South Africa

After 3 weeks of welcome time with family over Christmas, David and I left on the second half of our year-long journey. First stop: Capetown, South Africa... a country of spectacular beauty and incredibly friendly people.

This is Jeremy Wyngaard with his two sons (left) and nephew. As a child Jeremy’s family, along with thousands of others, was evicted from their home when a new apartheid law suddenly created a "white group area" in "District 6" of Capetown. Forced to move to "colored group areas", the neighborhood was demolished and everyone had to relocate to poor settlements on the outskirts of Capetown.

From that beginning, Jeremy graduated from high school and became a professional soccer player... though he was never allowed to play on the national team because of his color. Along the way, Jeremy developed a heart for the poor. And after 3 years as a pro soccer player, he decided to give it up to help kids break the cycle of poverty. Jeremy created LifeZone (http://www.lifezoneafrica.org.za), an organization that runs soccer leagues to teach life skills to children 9 and under at several schools in Kensington. As we drove around, it’s clear that Jeremy is a hero in Kensington, with people waving and honking. And when we spoke to local principals and teachers, they talk about the positive impact that LifeZone is making on children. While running LifeZone, Jeremy is also finishing his PhD in Community Development.

David and I told Jeremy that we wanted to work with children in one of the poor squatter camps (or “informal settlements” as they are officially called) where people build shacks out of scrap wood and sheet metal on unoccupied property… sometimes thousands of them.

Jeremy connected us with Ben and Alicia Eakins who come from Colorado. About 3 years ago, after watching the movie “Hotel Rwanda”, Ben said, “We should do something to help.” Alicia replied, “Maybe we should move there.” Several months later they left for Africa. After investigating several opportunities, they felt they could make the biggest difference at the 6th Avenue settlement in Kensington, running community and child development programs with LifeZone. They now live a block away and invest their lives in a squatter camp to help adults and children build better lives.

We were fortunate enough to get to work side-by-side with this amazing couple who everyone calls Brother Ben and Sister Alicia. On our first visit to the settlement with them, one of the children asked excitedly, “Brother Ben, Brother Ben, when does Awesome Time start?” It turns out that “Awesome Time” is the shrewdly named literacy program that helps the children with reading every week. “Awesome Time” was indeed awesome as we saw firsthand how Ben and Alicia make reading fun and help the kids to improve their reading skills.

We got to meet people like “Sister Rebecca” who live in the 6th Avenue settlement. Though it’s already difficult to support her own children, she’s taken in other children who have been abandoned. All the strong leaders at the settlement are women. It’s sad to see, but the men are drunk or high all day (meth is common) and only the women are holding things together or improving things.

Another thing that is sad is that the kids have no aspirations. When we asked what kind of job they want, they said, “Any job… car wash, any job is fine.” Ben and Alicia are trying to inspire them to strive for more.

During the week, we played a lot of soccer on a rock and glass-strewn patch of ground (and yes, most of the 10 year-olds can school us in soccer). Mostly, we got to spend a lot of time with kids to let them know they are valued and that we believe in them.


We took one group of children to the beach...

We took a group of young teen boys (only one of which is still in school) on a hike to the top of “Lion’s Head”, a landmark that rises above Capetown. Though only about 10 miles from Kensington, none of the boys had ever been to the top. Some didn’t think they could make it, but Ben uses events like this to teach the boys that there’s more to life than a few square blocks in Kensington… and they can do more than they think.


We also got to spend a day at a clinic for babies with HIV. It used to be a hospice but now, with antiretroviral treatment and training for caregivers, these babies can go home and may never get AIDS. The long-term outcome is still unknown, but it was encouraging to know that children with HIV no longer have a certain death sentence.

We learned a lot of important lessons from Ben and Alicia about community development, like how important it is not to make decisions for those they serve. Over and over, we heard them say, “That’s your decision… you get to decide.”, to teach people that they can choose their futures. We’ll miss our new friends in Capetown and leave with great respect for the work that Jeremy, Ben, and Alicia are doing there. If you would like to support their work, you can send a tax-deductible donation to:

LifeZone Ministries
c/o Nexus Vivus International
5948 E. Caley Avenue
Centennial CO, 80111

For the rest of our time in South Africa, David and I explored the beautiful coastline, from the Cape of Good Hope, to Tsitsikama National Park to body-boarding in Plettenberg Bay. We managed to fit in two great adventures. Off the coast of Gans Bay we went into underwater shark cages to get up close and personal with some great white sharks. When a 15-foot great white is a foot from your face under water, it’s good to know that you’ve got some strong steel bars between it and you.

But the grand prize for true adventure goes to David. At the Blaukrans Gorge Bridge, David jumped off the highest bungey jump in the world. At 216 meters (over 700 feet high), the rebound rise and second fall after the bungey hits bottom is higher than even the second highest jump in the world. I tried to muster the courage to take the leap, but couldn’t do it. Take a look at these photos and decide whether you could…

When he gets back, ask him to see the video!

- Steve