Job Creation

This is Lincoln. Sorry for not updating the blog for so long, I’ve been really busy. Here’s a few quick things that have been going on. I've been teaching a class at SAST (South African School of Theology). I teach a class called "Doctrine of God and Angels." I enjoy it, but it is a real challenge because my students speak English marginally, but they don't read or write english very well, and don't understand complex theological terms. It is very challenging.
You may remember that I wrote about a child run home that I visited in Freedom Park awhile back. There are two teenagers, a twin boy and girl, and a younger 5 year old boy. The mother died from AIDS a year ago, and the father has been out of the picture for a long time. We decided to hire the older boy here at the shelter on Saturdays. Last week was his first Saturday at work. From talking to the childcare workers at Freedom Park they said that he was very happy to have his first day of work. Being able to hire him means a lot to me. Seeing such poverty, sickness, and hopelessness can be a little overwhelming. Ideally, you we want to help people help themselves instead of just giving them handouts. So it is very good that we are able to bring Tse Etse here to the shelter and teach him how to work.


Along those same lines I have found a 17 year old kid in Freedom Park to make these toy airplanes for me. They are made out of used oil cans and other trash. I bought a plane similar to this at an outside market in Jo-Burg. I had the idea to find somebody in Freedom Park to make similar ones. The idea is both job creation and a way to make a little money for the shelter. We need to find some way to market them in America, so if anybody has any ideas, let me know.
It feels good to be able to make a difference in the life of these two boys. There is so much need, but little by little we can make a difference.