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 Brad Lindemann, President/CEO
Upon Returning From My First Short Term Mission Trip
I returned from my first short term mission trip on Saturday, July 19 at 2 pm. See previous post for background.The trip went off without a hitch, other than the virus I apparently contracted from one of the 250new friends I made on the flight home.You know you've traveled a long way when you have three meals on the same plane. End to end, it was a 36 hour marathon each way.
Our work site destination was the Matipane Village in the Limpopo Province of northeastern South Africa. While there, we were very comfortably accommodated by owner/couple Bootlap and Dalene at their Magnab Safari Lodge. Not exactly roughing it. My purpose here is not to give you the day-to-day details of our "work camp". Instead, I want to provide you with a general overview of what we did and then try to capture the essence of how the overall experience has impacted me...at least thus far.
But first, you should know that our original destination was to have been Zimbabwe. Given the political unrest and violence in that country, we were diverted to South Africa, the first of four African countries that Horizon International operates within, including Uganda and Zambia.Out of concern for the safety of Horizon personnel in Zimbabwe, I must be short on details here. But, suffice it to say, the situation in Zimbabwe is far worse than what's being depicted by the mainstream media. Some of the sponsored orphans have not only lost their parents, but their Horizon caregivers as well.
Our work camp was focused upon light construction and painting within a property in Matipane recently given to Horizon by a Catholic charity. Imagine a third world 4H fair type of facility and you get the idea. The site had served as a city market and agricultural gathering place. There are many small structures formally used to house livestock and farm produce. Given our small group of six people, our two main projects were to convert one small building into a library, while creating a storage room within another building for equipment and supplies related to the fledgling sewing operation that provides work for the young women of the village. We made lots of wooden shelves and did quite a bit of painting. The Horizon workers and orphans seemed to truly appreciate what we did for them.
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