Thursday, April 12, Cape Town

We flew to Cape Town yesterday, our first visit to this fabled city. A minivan taxi drove us the 50-minute journey from the airport to Fishhoek, a small beach town on the eastern side of the point of Africa. As we traveled southward, the Indian and Atlantic Oceans coming ever closer to merge their warm and cool waters, the terrain became more and more mountainous, towering rocky crags above populated valleys. Perhaps these rugged mountains that become narrower and narrower and finally make one last valiant effort to stand against the sea at the very point—perhaps only this ruggedness could withstand the battering when seas collide.

There is a unique, exotic feel here, like the setting of an Agatha Christie novel, seemingly far-removed from the Africa of orphans, AIDS and poverty. There’s no question why Cape Town with its natural beauty is a favorite of world travelers. And yet we passed mile upon mile of shantytowns coming from the airport, not a blade of grass to be seen—reminded us of Cite du Soleil, Haiti’s vast slums in Port au Prince. These are the homes of those who’ve come to the city looking for work, most of them unsuccessful—a hotbed of broken families, street-wise kids, abuse, poverty, pain. No sign of all that from our balcony overlooking a cozy beach town amid the hills, mist rising from the distant ocean.

This land is full of contradictions, and things that seemed clear at first glance are becoming more and more complex. We see the crying need of orphaned children, we know of many friends at home who want to come and help somehow—the obvious solution is to build homes (we like that better than the institutional feel of an orphanage), staff them with you our friends, and let them fill with kids. Of course there would be issues of child-rearing, language, etc., but we could teach and model strong families based on godly principles, affection and discipline, etc. etc.

We are rethinking this somewhat after observing a number of ministries to orphans. Iris in Maputo houses 500 children in what we would consider pretty spartan conditions. They live in dorms of about 50 children each, receive three meals a day and schooling. There is a constant stream of Western visitors, 30-40 on any given day, who choose a lucky few to go for a Coke or to swim in a nearby pool. The priority for Iris is to reunite children with relatives if possible. If not, at age 18 they are released into the surrounding community. These who have lived a far-more deprived life than we would want for our own children are encountering big-time problems upon being thrust back into Mozambican society. They suddenly have to work hard just to survive, they sometimes no longer remember their families’ dialect. They long for life back at the orphanage. The same place that protected them also holds them back from the reality of life in their own country. (Iris is taking steps to remedy this by implementing a job-training program for 18-yr olds).

The most effective programs seem to locate Mozambican women who are already housing orphans and come alongside of them with resources, business opportunities, etc. Best-case scenario is when these who serve as front-line caregivers are people who desire to learn—more of God, more about child-rearing, with a Western couple overseeing, modeling fathering and mothering, modeling how men relate to women. Unfortunately, local men seem to be mostly absent from this picture.

We’re still observing, still throwing around ideas, but seeing that we with our naïve zeal may need to step back a bit. That’s OK—we’re open to God refining our vision. That’s what this whole trip is about. What an adventure! Thanks for your support in every way—we stand in constant need of all that God offers us. I read yesterday from II Peter—“his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him.” Everything I need has already been given, everything I need to live life abundantly, to really live and not just exist, and so to bring God glory. Everything I need for godliness, the resources to be patient, selfless, humble, genuine. Thank you for being part of the resources of God to us.