Our work

So, what will you be doing anyway?

It was difficult to answer this question when we came back from our trip to SA in September. I'm not sure that I answered it to anyone's satisfaction, and even then it took me a lot of words to answer. Distilled, the answer was "we'll do whatever is needed, but mostly we'll be helping to get things ready for children to come to Bridges Academy starting in 2008."

So, what are we actually doing now that we're here?

1. Community development

BHI's primary purpose is to help communities in Africa that are hard hit by the twin challenges of AIDS and poverty to "create long-term, self-sustaining solutions to the challenges they face." Work within the township community of Philippi to address community-identified problems of health, the care of orphans and vulnerable children, and after-school care for children has dominated the agenda of Bridges SA staff for the last couple of years.

This work has been a success story. Bridges has worked with community leaders to create programs to address these problems, and these programs are now being run virtually independently by community-based staff and leaders. Further the success of these solutions has been noticed by adjacent communities and places further afield, who have requested and are now being trained by Philippi leaders to create the same kind of self-sustaining solutions in those communities.

The success of the last 3 years means that our work looks a lot different this year than it did to last year's staff. "Self-sustaining" demands that the goal of transient labor (like us) is to work ourselves out of a job. Train, encourage, and get out of the way.

In practice, this means that this year we will spend much less time in Philippi than last year's staff members did. This may be hard for us, but it is a mark of success.

Our efforts in community development this year are focused on:


• encouraging Philippi leaders (tangibly by meeting with them weekly, and praying for them continually),
  
• supporting Philippi ministries by providing the farm (and ourselves) as a resource for retreats for staff, their volunteer facilitators, and the members of the community they serve,
  
• working with Philippi staff to figure out ways of leveraging the newly installed computer lab at Masivuke Primary school for community development purposes.
  


BHI is using the farm as a base of support and training to efforts to reproduce what was started in Philippi into other communities, but while this work is very much a key element of what BHI is doing this year, it is not likely to be a significant focus for Ruth and me. We have had hopes of beginning community development work here within the Franschhoek community, but there will be fewer staff members here than originally anticipated, and this makes it likely that our approach to starting that work will necessarily be more organic and opportunistic (i.e. seeking to develop relationships with people in the community) than highly intentional, as we seek to remain focused on the principal work of the next year, which is to develop and prepare the way for the opening of Bridges Academy in January of next year.


2. Preparing for Bridges Academy

Preparation for the Academy remains our primary focus for the next year. That focus is manifested in a large variety of work, ranging from physical property development tasks to decision-making regarding class structures, living arrangements, curricula, and educational philosophy.

Physical property development includes the design of a new main house on the property (not likely to be completed before the start of 2008), creation of playing fields, developing networking infrastructure, experimenting with gardens, refitting of existing buildings for expected use as dormitory space, a library, gift shop, classrooms, etc.

I'm finding that I'm passionate about education, if far from an expert. (Educators - please send me links/references to educational ideas, philosophies, etc. that have influenced your thinking - particularly about secondary school education, since the Academy will first target middle and high school aged youth. To get the juices flowing, here's one of my favorite links.) There is lots of work to do here.


3. Planning for stewardship/sustainability

Bridges projects (including the academy) are expected to become self-sustaining - that is, to get to the point where they are sustained by resources provided by the community they serve. We will engage in creative thinking regarding how available resources at the farm might bring in needed revenues, in ways that are consistent with the primary use of the farm as the home of the Academy.

We will also be brainstorming potential business opportunities that could become a means of employment within the impoverished communities we serve.



4. Everyday life

As you can see, there is a lot that we expect to be part of this year. This is in addition to the ordinary business of maintaining a healthy family life, developing relationships here, and just generally adapting to life in a rather different culture. I hope it's obvious how much we depend upon those of you supporting us from back home. You are critical. We need your ideas, your love, your prayers and your support. Thanks!