Soul Action South Africa Update

 

 

It was good to have a visit from Phil, Rachel and Zachary Bowyer back in June while they were in the UK. They spent 4 weeks travelling around to spend time with their family, and visiting churches and groups to share about their work. It was a trip that they found physically exhausting, but spiritually, socially and emotionally energising, inspiring and surprising!

 





I'm a church leader, get me out of here!

On their return to South Africa they hit the ground running by gathering local church leaders on their first day back to pray about their national conference planned for next March. During the first week they were back they met with the 20 leaders they have been gathering to think through what it means to empower communities to use their own resources to meet their own needs. The leaders in the photo may look like they are trying to escape the building, but in reality they were asked to make the longest line they could with the resources they had on them! The exercise not only brought out their competitive streak but also drove home the point: we can sometimes overlook our own resources, and - worse still - forget that even those people in what we think are the most desperate situations still have resources and potential.

Pray:

• That this group of leaders would be catalysts in this country for a move towards people empowerment.
• For stories of people for whom empowerment has led to them re-discovering their fullest potential in God.

Educators discussing in groups the advantages of shared reading.

 

Soul Action South Africa's Literacy Project's vision is to empower children to reach their full potential. To achieve this they have chosen to support teachers in low economic communities by working with schools to teach children to read and write in English. One of the ways Soul Action supports teachers is by facilitating workshops. In this case the teachers had asked for support with shared reading. 19 teachers attended the workshop which aimed to develop an understanding of what is meant by, and how to facilitate, shared reading.

 



Feedback from all the groups

 

Pray:

• For Rachel as she continues to train teachers, and especially for the relationship she is developing the Department of Education in KwaZulu Natal.

 

Copies of the Soul Action South Africa monthly newspapers are available in Priory Lane. Or go to their website: www.soulaction.co.za for more information.