March 2010

// March 17th, 2010 // Durban

Phil, Rachel and Zach’s Newsletter

admin@soulaction.co.za www.soulaction.co.za www.facebook.com/soulaction

It has been a very busy start to the year, 2010 has bought brand new challenges and exciting possibilities. We are focussed on what God has called us to do through Soul Action South Africa:

• to encourage valuable, effective and innovative Christian people, projects and churches, to interact, share ideas, money, resources
• and all sorts of needs, from prayer through to people and that as a Network of Christians our aim is to provide a unified response to the issues Durban faces as a city in relation to poverty and justice

This involves working with different people, from different backgrounds, training, equipping, mobilising and prayerfully considering what God’s plans are for this city and what our part within that is.

Soul Action Network Day - February 17th 2010

In the middle of February we held the first Soul Action Network meeting of the year where as usual we invite all the projects and churches we’re met to come together, on this occasion to:

• learn more about the issue of human trafficking, how this issue relates to South Africa and the implications due to the World Cup
• have the opportunity to network with other Christians that are serving the poor and / or the marginalised within Durban

The morning involved input from an organization called Red Light. Red Light Human Trafficking are a young adults team who have a keen interest in creating awareness on Human Trafficking and uplifting their community. They seek to partner with /support organisations and individuals involved in the fight against human trafficking and the rehabilitation of the victims of modern day slavery.
Redlight explained what is meant by the term human trafficking -that human trafficking is the kidnapping, enslaving and exploitation of men, woman and children for use as sex workers, forced labour and in the illegal medical trade. They also shared some of the statistics , that 100,000 people will be trafficked into South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, that most trafficking victims are girls between 5 to 15 years old and that between 28,000 to 30,000 children are currently being prostituted in South Africa. They highlighted how churches / projects could share about the issue of human trafficking with the children they work with and empower them to make good decisions and speak up against these issues.

In addition, each church / project that was able to, was asked to come with items, i.e. information, artifacts, photos, etc. which would help to explain what their ministry to the poor or marginalized was all about. This opportunity provided an exciting and inspiring space for people to share, learn, network and connect with one another.

Young and Emerging Leaders Network - February 27th 2010

On the last Saturday in February we launched our brand new Network for Young and Emerging Leaders. We asked churches and projects who are connected to Soul Action South Africa to nominate young people (aged 18 – 30) who they felt would benefit from being part of a leadership development programme, Christian young people who they felt had leadership potential. Well, what an amazing and inspiring day we had together! Twenty three young and emerging leaders attended our first meeting and have committed to be at the other three sessions that we will run during the year.

The day involved four main areas of focus: The value of You, Peer mentoring, The Value of Others, and The Value of Leadership. Throughout the day the activities were facilitated in an interactive way to enable the young leaders to explore and grasp for themselves a value of self, others and to consider what type of leader they were. All the Young and Emerging Leaders responded well to the activities and fully participated. They worked well with their peers and there were lively discussions all round.

The session The Value of You explored where individuals get their personal sense of worth from. We looked at the media and compared it to a Biblical perspective found in Psalm 139. The Value of Others involved looking at images of people (some famous, some not), and how there’s a tendency to value people due to their position, personality, power, physic or popularity. During this session the group looked at John 15: 1-16, we specifically emphasized that they are chosen, appointed by God and called to be bearing fruit that will last.

The session on Peer Mentoring involved considering the different forms of mentoring, thinking through why peer mentor, who with, and the values to aim for in doing mentoring and being mentored. The last session, The Value of Leadership, included an activity to find out what kind of leader everybody was, before considering the positives and negatives of each style. We finished by waiting on God prophetically, seeking and writing down what He wanted to say to each of the Emerging Leaders who were gathered there.

Pray: for all the local Young and Emerging Leaders who are taking part in our leadership development programme, and please consider whether you could commit to pray for one of them on a regular basis. When we next meet, in May, we’ll be asking each person to put a profile together of themselves, and we’ll be looking to link each person to a prayer sponsor. If you would be willing to do this then please email rachel.bowyer@soulaction.org

Personal Update

Our family just got bigger! Soon after we got back from the UK in January Zach had a rabbit, he has been desperate for some kind of pet for ages, and it just so happened that one of the projects we work with needed to find homes for some rabbits. We think it is a boy, but we’re not sure, and Zach has called him ‘Cody’, he is enjoying having an animal in the house.

The nature of our life and work here means its sometimes hard to have any time off, but on Saturday we made time to spend as a family and went to the beach -we had a great time! Zach loved having space to just be a child and explore the rock pools and swim in the Ocean. Then on Sunday, Shaun Pollock (ex-South African cricketer) and his wife, Trish, spoke at our church, and shared the affect their faith has had on their lives. Zach was able to hear how a relationship with God had enabled Shaun to have the career he’d had and become the person he is -Zach was so impressed to hear this, and equally thrilled to get Shaun’s autograph after the meeting.

Equipping children and teachers

You may remember that in our last update we shared about the two ladies who we had been able to employ as educational workers as part of the literacy project Rachel is establishing. Well, they are doing an amazing job and we just wanted to share with you a little bit more about them and their background.

Name: Kholiswa Mathangana, Age: 19
Kholiswa is a born again Christian young lady. She grew up in the Amaoti community and completed her matric (final school exams) in 2008 at her local secondary school. Kholiswa likes going out, meeting new people, networking, watching TV and listening to music. Mostly she likes going to church and just being in the presence of God.

Kholiswa was raised by her mum, a single parent, and it was difficult growing up without a father. But as she grew up she came to a level of acceptance and understanding. She has three sisters who are still at school and Kholiswa lives with them. It was hard for Kholiswa to accept that her mum couldn’t afford varsity (university) fees once she had completed her matric. As a result of this she stayed at home for a couple of months and suffered with depression, she felt the situation was hopeless, but she continued to pray and trust God for a job.
He was faithful to her prayers and was employed as a receptionist. Through having a job Kholiswa managed to save money and enrolled at varsity in June 2009. She is studying a BA in social work as her passion is to work with children.

2010 brings its new excitement and challenges for Kholiswa as she has been employed as an education worker and is going to be working four days a week in one of the schools in Amaoti with the children. Kholiswa says, “The lessons are going to have a great impact in the schools. I think the children will really love our lessons especially since we balance our lessons regarding learning styles.”

Name: Nompumelelo Thusi, Age: 29
Nompumelelo was working at a clothing store and it wasn’t easy for her because she was only doing the job to make a living. Before she went there she was able to do a life skills and leadership course at World Changers Academy (another of our Partner projects) in 2005. Nompumelelo regards this as the beginning of her life and she has never looked back since then. The course shaped her and her world view changed. She developed a strong passion to do something that would help her to accomplish her vision. She is now a fourth year social work student.
Since January Nompumelelo has been employed as an education worker and will be teaching English to the Grade 2’s (aged 7), Grade 3’s (aged and Grade 4’s (aged 9).

Nompumelelo says, “This will be a big opportunity for me to make sure that I pass the knowledge to the children differently so that they understand, even the ones who have some difficulties.” She is looking forward to working with the children, she wants to work to the best of her ability and be an example by the way she lives.
Personally Nompumelelo wants to spend more time with her family. She wants to be able to visit them more often as they are not living together. She wants to save money through this year so she can build a home so she can live with her child and siblings.

Pray: for Nompumelelo, that she would be able to accomplish the vision that God has given her and that by the end of this year she will be able to live with her family. We ask that you pray for Kholiswa, that God would continue to bless her and that he would use her in a mighty way in the school.

Other ways you can get involved

You may remember in our first Newsletter of the year we asked you to pray about our future as a family, and the future of Soul Action in South Africa, in particular with regards to our finances which run out in September.
Naturally we’ve been praying too, and one of the things Phil felt God say was something about ‘giving one day at a time’. At first we weren’t sure whether this meant God was asking us to serve Durban’s poor day to day without necessarily knowing where the money would come from one day to the next (scary!), but the phrase was definitely about giving. So to cut a long thought and prayer process short, we’ve decided to test this word by offering family, friends, and facebook fans, an opportunity to sponsor the work we profile in our Newsletters, and be part of what we do by ‘giving one day at a time’. Our aim is to cover every day of the year both prayerfully and financially.
For just £36.50 you can sponsor any Soul Action Day or Day’s you choose. It could be your own, or a friends, birthday, an anniversary, a religious occasion, or one of our events, training and Network days. For each Day that is sponsored we’ll mail a Soul Action Day card and email up-to-date Soul Action South Africa news with prayer points.
Signing up is simple:
A. Arrange payment using the Standing Order and Gift Aid form we’ve attached (World Ministries can claim an extra £7 per Soul Action Day on our behalf). You can also email admin@soulaction.co.za for our bank account details.
B. Book your Soul Action Day, by emailing admin@soulaction.co.za with the Beneficiary’s Name, Mail and Email Address, and your choice of Date. Alternatively complete the online form at www.soulaction.co.za/365/3
C. Check out our Soul Action Day Calendar at www.soulaction.co.za/365/4