We want to move to the township

When I tell people that we want to move to the township, they often look at me as if there was something wrong with me. Well maybe there is. Since living in the suburb has tremendous advantages. Shops, health care facilities, recreation and entertainment are all at your doorstep. The weekends are quiet. There is no noise from the neighbours party, funeral, or wedding. God has blessed us with a beautiful house with a big yard. Why should we give it all up and move to the township?

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I could simply answer this question with “God has called us to the township”, which is true but He did much more. We don’t just want to stay in the township. We are called for more. God put it on our heart to establish a safe haven in the township where people find hope and where God is able to change one person at a time.

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Although we are still far from having a centre, we try to connect with our target community. Through our different programs like Kids Club and Holiday Reading Club it is easy to connect with the children. But to reach the parents and caregivers is another topic. We took different approaches to reach the parents. We invited the parents for lunch after a Kids Club to share with them what we do and what we want to achieve. But none of the parents showed up. We announced to distribute clothes …but only few parents came. At the beginning of the lockdown we created a WhatsApp group to hear the needs of the parents and supply them with information and material to keep the children busy. Even there the parents kept quiet.

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The distribution of the food parcels (see previous post) in connection with the household survey finally brought some breakthrough. We visited home by home, prayed with the family members, filled in the survey and blessed them with groceries. They started to open up and share their stories. Some parents showed appreciation for our Kids Program and that we are reaching out to the community since the government didn’t supply any food parcels in that area.

This experience showed us once more how much the people value a personal relationship. Therefore we need to be close to the community, so that they are able to reach us and we can much easier reach out to them on a personal level and regular basis.

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Help us step into His calling by donating to this fundraising campaign https://www.givingway.com/project/ae5ad

Please share the fundraiser with your friends and family. Thank you for your support. We can’t do it without you. The support of caring friends like you truly turn lives and communities around.

#HopeRecoveredCenter