South Africa

Hopewell's South Africa Outreach

Hopewell's outreach effort in South Africa is multi-faceted. Inspired by a friendship with the Rev. Deon Kitching, a Dutch Reform pastor and educator in South Africa, our work has partnered us with many ministries already working to address the enormous problems created by poverty, racism, and the AIDS pandemic in particular.

In the general Cape Town area, we support H.E.L.P Ministries, a hunger project providing a daily lunch for school children. SHADE, another agency with a Methodist base, serves as a shelter and advocate for refugees from other African nations currently ravaged by civil wars.

Further north in the Potchefstroom region, we are supporting the work of ministries that are providing care for families and children who are living with AIDS. Those ministries include:

Ikageng Daycare Center for the Aged: This daycare center exists to give elderly women in the Ikageng Township a safe place each day to share meals together and receive training in cooking, gardening, and sewing. While many of these women struggle with their own physical and sometimes mental ailments, they also provide loving care for other elderly women in the community.

Hope Village: Meyer and Louise Conradie, a young South African couple, are making great strides toward the vision of building a “hope village” near Ikageng. Utilizing land donated by the local city council, the village will eventually feature over 100 homes, a community center, employment opportunities for residents, a preschool, and garden. The homes will be given to families who are not only raising their own children, but other children orphaned by AIDS. Job training and education will be provided to the adults. You can learn more about this special project by visiting the Hope Village Website.

Promosa Hospice: Promosa Hospice is the only hospice in the Potchefstroom area specifically for children living with AIDS. Promosa provides hearty meals, loving care and a safe, clean environment for these little ones to socialize and play. Importantly, the Hospice also provides relief for the caregivers of these children, most of whom live with their grandmothers, having lost their parents to AIDS.

South Africa Missionary

Jen Lisowski, formerly assistant youth director, has felt a strong calling toward mission in South Africa since first traveling there with a Hopewell team in 2006. She has been in South Africa since early January of this year working closely with several of our ministry partners.

If you are interested in keeping up with Jen's mission work in South Africa, check out her WEEKLY BLOG.