World Changers Academy of Durban

After we left Uvongo and the Oribi Gorge we headed north towards Durban.It was a short 180 km so a fairly short trip comparatively.We had coordinated a visit with Kathleen's brother, Joe, and his wife Smah.Smah is a Zulu women and Joe has lived in Durban with her for 10 or so years.They have a very sweet boy named Alex, he and Sam quickly hit it off.We arrived in Durban around 5 pm and met the both of them at their place near the new stadium being constructed for World Cup 2010! It was pretty cool because you could actually see it from their balcony.By the way if anyone is looking to lease a place they are considering it during that time.After visiting with Joe and Sma we learned the phenomenal program they have cofounded with a native South African named Sizwe Mthembuwhom Joe met while living within a township helping setup computers.The organization they co-founded is called World Changers Academy and the progress they have made around the townships near Durban has been unbelievable.You can visit their website and learn about their organization at www.wca-sa.org.I must say I was impressed to say the least.After visiting with them a few hours we decided to grab a bite to eat.The best option was a place called the Spur.Joe recommended it due to its kid friendly environment and after talking with Emma & Sam I can tell we made the right choice.Joe had offered to let us stay in his WCA facilities about 30 minutes outside of Durban.We left the restaurant around 8:30 so we didn't arrive until 9 that evening.The staff was very accommodating and knew we were coming.They quickly showed us to our Rondavel, "round house" and we started to unload our gear.We all had single beds to sleep in, one bunk bed and two twins on either side.However, Emma decided she didn't want to sleep alone so we shared a twin bed for the evening.Needless to say I didn't get much sleep.During our trip we have been trying to get Sam potty trained at night time.He has done pretty well but every once in a while he has an accident.This evening happened to be one of those times.As you can image the washing facilities are more or less done by hand so we had to strip the bed and explain to the staff the situation.It really turned out that it wasn't that big of a deal.That morning the cook had made a large pot of porridge and the kids enjoyed it immensely with a pile of sugar on top of course.It actually reminded me of my mom's cream of wheat.We had heard from Joe that he planned to arrive around 9am to visit with us and give a tour of the facilities.He and Sma arrived about that time and we took a look around the place.He shared with us that they own about 45 acres and there are several tenants they have renting space on the property.It is a beautiful setup and the view is incredible.After visiting South Africa I don't think you can go anywhere without getting an outstanding view.During our visit we had the opportunity to sit in on one of their leadership courses.The students in the leadership course leave their homes and live at the facilities for about four weeks.These are the students that have progressed to the leadership level of WCA's program.They had been in this class for three weeks at the time we were there and this class was the start of their last week.The guest teacher, Jenny, was a former police officer and must have been a motivational speaker in her other life.She was not only able to captivate her students but I became enthralled with her teaching and intrigued with her message.The WCA is a Christian based program that emphasizes the values of Jesus and not so much the religious side of things.This seems to be a great approach for these kids who may have had little to no religious experience in their lives.The intent is to not scare them away with Jesus talk but to instill self confidence and a sense of purpose based on biblical values.It seems to be an effective approach.There is so much we could talk about, but visit the website to get a better understanding of their program.We left Joe's facilities and headed towards a placed called Lily of the Valley.We had asked Joe to point us towards other programs similar to his so we could continue our enlightening experience.He called upon another Californian named David Christenson.From his name we knew he had to be an American.When we arrived he was nothing like we expected.He was six foot two, 220 pounds with a goatee longer than mine.He moved his wife and five kids to this establishment in 2007 so they had only been there for one short year.He was a very soft spoken person and seemed to have a genuine love for the Lord.He and his wife had done several mission trips to Mexico in the past and felt God was calling them for something greater.He indicated they prayed for about 9 months and the opportunity to manage this project at Lily's of the Valley became available.It seems they are touching many lives there.