Wow... we really do miss having internet access! Except for a few days, our internet at home has been down the entire month of February. And at the YWAM base it's intermittent at best. And we simply haven't had time to go to an internet cafe. So we feel out of touch! We apologize for our lack of communication. The problem at our apartment has been diagnosed and our landlord is working on it.
We will try to catch you up on our past month soon. We did go to a Community Watch meeting this morning (see following post for more details.) It was very informative. The purpose of the meeting was to learn about the group and to meet people in our community, as well as to hear a presentation on personal safety awareness. We both really enjoyed it, mainly because it got us outside of our YWAM circles and into the community. It's such a small community, so it really is possible to get to know neighbors and become involved in people's lives. Often in YWAM we focus on what's going on inside the walls of the base with training programs and meetings and sending teams on outreaches to far off places (which is all very good). But Hans and I have an interest in getting to know the people in the community right around us... the people we see every day as we walk down the street or in the grocery store or at the post office. We are not training for some future "missions experience." We want to live out our faith here and now among the people who live around us. We want to learn how to love the people around us practically in every day life. That's the real challenge, isn't it. It's the crux of the Christian life whether you live in South Africa or Zimbabwe or California or Alaska.
We have so much we want to write about. We ask for your patience as we continue to figure out our schedules and deal with internet problems. We also continue to appreciate your prayers. We've just finished studying the Pentateuch, and I'll tell you what... it was amazing. I'm still processing. Some SBS students are struggling quite a bit with the work load and the change from NT to OT. Hans is doing a great job working with those students and helping them find the life and excitement that he found studying the Bible during his SBS. But we all appreciate prayer for perseverance and perspective. Our school still needs prayers for finances, although we have seen God come through for many of our students. Prayer for safety is always coveted. We are starting to make plans for next school year, so that's exciting to start thinking about. Most likely Hans and I will be in Muizenberg as staff of the next 9 month SBS, and we're already in the process of accepting applications for students and making preparations for that school. So it's full steam ahead, and we're just excited to be on board! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and please feel free to contact us any time!
Much Love from South Africa...
Susan
susanoines@hotmail.com
hans_oines@hotmail.com
Saturday, February 28, 2009
safety
I wrote this post over a week ago, but due to internet problems, am just posting it. Enjoy!
Hans is thinking about joining the Muizenberg Community Watch group. He's excited about it, actually. As most of you may know, crime is a huge problem in South Africa, and the community we live in is no exception. It's not as danerous as say, Cape Town or one of the local townships, but it still has more crime than any place we've ever lived. This December we learned that crime was up 100% from last year at the same time. In one month something like 20 cars were stolen from the street we live on. That's a lot of cars. And then last night, while Hans was out with a friend, I peaked out of my blinds because I heard some noise on the street below. I saw two young men standing casually by a brand new white convertible Volvo as a group walked by. As soon as the group rounded the corner, they resumed what they had been doing which was prying the license plates off the car and sticking new ones on with packing tape. I don't know why I didn't call security right away. I didn't want to believe what I was seeing. And then they hopped in the car and cruised away.
We have not been unaware of crime here. We live with an extra level of awareness and "carefulness" all the time. We don't go out at night and if we do, we walk in the middle of the street so no one can corner us against a building or push us into an alley (and I would never walk alone at night.) We don't carry expensive items out in the open. You put your money in your wallet before you leave the store or walk away from the ATM. We don't ever take our cellphones out when walking on the street. I don't carry a purse. Hans does carry brass knuckles. Simple things like that.
We live right around the corner from a street that is known to be the worst street in Muizenberg (ironically called Church Street.) It's just a few blocks long, but has become known as the crime center of our community. Hans and I noticed some of the houses were being bricked in with cinder blocks. We read later that criminals were using the unoccupied houses to store stuff they stole until it could safely be removed from the community, so the city was just closing up the houses. Which makes me wonder about the night we were walking back from the base to our flat (about one block) when a guy ran by carrying a full sized sofa on his back. As we puzzled over this odd sight, two more guys ran by with arm chairs, and then one more with a coffee table. We wanted to believe they were helping a friend move, but that probably wasn't the case. We've since programmed the number of the "Mountain Men" into our phones so we can be good neighbors and citizens and report such incidents. MM are a private security company that have men constantly patrolling the community two by two on bikes. They respond to calls within minutes, while the police are so busy it could take hours. MM actually have "spotters" on the mountain that overlooks Muizenberg with infrared binoculars. If you call in a crime, they can locate the house and track the escaping criminal, directing the heroes on bikes with radios. It's actually quite the system. We heartily thank the Mountain Men every time we see them
So while it is different here than we're used to, we are adjusting to this extra safety layer that has been added to our lives. Like people said when we moved here, there is no reason to live in fear. If we follow the common sense safety guidelines that are a little stricter than we're used to, we'll be fine. And we do feel fine living here. We don't ignore the issue, and we don't let it control our lives. But we do want to be involved in the solution, which is why Hans is joining Community Watch. And why I need to be a little quicker with my phone the next time I see car thieves changing out plates in front of my house...
Hans is thinking about joining the Muizenberg Community Watch group. He's excited about it, actually. As most of you may know, crime is a huge problem in South Africa, and the community we live in is no exception. It's not as danerous as say, Cape Town or one of the local townships, but it still has more crime than any place we've ever lived. This December we learned that crime was up 100% from last year at the same time. In one month something like 20 cars were stolen from the street we live on. That's a lot of cars. And then last night, while Hans was out with a friend, I peaked out of my blinds because I heard some noise on the street below. I saw two young men standing casually by a brand new white convertible Volvo as a group walked by. As soon as the group rounded the corner, they resumed what they had been doing which was prying the license plates off the car and sticking new ones on with packing tape. I don't know why I didn't call security right away. I didn't want to believe what I was seeing. And then they hopped in the car and cruised away.
We have not been unaware of crime here. We live with an extra level of awareness and "carefulness" all the time. We don't go out at night and if we do, we walk in the middle of the street so no one can corner us against a building or push us into an alley (and I would never walk alone at night.) We don't carry expensive items out in the open. You put your money in your wallet before you leave the store or walk away from the ATM. We don't ever take our cellphones out when walking on the street. I don't carry a purse. Hans does carry brass knuckles. Simple things like that.
We live right around the corner from a street that is known to be the worst street in Muizenberg (ironically called Church Street.) It's just a few blocks long, but has become known as the crime center of our community. Hans and I noticed some of the houses were being bricked in with cinder blocks. We read later that criminals were using the unoccupied houses to store stuff they stole until it could safely be removed from the community, so the city was just closing up the houses. Which makes me wonder about the night we were walking back from the base to our flat (about one block) when a guy ran by carrying a full sized sofa on his back. As we puzzled over this odd sight, two more guys ran by with arm chairs, and then one more with a coffee table. We wanted to believe they were helping a friend move, but that probably wasn't the case. We've since programmed the number of the "Mountain Men" into our phones so we can be good neighbors and citizens and report such incidents. MM are a private security company that have men constantly patrolling the community two by two on bikes. They respond to calls within minutes, while the police are so busy it could take hours. MM actually have "spotters" on the mountain that overlooks Muizenberg with infrared binoculars. If you call in a crime, they can locate the house and track the escaping criminal, directing the heroes on bikes with radios. It's actually quite the system. We heartily thank the Mountain Men every time we see them
So while it is different here than we're used to, we are adjusting to this extra safety layer that has been added to our lives. Like people said when we moved here, there is no reason to live in fear. If we follow the common sense safety guidelines that are a little stricter than we're used to, we'll be fine. And we do feel fine living here. We don't ignore the issue, and we don't let it control our lives. But we do want to be involved in the solution, which is why Hans is joining Community Watch. And why I need to be a little quicker with my phone the next time I see car thieves changing out plates in front of my house...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
intenet woes
An addition to our "You know you're not in 'Kansas' anymore" post....
You know you're not in Kansas anymore... when the internet goes down in mid December at an international ministry base that houses several different schools and ministries and is used by 100 staff and students and the prognosis is: it'll be fixed by mid-January. And in the beginning of Feb it is still not functioning properly.
So we've had very limited internet access. I'm at a coffee shop right now to use the wireless. Our internet is also down at home and since our landlord is out of the country, we get to wait.
So we apologize for the lack of communication. Hopefully we'll have things straightened out soon. It's all part of the fun!
But I guess even this is not such a serious hardship. I was joking with Coke (Hans' mom) about how we were roughing it because we have to hang dry our clothes (we have a washer but no dryer)... Putting it all in perspective, we really don't have it so bad. I mean, we have access to internet. We have a washing machine. And for that I am incredibly grateful. We can deal with sporadic internet and a little wet laundry!
(And by the way, neither of us have ever lived in Kansas)
You know you're not in Kansas anymore... when the internet goes down in mid December at an international ministry base that houses several different schools and ministries and is used by 100 staff and students and the prognosis is: it'll be fixed by mid-January. And in the beginning of Feb it is still not functioning properly.
So we've had very limited internet access. I'm at a coffee shop right now to use the wireless. Our internet is also down at home and since our landlord is out of the country, we get to wait.
So we apologize for the lack of communication. Hopefully we'll have things straightened out soon. It's all part of the fun!
But I guess even this is not such a serious hardship. I was joking with Coke (Hans' mom) about how we were roughing it because we have to hang dry our clothes (we have a washer but no dryer)... Putting it all in perspective, we really don't have it so bad. I mean, we have access to internet. We have a washing machine. And for that I am incredibly grateful. We can deal with sporadic internet and a little wet laundry!
(And by the way, neither of us have ever lived in Kansas)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)