Report 2012

With thanks to those who supported Karatara Holiday Club: Scripture Union South Africa – Western Cape Durbanville Baptist Church Eastbrook Trust – Mrs. A Robertson & Mrs. H Sonnekus Mr. B Robertson Mr. N. Obermeyer – YFC Knysna Knysna Municipality Fruit & Veg – Knysna Pick & Pay & Pink Drive Mr. Louw and the Governors of Karatara School Ds. & Mrs Coetzee Karatara Holiday Club 9-12 July 2012 Memo to: To all who prayed and sponsored the Holiday Club From: Cornelle and Stan Young Cornelle and I would like to thank you very much for the donations you all gave towards the Holiday Bible Club at Karatara. We were able to take a team of 10 from Cape Town and they were joined by 5 young leaders from Karatara, a further 5 from Knysna and 2 from Sedgefield. The coordinator for the team was the SU full time officer for the Northern Suburbs of Scripture Union and the directors of the club were Cornelle and Stan Young. The team slept in the school hall and the Club was held in the Karatara Community Hall. The only washing facilities were in the school toilets which had no hot water. We were very blessed however that the local Dominee and his wife made available their shower facilities for them. Cooking was done in the school kitchen by Cornelle and she was helped by 2 local ladies. On the first day the kids started to arrive from 8.30 in the morning from every direction some had walked a long way. We had a Cape Town taxi which went out collecting kids from a very wide area. On the first day we had about 80 children and the average number for each day was about 85. The club used the SU Son Castle program and included the normal Holiday Club components of fun & games, worship time, memory verse, drama, small group times including crafts. In addition at this club we fed the kids a lunchtime meal. Most of the food came from the Provincial Feeding Scheme which supplies food to schools in the Western Cape during term time so that kids would at least get one decent meal a day. Fruit and Veg. City in Knysna also made a donation of fruit as did Pick and Pay. Others made contribution to the club which paid for materials for crafts, the transport to and from Cape Town, around the area to collect children during the week, accommodation and food for the leaders. The highlight of the week was Thursday evening when the children showed the parents what they had done during the week. The hall was full to overflowing.. Karatara rocked that night to the sound of “Greater things are still to be done in Karatara” We include part of Sedrico’s report: “Just the other day I was almost bumped over by a post(lady)! This was while walking around Karatara in the morning praying for an awesome club. Karatara, a small village 21 Kilometres from Sedgefield, lies within a community of great need. The lady on the bike could not wait to tell me of how God had changed her life. Last year she brought her kids to holiday club every day and also came to our parents evening. That night at parents evening, unknown to me and anyone else, she gave her life to the Lord in secret. God had provided her with a job delivering the village post. Oh how God can transform! She hugged me so hard that I had to look for breath. She came this year again and, man, did she bless the leaders! She handed out sweets and even blessed us with potatoes that she had grown in her garden. In her words: “God changed my life” and made her a better mother: unbelievable? Only God!” As we drove away from Karatara we knew that God had used us in Karatara; but yes he still had Greater things in store for Karatara. Our vision for the future o To continue to work in Karatara building up young people we’ve already identified as future leaders and to continue growing more. o To work with the local churches and community to see families strengthened. o Next year to start working in Sedgefield. o The following year? God knows. o To look for somewhere where we can extend between George & Knysna. Please pray for us and the team as we continue the work. If you are able to support us in any way possible please speak to Cornelle (012700016) or Stan Young (0846226079), email address stanyoung@telkomsa.net

Report on 2011

Report on Karatara Holiday Club 11-14 July 2011 Memo to: Basil Sparks, Mike Whitney, Bradley Anderson, Craig Wilcock, Richard Southey and all members of the Mission Committee Durbanville Baptist Church From: Cornelle and Stan Young Cornelle and I would like to thank you very much for the donation of R4000.00 you gave towards the Holiday Bible Club at Karatara. We were able to take a team of 14 young people from the Factreton/Kensington area of Cape Town and they were joined by another young lady from Sedgefield. The coordinator for the team was the SU full time officer for the Northern Suburbs and I worked as facilitator and mediator.. The team slept in the hall in which the Club was held which was far from the most comfortable being that the only washing facilities were in the toilets or in some showers used by the local sports ground neither of which had hot water. Cooking was done on a two ring gas cooker which Cornelle and I supplied, this was true mission. On the first day the kids started to arrive from 8.30 in the morning from every direction some had walked a long way. We has a bakkie and a Cape Town Taxi and these went out collecting kids from a very wide area. The Taxi was driven by the coordinators cousin and he was a Muslim, here I would say that much work was done on evangelizing this young man and I would add that he would join in with all the activities with the kids and yeas he did bring his own Halaal food. He was even included in our devotional times together. On the first day we had 160 kids turn up and the average number for each day was 150 and over the week we had 250 kids attend. The club used the SU Time Travel program written for 2011 and included the normal Holiday Club components; worship time, memory verse, drama and small group times. In addition at this club we fed the kids at lunchtime, we had a lady from one of the churches in Karatara, who runs a Soup Kitchen in the Township, cook each day for us and she worked wonders with Samp, Soya, Rice and Dried Beans. This food came from the provincial feeding scheme which supplies food to schools in t6he Western Cape during term time so that kids would at least get one decent meal a day. The food was meant for two clubs but as we only had one was aloud to leave what was left over for use in the Soup Kitchen. Fruit and Veg. City in Knysna also made a donation of fruit and produce. Others made contribution to the club and these together with the R4000.00 given by DBC were used in helping too pay for transport to and from Cape Town, we still have an outstanding R2000.00 which is being paid off at the moment. The highlight of the week was the Parents evening when over 250 kids and at least 200 parents turned up. In true African style the evening started at 6.30 pm and what was meant to be for an hour finished at 9.30pm. Karatara rocked that night as the youngsters who had been hanging around outside wanted to be told more of what we were about and the youngsters from Cape Town were ready to give out the gospel in full to them. Remembering that this area has a very high unemployment rate, high alcoholism and drugs are rife we were very fortunate that we were kept safe during our stay. Karatara is a much quieter place than Cape Town and the kids were so well behaved. These kids don’t have much if anything and one morning we opened the door too find four girls standing outside, they were dressed in their Sunday best and they had put glittering lip gloss on. They were asked why, their answer we had to dress properly in our best because this is better than going to a party or Christmas we just had to show what it meant to us. We dealt with orphaned kids and ones who were extremely vulnerable. Kids were bought from Sedgefield and Plentenberg Bay as well as from a wide spread area around Karatara. As I drove away from Karatara I knew we had made an impact in Karatara; our big concern is that we are not able to be there all the time to continue the work and we are praying as to how we can contribute further. It obviously needs a consistent ministry amongst the children and there are churches working in the area but seem to be working to their own ends. What we are thinking is that we need to bring the church leaders together and encourage them to get the churches working together for the sake of the children. We realise that even the youngsters from Karatara come from a very widespread area some living in the bush, some in the forest, some on farms. It will be a big job but we serve a very big God we need them to seek the Lords guidance, the area is so wide spread but the Lord is able to do a mighty work.

History and How to get involved

Motivation for Southern Cape Mission In 2010 Cornelle Young was asked to arrange two days of Holiday Club at Kraifonten, Kuils River by her employers. This was not a Christian club but was arranged to keep the kids of the street during the long winter break while the Football World Cup was on. She had had no experience of these clubs and got involved with Scripture Union who was able to help mainly in the area of food to feed the kids. She had seen what could be done by Scripture Union and she felt that the Lord wanted her to become more involved with the area in the Southern Cape that she came from. She had been born just outside of the town of Karatara which is 21km inland from Sedgefield. Problems of poverty, drugs and alcohol existed and she felt that with the involvement of SU the children could be helped during the school holidays and could be reached for Christ. She approached Sedrico Husselman, the full time SU worker in the Northern suburbs of Cape Town and he thought it might be possible. We needed a team of experienced holiday club workers to go with us as we had no idea of what help existed locally. We did have help locally to arrange a hall we could stay in and also use for the club, they also helped to set the scene so that we were not going in cold. At the beginning of July 2011, the last week of the winter school holiday, a team of 20 left Cape Town they arrived at a farm just outside Karatara and stayed in a very small labourers cottage with very basic amenities. They were beginning to see what true mission was all about. They moved to the town the following afternoon and set up in two rooms at the back of the community hall which was to be the base for the next week. One of the big problems was that we had no hot water to wash in and it was the middle of winter in the Southern Cape. Children came from far and wide walking, by taxi and a bakkie. We had an average of 150 children turn up over the week. The programme consisted of the normal holiday club activities of fun and games, praise and worship, drama, memory verse, small group time and crafts but to this we added a lunch time meal which might have been the only meal those kids got that day. On the Thursday night we invited parents and friends and the hall was full to overflow That night Karatara rocked to the sounds of the songs we had taught the kids and to the hum of the talk as everyone went home. It wasn’t until 2012 did we learn of the effect the club had on at least one families lives. That first year we received donations from several different organisations and people but no plans were made for the following year but we knew as we left we would be back. We had during the week identified two young men who we believed the Lord had shown us would be future leaders and over the coming year we were able to work and start training them and they helped to increase our local leadership team to 5. They were also able to help us do a lot of the preparation work for us. So we started to plan for 2012 both in Cape Town and in Karatara. We also made contact with YFC in Knysna and they identified young people who might be useful to us in leadership positions. We were able to get sponsorship again from various organisations the main amount coming from SU but we knew this money would not be available again. So we again went to Karatara set up camp in the local school hall, 25 people sleeping in the school hall was interesting. Again we were able to use the community hall for the club itself. Although we had more space we still only had cold water to wash in. However during the week we were blessed in that the local NG minister invited 10 people a night to shower at his home and on the last night even invited one family to sleep in their spare room. We didn’t have so many kids the second year, this was due to the fact that we only had the Cape Town Taxi to collect children and one of the organisations which had brought children from Sedgefield was on holiday that week. As I said earlier it was not until the Monday morning of 2012 that we found out about the effect we had had on one family’s life. I reprint Sedrico’s words: “On the first morning of the club I was almost bumped over by a post(lady)! This was while walking around Karatara in the morning praying for an awesome club. Karatara, a small village 21 Kilometres from Sedgefield, lies within a community of great need. The lady on the bike could not wait to tell me of how God had changed her life. Last year she brought her kids to holiday club every day and also came to our parents evening. That night at parents evening, unknown to me and anyone else, she gave her life to the Lord in secret. She told me how she had stopped drinking and God had provided her with a job delivering the village post. Oh how God can transform! She hugged me so hard that I had to look for breath. In her words: “God changed my life” and made her a better mother: unbelievable? Only God! She came this year again and, man, did she bless the leaders! She handed out sweets and even blessed us with potatoes that she had grown in her garden!” And so the week got off to a wonderful blessed start, we knew we were doing what God wanted us to do and just knew he would bless us. On the Thursday evening again we had a family and friends evening and although we didn’t have so many children during the week we had more people in the hall than the year before. We had been listening to some music the day before and Chris Tomlin’s “God in the City” came on and we instantly said we should play this on Thursday night and so with a small change to the word, City to Karatara, we sang this song as we closed the club that Thursday evening. Driving out of Karatara the Friday morning with snow on the mountains I knew that this was only the start of something big for Karatara. “Greater things areyet to come And greater things are still to be done in Karatara.” We had started to train young people in that place for leadership, the local Community Council and Churches wanted to get involved, great thing are beginning to happen. So what does the future hold we want to see the work in Karatara grow, we want to teach the young people so they can lead the club themselves but we know this will take time. Our Vision for the future • To continue the work already started working with the children: growing young people into the leaders of the future. • To continuing working with the Churches and Community Council to build up the families. • Start a new Holiday Club in Sedgefield in 2013. • The following years? God knows. • To extend the work further in the Southern Cape and to develop somewhere For Missions could be centred. It will take a lot of money just to continue as we are but to develop as we believe the Lord is leading is possible because “all things are possible with God”. If you would like to join us and help to take this work forward you would ask you to complete the attached Direct Debit Mandate and return it Scripture Union, please ensure the reference for payment is the “Southern Cape Mission”. Scripture Union, Western Cape Standard Bank Rondebosch Branch code: 025009 Account Number: 071401253 Reference: Southern Cape Mission

Welcome to Southern Cape Missions

This is a blog dedicated to the work volunteers in Scripture Union Western Cape are doing in the Southern Cape. Namely Karatara and Sedgefield communities at the moment. If you would like to ask any questions regarding this work contact: Sedrico Husselman Area Coordinator: Northern Suburbs Scripture Union, Western Cape Children's and Youth Worker St. Philip's, Kenwyn SUWC: +27 21 689 8331 St. Philips: +27 21 762 8772 Mobile: + 27 82 071 8598 sedrico@su.org.za www.su.org.za follow me on www.chapmanspeak.blogspot.com