| This is a film I made in the fall of 2004. It was shot on a Canon A series digital still camera using the film setting. I had to shoot in small increments due to the small memory card size. | |
Indiana in the Fall
Back Home Again
Dear Friends and Family,
We are safely back in the States after a fairly un-eventful battery of flights. Now that I have access to high-speed internet I thought you might like to have a few more pictures from our trip. We didn't have a camera for the last month, so it was hard getting pictures, but here are some you might enjoy.
Agathos
Due to having a lot to say, this post will be very long. That is why I am dividing it up into sections. Most of what I say will not interest you, generally speaking. What will interest most of you is the “Our Work” and “The Website” sections. Please feel free to skip through, read what you like and feel free to ask question.
The Organization
To properly understand Agathos it is vital that you realize that there are two divisions of the organization. These two bodies may not see themselves as being vastly disconnected but I see this difference as being key to understanding our frustrations, difficulties, and even all positive aspects of our trip to South Africa. The two groups, as I call them, are Agathos International, based in Seattle Washington and led by Rob Smith, an Afrikaner living in The States, and Agathos South Africa, overseen by a board of men living in South Africa (primarily in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area).
When we arrived in South Africa back in August there was no South African board. With the formation of this local body to oversee the day-to-day needs of the village I have a renewed hope in the work being done here in Loskop.
In August things were frustrating. In September we were ready to shake the dust from our feet and only use “Agathos” as a curse word. In October things started looking up. There were people listening and hope of something being done. As we get ready to leave the South African board is more closely scrutinizing who is able to come to the village here in Loskop, when they can come, for how long and what is being done with the money that they are raising. I don’t want to use this post as an opportunity to rip on Agathos International but I would like to give an example of why the South African board is vitally necessary to the health of the organization. Currently (though this should soon change) the local director in Loskop must submit a weekly budget to the International office. This budget includes normal expenses like food and petrol, but will also account for any building-supply expenditures and uncommon expenses such as dental bills or contractor fees. The problem, as with all our frustrations, is in communication. It is hard to get someone in Seattle who spends little or no time in South Africa to understand the needs that we have. So why is it done this way, why not give the responsibility of handling finances to either the local village or to the South African board? Well, that is what we have been wondering. In the most recent board meeting minutes from the South African board there is a action item requesting that 75% of all funds raised by short-termers (like us) raising support to come to South Africa be put directly into an account controlled by the SA board.
The Website & Self Supporting
Want to know how to make Michal or me instantly angry? Start a question with “Well, I read on the website...” Please, as we instructed before we knew better, look at the website. Now forget everything that you just saw or read. It is not true. It’s not that the information is simply out-of-date (which would be somewhat forgivable) it is, and never has been true and is, as best as we can tell, deliberately misleading. What’s the point in having a website that misleads people? Agathos (see Agathos International in the Organization section) is built on an idea that they call “Self-Supporting”. You will find this key-word on the website. The idea is that a village for orphans is supporting itself financially (a farm is the “example” from the website). We were never told that the village here in Loskop is not “self-supporting” or even that there was no farm (as the website would lead one to believe). I actually received an email from Marc Fulmer (in the Seattle office) after arriving in South Africa stating that “[the Loskop village] is not yet 100% self supporting.” Putting it that way made it sound as if it were self-supporting, just not 100% “yet”. The Seattle office would argue that the village here is self-supporting but they would redefine the idea to fit the circumstances. They claim that our self-supporting income source is short-termers. In other words all Missions Organizations are self-supporting. To explain all this on the website would be to diminish the idea. To admit that there is no farm would lessen the effect of the idea. To tell what’s really happening would, in their minds it seems, cause people to pass over Agathos seeing it as just another organization with a grand goal but no implementation.
The unfortunate aspect of all this is that Agathos is not really a model for “self-support” but rather an organization born of a crisis, a crisis of orphans in southern Africa. Agathos does have a noble goal, it’s goal is to care for children in need and it is doing that. There are so many positive aspect of the village here and the work that Agathos is doing that it is a shame that none of them have made it to the website.
The People
We have had the pleasure of working with some great people while we have been here.
JD and Barbara Borgman - are a couple from the states who have had a home in South Africa for 7+ years. Barbara grew up on the mission field, they met at Wheaton college and have been working with various organizations for as long as I’ve been alive (or longer). They now have their own partnership called “Ubuntu Partners” that they formed to work in cooperation with other organizations. They work with Agathos and have been involved since it’s beginning here in Africa 3 years ago. They host the volunteers (short-termers) every week at their home and have provided much spiritual encouragement and physical rest.
Scott Brinkerhoff - is the director here at the Loskop village. When Scott took the position of director 2 years ago he was hit with a lot of chaos. He has reformed much of the way day-to-day life here goes on, everything from starting parenting classes to giving order to meal times. Scott seems to be one of the best things that has happened to Agathos.
Volunteers - There have been many people in and out. As we leave three more people are coming in. This is nice some times, but it is frustrating when there are ten short-termers on site and no work to do. Just to show that I am not exaggerating my number, there names are Richard, Jason, Christina, Emily, Hannah, Kim, Annah, Michal, Ben, Scott, Caroline, Ross, & Andy (plus any number of people here for a week or two).
Our Work
So what have we been doing? We have provided most of our friends and family with periodical updates but these have been few, far-between and lacking in much detail. Here is a little to fill you in. Our biggest project has been “Study Hall”. After the kids get back from school we break them in to groups (according to grade and skill level) and help them with homework or give them supplemental instruction to assist them in their class-work. Upon arriving we were asked to start this program and had no real good direction for it. It has turned out very well. Michal has been working with three of the 1st grade boys teaching them their letters, letter sounds, and beginning to teach them to read (it’s good that reading in Zulu is easy seeing as how one of the boys, Mxolisi, doesn’t know much English). Michal has another class of 4th and 5th graders who have been working on the reading comprehension (in English) and have been doing splendidly. I have been working with a group of girls (age 12-14) who range from grade 5 to grade 9. We have been working mainly on English comprehension (and homework) but have also been working on some basic Algebra (which the younger girls seem to have picked up much better than the older ones). The other project we have been involved in is the garden. There is a sign I put outside the garden which says “This Garden Belongs to:” and a sign below it with all the kids names who have a plot. The kids have had a great time seeing things grow but it has not been easy getting them to do the work necessary to keep the garden weed-free and sufficiently watered. We have tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, carrots, beans, peppers, lettuce, and some scattered cabbages growing. Unfortunately the only thing ready to pick has been the zucchini, but the other vegetables will be ready to harvest soon.
In addition to these two main areas of focus we have been able to fill-in as part time caretakers. The regular caretakers get a weekend off every-other week and three weeks of paid vacation every year. We stayed with Thandi’s kids during her vacation and it was the most enjoyable three weeks of our time here. Michal also would occasionally fill in for Mary Jane when she was away.
We have also been spending a lot of time just playing, reading and getting to know the kids. I have spent countless hours swimming in the river and trying to teach the kids to swim. We have even been able to take the kids to one of the resort’s pools which they loved. Taking the kids off site is always a chore but well worth the effort.
I have also worked on carpeting, hanging ceilings, painting, stuccoing, demolishing, landscaping, plumbing, electrical and other odd job.
The Kids
There have been, off-and-on, about 30 kids here at the village. Many of them are related and are cared for by their aunt who is on staff as a caretaker. The children live in one of three rooms in a suite, the caretaker in the middle with children on either side (split boys and girls). I don’t have enough time to tell you about each kids here, and since it’s not right to play favorites (or at least not to let on that I play favorites) I better not give selected profiles. I will say that anyone who has been around children or who once was himself a child will know how difficult children can be at times. The kids here are not always perfect, in fact I have never seen children fight over games so much, but they have also been a great joy. They love to listen to stories and have books read to them (and many of them now love to read). They will play for hours with a piece of string or a tin can and they are always willing (and joyful) about helping when we need something. If we had let them we could of had them washing our clothes, cleaning our dishes and making our bed for us. They would have been happy to do it. It was great to go with some of them to visit their grandma and see how eager they were to help her. It’s often hard to remember the pain that these children have gone through and the trials that wait ahead of them. Some of the kids are HIV positive, some have come from abusive situations, they see and have seen death all around yet God gives them joy. If you would, pray for these kids. For Zamani, Kenan, Malusi, Nkosikona, Khaye, Slindile, Stembile, Nqobile, Thando, and Notile. For Nokuthula, Thobile, Zipho, Sinetemba, Sthabiso, Dumasani, and Zama. For Patience, Nokuthula, Thembalani, Mxolisis and Kwaneli. For Thandeka, Zanele, Mpume, Nkule, and Asanda. I know these are all just names to you all (and some, names that you can’t pronounce) but each one means a bright face, a wonderful laugh, a cuddly child, a tender heart. Each one needs to know for the first time or be reminded of how God loves him or her and has adopted them as sons.
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