Skip to main content

Beautiful Gate...

We moved to Beautiful Gate after an outreach with a team from Tyler in the North of South Africa.  Holger worked on the logistical side of things and I worked in the Pre-School.  We were pregnant with our second child and our first was in the preschool with me.

We learnt a lot in these three years, but the shaping, shocking and defining moment was when children died of Chicken pox... the HIV virus in their bodies compromised their ability to fight it... 7 children in a small space of time.  It is sent us into an existential shock.  I decided to study.  It helped that I had a baby in me to to use as an excuse to get out of a very painful situation.

Holger stayed with Beautiful Gate till 2003 and I stayed at home with my two children and studied...

We left Beautiful Gate mostly I think because I could not see our vision to come along side organisations working with OVC to get them helped and be supported working out.  Toby and Aukje after sitting and listening to us also felt that what we were carrying in our hearts then was not going to work out at Beautiful Gate.

We also discovered at this time that our son was on the autistic spectrum and needed interventions that required a lot of time.

While we were working at Beautiful gate we attended the Vineyard Church in Bellville, we felt called to get involved there...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Beginnings...

In 2004, we left YWAM.  This was a very painful decision.  We had loved our experience in YWAM and all the things we had learnt, but it was no longer a home for us. Richard Maybery the minister of the Vineyard Church at the time, met and prayed with us and encouraged us to get involved in a local community and start working out what God was saying to us... This is where our journey in Fisantekraal began... and the birth of our third child. While this was going on our supporters and family in Germany had started a TRUST to house our support and give governance to our work.  We had a covering church and support.
Post a Comment
Read more

Philippi Trust, OVC

In 2005, Philippi Trust where I was studying counselling at the time introduced a new  program.  It was a camp program for Orphans an Vulnerable children.  The first time I heard about it, was when the director at the time had just got back from a trip to the Eastern Cape and came to tell our dipoma class about his experience. I felt immediately in the deep side of me that Holger should get involved...  this sounded like the kind of thing he carried in his heart.
Post a Comment
Read more

Patricia, camps and developing training

Regina died at the end of 2007 and with her went our dreams of a bigger work for OVC in the Mfuleni area.  We tried for a while to knock on different doors to see if it was possible to keep on without her, but kept hitting dead ends. At the end of 2007 we heard about Patricia.  Here I think it is important to note that the entire time we were looking to get funding to take work in Fisantekraal to a new level.  Especially with OVC work.  We had started a nutritional support program for people battling a terminal illness. When I met Patricia we immediately kicked off a a relationship. We were able to stay involved with Nondumiso in Mfuleni and at the same time work with Patricia in Du Noon. Our dream to come a long side a organisation that works with OVC but struggling kept us involved in Mfuleni. We got involved with Patricia at the same time, she had an amazing heart for OVC and for people suffering with HIV.  It was in these years that I was working out t...
Post a Comment
Read more