My heart breaks. My heart breaks for the people of Jeffreys Bay. My heart breaks for the teachers and children at Ithemba. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to share with you all the details of my daily ministry, that which serves as my internship in this program.
I serve at Ithemba. Ithemba is an after-school care program for the children of the townships. The children there range from ages 3-12 and most of them come from abusive, neglectful, poverty-striken environments. Attendance can be any where from 20 to 50 children every day. Preschool age children are there all day, while school age children arrive around 1pm.
My ministry team consists of seven teammates and one to two leaders. Our job is to partner along side the people that work there year-round, not taking over their jobs, but assisting and equipping them. On a “normal” week, (a word that isn’t all too applicable in AIM scheduling) we head out to ministry at 1pm and stay until 5pm.
Though most of the children are coming to Ithemba from hours at school, most of them are far too behind educationally. After a small meal (for some children, the only meal they will eat that day) and some free time, the children are split into three different classes for 30-45 minutes of value and academic-based “school work”.
I work in the youngest class, referred to as The Cresh. The Cresh actually consists of three different age groups: Cresh, Grade R, and Grade 1. I focus on the youngest of the youngest within that group, which are children aged between 3 and 5. We have one of the hardest classes (though they are all very difficult), in that language can be a larger barrier with the youngest ones. Most, but not all, of the children comprehend some English. The Cresh, generally choose not to communicate in English nor sometimes in their native language. At times, that can be a source of frustration. However, God is bigger than language. God is universal!
“The heavens declare the glory of the God; the firmament sheweth His handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge. Their is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. ” ~Psalm 19:1-3
Ithemba is also a sister-church to Deo Doxa, a large local church in town. On Sundays, there is a service at Ithemba. I have attended there for the last two Sundays. It is the most “African” church experience you can get here.
