Prisoners in this latest Restorative Justice course have spoken of how they have profited from it, one prisoner being led to tell the truth about his crime for the first time and about being truly sorry.  Many have said they wished they could have attended such a course 20 years ago!  Two Muslim prisoners took the course, one returning to the Christian faith and the other being deeply affected by the respect and love shown to him throughout.

 Despite the government department being very keen on more Hope Prison Ministries courses, Dawn cannot go to any more meetings in prison since bureaucracy requires her to be cleared for every single event and day separately.  Pray for a resolution to this issue.

 Pray that the thought of parting will not overshadow James and Ruth’s time in South Africa. 

Fraser has upcoming meetings aimed at NetACT sharing a server and getting things up and running.  He also meets senior representatives of the Dutch Reformed Church to show how online learning environments can help provide training for their ministers across South Africa.  Help in the spread of sound Christian training is a benefit of the work he has been called to do here.

Casual and unconscious racism is always below the surface in South African society and can be most disturbing as the speakers often don’t realise the attitudes their words betray.

It’s not just white towards black/coloured but can be black towards coloured/white or any other combination. However it manifests, it is a definite brake upon the integration and development of South Africa as a nation.

 An older lady of Dawn’s acquaintance, commenting on the style of the lady who’d led prayers at church, wrote: “the coloured people get a bit wound up”.

 She would probably be horrified to be accused of racism and indeed regularly cares for young coloured students but decades of experiencing apartheid as a privileged white have left deep marks.

Pray for healing from the past for whites, blacks and coloureds, all of whom have been damaged by South Africa’s history whether they’re conscious of it or not. 

We are grateful to God for a positive NetACT AGM this week.  Christian publishers have donated over 600 books for the attendees to take back to the theological colleges in their African countries.  The books have been delayed in transit however, and we are praying that they will arrive before the attendees leave for their home countries. 

 Fraser has made a presentation on the work he’s been doing and will be following up contacts with publishers, hopefully leading to more online resources being made available.

Please remember Ruth as she travels out to South Africa this week.  She is due to arrive on Wednesday morning. 

 On the prison front, one man admitted to a prison worker for the first time that he had lied at his trial. The Restorative Justice course had opened his eyes to the need for honesty and integrity if he really wants to lead a better life and rebuild relationships.

Continue to pray that we will quickly get security clearance to visit many other local prisons.

Fraser is starting to redo all the work which was lost, a long and tiresome process.  Pray that he would not get discouraged.  There are eight elements to be built and he has now put together the basic structure of six of them. 

Thank God that there are many opportunities for Dawn to get involved in prison ministry. Pray for the continuing follow-up sessions from the Restorative Justice course, that change in the men will be deep and lasting. 

It was amazing to witness how God is working in the prison. Prisoners still need to find the courage with God’s help to go further.  Pray that their families can help them face up to the need for repentance, restitution and real change.  Pray for stamina and wisdom for Dawn. 

Pray for South African society.  Absentee fathers, gangsterism and a lack of good parenting continue the cycle of deprivation and criminality. 

A Nigerian pastor who recently did the InReach programme has written, “In all my studies and learning I’ve never seen anything like this.  I was embarrassed when a woman said to me, ‘Pastor, now I see Christ in you,’ just because I helped her fetch water from the well.”

Jacksons – May Update 2

Fraser is thankful that Hugenote College, rather than Stellenbosch University, has formally agreed to host the server for the NetACT portal.

Dawn has been made welcome to help with a homework club run by another church which has at least thirty children attending each day. 

Thank God that we’re getting a day of rain most weeks now.

Thank God that no one was hurt on May 12^th when our house was broken into – laptops, credit cards and Dawn’s driving licence were stolen.  Please pray for their speedy recovery.

Fraser discovered that two memory sticks with all his backed-up work were also stolen.  Nearly all his work from the last 6 months has gone.  Pray that he will find better ways to redo the work he’s lost.

Dawn had previously arranged to attend a Restorative Justice course, and will now do so with her own personal experience of the effects of crime upon victims!

Fraser has travelled to Zimbabwe.  There seems to be a law in Zimbabwe outlawing unlicensed journalism which extends to photographs. Fraser doesn’t want to fall foul of this law and end up in a Zimbabwean jail, but he’s been asked to take photos. Pray for wisdom.

Pray that he’ll be able to make an accurate assessment of the situation and needs, resulting in benefits to Murray College, NetACT and theological education in Africa. Most importantly, that God will be glorified.

We moved into House Louise on Hugenote College’s Samuel Campus last Wednesday and it feels as if we’ve truly arrived at last.

The homework club still has no participants, which re-emphasises the importance of personal contacts. Another homework club, run by a different church, started about a year ago for pupils of all ages.  Perhaps God’s plan is for us to get together.  Pray for clarity and contacts.

The NetACT portal looks fairly certain to be hosted here at Hugenote College, giving Fraser more freedom to organise it, but less technical support to call on.  Thank God that the server room will be on the same campus as our new house.

The NetACT partner colleges have now been asked what they would like to include on their course reading lists.  The partners gather for the NetACT AGM in July. 

The Study Centre in Cape Town seem likely to give Fraser permission to use their system and web-design for the NetACT portal.  This would save NetACT having to employ a professional company to do the technical build.

 Pray for the homework club which starts on Thursday.

 Pray for justice and mercy to make amends for the centuries of exploitation and inequality in South Africa.

 The imam in Nigeria who came to believe in Jesus through InReach has died after a short illness.  He remained firm to the end in his new knowledge of God.  Pray that many who knew him will be curious as to why he left Islam and will themselves come to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

There has been exciting contact with a Cape Town organisation which makes Christian resources available online at a non-academic level.  They are keen to collaborate with NetACT, already coming up with solutions to technical challenges that Fraser was expecting to have to deal with. 

 Invited by the Head of the local High School to address the assembly after the Easter break, Pastor Christopher volunteered Dawn.  Exciting, but sometimes a bit daunting.

 We will can move into a more permanent house next week and finally settle after 5 months here.  Much of the furniture (and the house) will be provided by Hugenote College. 

 We now have plane tickets and health insurance for James and Ruth to visit us this summer.  Some things are worth far more than their monetary value.

 Pray for the safety of the Muslim converts still in their village in Nigeria.  There’s a lot of opposition towards the women.

 Paul recently led an InReach training session and, during one of the breaks, strolled out and bought food for a group of “undesirables” sitting under a tree.  He met them again the next day and introduced several of them to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  The local pastor was convicted that for many years he had been propagating the doctrines of his denomination instead of the love of Jesus. 

 Thank God for a huge prayer gathering in an area of Cape Town where few white people had been before.  Dawn also visited a local Muslim community festival, about the only white person there.  Pray that Jesus’ followers will realise that all barriers can be overcome by His love.