Hello from Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa! It took four days of travel to get from Ecuador to South Africa and we took four planes through four continents and then a nine-hour bus ride, but we have finally made it! My team and I arrived to this small beach town about a week ago and ministry here has been really great! The placement that we have here is for the shortest amount of time that we will have on the World Race with only two and a half weeks!

We are working with a school called Global Leadership Academy this month and helping to renovate the school and work on their farm. The people who own and operate this school were partnered with the first World Race team that launched over 25 years ago and helped to discover what the mission’s organization would look like. They have grown and operated such an amazing school here and it is great to be able to work with them this month. The school is situated in a town that was deeply affected by apartheid, and the dream of this school is to offer a private Christian school education to kids from all backgrounds and all areas of the socioeconomic spectrum. This idea practically works through sponsorships for children who cannot afford a private school education, and through the process of accepting an equal number of kids to the school from the richer areas of town and from the squatter settlements around Jeffreys Bay. In South Africa today, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent, which means many families are not able to afford homes and end up living in squatter settlements, and many kids do not go to school unless they have opportunities like this to be reached out to, sponsored, and bussed to school.

For this month, we are helping out the school in a few different ways. This includes redoing and repainting one of the main walls, renovating the desks in one of the classrooms, and redoing and repainting one of the bathrooms. We are also helping out with work in the vegetable garden and farm where food is grown and given to families in the community that are in need. It is amazing to see this beautiful school that was all built through donations and volunteer missions work and now is fully operating and doing amazing things for the community and the kids! I am excited to see what this school will look like in the future, as they are currently making plans to grow the school and add another wing so that more students are able to attend.

For those of you praying with me through this journey, the school here could use prayer for their fundraising efforts for the new wing of the school and my team would love prayers for continued safety, and for small comforts being away from home during the holiday season.

With love,

Claire