Ken Schaffer is a man changed by a unique vision of love. He recently returned from a two-week voyage to South Africa with a Samaritan’s Purse-led short-term mission team.

Joining with a group from Lord’s Grace Church in Vancouver, Schaffer had the chance to experience first-hand the work of Samaritan’s Purse partners Jaco and Antoinette Fouche.

The founders of Edu-AIDS Consultancy, Jaco and Antoinette work in the extremely poor, principally black African villages of the Matzikama Municipality in the Western Cape Province. They work to provide HIV/AIDS education, supplies and hospice care to the seriously ill.

Apartheid, says Schaffer, “has corrupted attitudes and perspectives.” He explains that outsiders are not easily welcomed into these isolated communities – but that Jaco and Antoinette, both white Afrikaners, are welcomed as a part of the community. They are able to cross the entrenched divide by compassion, and by their own testimony: Jaco and Antoinette have both been living with HIV/AIDS for more than 11 years.

Schaffer’s team was the first humanitarian group to visit from outside the region. The team planted the first seeds of renewal in the communities it visited, by meeting locals and distributing food hampers. The generosity of team members opened doors to further aid – and increased hope for the many people suffering from disease and poverty.

They also laid the foundation for two new buildings, and completed the basic construction of a third building – which will be used as a kindergarten and daycare centre.

Samaritan’s Purse Mission Teams are assembled by groups interested in short-term mission experiences, and are led by trained and experienced Team Leaders. Each group is paired with a Samaritan’s Purse partner organization, ensuring that its activities are culturally appropriate and helpful – and that members’ time will have a lasting positive impact on the communities visited.    See ad Inside Front Cover

Winter/Summer 2008