part of Equippers International, we will gladly receive and distribute any financial gifts to help support these boys. You can simply send a donation to Equippers International at the address below and include a note designating the gift for the street kids ministry. Please do not write the designation on the physical check. 100% of what you give will go directly to the ministry for the boys. We hope you are encouraged by what God is doing in the lives of these boys.

Hello to all our friends!
 
I thought it would be good to let you know how we're doing back in Worcester, SA. All of you have crossed our path in some way... Maybe you should know that your time with us was invested well.
 
Kibbutz El-Shammah has developed and its different ministries are meeting needs within the Roodewal community. Currently I'm involved with the Street Children Ministry team of the Kibbutz. I'd like to share more about this ministry?
 
STREET CHILDREN BACKGROUND
About three years ago, Shirley, an Australian YWAMer at the Worcester Base, was working with the kids on the street. At that stage, we had just completed building a house on the kibbutz for street children thanks to funds donated by the Broadway Christian Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a little boy from Holland. A local Dutch Reformed church helped us too. Shirley brought more than 20 children to this little house.
 
Of these children, only about ten stayed. The others gradually returned to the street. But those who stayed were impacted by volunteers and Kibbutz staff. Through home schooling and life skills they were prepared to return to school at the beginning of 2003. These children, now known as the Kibbutz Boys, are doing very well.
 
SUMMER CAMP
Last year I joined Shirley on the streets, while Ivan and Sophia continued working with the Kibbutz Boys. At the end of the year, we had a summer camp for the Kibbutz Boys, the street kids, and those boys living between the streets and high risk homes in the community. Nearly thirty children attended this camp. Here 16 boys made a commitment to the Lord.
 
After the camp, our Kibbutz Boys continued with their schooling and other programmes, while those who had not been attending school for some years, were taken up in the ABET programme. (Adult Basic Education and Training).
 
We began a weekly discipleship programme for those who made a commitment to the Lord. Not an easy road, though. Many of these boys are addicted to drugs, to begging on the streets, gambling, and overall struggling with any form of discipline or routine. But we are a committed team trying to meet every boy's need.
 
SECOND CAMP
We just completed our second camp for those boys attending the discipleship classes. Sadly only 14 completed the camp successfully. This camp focused on their spiritual growth.
 
LIFE GOES ON....
Our Kibbutz Boys continue growing physically, emotionally and spiritually.
 
The boys in the ABET programme still need all the support they can get. Those living on the street are woken up in the mornings, taken to ABET, given something to eat, sometimes toiletries are provided to help them clean-up, we wash their clothes and give as much support as possible.
 
The weekly discipleship continues, while the other children not interested in growing spiritually at this stage, are being drawn into another programme catering for their specific needs.
 
For all these programmes we are grateful to volunteers, staff, and anyone willing to network with us. Sometimes we have money, sometimes we don't, but somehow we keep on doing what we're doing ... a love in our hearts just keep on growing for these boys.
 
EACH BOY....
Each boy has his own unique story. I wish I could share them all with you... Lemile, whose been living off and on the street for so many years, struggling with anger management, yet currently doing so well. We see so much potential in him. Marshuheen - also off and on the street for many years, but still hanging in there with us and part of the discipleship programme. And then there's Bones (16 years old). He has a horrendous upbringing. We met him on the streets last year. We managed to get him out of jail to come on our summer camp. Again we had to get him out of jail to come on our second camp, and at this camp he confessed he was addicted to drugs. So straight after the camp he was sent to the hospital to detox, and now he is in a rehab centre in Worcester. Oh, there's so much beauty underlying the hurts and outward appearances of these precious boys.
 
God said He will give us the treasures of darkness... (Isaiah 43v3)
 
I hope you will continue to parter with us to be the instruments in walking God's walk with these boys?
 
Erena van de Venter

Special Highlight

complete the final week of his treatment programme. One day at a time...

You might wonder about Reginald? His nick name is Bones. He was wounded in many ways, even as a baby, by his father, so Reggie soon began with behavioral problems. He began using drugs at the age of six. By nine or ten he was sent to an institution, and when he was eleven he was allowed to come home for his mother's funeral - she had burnt to death in the shack where she lived. Since then he was sent from one institution to the next, and spent many weeks in detention in jail.
 
We met him as a street kid in Worcester last year. And now you've met him too. I'm sending you a photo of him, standing with Ivan. He is so eager to make a success of his life, but realises he is so weak. You can imagine how thrilled he is that his desire to come off drugs has inspired Samuel to also go through this treatment programme. He dearly wants to help others too, even though he's scarcely begun the road to recovery himself.
 
Bless you all for spending this time with us again!

Erena

Thanks again for all your continued support. More on the Canipes next month. We thought you would be encouraged by this special update on the ministry to the boys. We are thankful to be a part of their lives.

Be blessed and have a great month.

Cliff, Stephanie, Camille, Natalie and Wesley