South Africa Mission

“Be kind to widows, orphans … share whatever you have with them.”
Deuteronomy 24:17-21

The Purpose

St. Peter’s is helping build and manage a home for children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Western Cape of South Africa.  The home is located in the informal settlement of Masiphumelele and is being developed in partnership with the St. Francis Outreach Trust in Simon’s Town, South Africa.  A St. Peter’s mission reconnaissance team led by Anna and Blair Fernau visited the Masiphumelele site in August 2009 and met with the various mission partners in South Africa.  Leading up to a trip planned for July-August 2011, St. Peter’s mission team is raising support and developing relationships with the mission partners.  The goal of the mission is three-fold:

• to provide care and support for children in need
• to allow St. Peter’s families to participate in overseas missions and provide their children with an opportunity to learn about service to others, and
• to develop a long-term relationship with the orphan home and the mission partners.

Partners Involved

St. Francis Outreach Trust (www.stfrancistrust.org) :  St. Francis Church in Simon’s Town, just outside of Cape Town, is the oldest existing Anglican Church in all of South Africa.  The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town issued a call to local churches to help build foster homes for AIDS orphans in communities hardest hit by the epidemic.  Responding to the Archbishop and recognizing the tremendous need, the parishioners of St. Francis formed the St. Francis Outreach Trust for the purpose of raising money to buy land and build homes to care for children orphaned by HIV.  Under a program they initiated called “Homes to Grow,” the Trust purchased their first plot of land in August 2009 on Kanana Road in Masiphumelele to build a home for six children and a foster mother and part-time caretaker.   Under the Homes to Grow program, the Trust hopes to build and operate as many homes as they possibly can.  The Patron of the Trust is the Most Reverend Archbishop Njongo Ndungane (ret) and the board includes a former St. Peter’s parishioner, Robert and Diana Higgs (formerly the South African Naval Attache´ based in Washington, DC).  St. Peters is working directly with St. Francis Outreach Trust to raise money on behalf of the orphan home in Masiphumelele.

Home from Home (www.homefromhome.org.za): is a non-profit social service organization that provides home-based care for orphaned children as a viable alternative to institutionalized child care.  Home from Home  also works in conjunction with Fikelela, an AIDS initiative of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town meaning, “reach out”.   The organization believes that children thrive and grow in as close to a family environment as possible – and preferably within their own communities.  The homes are either purpose-built or existing houses replicating a family home with a foster mother and six children of varying ages and gender.  At the moment, Home from Home is operating 18 homes throughout Cape Town.  The St. Francis Outreach Trust will contract with Home from Home to run and manage the orphan home in Masiphumelele.  The Trust is using the Home from Home design model for their architectural building plans.

Embassy of South Africa: St. Peter’s wants to gratefully acknowledge the support and cooperation of the South African Embassy Washington, DC in its mission outreach.  Embassy staff supported the Invictus movie fundraiser and is currently working with our mission committee to assist fund-raising efforts and outreach in the U.S.  A special note of appreciation to Political Counselor Hennie Du Toit and to Cecile Heppes, First Secretary Political.

Scope of the Project:

In July 2009 the St. Francis Outreach Trust purchased a 172 square meter lot on Kanana Road in Masiphumelele, an informal settlement just outside of Simon’s Town, South Africa.  The Trust is partnering with a non-profit social service organization to help manage the orphan home and is using the non-profit’s building design model for the rendering of the home.  Matthew Gray of Architects and Urban Designers donated his time and expertise to the project developing renderings and blue-prints.  The approximate cost to build the foster home is around $55,000 or R394,000.  Thus far the Trust has collected $30,000 in donations, including an $8,000 donation from St. Peter’s in 2009.  Thus far in 2010, St. Peter’s has raised over $15,000 for the orphan home.  Construction ground-breaking is planned for June 2010 with completion of the building targeted for the end of 2010.

St. Peter’s mission will assist with fundraising efforts to help reach the remaining construction goal in addition to raising money to help furnish the home and provide a small fund for on-going operations.

Fundraisers

St. Peter’s has undertaken several fundraisers — small and large — generating over $8,000 for the orphan home in the first year and more than double that in the next year.  In 2009 the mission committee sold 550 tickets to see the South Africa movie “Invictus” about South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship.   For 2010, the mission committee has already raised over $15,000 including a very successful St. Peters Pedalers 125 mile Pledged Bike Ride to Shrine Mont.

Upcoming Fundraisers:

• Embassy Hosted South African Wine Tasting Event
• Pro-Am Charity Golf Tournament
• Movie Ticket Sales for the to-be-released film “We Are All The Same” about Nkosi Johnson
• Car Wash on Fathers Day – Sunday, June 20
• Glow Stick Sales at the Annual Parish Retreat
• Gift Wrapping Table at Tyson’s Corner Mall

Mission Trip Details

The proposed mission dates to Cape Town are July-August 2011.  This mission is uniquely structured so families with children ages 6 and up will be able to participate.  The exact work program of the mission will be determined nearer to the departure date but it will ultimately be dictated by the needs of the children in the foster home and their care-givers.  Work can include finishing the building with interior carpentry (i.e. bookshelves) and exterior carpentry (building and installing a play set for the children), painting murals, establishing a vegetable garden, providing music or art enrichment programs for the children, offering respite to the care-givers–whatever needs the local community identifies.

Travel costs to South Africa and in-country accommodations will be the responsibility of each participant.  Shared expenses, such as a van to drive the group to and from the mission site, will be covered by the church.  St. Peter’s is exploring discount options for group airfare travel.  We hope to reserve group accommodation at Rocklands Centre in Simon’s Town.  Participants on the mission should be able to deduct as a charitable expense their travel costs to South Africa and any in-country costs related directly to their work on the mission.  St. Peter’s will provide a letter documenting the official charitable purpose of the mission, but please confirm any tax deductions with your tax advisor.

Why It Matters

St. Peter’s mission philosophy is that feet should follow funds.  Through financial support and hands-on engagement with the communities we serve, not only are we helping them and supporting the Church’s response to poverty, but we are also changing ourselves, responding to God’s call to help orphans and enlarging the Body of Christ, which has no borders.

Contact Information

To become involved or for more details on St. Peter’s work in South Africa, please contact:

• Anna Fernau
• South Africa Mission Committee Chair
• annafernau@verizon.net