I Am Alive and in Africa

Comprehensive Update

Abstract: I'm doing very well, still dealing with the differences between South Africa and most of America, and working almost everyday. I appreciate all your prayers! Please keep my team in your prayers, especially for team unity, for the Holy Spirit to release spiritual gifts in us as we minister, and that we would harvest a field white and ready for harvest here in Cape Town.

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I have been in Cape Town now for almost four weeks.

We started our time back debriefing, remembering and talking about our time in the Eastern Cape in smaller cities and a rural communities, doing a variety of ministries. We took some much needed down time before starting ministry again in Cape Town.

Since we've been in Cape Town, we have seen a few of the townships, or “informal settlements” that are scattered throughout Cape Town and cities throughout South Africa. Townships are communities with houses built from sheets of metal and scraps of wood, and maybe windows placed into the metal sheets. A “shantytown” would be the right idea. Townships can have populations from a number of thousands to over two million. Few of the people residing in South African townships are squatters. These are actually legal residences.

The official unemployment rate in South Africa as a nation is about 25 percent, but the actual rate is almost definitely higher. The unemployment rate is townships is easily between 60-70 percent. Only a number of people in these communities have steady jobs, and the salaries most of these people make are minimal. Many people will be hired for a day, or a few days a week for a month, but nothing permanent or reliable. Any costs of living in overcrowded townships and building their own shelters are far easier to pay out of the modest wages most earn. Adding to this cycle of inadequate housing is a propensity to spend what little money people make on clothes, on TVs (yes, they do have TVs and many unexpected things in these shacks), even on expensive cars; basically many will spend money on anything material that will make them look wealthier outside (or inside) the community.

This is not to say the situation in townships is any way simple or straightforward. Life in township communities is a complicated, multifaceted thing. Even with any opportunity to leave the township for a home in a nice neighborhood, many might never consider such an option because it would mean leaving their friends, a place they feel they belong and have purpose. Most people living in townships in Cape Town are from villages in rural South Africa, or from other African nations. Essentially all have come to Cape Town seeking work, although many do not find the opportunities they were seeking or were promised. The same happens in Johannesberg, the biggest city in South Africa and the financial/business hub of Southern Africa; and again, but to a lesser degree, people will seek jobs and find nothing in smaller towns, usually tourist hub towns.

And so you have these townships springing up all over the country, filled with folks from rural villages in South Africa, or migrants from Southern African countries. They've left their families (and the families expect that you will send home money from your well paying job...), and now the closest thing to family they have is the township community. Neighbors in townships look out and care for each other. So few people would want to leave a familial environment a second time by moving out of the township. So the people who could move into a good house may instead buy a nice car, nice shoes, and keep the family they have been adopted into.

Half our team of 13 is working daily in Capricorn Park, the nearest township to Muizenberg. Capricorn has unemployment of at least 80 percent. I have gone in a couple times now, each time doing ministry with teenagers. Working with these kids, who many people might just overlook, has been the most rewarding experience I've had in South Africa. And I've only been in the township three or four times.

I'm doing well, writing as often as possible, and wanting desperately to share what I'm doing with everyone. I'll be updating weekly now. Thank you for everything, prayers, thoughts, talking with people about me, everything.

Grace and Peace!

C.R.R. Wolf