Girls and Boys Being Touched Through our Dedicated Programs

September 30, 2024

Beth and I have been back in Africa for a month now, and it already feels like home! We’re loving our new home, surrounded by the stunning bike trails of the Legend Golf and Safari Resort. Hosting neighbors and family for traditional African Braais has become a highlight of unforgettable moments.

We recently enjoyed hosting an all-women mission team from the U.S. who assisted us in distributing 2,000 menstrual hygiene kits to impoverished young ladies. This team led by Beth’s sister Paula, included ladies from Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, and Iowa.

This year, we've expanded our ministry to include young men. Over the past 5 years, we've distributed over 25,000 menstrual hygiene kits, offering a brief class on women’s health and Christian values. Now, we also address men’s health through a video that encourages boys to honor women and uphold Christian morals. Following the video, our pastor and other leaders answered their questions. At our first event, 80 high school boys participated with great interest. We're now seeking $20,000 in funding to provide 5,000 men's hygiene kits next year, as we aim to serve 5,000 boys and 5,000 girls. Plans for expanding the Girls Empowerment program are underway, with funding for the girls progressing quickly. We pray for similar support for the boys.

We are busy making an application for a Rotary Global Grant that will be a huge help in kicking off our new expansion of our Girl’s Empowerment program.

We are also busy doing a deep dive into how we might be able to improve and expand our current child sponsorship program.

Dustin and I enjoyed visiting our feeding hubs in Durban and Cape Town that are part of our Child Feeding Initiative. We were impressed with the excellent job they’re doing in providing for thousands of children in their part of South Africa. This trip was in preparation of a site visit from Convoy of Hope, our longest and deepest partner in our CFI program.

Dustin has stayed very busy drilling wells, constructing new toilets, and planting gardens at preschools as part of our amazing water and sanitation project. All of our projects are truly rewarding but I sense that water and sanitation may be Dustin’s favorite. I see so much of his grandfather in him as I observe him doing all of this construction work. He especially loves timing our wells to hit water while the American mission teams are here to see it! It is actually quite a show that I will never get tired of watching myself and observing the reaction of our amazing missionary guests.

My all-time favorite project has been to watch Dustin and his team construct a beautiful new church for Pastor Johanney’s congregation that will seat over 400 parishioners. It will be the replacement for the current school hall that we are using that is packed full of over 300 parishioners. There will be many heart wrenching milestones as we build this church. We are building it in honor of Neil Barnard, a good friend and neighbor of ours who attended this same school as a youth. Neil was tragically killed in an auto accident near our home, four years ago.

A powerful moment occurred when all of our church members stood around the perimeter of the new church site in the shape of a cross while Danny, Neil’s 8-year-old son, and Debbie, Neil’s widow, broke ground with the first shovel of dirt. It still brings tears to my eyes just to be writing about this. It was so beautiful. This coming week we will be constructing the concrete floor of the building. It will require six large cement trucks to supply enough cement. I hope to be able to bring Neil’s parents by the project to see the amazing quality of our work to date. I ride my bike up to the site a couple of times each week just to sit awhile and pray over this new church.

Prayer requests:

Alex’s health
Funding for our new church
Funding for boys empowerment program