http://www.rockharborinnamibia.com/

A number of members of the new core team will be attending RockHarbor leadership training this weekend and we will have our first official meeting on March 11th.

Wood

New Core Team Selected

RockHarbor has selected a new team of leaders to scout and lead the next several Africa trips. First on the agenda will be to find a new partner in Namibia. The team will visit and work with the new partner this summer. Then we will build new teams to take back to Africa later in the year.

The new team consists of the following people.

Alan Freedman
Heather Mason
Kristy Blankenship
Lailanie Cruz
Lynne Fishel
Matthew Peyton
Monica Harter
Wood Harter

We are actively looking for a new partner in Rehoboth, Namibia. If you know any possible partners or have any guidance, please contact us wood - at - side8 . com. We are also considering other partners in southern Africa. Please contact us if you think there might be a fit betweeen RockHarbor and your organization.