Touching 800 children for Jesus

Ocean View...doesn't it sound beautiful? And, in fact, it could be as it is a community that exists on the side of a mountain looking out West over the Atlantic Ocean. Higher up the mountain you can also see the Indian Ocean a few miles to the East.

But, I don't think anyone ever sees the view. They are too busy looking out for neighbors that steal children for sex or sell drugs to their kids. They are watching out for the roving gangs preying on others or the unemployed men just 'hanging out'. It is one of the most dangerous areas in all of Cape Town. It was forced into existence 25 years ago when the government (during the days of apartheid) moved all the blacks out of a city onto this mountain. There were thousands of them that had to move and they had just days to do it. They have been angry ever since.

That's where we decided to hold the big Extreme Response party down here this year. We had already had the party at the orphanage. We had visited the hospice where Aids victims go to die and sang and prayed with each of them. We had served the lunch to the homeless and sang Christmas songs with them. We had marched through a township and the local mall, encouraging people to get tested for Aids. We had fed the 170 workers at our partner ministry, Living Hope (www.livinghope.co.za), thanking them for their hard work all year.

It was time to reach the kids in this needy community. After two hours of set up, over 800 children came, most from Ocean View and some bused in from three other townships. Our ER team along with about 70 volunteers from Living Hope teamed up to put on a party on a huge field with a large building right in the middle of Ocean View. We divided the kids into four teams and moved them around four venues. Inside the building the Living Hope volunteers put on the Christmas Play in the kids language and told the story of God's love and the gift of Jesus. We sang songs and gave them food. That's where Barb worked all day. Fixing hot dogs for 800 hungry kids plus all the workers.

There was an area where they did crafts that they could take with them and painted faces like the South African flag on the child above. There was an area for tug-of-war and a group game I never figured out.

My job was to keep the water slides wet so the kids could run and slide in the cool water on a warm day. We had four slide that were full of bodies for the whole three hours of the party.

Then we gave each child a gift pack (soap, facecloth, comb, toothbrush, tooth paste, piece of fruit, candy, another hot dog, a cup of pudding) and sent them home with huge smiles on their faces. We were told it will be the only Christmas many of these children will have.

We did everything 'in the name of Jesus'. Our prayer is that they catch the fact that Jesus loves them and so do we. These children are the teachers and leaders in future Africa. We want to reach them for Jesus.

Ron and Barb