On the ground.....

Greetings Family!

Much thankfulness to those who continue to intercede on behalf of the people of Zim. Regardless of your politics many in Zim are looking for peace and security. Much respek to every man, woman and child out there who stands for justice - God is watching.

This past week has been nuff hectic as i prepare to head back to da Dot; quite a few things to handle before i take off for the month. I have 10 Australian Interns arriving this Sunday and because i won't be here i need to make sure everything is lined up right for their month in SA! It's great though, there are some great peoples out here who will continue with the work while in my absence.

For those who aren't aware i'm heading back home (my other home) for my sister Amoy's wedding. Big things; she's the first one to go! Big up to you and Phil - many on this side are excited about what the Lord has in store for y'all. We're standing with you.

For a quick update an amazing thing happened the other day. As i mentioned, we got involved with some refugees in Durban but didn't think there were any refugees in my city. A man walked into the AE office last week though and informed us that there are over 1000 refugees in the city! In fact, a large number of them are from Zim (mostly straight from there) and there is a Zimbabwean Refugee Association of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Due to the recent "xenophobia", etc. this info has been kept very hidden, many of us in the city didn't even know that such places exist (believe i was doing research). So last Saturday, Carmz and I went to meet the Chairman and check out the situation for ourselves.

It was really eye-opening to say the least.....we went to one auto mechanic workshop where there are 200 people staying, sharing one toilet and one shower - they take turns throughout the whole night using those facilities. The women and men also sleep on separate sides of the workshop, even if they're family; there are no walls and it's the winter season right now so they are exposed to temperatures approaching 0 degrees at night.

The second place was a house that holds 300 people. They also have one toilet and shower; we had the opportunity there to meet a political leader who had to flee Zim because of political persecution.

We didn't go just to see for ourselves, but we went with the intention of serving however/wherever possible. We obtained a needs list: toilets, warm clothing, food, job opportunities, scholarship for youth, counselling for women and children, in particular, who have been traumatized (esp in crossing the border). This was an exploratory visit, we're now getting involved with the Disaster Management Dept of the the local govt; the aim is to create some kind of stability and not to create dependency so we will need much prayer and wisdom on how to proceed! If this is something you're interested in contributing to please let me know and i can help direct your resources to the right channels. Please keep these people in prayer though, again there is so much brokeness BUT i must say that Zimbo's always amaze me! They carry such a beautiful spirit: so resilient and so friendly, even in such hard conditions.

I got permission from a few of the guys to put their pics up>>>(the sunglasses that look like swimming goggles are my addition in an attempt to protect identity anyway)

Aight famz, ngikatele mange (Zulu for i'm tired now).....sleep/be/do blessed!