I had my front tooth knocked out back in '02, and no thanks to Alice, she took the only photo that exists of me without my tooth.
For this and many other "shocking" photos, feel free to visit my online photo album.
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Saturday, September 4, 2004
Kayamandi
Kayamandi was a very interesting and eye-opening experience. It was absolutely amazing to see; despite being a completely impoverished shanty town, the sense of community was absolutely amazing. As I thought about the visit more and more throughout the day, and as I've been speaking to people with their own reflections, it's amazing to consider that given the pool of talent and people and skills that the people of Kayamandi have (population of about 50,000 people), and despite it's location (only about 30 minutes from Cape Town, and only 1 or 2 miles from the town of Stellenbosch, which houses one of the top universities in South Africa, Stellenbosch University), that the people would continue to be below the poverty level. What’s even more interesting to note is the reason: they have grown a culture that lives in “survival mode”. With the very limited short-term view that comes with living in survival mode, they don't have the concepts that are needed to look more long-term: savings, entrepreneurialship, etc.
That being said, it was a good experience, and although I was not staffed onto a client engagement in Kayamandi (more on that in a sec), I’m actually looking forward to going back there next weekend, when were going to be holding an all-day forum for the Kayamandi people.
The rest of the day was spent bonding with the client team from South Africa – it was a fun day of ice breakers, and getting-to-know-you type of activities. We got our client list (we ended up with a total of sixteen clients!), and I’m now staffed with White Wall Web. Get this: they are an IT consulting and custom web application development company in Cape Town. Hmm… sound familiar? =)
The rest of the evening was spent eating at the mall food court and then coming back and hanging out playing speed scrabble... yep, still on a missions trip!
Praises: Being staffed on a company in an industry that I’m obviously really familiar with!
Requests: That I do not fall into the trap of depending on my own skills and experiences during my consulting sessions, but that my client and I really wait on and listen for the Holy Spirit to guide us into the right conversations and discoveries that would really get at the heart of what He wants us to see.
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