Summer Project Week 5

Sorry for the delay but I’ve been adjusting to life back in the States and getting ready to move to North Carolina this weekend.

Week 5 looked different from anything else because we were done with Holiday club and just had club in the afternoon. I got to work with Karen in the Marketing department learning about Living Hope and all that they do. I loved it, I did some laminating, printing, and just talking to and getting to know Karen, Brooke, and Mario.

Wednesday, I got to go to Living Grace, which is another part of Living Hope. Living Grace is a Homeless Ministry and an Out-Patient Drug Rehab Center. Grocery stores from around town will donate food to Living Grace and we sorted food and got ready to give it away or cook with it. We served food and it was great, it was cool to see more of Living Hope.

Thursday was Mandela Day which is Nelson Mandela’s birthday and the people of SA are called to devote 67 minutes of service to South Africa, because Mandela served SA for 67 years. Living Hope had over 300 people who came to serve on their campus. We did a prayer walk around the campus and the new land before settling in to help with whatever we could.

Club was fun that week and the kids were getting adjusted to being back in school. It was hard to say good-bye. Our last day of club was Mandela Day and Pick’n’Pay was handing out food in Overcome and all the kids were in line with their parents or not there so Tanja and Alfonso decided that having club was going to be just too crazy we walked back to Capricorn. It was hard to not to get to say goodbye to the kids but I understood why they had to make the call.

Friday was our last day with the LSEs (Life Skill Educators) and it was a blast. It was holiday club debrief so we were able to laugh a lot and learn about holiday club in all the other branches. Each branch introduced their Summer Project Volunteers or new staff member and we did a highlight skit. It was so fun to get to hear from each branch and learn about their holiday club experience. It was hard to say goodbye to Enrico, Stanley, Phathiswa, Tanja, and Alfonso but somehow I managed to keep it together. I’m so incredibly thankful for the relationships formed with each and every one of them including Sam and Ilana.

I loved getting to know more about Living Hope and serve in some other ways, I am still amazed at everything they do and how they operate. They are one incredible ministry and I pray I get the chance to serve with them again.