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.