Unlocking the Future of Africa | |
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As I delved further and further into my message on “The Broken Relationship with Our Fathers” to almost 300 high school youth from the stage in our tent last Friday, I faced a dead silent room dotted with tear stained cheeks, pain filled eyes, and heartbroken faces. Some leaned on the person next to them for support. You could have heard a pin drop.
Precious few of these young people live with their birth father. Instead of experiencing the presence, protection, provision, and pride of a father, most have been abandoned, neglected, orphaned, or abused by them. Like many in extreme poverty, the fathers of these children function in survival mode - in some ways like someone who falls through the ice into freezing water:
Breathing stops so that no more water is inhaled. Oxygen and warmth are shunted from the body's periphery to the heart and brain to keep those "core" organs going as long as possible. At the same time, heartbeat and brain metabolism slow to a near stop, thereby needing less oxygen.1
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I wonder if Job, in all of his calamity, trauma, and loss, felt a taste of this, when he was describing the tragic mindset of a parent with no mental or emotional capacity to know or care about the welfare of their own children. That father, he said, “mourns only for himself." 2
Because of you, literally thousands of children and young people are finding a home at Key of Hope, with the father figures they are so desperately in need of. They bring us their school reports and permission slips. They list my name and number in the school database as their emergency contact. Our Key of Hope “Dads” fix leaking roofs, help move to a new house, attend parent-teacher meetings, and buy groceries. This month, when one of your young ladies on staff was kidnapped and robbed, then dumped on the side of the highway, she flagged down a truck driver, not to call 911, but to call me.
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My own eyes welled up with tears on Friday as those same young men and women sang at the top of their voices (pictured) many with eyes closed and hands raised,
“If you’ve got pain, He’s a pain taker; if you feel lost, He’s a way maker.”
Key of Hope, you hold the key to unlock hope for thousands of the fatherless in South Africa and Kenya by your response to this letter. The freezing of USAID funding last month caused great consternation across Africa, especially among those counting on crucial, life saving ARV drugs for HIV/AIDS. One of our young adults, employed by a local PEPFAR funded AIDS clinic, was laid off. We are determined to pick up the slack, but we need your help.
While the future of USAID may be uncertain, I’m grateful that Key of Hope is not reliant on any government funding whatsoever, but instead on a transcendent institution with more than double USAID’s annual $40 billion spending budget - the international missions enterprise of the Church in the United States. All through March, we’re asking you to step up with regular monthly support; support that we can count on through the ups and downs of the economy, the lean times, and the in-between times. Your generous one-time contribution this month is important, too - no month is the same in Africa!
Let’s seize this opportunity to show these children that it’s not government programs or international funding that are the hope of the world, but rather Jesus Christ and His Church!
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Dan Smither
Executive Director
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Nqola Day
A highly anticipated day each year—our kids design, build, and race their own cars downhill, creating fun, camaraderie, and unforgettable memories!
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Orientation
Each year, Sr. and Jr. Helpers kick off our programs after summer break with orientation, equipping them to impact the next generation—just one of many ways we develop leaders
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Missions Team
Thankful for a group from Hillside Bible Church that came out to help with a renovation project. If you are interested in bringing a group to Durban, South Africa please reach out to Paul Dziepak
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