Orange Farm

Yesterday was truly precious. We went to a place called “Orange Farm,” which is a squatter camp (or “Informal Settlement”) in the rural south of Johannesburg with a population of about 1 million. There we visited a school of many precious African children who were so delighted to have Americans taking their pictures!

We then visited a small daycare and were so impressed at the tremendous job the teachers were doing with such limited resources. You will see in the picture that the school operates out of a one-car garage attached to a home. (Carpet is put down for it to be a preschool by day then the carpet is removed and it’s converted again to be a garage by night.) The children’s behavior was so impressive and they were performing tremendously in their activities. We were delighted as they sang their national anthem for us.

We visited both the school and the day care to witness and participate in the feeding program which is provided by JAM (Joint Aid Management), the relief organization of our dear friends Peter and Ann Pretorius. JAM www.jamint.com ensures that these children receive at least one good meal a day (highly nutritious, fortified porridge) and in feeding through the schools, they are encouraging the education of the rising generation.

From there we visited two care facilities for adults with disabilities.

At each of our stops we distributed the clothes that we brought donated from the women of World Harvest Church at home in Dublin, Georgia. Our women need to understand how profound a gift it was that they gave. It is almost crushing to see how “unwanted” items given from our side meet such a desperate need for these people. I left wishing there was some way to transport American “junk” to ones who so desperately need what we don’t even use.