I decided of all the photos I have taken today, I’d post this one just so I could make my wife Elizabeth jealous! It certainly was a day full of surprises, children and new friendships. The surprise came first thing this morning as I was sitting in the Deutsche Bank board room talking to the Director of Corporate Affairs, Colin Brown. Colin runs DB’s Africa Foundation. As were discussing what brought me to South Africa, I started sharing about The Community of Reconciliation and “Saving Zimbabwe.” The look on Colin’s face at first puzzled me and soon he was asking some rather probing questions. Within a matter of a few short minutes, he had ascertained that his brother-in-law Garth, had officiated at Matthew & Jen’s wedding last weekend! Given the events of the last few weeks, you’d think I’d be used to this by now.  Again, I was stunned and frankly awed by the amazing connections that seem to keep on developing here. I had set this meeting up months ago. I feel the hand of God at every step of the journey.

Colin and I spent the rest of the day talking (a lot) as we traveled to two Deutsche Bank supported NGO’s so I could see firsthand how they were attempting to deal with the vast orphan problem in South Africa. The first stop was at a NOAH Ark. The NOAH project currently caters to 30,000 orphans and vulnerable children in the Gauteng & Kwazulu Natel provinces. Each ARK is supported by an Ark Manager who is from the local village community and an Ark Builder who is a NOAH employee. The particular Ark I visited was on the property of a public school and comprised 4 buildings, two of which were built out of old shipping containers. In seeing how they were utilizing the containers as classrooms, it’s given me some food for thought as to whether we should purchase the containers we are using to ship our medical supplies over to Zimbabwe. This Ark had lots of cute little preschoolers who just loved being held. Honestly it was hard to leave.

We then drove about 30 minutes to see Refilwe headed up by the visionary Jaco van Schalkwyk. Refilwe is a community based environment and in many ways similar to The Community of Reconciliation. The biggest difference would be that CoR had substantially more land therefore could develop a larger agricultural base and business. The Refilwe property was originally a retreat center and donated by its owner for the purpose of helping orphans. The bungalows were converted into living quarters for six children (3 boys & 3 girls) and a house parent. The Refilwe model is more family based as the children and parent(s) do everything together. The community encourages self-sufficiency so each house parent has a garden plot that they maintain and the produce is used to feed the family.

The community, which started in 2007, has expanded rapidly. In 2008 they began developing an organic orchard whereby the fruit trees are surrounded by various herb plants that either repel insects or add nutrients to the soil. They also have developed a worm farming operation that is quite interesting. This particular breed of worms is very small but very efficient in breaking down garbage. The compost that it produces is rich and sought after by gardeners. The worms also produce a liquid that seeps to the bottom of the container that they call “Worm Tea” as it dark brown. The worm tea is bottled and sold as highly concentrated fertilizer.

As we walked around the facilities there were children everywhere. I soon learned that African children love to have their photos taken! Even more they love seeing their picture in the cameras view finder. I about had a riot on my hands a few times as they all rushed at once to see what they looked like.  The sound of little peoples laughter and giggling was precious.

As we headed back to the DB offices, Colin and I stopped off to have a Chicken and Mushroom Pie with Chips. I also had a refreshing Passion Fruit drink, one of my favorites that was first introduced to me on my first trip to Africa in 1984. As we sat there and talked for the next hour or so, I was pleasantly surprised at how much we had in common. In fact we are only a couple months apart in age. We are both compassionate men who want our lives to make a difference. I went to a meeting this morning to talk strategy and drove away feeling like I had made a new friend. It was really an amazing time.