Information about ThriveAfrica

Written Morning 1-28-08

Orientation is over and I start classes in less than an hour. We had a staff meeting this morning and I thought it would be good to explain Thrive more as I have learned a lot about them this past week.
ThriveAfrica is celebrating 10 years of existence. It was started in 1998 by Niel and Alece Van Rensberg. Niel is a white South African and Alece an American. They got married around 2000 and purchased the base where the ministry is now located in 2002.
The base is a 2,500 acre game reserve with over 400 animals. Zebra, Wildebeest, Blesbok, Lechwe and Horses are all present. There are three mountains on the base, Mooihoek, Mount Everest and Eagle Mountain (also known as Glen’s Head). It has a campsite and a number of chalets on the property that are open to guests.
Thrive currently does a number of ministries in the township areas of Intabazwe and Qwa Qwa (on a map it is labeled Phutaditjhaba). These areas are adjacent and near the town of Harrismith, respectively.

The ministries include
1) Launchpad, biblical discipleship classes taught afterschool for young people but open to all.
2) Leadership summit, which is taught in local schools, that focuses on teaching young people positive principles and specifically AIDS prevention.
3) Hand in Hand, pastor conferences which happen a few times a year where pastors come from all over to receive teaching, ideas, training and support on the base.
4) Youth Camps, which happen during school holiday season (in September) where we bus in township kids to our base and we give them the time of their lives, with fun, teaching, and love.
5) Hope House, an orphanage in Harrismith where we visit weekly to give the kids lessons, fun and love.
6) Mission team hosting, where we host teams from churches in America and facilitate their experience, including shelter, food, and ministry activities.
7) Thrive Trip, where a mission team made up of many different young people from across the states comes for a slightly longer short term trip that includes many of the same things that other mission teams do it just is for 3 weeks.
8) Internships, which include twenty4seven and Outreach staff. Twenty4seven is my internship where young people come for a year of classes, work and ministry to prepare them for missions long-term. Outreach is a 2 month summer internship where young people come to work with Thrive during that time.

These are the main ministries and an important part is that almost all of these are free to those who attend or participate.
While the mission teams and interns raise their own funds to come here, there are very few revenue streams aside from dedicated giving by people in the states. Over this past week I have gotten to know the staff of ThriveAfrica and I can say they have stepped out in faith to follow the calling of God. This ministry is still small but they have a tremendous vision and desire for growth. Money is needed in all aspects in order to continue and grow the ministry. Would you pray for Thrive in the coming year as the other interns and I partner and work with the staff to bring about the vision of Thrive in our areas of ministry?

Your support and interest has been and continues to be invaluable and a great inspiration to me. Thank you and may God Bless you until I write again.

My First hours with ThriveAfrica

Written 1/22/08

Sorry about the delay in posting these past two entries. The first week here they are setting up the network so I won’t be getting internet until the 28th, which will be when I hopefully post these entries as well as my pictures.
So I am outside Harrismith now at the ThriveAfrica compound. My friend Jason dropped me off at the airport yesterday and I soon met up with Neil and Alece Van Rensberg, the founders of Thrive. We had to wait for two flights to arrive so we were at the airport for over three hours but it was not all that boring. Six of the seven girls arrived last night. The other two guys and remaining girl missed their flight because of arriving late at airport from their domestic flights. The fly in and arrive here tonight.
So its me and six girls for now.
Wait it gets better.
Our setting and accommodation's are incredible. This base was a former game reserve and it is on absolutely beautiful land. Driving in last night we saw antelope and wildebeest straightaway. Pretty cool.
Its morning now and the views from my room are awesome. There is an amazing plateau (actually more like a butte) directly behind where I am staying. The place I’m at is called the Eagle Mountain Game Lodge and for good reason. There’s a mountain shaped like an Eagle in view of where we eat. It’s kind of like New Hampshire’s Man of the Mountain, but in South Africa and an eagle.
Any worries that people have that I’m roughing it in the third world can be laid to rest now. My room (which I’ll be sharing with the other two guy interns) is basically like any other western hotel room, the only difference being the thatched roof which is pretty cool anyway. My bathroom door has a Rhino carved in it, how cool is that?
So all is well here in South Africa. In this entry I'm including a view from my porch where I'm living. Pretty incredible.
This week is mostly just orientation but so far the fellow interns I am with seemed wicked nice and excited and I am pumped as well. I looked forward to having you read these and please check out the pictures I take on facebook if you are able.

A (very) brief history of South Africa

Written 1-18-08

I realized while writing my last entry that I was only writing about myself. While this is largely natural, I wanted to use this entry to write about South Africa. I’m staying with a friend from my camp this week and being a tourist. The one thing that I wanted to do during my week here was visit the Apartheid Museum and today I did that. What follows is my brief synopsis of South Africa history. The information comes from what I have read and learned today in the Museum. Please note I skip over large periods of time and simplify things for sake of space. I hope my shortcomings will provide motivation for your own studies of this tremendously fascinating and unique country.

The first thing you must know is South Africa is not just made of blacks and whites.
The first people in South Africa were the San and then the KhoiKhoi. They would be known by most westerners by the offensive term “bushmen.” Through intermarriage and general mistreatment there are hardly any of these people left today in South Africa. Many descendants of the San are today’s coloureds, people who are mixed race.
Long after the San and Khoikhoi arrived, Bantu tribes arrived from the north. These were the forerunners of what is today the Black African population in the country.
The first permanent white settlement was started in 1652 by the Dutchman Jan Van Riebeeck. He was the ancestor of the Afrikaners in South Africa. Afrikaners are whites who because they have lived in South Africa for so many generations believed they were truly Africans. Many in the past believed they were God’s chosen people and God had given South Africa for them.
British settlers and colonists arrived later and wished to use South Africa for their own colonial purposes. The white population is today a mix of Afrikaners and British-origin people.
A final segment are the Asians. Because of past migrant labor, many Indians and other Asians live in South Africa now. Gandhi lived in South Africa for a time before going back to India in the early 20th century.
Before the 20th-century there was much fighting for land between African tribes, Afrikaners and British people. After numerous wars and conflicts, Union came in 1910. Keep in mind this Union was a whites-only agreement, no blacks were consulted. Nevertheless the modern borders of South Africa had been formed.
Segregation was enforced throughout this time until 1948. Keep in mind segregation was not apartheid, which did not begin until 1948. 1948 brought about a victory for the Afrikaner Nationalist Party which was the government that instituted Apartheid.
Apartheid was not a simple system but a ludicrously complicated one made up of hundreds of laws instituted over decades. Some highlights (or rather, lowlights) were the following.
Every citizen was rigidly classified by race and had to carry a pass identifying them as that race.
Everything was segregated, from buses, to beaches, to bathrooms.
Separate schooling was set up for black Africans that was inferior to what whites received.
The grand plan of apartheid was quite insidious. It desired blacks and whites to be completely separated and that was possible through land control. The Apartheid government essentially told blacks where they were supposed to live
Bantustans were set up that were only for Blacks, far from white communities. The Bantustans were only 13 percent of the country even though blacks were over 80 percent of the population.
This never completely worked as townships like Soweto were set up and kept huge populations of blacks very close to the cities.
Apartheid last until 1994 when after decades of harsh and often violent struggle the first democratic elections were held. Nelson Mandela became the countries first black president.
Today South Africa is still struggling to overcome its past. Apartheid left millions of blacks without proper homes, jobs or education. The government is faced with the task of providing all these things as fast as possible. South Africa does have a high crime rate but is this to be expected. 80% of the population became pariahs in their own land for the last century. Until more progress has been made crime will remain an issue.
That said South Africa has tremendous wealth. It has gold, diamonds and other minerals. It has nice, though heavily secured, suburbs. It is making progress. I have said to pray for me often and I’m grateful for those prayers, but now I request that you pray for South Africa. Pray that they continue to grow and overcome the past and that they can look toward the future with hope and not despair.
You can find more information from my pictures which I will caption on facebook as soon as I can. I thank you if you have read this far and I hope it has given you a better understanding of the country.

My first hours in South Africa

Written 1-14-08
I am in Africa.
Once again these are four simple words but their truth is beyond surreal for me. Many people go on mission trips and know the little about the country they cram into their minds in the months beforehand. When they arrive for their experience everything is exotic and by the time they start to really learn about the place, their week or month is up and they go home.
For me Africa is different.
I have had an interest in Africa since at least middle school and perhaps beforehand when I discovered I was quite good with geography, especially world Countries and capitals.
Once I started High school I was inclined to go for what I thought of as the “non-white” history classes. These included Contemporary World Cultures and a year of African studies when I was a junior. While in college my major was technically European history, I was one class short of an Africana studies minor and took a number of anthropology classes as well.
I have read a great deal about Africa. I know extensively the ins and outs of the Rwandan Genocide Tragedy in 1994. A book about the colonial history of what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of my favorites. I read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography this fall and know a good deal of the fascinatingly unique history of South Africa.
This book knowledge has made the few hours I have already spent here filled with meaning. Today on the way home from the airport, my friend and I drove through Rivonia. This was the district where Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in the 1960s. Unbelievable.
As you may have guessed I have survived my 15-hour flight. It was long but I got a little sleep and watched three movies. Having no one next to me was great as well.
Thank you all for your prayers. I am so happy I am here. This is a highpoint of my life already and I have done little more than drive through the city of Johannesburg.
Till my next entry, Blessings.

How I managed to get my Visa 3 days before I left for South Africa.

I have my visa.

Such a simple sentence, four little words. Yet I have not been able to utter the words above truthfully until today, January 10th, 3 days before my flight to South Africa.
This is my story.

I filled out the application, compiled the needed documents, and carefully put my passport in the package to the South African Consulate General in New York City. I sent it as certified mail. No more than two days later I received a phone call. It was the consulate. Four more documents were needed. I obtained them and then dutifully sent them out in the first week of December. I naively thought I would have my Visa by christmas. I was sorely mistaken.
After a week, I sent an email to the consulate general asking for confirmation that the other documents had been received. I waited.
In the next two weeks leading up to Christmas I got one email from the consulate that had one line in it. It said "when did you send them?" There was no salutation or other form of greeting.
By this time I began to get nervous but Christmas distracted me for a couple days. Finally after much calling and angst I find out the other documents had never arrived. They were lost in the mail or perhaps taken by some evil mail gnome. I will probably never know.
I now had to fax all the documents to the consulate.
No problem right? I had copies of all the documents, piece of cake right?

Oh wait.

In my excitement to get the paperwork in I had not made a copy of my criminal record. The only way to get your own personal CORI in Massachsetts is to write a 25 dollar check to a government agency, send in a notarized application and wait two weeks. Oops.
I re-sent an application in on the 27th of December, faxed in the stuff I did have, and waited.

The CORI took forever and actually did not arrive until today. However God had a plan.

Two things happened this week of great fortune.
My mom came up with the greatest bit of advice ever. She remembered my job this fall had requested my CORI, maybe I could get a copy from them. I called them up and indeed I could. I faxed it and all was well with the world, or so I thought.

The other thing that happened was a rep from Thrive emailed me asking if I needed help with my Visa, the consulate had told her I was calling them, trying to get confirmations and such. I discussed things with her and she assured me she would try what she could and that the staff would be praying about it. I felt much better after talking with her.

I spent most of yesterday calling the consulate trying to see if they had my CORI/Criminal record. Finally in late afternoon I get an annoyed official on the phone saying I did not fax it to their specific number. I have to explain myself three times but I finally say I'll fax it in the next 30 minutes. I run out to my car and head towards a place where I can fax the document. I do and when I get home I have an email from my Thrive rep saying the consulate had told her I had everything in and my Visa would arrive on time. PRAISE THE LORD!!

It came via overnight mail this afternoon. I have never been happier to hold a document in my hands except perhaps my college diploma.

I cannot thank all my supporters enough for your prayers. They were heard!
Now that I can stop worrying about being able to go and finally get to some serious packing I am incredibly pumped to be finally going to Africa.
My next entry will be from Africa (as well as much shorter I hope)!

Thanks and God Bless!

How I ended up going to South Africa

Here it is, my first entry in my blog about South Africa. I thought it best to start by explaining my journey and how I got to this point, a few days away from leaving on the longest trip of my life.

I discovered missions on a whim. I was in 9th grade and attending the youth group at my church, Grace Chapel. Every summer they sent out youth mission teams to a few different locales. That year I did not think about applying for one, it just did not enter my head. Eventually they make a announcement saying they need more applicants and I applied. Nothing dramatic, I did not have a vision of God or anything like that, but this decision began my interest in missions.

The summer of 2000 I went on my first short-term trip to Romania. It was awesome and I was hooked. The next summer I went on another short trip to Haiti. I used this trip as a way to gauge if missions were for me. In retrospect, using one 2-week experience to decide on something as big as my affinity for missions but probably not wise, but it worked out. Haiti was a dramatic and incredible experience. For probably the only time in my life I really felt God flowing through me while I was there doing work and having devotions each night. I came home from that trip fully dedicated to the idea of doing missions as only an idealistic young high-schooler can be.

The next summer I did not go on a trip but was a CIT at my camp which was a great experience. The summer of 2003 after I graduated from high school I went on my last trip with Grace to Trinidad. It was an equally successful and awesome experience.
When I returned and prepared to attend college at Wheaton in MA, my mom mentioned the Urbana missions conference was that December. I had no idea what Urbana was about but it sounded good so I registered.

Urbana was absolutely amazing. Put on and hosted by Intervarsity it brings together over 20,000 college students to attend talks, seminars and to network with various mission groups. It totally pumped me up about missions, but I had 3 more years of school left.

3 years later as a incoming senior majoring in history I realized finding a job after graduation was an important goal. Conveniently, another Urbana (it only happens every 3 years) was happening in December of 2006. I decided I needed to go again. I planned to network a ton and thats exactly what I did. I talked to lots of groups, gave out my information and got much info myself. It was a really great time. ThriveAfrica was not at Urbana.

After Urbana I began to process and decided to apply to a number of organizations. One was to teach in Europe and I was accepted, but the dates did not work as I wanted so I declined. My second major application was with FRONTIERS, a ministry that focuses on reaching Muslims. I applied for a 7-month minimum team experience doing ministry in Northern Iraq with Kurdish people. The application process was delayed and long and because of various things I had decided that if I was accepted I was going to be headed for Iraq.

Now I know that sounds crazy and even now I cannot really explain why I considered going to Iraq so seriously, but basically it came down to this: God put the opportunity in front of me and if I was not willing to go who would be? However, in the end God had other plans for me.

Last easter I showed my older sister the Missionmaker magazine I received for attending Urbana and she saw an ad for the ThriveAfrica internship. She told me, "you should apply for this. You like Africa right?"
I did not want to apply for another Christian opportunity. I was almost graduated and very busy and another long application was not appealing to me. I realized my sister was right though and requested an application. It took me almost a month but I sent it in last May about a week before I graduated.

As FRONTIERS delayed and I sent in the Thrive application I decided if I was accepted, South Africa would be my destination, not Iraq. In late June I was accepted. I was headed toward South Africa!

Two weeks before I was accepted I headed down to work at my Christian camp for the Summer. In the first week there I met the first two South Africans ever in my life. A brother and sister, I became good friends with both and now look forward to seeing each of them in just about a week.


God has led me in each step to this point. He has given me great church support, an amazing Christian family and ample opportunity to grow and learn so that I now feel completely ready and at peace about going overseas.
This was a really long first entry and I promise others won't go on like this, but I thought laying out how God led me to this point was a great way to start this one-year adventure in serving God.

Thank you for reading and thank you even more for your support and prayer. God Bless and Happy New Year!