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