After several complaints of English speaking friends and our South African colleagues I decided to overcome my perfectionism once again and to launch an English mini-version of our Homepage.
What are they doing?
As a family we have been living in Johannesburg/South Africa since November 2006. We are working as missionaries with the European Baptist Mission. Our workplace is the HIV/AIDS Desk of the Baptist Convention of South Africa. Here we work as project facilitators and assist the desk administrator, Rev. Owen Nkumbi, in coordinating the work of 15 HIV/AIDS related projects all over the country. As the desk we organize workshops for the mainly lay people volunteering in the local projects. We do follow-up visits to help the co-workers implement the workshop contents and to identify more shortages that we can face through workshops. The project visits also help us keep in touch with the suffering people and with the ground work.
I, Esther, am also the mentor for EBM’s volunteers who regularly come to South Africa to work in church ministries for 6-12 months usually. I try to find the perfect workplace for them, prepare the local staff to live and work with a European and the volunteer to live in an African setting. During their stay I keep in touch with them and try to make their stay a good experience for both sides. Matze is responsible for the EBM bookkeeping as far as South Africa is concerned. In this field I have little to contribute; so I am very grateful not to be in charge…
You will find more English stuff…
… if you follow the “Impressionen” link (photos with English subtitles)
… if you scroll down this page and look at “What’s new?” or at "Downloads"
What's new?
Mai 2008:
In April we implemented a workshop concept that we had fully developped on our own: General Capacity Building and Debriefing. We had planned this intervention after observing that there is a lack of leadership and acknowledgement of volunteers' needs in the projects. We felt that it was really a good experience and got a lot of positive feedback from the participants.
At the beginning of this month we made a weekend trip to Cape Town together with our missionary collegues from Austria, Mirjam and Alex Strecker, to prepare the service of two young German volunteers who will arrive in September. Besides we are visiting a lot of projects in the area at the moment - distributing toy donations, monitoring the impact of the last workshops and training staff according to their enquiries.
We are also busy preparing another new workshop on HIV/AIDS Basics and Awareness. Esther was trained as a facilitator in this field last year and we feel hat it is a really important issue to create a platform for Christians to reflect on their role in the pandemic. We are also already in the process of setting up a schedule and contacting our supporting churches for our furlough in Germany from October to January.
Last but not least, we are running out of time with a few things for a very nice reason: From the beginning of July on Esther will be on maternity leave as we are expecting our second baby in August. Looking at our ministry as well as at our family life we are having a busy, fulfilling and interesting time that we really enjoy. Please pray for everything that is coming up - thanks for your support!
Coming up next:
9-12 June: Project Managers Meeting and HIV/AIDS basics and Awareness Workshop
June: Setting up a HIV/AIDS Desk Newsletter with news from and for our projects
16-18 June: Evaluation Days with the three EBM volunteers
End of June till 1 July: Departure of volunteers back to Austria and Germany
28 June-8 July: Matthias' trip to Germany
21-24 July: Counselling Workshop
January 2008:
In December we had a whole bunch of visitors in our house, including Hans Guderian (EBM General Secretary) and Andrea Wiedner, representing the World Mission Committee. They came to South Africa in order to take part in the Annual Assembly of the Baptist Convention. This time it took place in Cape Town and included the celebrations of the 20 years of independence of the BCSA. So there was a lot to be grateful for; a lot to celebrate and a lot of people to say thank you to for their support to BCSA.
After the Assembly we had a week of holiday as a family and drove along the coast around Cape Town and the Garden Route where the landscape is marvellous and makes you consider to never go back to dirty and smelly Johannesburg... Well, back we where before Christmas already and spent it at home together with Claire, one of our volunteers. Today the National Office is re-opening and we are preparing for the annual staff retreat next week. Noa is very proud to be in the Owl (Pre-School) Class now - the old and wise ones... We are happy for her to be back at school because the holidays were seriously becoming too long and too boring.
19 January: Volunteers (Susanne and Corinna) start their service in Soshanguve north of Pretoria. They will work in Pfunekani Project, caring for AIDS patients, preparing food and a programme for orphans and destitute children
18-22 February: HIV/AIDS Desk Project Management Workshop
Downloads
How To Make History With God (Sermon Esther 22 July)
Desmond Tutu's Speech at the World Social Forum
Christmas Sermon Esther 2006 Jabavu Church
