On Monday and Tuesday, we went to PopUP, a community outreach program which stands for "People Upliftment Programme," and Edendale Independent School, a local private school mostly attended by black students. Both of these organizations we organized through Doxa Deo, the school in Pretoria previously attended by Duhann Jacobs (a junior at CHCA and a member of our trip to South Africa).
Monday's service consisted of hearing much about the ministry of PopUP. This program actually began as a homeless shelter, but over the ten years of its existence it has changed into a community service center. The goal of PopUP is to teach basic work skills so that people have a chance to get a job in the workforce. Amazingly, PopUP has an almost 85% success rate. We spent the afternoon at PopUP gardening and sorting clothing for the poor communities.
The girls on the bus on the way to PopUP. You can always tell that I do not snipe photos, because the girls are smiling happily. This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.
This is our group after our morning program. Portia is the woman in the pink shirt in the front. She attended the PopUP program last year and offered her testimony to us in the morning.
Many of our students with the PopUP learners during the tour. This was a knitting class, and the teacher (seated in yellow) gained some valuable advice from our students about purses and clothing.
While I didn't get a good picture, the next class we visited was one of the highlights of our trip. The Africans in the class wanted us to sing for them, and the only thing we could think of was the National Anthem. Frankly, it bombed. Maria and a couple of the girls held strong, but we folded before the ending. After that, the group in the class sang the South African National Anthem to us, which consists of Zulu, Afrikaans, and English. It was an amazing experience to hear.
Karen Hordinski with Portia, one of PopUP's many success stories.
In the early afternoon, we had a chance to play with many of the children in PopUP's orphanage called Pop Kids.
Alysse and Chloe with the children.
After our day, we returned to Doxa Deo school to journal and reflect. This is our group sorted throughout the courtyard before meeting their host families.
PICS FROM EDENDALE
Mrs. Jacobs cleaning and sweeping outside. What a blessing she has been to us this week.
A pic I sincerely wish to have had a "before" and "after" shot. Suffice it to say that this room was an absolute mess before we arrived. The students cleared away the rubbish, swept, and mopped. Outstanding work.
The staff room at Edendale where we met in the morning.
This room had been an absolute nightmare. These desks and chairs were stuffed to the sides, filling the halls with dust and dirt. Mrs. Jacobs led the students in organizing and cleaning the room. Again, an outstanding job by our group.
One of the classrooms which was completely re-done by our group.
After a long day of work, the group is done for the day. This is a few of our students relaxing with colddrinks (a South African term) after a hard day.
Nate Post trying to snipe a photo of me. He didn't succeed. Also notice the Queen Sniper herself in the background. (She also didn't succeed.)
Dylan began playing this game after our work day. He would spin around as you see for ten seconds, and the try to run in a straight line.
It didn't work. He fell quickly. We who were watching laughed long and hard.
Then Victoria tried her luck...
Definitely running to the right....
And down she goes.
Overall, it was a wonderful two days of service to begin our trip's mission work. Our host church Doxa Deo heard from both PopUP and Edendale with wonderful reviews of our work over the first days. Over the next two days, we continued our work in Mamelodi.
Until then, cheers.
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