I'm a PUBLISHED writer, now.

This week I had the privilege to write two articles for the DAD newsletter Living Hope sends out for its Dollar a Day Campaign. As you read these, I hope you to continue to get insight into my experiences and thoughts while here.

Article 1:

When you immediately think of the DAD program, thoughts probably drift towards Kids and Teens Clubs in the townships as well as Life Skills being taught throughout different schools in Muizenburg, Ocean View, and Massai. One thing your mind may not think to immediately is the amazing opportunity the Teens Team has this term at Valley Land High School in Fish Hoek.

Valley Land is a private Christian School in Fish Hoek where different students come to find refuge after they have either been expelled or held back due to difficult circumstances in public schools. The first day I walked into Valley Land I did not know what to expect. The students are definitely different from those I interact with in the townships because they are from middle to upper class, and upon appearance they look more like me. But quickly, as we were running the program, I realized the needs of these teenagers are just as real as the teenagers within the townships. Questions they would ask and stories they would share like wanting to own a strip club showed me how they deal with issues and questions in life just like the teens in the townships. They are dealing with substance abuse and broken families. They are dealing with uncertainty and are longing to find wholeness and hope as only Christ can give.

As I left Valley Land, emotion overwhelmed me at the wide impact that Living Hope and the Life Skills Education department have on the children and teens of Cape Town. When I arrived here as a volunteer, I expected to be ministering to those I’d encounter in the townships, but I had no idea I’d get to minister to an entirely different group of South African teenagers. That fact is what makes Living Hope so special. Living Hope gets the Gospel that is presented before each of us. We are to share the love of Christ with all people no matter their background or socio-economic status and through that love, give them a hope and peace that surpasses all understanding. If you were like me before I came here, you may not have even realized the wide array of people your DAD support is touching, helping and healing.

Article 2:

“Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.”

--Frederick Buechner

These past two weeks as I serve alongside the LSEs at Ocean View, I continue to witness the compassion Frederick Buechner defines. The LSEs I am privileged to work with are living out this quote with their lives. They fully understand that though they are in similar situations as many of the children and teens they minister to, until there is peace and joy for everyone in Ocean View then there can never really be peace and joy for the LSEs either. I am touched each day as I watch Melissa love on and comfort the little children that run around at her feet. I am moved when I see Alistar make the ten-year old boys smile as they swap stories. My heart overflows with joy as Julie and Jessica lead the children in worship and smiles cover everyone’s face.

Every day as we walk to club amidst the sand, dirt, wind and heat, I look at all the LSEs who daily give themselves to this community, and I am reminded of Christ. Throughout his ministry, Christ walked from place to place, person to person, changing lives and showing compassion and love. Christ, better then anyone else, knew that until there was peace and joy for the entire world, there would never really be peace and joy for him. Your support of the DAD program helps these LSEs be Christ to the children and teens of Ocean View. Not only does your support help in that regard, but it is helping an American volunteer learn a wonderful lesson on what compassion really looks like as I witness it each day from the LSEs.