Surrounded by Selfless Examples

I want to be faithful. I want to be selfless. But … Wow!

Rita and Christian are the house parents at the Rock. They have a family, including a daughter undergoing chemo treatment in Belgium.

They had a beautiful farm that was built in the 1300’s. (I think I understood that right). They sold everything to heed God’s call to Africa …to take care of AIDs orphans.

Rita’s father died while she was here. She kept working. She has great grandchildren, including one she has never met. She keeps working.

Christian loved his life in Belgium, according to Rita. But he heard God’s call and surprised her in wanting to move to Namibia.

This is not a romantic part of Africa. Keetmanshoop is much like the areas in Arizona I never wanted to move to. Dry, dusty, underdeveloped. No green grass and little vegetation so not many flowers, birds, trees.

One of the most challenging things to me is how tiring it to communicate with people when you realize only a small portion of what you say or hear is understood. Rita speaks English pretty well but has trouble hearing it. She reads it well, I notice. Christian speaks French and Afrikaans with a very strong accent, as some others have told me. He is so open and friendly. He respects and loves the people here and I sense the feelings are mutual. From the gas station to the stores to miles away when we were getting gas and we hear someone yell his name. He is a bright light for God and is often I think an hero happy in the background at the Ark because Rita is the one who can communicate the best. 

We sensed a troubling situation and wanted so badly to reach out to support Christian. The problem is, the only people who speak his native Flemish language are his wife and a 20 year old volunteer. It must be lonely for him here sometimes.

He does go to a men’s group and a church with people who speak Afrikaans and English. It must just get tiring once in awhile.

Andy runs the morning devotions for the Aunties, Rita, Christian, Heidi, Kim from Belgium, and Tikadeys (a girl needing special ed). He found a way to pull up the devotion by Greg Laurie in So. Cal. side by side in English and Dutch, which I gather is very close to Flemish. Christian looks pleased. I love his smile with his deep smile lines. 

Today we had breakfast at the Garden Café in Okajandja, before driving to Windhoek with Christian to get some parts for the van (Andy hit a pole), to try to get a larger electrical converter for the paint sprayer Andy brought, and to buy a computer for college student, Alaska (whose real name is Aloysius).

Tony and Kathryn Duran own the Garden Cafe and are from San Diego; they felt the call to come serve years ago. They were with CHI until they started a very cool ministry / business in Okajandja. I can see Hailey and Cam going there for a break once in awhile. It is an American patio-style café with a comfortable lounging area. There are always Peace Corps volunteers eating there because Okajandja is the Peace Corps training center for Namibia (maybe even more of Africa...can't remember). The food is fantastic by any standards and tastes familiar and yummy. Loved my breakfast wrap with French fries, chorizo, eggs, bacon, and the best cheddar cheese on the planet.

Tony and Kathryn have 5 children and have their 6^th and 7^th grandchildren on the way. Kathryn will fly home soon to be with their youngest daughter for the birth of her 1^st child and be there a month or so before doing the unthinkable...leaving all of that to be here in Africa, changing lives. 

We could see the ache in their faces when they talk about their family. On the other hand, we could see the joy and excitement as they describe what they do in Namibia.

They have this café and they find 10 – 12 young people at a time who are intelligent but have few options. In Namibia, college is paid for only for those doing very well in school. If you don’t pass 10^th grade, that is usually it for you. If you pass 12^th grade you have a much better chance to get a job. If you do very well and graduate 12^th grade, you can apply for government assistance for college but the school system is very very challenged here so the kids struggle to achieve. My observation is that the fundamentals are so weak that academics becomes a mounting chore as the kids get older. 

Tony and Kathryn find the young people through the many connections they have made here. They give them a paying job in the café. They mentor them and train them in marketable skills. They also take them through a 12 week course, discipling them in the life changing Word of Jesus Christ.

They have helped 47 young people have new choices. They have a 74% rate of employment after the youth finish the program, have a chance to see themselves in a new light and experience the life changing power of loved in a new way. That compares to the very dismal 52% unemployment rate in the country with young people unemployed at a much higher rate.

They are always in danger of the government coming in and taking their work visas. It is hard to show that you are legit when so many people from the outside world will come in to capitalize on opportunities in a developing nation, only to take what they can get and give nothing to the host country or community. It was so inspiring to sit with them today and talk about all of this. We talked about some of the challenges too, personally and nationally in Namibia. I was touched with Kathryn said how encouraging it was to talk with us too. They shared a bit about how nice it would be to hear from people in the states once in awhile. I'm glad they shared that. I never really thought about how lonely it can get. 

Other people for you to meet: There is Vessel and Anneka (newly pregnant National Director awaiting someone like Cam and Hailey to take over running the Okajandja CarePoint), Big Uncle Danny and Frieda who run the Oshikuku Ministry Center in the north. He is a most lovable Zambian and has ‘adopted’ a 10 year old boy named Joseph who he is so worried about. He sounds like very bad ADHD. They live hand to mouth, by faith, while working so incredibly hard. 

There is Kelvyn and Edith in Rehoboth. They have a beautiful 18-year-old son, Lorenzo,  and a precocious little Abigail with one of those big 5-year-old smiles and brilliantly bright eyes.  They were in Okajandja but were asked to move to Rehoboth. They did and are working day and night on behalf of the kids in the area and beyond.

There is handsome and sweet Cedrick. He grew up at the Ark and now lives at the Rock (5-6 hours drive away) to guard and care for it. I asked him what he would like to do with his future. He seems lonely to me but I really don’t know him. His eyes lit up and he said he loves what he is doing now.! I asked him what that was, exactly. He said he is teaching the Word of God to young kids and helping them to follow Jesus. He is the only Christian in his extended family and is a completely transformed person. He cried yesterday that he feels guilty not presenting the Gospel to his family more. Jos encouraged him that, with family, it is his transformed life that speaks the most loudly. God will have to do the rest.

How many people I know feel this way, like they should be helping their loved ones see what we see. I hope others who know us can tell the difference between us with God and us without God. I pray that is true!