Monday, March 7, 2011

Awesome Photos from the Transkei.........

There is so much more to say about our outreach to the Transkei,  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm just sending you pics with the descriptions in the captions. Hope you enjoy!

Emi's 1st missionary journey.



This is me at South Africa's "Hole in the Wall"

Traditional Xhosa huts. Can you imagine waking up to this view?
The brave Global Challengers testing their gear in Coffee Bay for the year ahead.
One of our teams built a jungle gym for the orphan's school in Coffee Bay
Someone donated paint, so they were able to paint Scriptures all over the structure.
Willem digging the first of two holes for the outhouses the team built for the chief's homestead.


This area is called the Wild Coast. So, so beautiful!



One of the Global Challenge teams building a stone house. They worked so hard - leveling the land, gathering the rocks from the area around, and building the house.  This team also built a greenhouse to start seedlings for the community.

Morning in Coffee Bay
Evening in Coffee Bay.

The  42 Global Challenge participants hiked 4 hours to the "Hole in the Wall"



Emi with her friend "Tonto"
You had to wade through a river to get to the beach and then fight the cows for a place to sit.


The teams had a challenge to get from Coffee Bay back to Jeffrey's Bay (an 8 hour drive) on their own with only $14 each. They had some amazing stories of how God provided rides for them on their way back.

I was able to visit an amazing place called Khaya Lethu, where they take care of several AIDS orphans. There is  a nice place to sleep, a little pre-school, and a library. There are 8 children living there now. Such a precious place.

One of the sweet little kiddos at Khaya Lethu

Christine and her husband Gerrie run Khaya Lethu and this is one of the little ones they are taking care of.

Some of the wonderful Global Challenge participants.
Marius training the GC participants on cultural sensitivity and having a servant's heart. He did a great job!


Some of the school children in Coffee Bay watching our progress on the playground we were building.

One of the teams also was able to repair and waterproof the leaking roof of the orphan school.
This is Heather from Dothan, Alabama. She is the only American of the 42 Global Challenge participants this year. Of course she and I had lots of good "southern" times together.


Marius helped the teams to build a fence around the orphan school playground.

Emi and mommy by the sea
This is Bongi, the chief's daughter, who became a Christian and was baptized. She is still reading her Xhosa Bible the team gave her. Please keep Bongi in your prayers.
She has such an amazing smile!




 Hope you enjoy the photos. We will blog more about what has been happening in the past 2 weeks. Thanks for being a part of our journey with us. For your prayers, for your support, and for just keeping in touch. We love it that God brought us here for "such a time as this" and are sure we are exactly where He wants us to be!

lots of love,

The Deetlefs Family (Marius, Jodi, and Emi)







1 comment:

  1. Loved seeing all the photos and showing them to my younger kids who will one day get to see their own African views. BTW, my 9 year old daughter was all excited about going to the beach til she saw the COWS! HA!

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