Stepping into Sudan

This week we are reviewing the trip made by two members of the team to Uganda and Sudan to help a team of pioneers scout out some new areas to work. By producing this video, AfriCom is helping champion this work and communicate it to a wider audience. More information can be found on the AfriCom blog


Outreach to Issore, South Sudanfrom YWAM AfriCom on Vimeo.

Part of a team

Heathcote Safari: Part of a team: "This week we are working with a team of people from five nations. We are working in two languages. Our ways of thinking and working have been strongly influenced by Europe, South America and Africa. Our ages span three decades. And it's been great..."

Holding the fort

This week most of the AfriCom team have gone to Mozambique to hold a workshop for YWAM volunteers on effective communication. Building a communications network in Africa involves travelling to the region and face-to-face meetings and training. This means that I'm left holding the fort, so to speak, with a skeleton staff-base in the Cape Town office. It's been great, nonetheless, to take this first step of co-ordinating activities from here; putting a toe-in-the-water of directing the operations here, knowing that in 10 days the current team director returns to pick things back up again!

Meantime, Becky is enjoying time with Joshua though she has started back working part time with the co-ordination of the volunteers for Justice ACTs. It's a process that we're going through as a family to establish roles and responsibilities; trying to get everything done (washing, cleaning, cooking), whilst working full time in a more responsible role (for Pete), keeping up with work activities/updates/meetings (for Becky) and getting enough sleep. This balancing act is what many parents go through, I'm sure. Josh is a great little boy who, despite getting a bit of collic on occasion, isn't a particularly grumpy baby. He sleeps a lot and when he's awake he's generally quite happy. He loves all of his aunties and uncles at YWAM and in the community here.

Phil enjoying time with Joshua

We have just enjoyed a lovely visit from Phil, Becky's younger brother, who came for two weeks. The timing of his visit was really good, as he was able to help with cooking, cleaning, washing-up, feeding and nappy changing. An extra pair of hands really helped, especially during the six days Becky was ill. He also had the chance to do some tourist activities, like climbing Table Mountain and surfing. We took him and Joshua to see the penguins for Joshua's one month birthday celebration, which is also the location where Becky went into labour!

If you're following our blog, please comment/contact us with any thoughts/feelings/ updates. As we wrestle with the new things we are facing (being family, new roles at work), we love to know how you are doing. We value your communication about your life, wherever you are at the moment and to get feedback on the stuff we're doing.

Angola video: project completed

Travelling across Angolan terrain, which is still showing the aftermath of various wars and conflict, was the job for the AfriCom team who spent two weeks touring the country to meet the YWAM volunteers doing longterm work in Angola. It was a privilege to travel with them and experience fellowship in such a beautiful country.

After a lot of hard work by the AfriCom team in Cape Town, a video has been created to help showcase some of the great work done by these Christian volunteers with YWAM in Angola.

Short promotional videos will hopefully whet the appetite of anyone interested in getting more involved, while the longer documentary will deepen people's understanding of working in this African country.

The team will get together to watch the documentary where we'll also have a meal to celebrate the completion of this large undertaking.

With a very low budget and scant resources – yet with sheer determination – this film was put together. Many hours went into editing, translating and producing this unique project.

Visiting these ministries in Angola and listening to and sharing their stories will have a much wider effect than just making them feel valued. Already stories shared in our magazines and articles online has developed interest from other agencies who wish to get involved in our work there. Partnerships are starting to be formed which will enable much more work to be done in some of these very remote areas. AfriCom's vision is to replicate this kind of work - supporting Christians working selflessly in difficult areas through sharing their stories - with others across the continent.

In my next entry, I will upload the shortened version of the Angola video to this blog. It would be great to hear your comments/thoughts about this film to help us shape future projects.

Also, if you would like a copy of the full film, please let me know and I'll get one sent to you.

Follow YWAM Africa on Facebook

Communications in Mozambique

Sponsor the trip now by clicking here

Today the team is working on the logistics and finer details of a workshop in Mozambique for missionaries who want to communicate their work better.

It has been said that God equips the called, He doesn't call the equipped. That means that those with a passion to serve, often don't know how to relay that to their supporters and to the wider world. Great things are done that go unmentioned and potential good partnerships in mission are/can be easily missed.

One of the things I love about this job is the way in which we interact with so many different people at different stages of Christian service. It is a privilege and a pleasure to serve God by training and equipping missionaries with what they need to communicate what they do. But, much more than that - we support them in their journey to connecting them with other ministries and championing their work to a wider audience.

YWAM has 1,100 ministry training and outreach locations worldwide, some of them in very remote places – especially those in Africa. Without good communications skills, the effectiveness of any mission work can be very limited. But with foundational skills, taught by experts in communication, young missionaries can further develop their local network of partners for mission.

Our next stop is Mozambique where our team will be running an Effective Communication Workshop in Maputo, Mozambique to train a group of Christians in full time ministry to be effective communicators.

AfriCom is dedicated to equipping and empowering people with the skills they need to communicate their work with the wider world. Rather than forcing all comms through us, we empower them to effectively communicate themselves. This helps them identify partners and build a better understanding locally and globally of their work.

If you'd like to support this training event directly click here.

Missions Communicators in Sudan

YWAM AfriCom: Missions Communicators in Sudan: An update from our missions communicators in Arua, northern Uganda, who were heading into South Sudan in preparation for shooting video footage to mobilize people, prayer and resources for the work of YWAM there. Read more about it here

Becoming a family

It's something that happens to so many people everyday: the transition from being a married couple to becoming parents.

When you choose to get married, there is a whole process of discussing the idea with your prospective partner and meeting the family and going through the emotional and mental process of what it means to be married. The marriage preparation course done by our pastor, Revd Howard Thornton, was amazing and set us up for, what has been a wonderful 5.75 years of wedded bliss.

But, when you have children, it's very different. First of all, the conception is rarely a plan-able event. Many couples try for years to get pregnant, whilst for others it comes sooner than anticipated. Then, once you're on your way, the 12-weeks scan has been done and you're mentally preparing yourself for the arrival of your first baby, the focus is no longer on what it is to become parents and more on the process of having a baby. These two are very different. All the appointments, discussions with medical professionals and others work on the process that Becky's body would be going through at each stage of pregnancy. Then, as the third trimester approaches, it's all about labour and what that will entail. Different methods of giving birth, what to expect, how to know what stage you're at. Then comes the actual event: the birth. An amazing unique experience that in the whole thing, you cannot deny the Creator God in the whole process. Each birth is a miracle, without a doubt.

But in all of this, nobody is really talking about, or preparing you for the transition between being a married couple and becoming parents. The body shock of sleepless nights, as you're cradling your little one at 3am, after he's woken up for the 4th time that night, screaming, you begin to ask yourself: what have I become?

Becoming a parent is a massive shift in any person's life. Yet it so often comes about without any emotional preparation for the status change. All focus is on the birth, and little-to-none is on the actual movement from couple to parent. We know that we have a new responsibility, but it's more than that. My whole thought pattern has changed and developed to have a consciousness of what I am doing, not in light of me, but in light of my family. This is a huge thing for me and has probably caused me more mental exhaustion than any crying at 3am Joshua could do!

Little Joshua is gorgeous. But he didn't come with an instruction book. He has a strong personality and a healthy appetite. There are hours on end when I can't stop staring at him and wondering how Becky and I managed it! The awe that you have as you hold him and look up to God and ask: can I really be responsible for taking care of such a precious gift?

Rubber stamping applications

In the work we do, where crossing country boundaries is a regular occurrence, you get to see your fair share of consulates and embassies and all their various guises.

When you deal with any government office, you do get the feeling that once you walk through the door, you go from being a unique individual with thoughts, feelings, ideas and ideals to being a number. Sometimes, you are literally given a number, other times its just an attitude that states a lesser importance to anyone on the 'public' side of the desk.

The poet, Emily Dickinson once wrote, if you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. As I waited the 45 minutes from when the official took my paperwork to the point of returning with a fumbled "not ready yet" answer, I had the opportunity to watch the goings on behind the desks of this consular office. I noticed that they had two staplers, two rubber stamps, three pens and one box of paper clips. But there were four officers on duty, all needing to staple, stamp and clip papers together. As I watched one person pick up a stapler from one table, they put it back on top of a filing cabinet. Then another officer took the box of paper clips from one desk, used a clip and placed it on another desk. This went on and it was like a game to watch where each item ended up.

What was most interesting to me was the sheer amount any one officer spent looking for one of these or other items that had just 'vanished'. I counted at least 5 times over this period where one officer would say to the other "do you have..." or "have you seen the...". It gave me a picture of what potentially happens to my application form as it weans its way from one official department to the other.

For this particular application, I now have four different reference numbers, some interchangeable, some not. They haven't yet admitted losing my paperwork, but the latest news I have had from this office is that if I were to re-apply, it would "help speed things up". I'm not sure how re-submitting paperwork would speed things up, unless of course, someone has filed my application in the bin.

Needless to say, patience is called for in such circumstance; it doesn't 'do' to lose your cool. Yet the self-appointed authority that these establishments give themselves and their officials can drive you to distraction!

Now, of course, I've been told that they can't process the re-submitted application until it has been rubber-stamped from the office in town. What joy tomorrow will be as I return to this office with more forms to be rubber stamped (or not, depending on where they've left their stamp).

YWAM AfriCom: AfriCom goes to Sudan

YWAM AfriCom: AfriCom goes to Sudan: "AfriCom exists to serve YWAM in locations all around Africa and our next exciting opportunity to connect with YWAM in the field is coming u..."

A weekend of false starts

Everyone who's gone through the process of having a baby will know of the feelings you have in the days building up to the 'event'. Becky and I aren't there yet. After twinges, aches and general discomfort, topped with the coming and going of contractions, getting ever regular (every 15 minutes at one point) both of us felt at several different times over the weekend that 'this is the time, he's coming'.

Just as we started to time contractions and put the hospital bag by the door 'ready' for the trip to hospital, all stopped. The most recent was last night, when I was psyching myself up (Pete) for a long night of supporting my wife through this amazing process of labour, the contractions stopped completely. To bed. Back to work on Monday

morning to think about developing a sustainable advertising campaign for our YWAM Africa magazine and do some testing on the database. But my mind is somewhat elsewhere and concentration is hard. Please pray for me.

I've been assured that, as twinges and contractions have started, things will be underway soon. I hope so for both our sakes!

Taking steps towards the goal

Yesterday I (Pete) spoke to my colleague, Anne, in Nigeria and Charles in Uganda. This three-way conversation - conference call if you like - is nothing new in the western world where virtual meetings are becoming ever-more the norm. Yet in an African context where electricity is often sporadic and internet connections are prohibitively slow, such a way of communicating is unheard of in most parts.

Virtual communications won't replace face-to-face contact. In fact we are increasing the amount of visits we make to our volunteers across the continent of Africa as we develop the communications structure. We are looking to develop a combination of roving reporters, who meet with YWAM teams in remote areas, gather information about their work and then feed it into regional 'hubs' for it to be collected and broadcast and passed on to the relevant parties.

With over 100 training locations and 1,000's of outreach initiatives happening across this continent, it is impossible to expect every one to just 'email' us the news. We are becoming ever more pro-active and

going to where the work is happening, encouraging those in isolated circumstances and advocating the work to a wider audience.

Speaking with Charles yesterday, his passion for communications is wonderful. With little resources to hand (their team has just one computer, one printer and a slow, expensive dial-up internet connection) yet he is passionate about putting East Africa and the work in the countries there on the map. Lydia, my colleague, will be travelling up to Uganda to meet with him in just over three weeks and then from there they'll take a trip up to Sudan to meet with volunteers there and find out what is happening on the ground.

Meantime, Anne is passionate about developing a stronger presence of the already good work done in West Africa. Based in Jos in the middle of Nigeria, her work entails meeting with and encouraging those across a vast region with many hundreds of tribes and tongues.

I'm really excited about the future of AfriCom and how we have a mandate to meet those in mission/volunteer work, encourage them and report the great things that they are doing. We are pioneering new ways of communicating, mixing the essential face-to-face contact needed in Africa with the cutting edge technology which means we can collect video interviews and publicise them online from some of the remotest areas.

**Mini Advert**

As always, we welcome support from friends who want to join us - think/pray about how you can be involved. We are in need at the moment of a web-editor who can help us further develop our website and manage it on a daily basis. If you're interested contact me - peterc@ywamafricom.org

Communication in Africa

Working in a communications team for a Christian missions movement in Africa is an exciting and ever-changing place. In the peaceful environment of the comms office, it's hard to imagine what friends in Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia or the DRC are going through right now. Yet we have the privilege of getting much closer to the action than most. And I yes I do mean privilege!

Sometimes that manifests itself in a visit to a region to report on the 'action', other times that might mean welcoming people here who have fled persecution or war. Next month we will be sending a reporter up to Sudan to gather data on how the recent referrendum on the separation into two states will affect the people on the ground. I wish I could go too, but as Becky gets closer to giving birth, I think it may not be the best timing!

The passion that the AfriCom team has to discover what is happening across this continent goes much deeper than what stories make headlines on the 6 O'Clock news. We have friends posted in some of the most remote areas of this continent, serving communities in whatever way they can. These friends email and text us updates for prayer regularly. So, when we sit down to pray, we have on our hearts what great things a nation can achieve and we remember our friends who are out there, serving with humble hearts.

It also raises lots of questions when you're reading through personal accounts of a crisis, like the one in Egypt, from our contacts and friends and then contrast that to the very westernised and, sometimes sensationalised perspectives of the BBC or CNN. Of course friends accounts are subjective and limited to their own experiences, but it does give a flavour and a insight that these big media agencies don't always get it right when it comes to accurately portraying the situation on the ground. And it's limited to bad news, because bad news sells newspapers.

Africa is a very diverse and beautiful continent. Its problems and issues aren't small (but whose are?). It's also such a vast place that while one community can be ravaged by war and hatred, another can be living in peace. As we travelled through Angola last year, we met communities who had never experienced war, yet on the road and in the large cities, the evidence of the destructive nature of war was everywhere to be seen.

As we build our communications network, YWAM AfriCom's vision is to support volunteer teams who want to live with and serve communities whatever each village/city is experiencing at the moment. We want to hear and tell others their stories. We will mourn with them at their loss and rejoice with them in their victory.

But we don't want to be sensationalist. Thankfully in our communications team, we are dependant on donations, so we don't have to rely on selling newsapaper/tv advertising to survive. In a media environment that is a great blessing. Our responsibility changes from making headlines that sell to having integrity to use supporters money wisely - and that means we are judged by our ability to be obedient to what we've been called to do: listen, report and serve those working in mission work across this continent. And the result of that is: most of the work of this organisation is carried out under the radar of big media headlines and journalistic spin. AfriCom is practically unheard of outside of YWAM, which is no bad thing. We pride ourselves in being obedient to our vision and valuing those who need our support. If by-standers don't know about us, then so be it.

Some friends will work in areas for their entire lives to see how they can serve, and walk with communities as they are transformed by God's love. That's not a catchy headline, yet it penetrates so much deeper than a sound bite from a president who says something stupid.

Taking the NHS for granted

It might be true to say that you only really understand the true value of something good when you have to live without it.

Moving to South Africa, we were aware that we would be using a different health care system and that we would be responsible for the costs incurred if we needed to see a doctor or go to hospital. As a requirement for our visas, we needed Medical Aid, which is the South African model for health insurance.

What we didn't realise is that there are lots of hidden charges and squirming ways in which medical aid providers try not to pay up or communicate what they are willing to pay for. Also, we didn't know that hospitals, doctors and other medical services are very unclear on their funding structures.

In fact, the other day a midwife told us "Often it's not until you get the bill that you'll know who is going to pay for what!"

We have had an acute experience of this system moving here right at the time when we are expecting our first baby. In the UK, as tax payers and British citizens, we had no idea how easy we had it. Attending check-ups with the midwife, booking into hospital, having scans, getting prescription drugs and all the other medical services used were all '"FREE". Of course we knew that these costs were covered by our taxes under the National Insurance tax system. But the beauty of the system is the focus: health care first and foremost.

It seems somehow wrong to be given choices, based on healthcare, like you were choosing a hotel room, or a bottle of wine. We have had to make some tough choices on where to give birth, how to give birth (water birth, home birth etc) and pain relief, not based on Becky's well being and future health of her and the baby, but on what we can afford. This makes it clear who has money and who hasn't. What's bizarre is that those with wealth, aren't necessarily given the best choices. Private hospitals in this area encourage those with money and good insurance to opt for a c-section. Why? Because of the safety of the mother/baby? No! Because of fear of litigation, if things in a vaginal birth go wrong. Choices are made, not based on the long-term health and well being of the patient, rather on what will enable the hospital or surgery to reduce the likelyhood of being sued!

We are embracing the life here in South Africa. We have made so many friends from many walks of life who also bemoan the system here. As visitors, we're not inclined to just complain about how 'different' things are here. This is more of a reflection and thanks for the services we received through the NHS.

The very idea of a health system, whatever country you're in, that works for greedy insurance companies and is in constant fear of law suits will never be as good as those that work for the good of the patient. Oh yes, you might get friendly service and a hotel-like environment when you check in, but is that a worthy compromise for behind the scenes decisions made on your behalf? I think that it's is our moral duty to look after the people that surround us and ensure that healthcare provision is based on need and not social status.

For all its faults and difficulties, I love the NHS and I wish that many other countries adopted its model. Never again will I take the services I received from this age-old institution for granted. Thank you NHS!

One on One

The strange thing about going from being a student to being staff in a training organisation means that people treat you differently. There's nothing un-normal about this, as students have a different status and purpose. As a student, you are given timetables, homework, assignments, work duties. You work in teams with the other students and it's only for a set period of time. For the Discipleship Training Students, things are done in 3-month blocks, so it's really hard for those who don't work directly in the school, but for other areas of the mission, to get to know the students in any deep or meaningful way.

However, one way I have found to combat this is to take the role of a so-called one-on-one. This is someone who is allocated a couple of students of the same sex to spend an hour a week with, to chat through with them how they are finding life in YWAM. It's great, because there's no set agenda or 'teaching' that I have to do, yet I can help two young men grow in their relationship with God by giving them a platform to explore, outside of the peer pressure/busy-ness of the week. I meet with my two guys and we just walk and talk. They share their journals with me and I can see how they are learning to become disciples of Christ. They are exploring their faith journey and it's such a priviledge to walk it with them.

It is done in my spare time, outside of my working week with YWAM, but I feel that it is two hours of the week very well spent - whether that's having lunch together, or taking a walk down the beach at sunset - to hear about someone else's walk with God is a great thing to do.

The other day, we invited the prayer and worship team over to our house to intercede for us as we move in and start a family. One of the team said to me: "In our department, we welcome people from the entire community to come and be prayed for. It is such a joy to do it, because as we pray for them, I start to see some of God's heart for that person and I just want to get to know them more and more. There has never been a time when we have prayed for someone and God hasn't showed up!"

I am not sure where God is leading me at the moment, or how the rest of my life will pan out, but what I do know is this: God is good, trustworthy and faithful.

S-Cape from human trafficking

Justice ACTs is now in the process of setting up S-CAPE - a haven for victims rescued from human trafficking. This safe house aims to address the immediate needs of victims including medical, legal and psycho-social as well as trauma support and counseling.

Becky is working to help furnish the property with her team and recruit a 'house mother' who will live with and take care of the residents when they arrive. She has been scouring house sales in the area, searching out materials - from blankets and bedding to white goods and other appliances, the safe house needs to be equipped if it is going to serve as a home.

As part of an effort to reintegrate and rehabilitate victims there will also be a skills training centre attached to S-cape. The type of training would be specific to each girl but we envision such things as basic computer skills, cooking, music & dance. We also have a number of volunteers coming to do art therapy and teach crafts which the ladies will hopefully be able to sell for a profit, to sustain themselves. Becky will be involved with this too. She is also currently recruiting and coordinating logistical details of new volunteers due to arrive soon.