A street named Hope

2011 - what does Hope mean to you

2011-01-11T14:18:00.006+02:00

New years bring excitement, new goals, passions and moving from the old into what we Hope will be better. Stand up 4 Hope is none the different, looking back on all of the exciting things that happened last year spurs

Late last year we realised that our next stage of what we were doing with the homeless people needed to be with an understanding that before anyone can help the them into jobs or places off the streets, a structure needs to be put in place in their thinking and way of life. If they were put into a job situation, would they be able to be at work on time, stick to the rules, respect the manager, and not steal if the temptation arose. Facing this we realised that we needed something that would draw in the community, both residents and homeless, and use it as a tool to help enable the growth of life skills in the homeless. We began a programme called "Soccer Life Skills" which uses the power of soccer as a tool to draw them into learning more about life and how to interact and grow within it. This programme will become our main focus this year as it is a complex and multi faceted one, and one that if it is not rushed will bear exciting fruits with the people we meet with and enjoy the beautiful game :)

This year is the Homeless World Cup being played in France, where the aim is to draw together different countries with the same issues facing the homeless, and giving Hope through the soccer. The great thing is that it is not just a free for all in how the countries form their national team, but is done strictly on a mix between soccer and life skills. This is why there are different cups for different skills, and the stories that have come out of this form of World Cup are more than encouraging. Below are just a few comments of some of the guys who played in the Cup, to wet our appetite for this year in front of us. Not for a World Cup but for the grass root levels here in Melville. And in your area too!

“When you go out there (on the pitch) it doesn’t matter who you’re against, where they’ve come from, what they do with their life, you play sport and you are even. That is your chance to prove to them, and to yourself, that you’re worth something.”

"The Homeless World Cup was the rope that allowed me to pull myself out of a very dark hole. It helped me and now I can help others. When homeless people say to me I can’t change, I say yes you can. I did. So can you."

Become encouraged with us this year as we step out of our comfort zones and put a new chapter of Hope within the homeless community here in Melville. Be blessed this year with your goals and never forget that goals, on and off the field, without God in them are not going to bring what you were made to do!

The Instruments of Hope

2010-11-02T14:32:00.008+02:00

One man sleeps on the corner of a busy intersection. Another sits in the beating heat of the sun waiting for some form of companionship that will while away the day. One is an alcaholic that drinks away money given to him from a relative that he does not know. The other one knows his family by memory but not by sight. In fact, his vision is slowly dying as is his friend one block away from him, lying in a fetal position encased in the misleading warmth of his alcaholic euphoria. One tries to remember, while the other tries to forget.

Trying to work within this environment is extremely difficult. The first is that the gentleman are double my age. How does one try and challenge them on life's issues when they have seen and lived more than I have. The other problem is that the alcahol and the heat affects the thought process and I have had to listen to stories from these men countless times, almost word for word. These are lonely men and should not be on the streets, living in memories of past love and stability.

How many of us live like that, living life between trying to remember and trying to forget? These homeless men, calling the streets their own is unfair, unloving and empty of family. What can we do about this, to help them to wake up to something worth living for, worth living given a view of what hope is. And therefore not allowing their past or whatever they fear for the future to shroud their lives. We can be catalysts in helping this to help them, to help them in any way, be it a short conversation to a big smile as you pass them by. These are the people we are called to love, and as Christmas is already being advertised around all the malls we go to - can we not go one step further; and not advertise Jesus but to give as He would have, to love as we would have, and to hope as he would have.

This is what it means to be His hands and feet. And what a wonderful time of the year to really show this out. Christmas should not be the only time we do this, but if you have not yet done this then this is a beautiful place to start. And if you already feel you are growing in God with taking His hands and feet to our community to people who really need Him, then take this take to cement His love for others who are exactly the same as us. Just on the wrong side of the road, choice or circumstance, this does not change that we are all humans made by God's hands. We are all the same - loved by God who made us all.

Let us love, and may this reality of the older gentleman touch your heart, enlarge your heart to do more for the people we are called to love and lead to His Hope. Not ours. His :)

Have you seen this person?

2010-06-09T11:10:00.009+02:00

"Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken." —Rich Mullins

Before I write more, know that this blog comes from a loving heart, and is in no way made to offend people. Rather it is written to make you think, maybe feel a little uncomfortable but more than this, to make you aware that being too comfortable is a common disease but that it can be cured.

Our culture is one of complacency, one of "first in and first out", a "fast food" mentality that speaks of our needs, our wants, our desires, what we believe we deserve, we have worked for, the promotion we should have had, the house that we just cant afford due to the extras we really don't need, the perfect idea of what life should look like. The "all about me" mentality is putrid, has a pungent smell to the nostrils and wants others to recognise it as something that is okay. Well let me tell our culture....this is not okay. In fact is shockingly wrong, and it scares me to be made aware of this.

What are we doing as people, as people who do not believe in God, and especially people who do believe in God. The Christians who need to be showing the rest of the world what should be doing, what God made us to do. "Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor." If we really believe in the teachings about God, in what Jesus did while on earth and with the mandate that he left to us just before He left the disciples....then why does our couch know us more than the people outside of lazy boy? I am not exempt in this one either. It is too easy to fall into complacency and closing off the dirty, feely, unwashed, uncomfortable things we are called to do.

Let me tell you; these things are not going to stop. They will just continue to keep on growing. Yes, I am not saying we cannot have the right jobs, houses etc. but it is what we do with it is what makes us a people of God. It is what we do with our lives, the giftings we have, financially to giving time to talking truth into people's life, offering hope in just being there with someone, taking time to create a work opportunity for people, visiting people in homes where they need a word of peace....how much longer must we ignore the cries of injustice, pain, minorities, broken homes, human traffiking, children losing their childhoods every day, families in finanacial need for basic survival. We as Christians need to heeding our 2nd reason for being on earth - loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. Tough? Ridiculous thinking? Revival? Revolutionary? Good - because this is what we have been called to. In the Bible it speaks about if we do not praise God, then the rocks themselves will cry out. Worship is not just about singing songs to God; in fact that is a minor part of what Worship really is. Worship is living our lives in every facet in what God has made us to be; to hear Him call us and we follow with God's call and passion written all over us.

This is what God is calling us into. And if we beleive this; then getting off the couch should be slightly easier. If not with a little trepadation, but with a heart to follow His footsteps that He walked thousands of years ago where people touched his heart to a point of breaking for them.

"Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken."

"T-Swap"

2010-05-18T12:35:00.006+02:00

This past Saturday was another milestone in Stand up 4 Hopes growth. We have always been trying to get more people involved, more volunteering and more than this; a personal touch from others that opens up themselves to the streets and the people who live on them. I was unsure as to how this could be achieved, and "T-Swap" was born. The original idea of a "T-Swap" was probably around since t-shirts were made and friendships needed to be birthed, and I read about it while watching some inspirational ways of working with people who are not as well of as we are, who need respect shown to them in an honest and not plastic way. We took the original way I had read about, which was of people making friends by swapping shirts and people swapping shirts with charity organisation's shirts, to a different view that would suit the friendships needed on the streets. We made it based on this precept "Touching hearts, one shirt at a time."

Tina, our lady behind the scene, is someone who allows me more time on the streets while she does the kind of admin that I rarely, if ever am excited to do and is something she does incredibly. And rightly so, I will use her words to describe what "T-Swap" was.

"In John we are told about how Jesus washes the disciples feet. It is an act of humility and love. We are called to emulate Jesus' actions and his character. T-swap is a way to act this out."

And this is what T-Swap was. We went into Melville, 15 or so people from within the church clothed with a favourite shirt of their own, ready to meet with the homeless guys and swap their new and loved shirt for the other person's street, that obviously was a lot dirtier and being honest, a lot smellier too! Contrary to the title of the day, this was not about swapping shirts but about being able to be real with people you may drive past every day but never meet. About being wary of the outside and about being open to the possibilities. It was an amazing time for myself just to be able to see others who have heard about what is happening on the streets, and seeing them becoming a part of the bigger story. Seeing the interaction, the stepping out of the comfort zones that took place; this is what loving, respecting and believing in a vision really is all about.

Faith in the midst of violence and rehabilitation

2010-05-08T13:50:00.008+02:00

Most of us will know of Ricardo, either by name, photo on the site or just reputation. He is 25 and has already been in jail more times than most on the street. His latest stint was 6 years, going past the teens milestone and hitting 25 when he was released. I do not know all of his history, but what he has told me is worthy enough of a prison break episode. Not that he ever escaped tho. And then all of a sudden on Wednesday he arrives to greet me wearing a waistcoat and carrying a Bible. Reminded me a bit of the movie The Book of Eli!! Just with a few more scars. I had not seen him on the streets for a week due to a street fight and robbery, linked with Ricardo but the full story not to be known. What we see as fighting and in house theft is seen in a totally differnt light. There are differing stories, but in the end, the street family slowly rebuilds and becomes some form of a limping family again.

Ricardo began to talk to me on the subject of faith and what it meant to him and were he was in life. He began to show me scriptures throughout the Bible, sharing them to me, from Mark to 2Timothy to Revelations. He said he had some background in a Bible school and I tend to believe him due to his knowledge. And then we came to a strong scripture that was a very clear one for him, with all his faith based verses he had read to me. This was the definitive verse - "Faith without actions, is dead."
He wants to go Bible school, he also spoke mainly about going back to school, which I will need to follow up, but on the streets I have learnt as the others have too - we meet each other halfway. If you have a goal you want to see happen, lets chat, brainstorm ideas on how you can get as close to as possible, and then I will step in and help where I can too.

This coming week is full of the maybe's - school, Bible school and more from a few others I spoke to on the street that also want to go back to school of which there is a possible one nearby that may take older students. But that is for next week, and for now, relax and allow Ricardo to work out if this is really what he wants. He has a book and pen I gave him to write down thoughts and from what he is reading from his Bible.

I hope this weekend is time for him to work things out and if he is adamant next week for his schooling, this is where his walking into faith begins. And for me too.

Homeless man left to die

2010-04-28T10:14:00.008+02:00

I read this on a news site and I could not help but put it in a blog. This shook me, I honestly did not realise people would do this, but then again I must be shamelessly naieve. This article is from the USA, but that changes nothing. I will end this article with a question.

"Man left to die on NY street
2010-04-27 12:09

New York - The homeless Guatemalan immigrant lay face down, unmoving, on the pavement an apartment building, blood from knife wounds pooling underneath his body.
One person passed by in the early morning. Then another, and another. Video footage from a surveillance camera shows at least seven people going by, some turning their heads to look, others stopping to gawk.
One even lifted the homeless man's body, exposing what appeared to be blood on the sidewalk underneath him, before walking away.

It wasn't until after the 31-year-old man had been lying there for nearly an hour that emergency workers arrived, and by then, it was too late.

Saved woman from attack

Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax - who police said was stabbed while intervening to help a woman being attacked - had died. "I think it's horrific," said Marla Cohan, who teaches at PS 82, a school across the street from where Tale-Yax died.
"I think people are just afraid to step in; they don't want to get involved; who knows what their reasons are?"

Tale-Yax was walking behind a man and a woman on 144th Street in the Jamaica section of Queens at around 06:00 on April 18 when the couple got into a fight that became physical, according to police, who pieced together what happened from surveillance footage and interviews with area residents.

Tale-Yax was stabbed several times when he intervened to help the woman, NYPD spokesperson Paul Browne said. She and the other man fled in different directions, and Tale-Yax pursued the man before collapsing. Authorities are searching for the man and woman.

Emergency calls

An emergency call from a woman screaming came in at around 06:00, but when officers responded to the address that was given, no one was there, police said.
Another call came in at around 07:00, saying a man was lying on the street, but gave the wrong address. Finally, around 07:20, someone called the emergency dispatcher to report a man had possibly been stabbed at 144th Street and 88th Road.

Police and firefighters arrived a few minutes later to find Tale-Yax dead. Officials say they're not sure whether the man was still alive when passers-by opted not to help him. Residents who regularly pass by the same stretch of pavement, in a working-class neighbourhood of low-rise apartment buildings and fast food restaurants near a busy boulevard, were unnerved by the way Tale-Yax died.

"Is anybody human anymore?" asked Raechelle Groce, visiting her grandmother at a nearby building on Monday. "What's wrong with humanity?"

I will end this blog with the last few paragraphs from the news piece, but before I do I want to ask all a question. Which person are you? (And do not put any guilt with this; honesty is where you are at.)
1. A person passing, to look, to gawk.
2. A person lifting the homeless man's body, before walking away.
3. A person on the outskirts at shock it was in their area, while at home nearby (did they hear something and ignore it?)
4. A person phoning through to 911 (our case 10-111)
5. A person calling in the distress call, and waiting for the assistance.

The article continues, and ends with a strong point of fact:

"Groce agreed.
"I just think that's horrible, whether you're homeless or not," she said. "He's a human being; he needs help."

I re-iterate:
"I just think that's horrible, whether you're homeless or not," she said. "He's a human being; he needs help."

Think on this and may we all be questioned on our motives with the less fortunate.

Luke 10:25-37(I will approach this in my next blog...)

Forgiveness and Trust

2010-03-19T15:51:00.003+02:00

This past week on the streets has been one of trust. Trust damaged and trust gained. From Amo to a newly grown trust with Papani. Papani's story will be in the next blog due to Amo's story being a bit long. Amo, aka "BabyJakes" (64yrs) has been used to being on the streets, wonderful character and positive when he has the energy. Great to talk to, except when what I call the "Devil of the streets" - alcohol and the other one highly used by the kids, glue. When Amo is on the "Zorba" at R17.50 bottle that takes him around 5 mins to get through, the red Devil turns him from Amo to an unhappy, angry, and randomly swearing different person altogether. I love this guy, and it hurts when I see him clamped in the grip of the red Devil. I cannot do anything when he is under the influence.

When someone is under the influence of anything, I think those words are so true - you are under the influence of something, someone else. And when this happens, you cannot do much but watch. He will swing a random punch at you linked from his days in the 60's when he was a semi pro boxer (hence the nickname, BabyJakes) and you have to step back and let the influence almost rule his emotions, waiting for it to slowly release it's tireless grip. Leaving him with the whiff of the promise of glory and sweet surrender to the roads he is on. I do understand why he is doing this. And also why the community does not find faith in him. The streets are his ghost of memories, and to the community he is the memories that they want to be a ghost in the past left behind. Never easy to deal with the mix; at times I do not know what to do. This week I tried to deal with both emotive people and find him somewhere to live, a retirement home that Amo asked for me to get him into.

You will understand that I was very excited to hear about this. This was something that Amo approached me to do. He recognised his problem of alcohol and wanted to be off the streets and in his words "did not want to die on the streets an old man." So I duely found the place he wanted to go, "Thembalani" in Edenvale, a suburb about 20 minutes drive away from Melville. It was a step out for me to do; life now on the streets is becoming more "hands-on", where people need and share their trust with me for tangible help. Such as this with Amo. We shared trust that I would help him, and trust that he would go to this place. I will admit I was unsure if he would go, but he was adamant he would go if I could help. Well, unfortunately that trust was broken.

In a short form, I went there, collected all the forms, spoke to the right people, did what I had to and then when I came back to Amo with it all, well in my view he threw it all back in face saying he actually did not want to go there. He just wanted to organise his Pension and he knew of a better place to go to if he had his Pension. These blogs need to be honest and real for what is happening on the streets, so this is not a pity party for me, it is just a reality of what is happening on the streets. Trust is not given, it is earned. So this took a big hit into my trust and belief into what he said to me and basically about my driving, helping him etc. Don't worry, I will not let this stop me doing what I do. It will just keep me slightly wary of the talk on the streets.

I will try and help him get his pension, but I will not help him to find this place that he speaks about what sounds like Heaven. He says he will get in easily once his Pension is sorted, but I unfortunately do not believe it will be that easy. I hope it will not happen, but I do not think that this will happen as he believes it will. People say many things on the streets, and the ones looking for any hope out there will grab onto anything. And too many times, hope slips away as does the person who gave it out.

So what should my approach be? Tough love as in trying to help him get his Pension and then let hem go in what direction he will go, or should I do more, turn the other cheek and try trust more. It is a fine line of being used and giving love; I still love Amo and his life and what he needs. But I do not think we are called to be mats that people walk on and use for themeselves only. I also have to love, give hope and allow it to shine it to them. But I also have to be wise and not to be used because I am "the nice guy who helps on the street." I do not think there is a set open answer. The only truth is that God is the over-seeing hope, and in His given wisdom to us, we hopefully make the right the choices....

The Generation of the Family

2009-12-18T15:43:00.006+02:00

Every generation is pinned with certain titles, needs, hopes. Some are detrimental and some are positive. The half empty differentiating with the half full thought process. Well, I think that multiple generations can be called the same thing. I feel that this is because the “title” or “need” is something intrinsically linked throughout the dna of what God has called humanity. With many on a continual link throughout life, I believe that one of the strongest ones that if failed can destroy our very way of life, is Family. Capital letter equals importance. Family is of high importance. A building block in humanity, that if lost, will cause decay throughout life, that in time will eat away into the very fabrics of who we are.

On Monday the 14th, Stand up for hope had it’s first Christmas party and it was one that showed the positive side of family and how it intertwined itself with the life around us. We were expecting about 36 children/men, and an hour before there were already kids waiting to come for their special evening. They looked like they could have come even earlier if they could have. The expectancy was tangible. Inside the kitchen, things were abuzz, from the cooking of the vegetables to the slicing of the 14 cooked chickens. I tried to get into the kitchen to help, but I was overwhelmed with the amount of people already inside! This evening was one full of amazement from all the donations of so many people. Financial to clothing to musical lights to tablecloths to hands on help. These kids were aware that it was not me who had made this happen, but people like yourself who had taken time to embrace what was happening around you, with children who are so used to having to beg for what they eat.

I had to laugh with an older kid, called Trust, who has one of those “bottomless stomachs” that can eat and eat and eat again, when he put his hand on his stomach and told me he was full! That past week he had been giving me a hard time about wondering what he was having for supper, if it was meat and that he was going to eat so much on Monday. I have to admit, part of his attitude grated me and I had told him that if he did not want to come then he did not have to. I was not being horrible, although for a moment I had to check myself. I was just calling his bluff and also letting him know that everyone should not take things for granted. On and off the street. Ourselves and them. And then I saw him on Monday, almost having 3rds and 2 helpings of ice-cream and sauce! And yes, he was full 

There are many more stories from that evening that I will share in time, but Trust’s story was something that made me aware that if we had not been a part of their party, of Trust’s evening, then he would have really left hungry. Only with the involvement of us a family, could this have happened. And in this action, the “half empty” and the “half full” became one. Realising that whatever side of the tracks we came from, we are all one family. Rich, poor; full, hungry; friend, enemy; loved, unloved…..all became one that night. A beautiful cacophony of colour and sound formed up in the heavenlies that night, like the Northern Lights….creating what could only be called an unknown colour that only be described as Love.

That night, God and the angels stared with delight at what was happening below at the party of friends, and out of the corner of their eyes saw a new star appear. Shining in excitement with the colour of love. That night, I like to think that all of us helped in creating a new star that now shines in the constellation called Family.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Emphasis mine.)
Luke 6:37-38

SuperGod in the house

2009-11-20T15:31:00.012+02:00

I am not SuperGod. I am not even God. Amazingly I realised this and did not have an instant breakdown with this realisation! I say all of this because I am struggling to "dis-associate" myself from what is happening on the streets. That what happens on the streets, does not totally come home with me....that sounds ironic. But true. Lately I have been struggling, finding it hard not to take on frustration, pain, anger, for what is happening with the past days of rain. Solid rain, drenching, seeping into every part where it hits outside. Even my car with my half broken into door. When it rains, I struggle not to feel a heaviness for the kids that I know are out on the kids with damp clothes, wet plastic bags covering them, not many places to cover or keep them warm. I cannot shake it, I cannot put it into the back of my mind and deal with it when I go back onto the streets. I know I need to separate my times on the streets to "normality" or whatever that is.

I am now realising the prayer you pray "God, break my heart for what breaks yours" actually does happen - obviously if we are praying for what God wants, but wow, the heart breaking is hard. But if this is not happening, then whatever work with people you are involved with will stay at one level. Waiting for the next level, the one where you do not have to fully understand what they are going through but to have them on your heart as God does.

My sister likes to cut up people...hold on, that sounds freakier than it seems. She is a surgeon, a really good one and someone who puts her whole heart and soul into the work she does. (This is really sounding weird!) She has had to learn how to put her work away every night she leaves the hospital, and jump into family time. She has shown me that you can still have the emotions for the work you are doing, but also the wisdom and understanding of leaving the hard parts behind. This does not mean she does not care for her patients. She just knows she is not SuperGod. To her kids she is SuperMom ;) but SuperGod is definitely not her role. When she realised ths, things became easier. For me, I have to realise this too. I am not SuperGod, even tho the idea sounds kinda cool but then again a bit too much to handle. Way too much!

Actually makes me think of Jim Carrey in "Bruce Almighty" compared to "Evan Almighty." Bruce plays God and ends up with a few million emails from people all over the world needing help from God, he changes the moon and tides and causes world wide weather devestation, compared to Bruce who realises that God is trying to get his attention to help with a specific task that God wants him to do and finally following the task and creates an ark etc...he lets everyone elses's views of him go so that he can see God's view. Bruce = God complextion + pride. Evan = God realisation + humility.

I have been acting sometimes on the "Bruce" actions, but with these mistakes come learning and knowing that I am not SuperGod. I want to be simply "Evan", and that sits perfectly with me.

Disturbing the peace

2009-11-12T15:16:00.002+02:00

I recently stopped at a traffic light, waiting for the green to lighten up so that I could get to my destination. And quickly! As I waiting, the view of the many street vendors wandered towards my car. Even with the work I do, instincts die slowy. I was about to wind up the window, until I realised that I could start up a conversation, or just say that I was sorry but could not buy his wares. I kept the window down and from this movement, we started a conversation. It was a quick one, but one of acknowledging the person as someone real, and not an entity that is locked away by our closed window. But what hit me the most is what he said as I said goodbye.

His words were "Sorry for bothering you."

Sorry for bothering me? I drove through the intersection onto my next road of travel feeling extremely taken aback. Almost as if I felt incredibly emotional for him. This was a man who tried to sell his goods every day at the same traffic lights, and all he wanted was a smiling face, a small chat....recognition. How hard is it for you, for me, to show that. It could be a similar person as I met at the traffic lights, it could be a car guard, it could be someone you pass on the streets. This is something that sometimes has been ingrained into people's minds. And this is something we have the power to break. Humanity is everyone. God made EVERYONE in his image. Not just the ones that make us feel comfortable, the ones we don't have to put a lot of time into, the ones we feel safe around.

God made all of us in His likeness - we need to try and grasp, understand and take steps to change the mindset and love the unlovely, the broken, the needy, the orphans, the needy. This is our mandate. May we be the ones who "bother" the people who need it. Reach out; life is not only about us.

Loving with no agendas

2009-10-16T15:08:00.011+02:00

Working with the street kids is sometimes like a rollercoaster of emotions. Each week their emotional interaction will change from wanting to be close and spend honest time chatting. And then the following week they will still be friendly and enjoy their food, but then will want to be by themselves and I will leave after 15 minutes compared to my times of up to one and half hours. Things on the streets and the boys are fickle; not because they are dis-associated with the world and feelings around them. It is just because they live in a world that we are not in touch with. Almost tangible but one you would have to put your toe in and sense it. Makes me think of the Matrix with the mercurial matter that Neo had to put his hand into. It was right there in front of him, but he had to take that step of faith to enter it.

So how do we practically do that? My view on this is a simplistic one but I believe one that is so simple that we miss it. We need to love without any hidden agendas. This means: No agenda of trying to get them off the streets, no agenda of trying to get them off glue, no agenda of trying to get them to go to a church meeting, no agenda but to love them. To be with them. To show them that you are meeting with JUST BECAUSE you care. All of the latter things will probably fall into place once we understand the fundamental matter that is this: To help the street kids, to give them an understanding of love, hope, peace...then we can start to talk and address the bigger issues. I fully believe that these wonderful street kids do want change, hope and a purpose outside of the street! But I also fully 100% believe that these kids want what we all want - love. Bringing them food, staying with them afterwards and building relationships. With no agenda.

I feel quite strongly that the kids will not open up and be real and want to change, if all we show them is a hidden purpose behind cutting of the crusts of the cute cucumber and cheese sandwiches. Maybe the kids want the crusts left on!

So this is it really; never ever ever take love out of the equation when helping these street kids. Because true Love has no hidden agenda. Search your hearts - I know you all want these kids loved, clothed, fed, off the streets, staying in a set house, being educated. This is my strongest desire too. For them all. I am definitely not perfect in this area of agendas. But I strive to bring them true love, and I am praying that you in your capacity can do that too. To love them with no hidden agendas. You may be surprised as to what can happen!

Listen

2009-10-12T18:47:00.006+02:00

There is a whispering running throughout the suburb. One that can be heard by the ones with houses and the ones with cardboard boxes. A gentle whisper rustling through the cracks in the storm-water drains that the some take for granted and for some that do not take these places of sleep lightly. A whisper that is captured by the rumble of an incoming storm, bringing a pleasurable smell of fresh rain and to someone else bringing a smell of fear of where one can stay dry, a smell of something that has long gone past it’s romantic sell by date. And throughout the suburb, the whisper affects us all, from the houses hidden behind barbed wire to the people lying within broken and rusted wires in the rubble around.

The whisper that embraces itself around the community cannot lie. It can only tell what it sees. Windows quickly closing at traffic lights, old card cups that rattle with the copper coins that have been collecting dust in the passing cars, kids wondering how much their hunger is worth over their addictiveness to glue. This is the truth we live in. Yes, people are scared to wind down their car windows in case a street kid may do something, but also kids are scared as to what people may say to them or may hit them with. This is a whispering town full of people that in some strange ways are the same. At home, people do not want gifts or the latest gadget. People want to be wanted, to be loved, to be given something that costs more than money allows. Time. Time to be listened to, time to be held, time to share their hearts with someone. Time to care and time to be cared for.

Time to be allowed to have an identity.

We are all the same. Maybe not in lifesyle. But in the wanting to be needed. In the desire to have an identity.

Take the time to sit for awhile and listen to the whisper.

The whisper calling us to action.

To be covered in the dust of his sandals

2009-10-08T00:28:00.000+02:00

Today was a day of understanding. Of understanding what the young children and dreamers of tomorrow are and the understanding the young man and dreamer of myself continue to evolve.

This past week has been ridiculously difficult, what with personal problems as well as a fight to keep the passion for Stand up for Hope growing. These past 2 Wednesdays have been lessons in what the street really is like. The street is unforgiving, unloving and unremorseful in it’s actions. While handing out clothing to the kids, from the backseat of my car, someone stole my cell phone. How uncaring and ungrateful would have been the first reaction to this! Here am I helping and clothing these kids and the best they can do is take my cell phone. (I do want to point out tho that it was not one of my kids who stole it – it was someone taking a chance as he walked around the car.) Outrageous! Uncaring! I should have been more aware, probably meen been more dilligent in watching the car interior, but what I will chalk this up to is a street lesson. Be more organised in the giving out of gifts. In a very finite way, the rush of many hands clamouring at the door of my car felt like the scenes shown on television of Aid agencies brining in greatly needed food and how people would just converge on the poor workers and grab what they could. After some of my kids, or should I say God’s kids ran after the thief and in a story left for another blog lost him, I felt a slight part of a family with them. That they would run 4 to 6 blocks in Mevlille; for me. Later as we spoke, they were concerned that I would not come back the following week due to the theft but all in me knew I could not blame them, I should not and my heart would not let me stop what God had placed in front of me, in front of you to continue. To run the race, and continue it until our mandate has been moved to another area. In the beginning I was angry, slightly hurt, but after a short time I found laughter in me and on my drive home after blocking my phone, I had some kind of joy that one should not have in this experience. A joy that suprasses any understanding. I knew it was a joy and laughter in the face of it all could come only from my God.

This is not an anamalistic, prehistoric act of people but one of need that sometimes cannot be contained to a raging mix of endorphines full of excitement and one of a pure drive of need. I cannot go up into Africa or even around the corner into Johannesburg itself without learning this basic understanding of how the streets work. I am not in charge of the street and the kids I work with even tho in a misguided pride I feel I do. We have to realise that number one, we are not in total control of anything in our lives and number two, even purely passionate actions still do not instantly change the area where we are hoping it will. I.e. the streets around us. These streets are a moving, mecurial animal that lives as an entity to itself. No human has control over it, no street kid no matter what owership and dependence they have on the animal known as the street, no police who unashamedly use unprovoked inhumane beatings against these children…no-one on this earth has control over what is happening on the streets people like myself try and control. This is not a negative look at the work we as Stand up for hope are doing; this is merely just an understanding of what little we really do have of the streets and people around as have. And this is good because we can go in with a different and more realistic view of the people we are reaching out to.

Then today, I really felt such a block in keeping my passion going for this organisation. I questioned my heart immediately, and even tho I really did not want to go out today meeting with the kids and adults, I knew inside I did. Even if I had to force myself into doing it. Getting a friendly outward view from a friend assisted in my heart to change, and to also realise that I am human even tho I felt I was immortal surrounding this ministry. Becoming aware of one’s humanity in a humanitarian organisation is humbling but also rewarding because you know that you are not the one made to save the world, let alone the area around you and the problems it may have. I am here to give what I can to these beautiful children and that is it – I am called to love, feed, care and to listen. That is it. Not to save. That is God’s job, and as Thabo, one of the kids said, God is in him and with Him he knows that he is protected and understood.

So yes, your giving and love for these kids and adults is so needed but must be given in an understanding that your gift will definitely change lives and give hope but that the answer to what we have helped give, is not in us but in God who already knows the answer and in ways I know He will tell them. But please also realise that we are in such an exciting place right now in helping, growing, and listening to these kid’s goals and dreams to move off the street and listen to them until the sun sets and the flashing lights of the cars pass on by. We are in such an exciting time, a time to guide and love young people towards a future that they desire and need. We are God’s hands and feet to the unloved, to the ones that others will pass by and forget in a fleeting moment. We are called to be His feet, to embrace the dust of where He walked in and to let it fall softly around us as we give our time and gifts to these that He loved before we even did.

And in this comes the understanding that we are living in the meaning of why we were made.