Out Of Africa

Well, I have been back from Cape Town for a couple of days now and I thought I had better write an update on my 'holiday' as it is being referred to.

Unfortunately my pal Royston didn't turn up for his meeting with Johnathan. His bag of heroin probably held greater appeal than getting off the streets. Sad but not unexpected. Our trip was largely uneventful. Cape Town itself is much like any other city I have visited on my travels with the exception of having a huge mountain looming large over it. We reached Table Mountain by cable car and the views overlooking the city on all sides were completely stunning.

The highlight of the trip (apart from having a pie baked with my name on it) was a visit to Drakenstein prison just outside the city. This was the same prison that Nelson Mandela was released from in 1990 (just to keep the anoraks interested) and houses both category A male prisoners and high security youth offenders (under 25). We visited something called the Hope Academy in the prison which is basically a separate unit set aside for those young men who have behaved and are interested in pursuing sport. There is a cell for footballers (run by AIS), one for basketball and one for rugby. The football cell housed about 18 young men and as full of posters of English football teams (Man Utd being the most prominent). Funnily enough, I didn't see a single Spurs poster!

These young men are part of a Christian League and they spank every other team at the moment largely due to (a) all of their games are played at home surrounded by armed guards (maybe an idea for Niddrie there!) and (b) the other players are scared to get stuck into them. Jez and I took a training session along with Pete & Andy and then I shared my testimony with them and we had a little kickabout. Several of the guys talked to me abut Christ and one young man (unbelievably known as 'Forgiveness') repented of his sins right there on the field and put his faith and trust in Christ. Very cool! I immediately handed him on to another guy called 'Precious' (I am not making this up) who will be responsible for discipling him. A brilliant end to our trip.

Keep praying for Peter & Andy as they seek God's will for their immediate future out there.
tata for now