Loving this new design baby! Blue…it was about time someone made up something pretty like this! I can’t really be bothered figuring out how I could do it myself.

Needless to comment on how long it’s been since my last update. I can’t really say nothing much happened in the last half a year or so, cause lots happened, it hasn’t all been exciting though. I’m about to head back to work (half days) after having been off sick for a few weeks. Once you’ve conquered a burn-out, you’re not neccesarily out of troubles, it seems. I thought I was doing well enough, after some health problems last winter, but last month proved otherwise. And I guess I have been rather busy last year, moving house, starting in 2 news jobs (semi-simultaneously), driving lessons, babysitting and lots of other stuff. But, hey. You grow as you go, right? I will hopefully be able to avoid making certain mistakes now. Though my old Latin teacher would probably mumble something involving donkeys now…sorry, that joke doesnt translate into English I fear.

ANYWAY!

Some cool things? Having my great friend Leah from Belfast over for the weekend last weekend! So much fun catching up. Not so cool is the bird around the house here thats driving me crazy…ever seen that movie with the girl from Sex and the City, and the guy from…ah, Failure to launch. Well, I’m about to follow Kit into ‘taking care of it’…hehehe…two more days and my eye will start twitching though. It starts at 4.30 AM and circles around our house, making its sounds per second. Even with all windows closed I can tell where it is. Can somebody send a bird-eating carnivore please?

I cant really think of anything else. Lets meet back here whenever there’s news, ok?!

Hi everyone!

It’s been ages and ages, so long that I doubt if anyone will still read this! But that might change if I start writing again…My adventures are not so exotic anymore since my time in Belfast and South Africa is over, but I’ll keep this as a little post of little everyday-life stories! For who-ever visits.

I’m back in Holland again, and loving it more then ever! You just don’t know what you have until you leave it behind for a while…I’m back in my old student city Utrecht regularly (since I work there a few days a week, even though I live more down south) and today I sat there, reflecting, that Utrecht Central Station is my ultimate Dutch experience. The rush of people passing by, most of them in a hurry. All sorts of people: students, busness men, homeless people…people from all possible nations and backgounds. I saw a man in shorts and a top playing a wooden flute (recorder?), I saw an fragile old lady with the biggest ice cream cone I ever saw, walking slowly and bent over to a bench, where everybody made room for her. I saw a pregnant standing lady in the train, where we were all standing jammed together (because, according to another Dutch tradition, the trains were rubbish today) and one lucky guy who did have a seat noticed her, and offered her his seat  ‘because there’s two of you…’ I watched people, and I loved it. I love Utrecht…

So life is full speed for me again, after a very long summer break, in which I did a lot of reflecting about the past year, and about the future. Conclusion is that I’ll commit myself to another year in Holland, in which I’ll get my driving licence (because I am starting to really need it) and will work, to be able to think and pray more and take a better decision about the longer-term future. And at the moment I work for the Catholic Church, I write for their biggest youth-website and help keep it up-to-date. It’s a full job, with quite a bit of responsibility. It’s 32 hours a week, 2 days in Utrecht and 2,5 closer to home, in Helmond. To be in Utrecht in time I have to get up at 6.15…anyone who knows me just a bit can guess that my coffee-intake has gone up quite a bit! (and that my narmal sunny moods only catches up with me once I’m halfway there…) It’s 4 hours of travelling on those days. If the trains work…Today is the end of my first week and I’m WRECKED! I’m sure it’ll get better once I’m on a roll again. It’s a job for 3 months. I’ll look for something else in the new year.

So, thats a bit of me…I’ll try and keep this up-to-date a bit more. It might be a nice way to keep you far-away-guys informed about me…and you closer-by-guys-whom-I-don’t-see-so-much, too…:-D

bye for now!

Hi everyone!
Its time to go home again…another tearful goodbye and tomorrow we are on the plane again, heading for Belfast! We fly through Dubai (why not?) and then arrive on Fridya morning in Gatwick, from where we will go to london Luton, sleep over and on Saturday afternoon we fly to Belfast.
I will give my South African sim card away to a lady I met here, so please from tomorrow on contact me on the irish one: +44 and something I forgot but no doubt you guys still have! Just kidding, let me look it up for you: +44 7784430194. I will be using this one from tomorrow (Thursday) on.
I will speak to you guys soon!! Remind me to tell you stories about ENDEARING toddlers and the joys of being cuddled by 6 at the same time who all want to hold a piece of my hand/leg, or singing ‘ba ba black sheep, have you any wool?’  for the 39th time…our safari to Pilanesberg national park and encounters with rhinos, giraffes, wild cats (although sadly enough Simba kept on hiding), zebras and many more, about assemblies at schools and the homeworkclub…
love, Margreet

Hi everyone!
We’ve finally made it to Johannesburg for the ‘ last leg’  of out outreach! Don’t ask me how, though…but I’ll get to that!
We were so sad to leave Cape Town…we had a fabulous time there! Our last day we spent debriefing and we got incredibly positive feedback from Jonathan! He thought we were a very mature team, despite our relatively young age for this type of ministry, and he admired the unity in our team, and the way we’ve proved ourselves flexible and with a heart for the work we’ve done in the prison…it was the best debriefing day ever, by the way, cause Jonathan drove us to an exotic beach!! We actually debriefd on a rock on the beach in the sun, a rock that too soon became an island so we had to get a little wet to get off again..and then we got ourselves some fish and chips and picnick-ed with a sheet on the sand…it was amazing! And at night my host family, Rosemary and Gerrit Fielies hosted a real ‘ Braai’  (a south african barbeque) for our team, Jonathan and Jenny and their daughters, Lisa (who works with the Juveniles in the prison) and all our host families and their children. We had a very cool time of thank-yous, from us to our hosts and from them to us: clearly they very much enjoyed our company, and if ever Hope Ministries needs accomodation for teams, they’re welcome to contact the same families! ‘But you have to make sure that they’re just like this team, ok??’ said one of them…heheheh! So we were very, very sad to leave…Jonathan has taken such good care of us…he’s the best. If ever someone is interested in a ministry in a prison, he’s your man! Hope Prison Ministries is very, very good. I can recommend it to everyone. They’re so passionate, dedicated..and take very good care of incoming teams or individuals!

Anyway, Tuesday brought us and all our bags to the trainstation…our train was due to leave at 10 am and to arrive at 12 am the next morning…but it didn’t leave till 1.30! and nobody could really tell us why! Jonathan stayed with us till about 12, making sure we were ok and all, and when we finally left we were already tired from hanging around doing nothing…
then things didn’t go too smoothly, the train stopped a few times in the middle of nowhere (which is literally nowhere in South Africa) and at night I think the train didn’t move from about 11 till 3.30 in the morning! We had bunkbeds or something so we were sort of comfortable during the night. But at 9.30 we were woken up by a train stewart, telling us to get up and packing, cuase we were to be transferred to a bus at 11, at a place called Kimberley! From there it would be ‘ about 4 hours to Jo’burg’, according to the train people. Yeah, lets make that 7 hours, I thought, this is africa, it can’t be that good…and unfortunately I wasn’t too far off, cause we were stuck in this bus on very bumpy roads for 8 hours…we were totally WRECKED after that…

But warmly welcomed by YWAM in Johannesburg! There is another YWAM team here right now doing part of their big outreach here. Their school (lecture phase) was in Cape Town, in the Beautiful Gates base (Kim, you know about that) and on monday they leave for the Beautiful gates base in Zambia! (Kim, how funny is that! I have already been telling them about you and Judith, too bad you just left) There’s a lot of nationalities in this team as well, even a Dutch girl, who also studied in Utrecht. It;s a small world! The base here has a ministry called The Joseph project, and focuses on children. It has a big vision, about empowering children to get further in life, to have big dreams and to rise above their disadvantaged start here in inner city Joburg. They have to start small because there’s not that many staff, and they don’t want to start projects that will die after the short term people leave again, so now they run an after school class for about 30 kids, where they play games and get help with their homework. they also run a ‘ pre-school’ for kids aged 4 and 5. It turns out that many parents here don’t stimulate their kids at all into learning, so where middle class children can read a little and at least copunt to 20 or something, but these kids don’t know anything…and that gives them a big disadvantage in school, where the classes are too big to spend much time on slow kids…so they have a really bad start. The pre-school has about 10 little ones, cuase there’s no capacity for more, and they really spend time with them to teach them these things, and to stimulate their learning. I signed up for this, so instead of with prisoners I will now spend time with toddlers! It will be interesting!! I’m not very good at kids, so we’ll see…Manny, can I borrow some of your talent??

So thats me for now…I’m gonna get out of here, it’s freezing…this base has intenet access so I’ll stay in touch!
hugs!!

Hi everyone!
I can’t believe I hardly wrote in the last two weeks! I have been online a little bit but this computer is SO slow that it takes me 45 minutes to only check my email…so al my good intentions usually die after that time!

But as it is almost the last day here in Capetown and in Pollsmoor prison, I’ll try to write at least a few impressions of our time here! Today we had the final day with the prisoners that took part in the Restorative Justice programme (about trying to do something about the damage you’ve caused with your crime), in which our team and a few other volunteers took part for the whole last week. With about 45 prisoners and led by pastor Jonathan Clayton we spoke about the victims of their crimes, the underlying reasons that caused them to commit this crime (with this i don’t mean excuses, I rather mean things like greed, addictions, problems with anger: things they can identify that they have to deal with), about taking ownership for your actions and stepping out of a victim-mindset, and about repentance and forgiveness: as something that other people need to give them, as a free gift, not something they can demand or even have a right to…it was very intense, and very challenging!

The meetingroom was in the midst of the prison, so each morning we walked through the prison, accompanied by guards, which was pretty scary in the beginning! But it’s funny how quickly you get used to things In the programme 2 of us sat around the table with about 10 prisoners, to answer questions in smallgroup time and faciliate the discussion. Jonathan was the teacher, he led and spoke and challenged the prisoners to discussion, and in the groups we talked some more and more personal, about their own lives.

I have seen so many things, it’s hard to describe…something like this has so many dimensions! There is the background of the prisoners, which is often VERY sad…a lot of poverty, (sexual) abuse, the absense of a loving father figure growing up..and then, the wrong crowd of friends, drug abuse…many of them have big problems dealing with anger and if you always walk around with a gun or a knufe, things can easily get out of hand. The guys we worked with all had sentences up to 10 years, for murder, rape, armed robbery, fraud… about which they also shared. It is a Christian programme, and the love and mercy and forgiveness of God for each of them was a central point.

The element that this programme focused on, though, was the repentance part..many people become Christian in prison because they are desperate for help, but they think everything is over and done with once they accept Jesus’ forgiveness for their sins. This programme forces them to also think about the mess they left behind, the hurt they caused in their own families, and their victims (their trauma) and their families, in case of murder. Restoration…is there anything I can do to make their life and pain a little bit better? To make up for some of the harm I’ve caused? Forgiveness is for those who wholeheartedly repent of their actions…

This week I’ve come to know what is called the ‘criminal mindset’, and thats a scary thing. In the beginning of this week, listening to their stories, I got the feeling that they saw themselves as victims of the situation and the circumstances…they have so many excuses, reasons, everything…they don’t take ownership for what they’ve done. They were forced by the circumstances, and they really believe it…This goes really deep! It shocked me! They are murderers, rapist, robbers, but they don’t admit that they’re actually did it themselves…it was self defense, I was without a job, the government should do something and give me a job, i got angry and I lost it, I blacked out I can’t remember, he provoked me…unbelievable! It made me very angry!

I’ve been victim of a robbery a couple of years back (I got robbed of my cellphone in a busy mall in Utrecht), and once I caught a burglar in the act as he was on his way up to my wondow on the first floor of my student house, and I very well remember the shock and pain and fear I suffered after that! And my friend got her car very nearly hijjacked under gunpoint in Belfast, I clearly remember what she went and still is going through! It was a shock for me to see how easily they tended to jusitfy their actions, without thinking about their victim.

But. I have seen a change during the week. This week was very powerful in the sense that many of them admitted that it was a choice they made in the moment, that they committed their crime(s) THEMSELVES…and that they were guilty. And out of that, a change could come…I really believe that these people will not change the least bit UNLESS they really open their eyes to what crime does to their victims, and take responsibility for their lives and actions.

And they are so hurt as people…they really need healing and I have already seen the change in some of them that have become Christians…you can see that they have a peace in them that the others don’t have. Their lives in prison are so hard…I’ve heard more this week then I wanted to know, really

It was an intense week, and for some of them I was sure it was just something else to do, something different. I did not get the feeling that it actually meant something to them. But today, as we had the closure of the programme, several of them came up to the front and spoke about their experiences, and apologised to their mothers, to their wives, and I felt these apologies were sincere. I was sceptical at first, because I had seen a lot of ‘pretending’ during this week, giving answers they thought we wanted to hear. But I believe what I saw today was genuine… I was almost moved to tears by one man, who didn’t say many words but suddenly had a knowledge in his eyes, a knowledge of the pain he had caused his wife, and he simply said to her that he would try with all his power not to do it again, and that he wanted to love her and respect her as he had never done before… ony God knows if these men can hold on and stay strong, as prison is probably the most difficult environment to step away from crime (don’t ask me about corruption and the gang-life in there, it’s scary!) but something real happened to them this last week…and they will not soon forget this.

The victims were not invited today, as that would be far to early and too sensitive. You can’t do that after a week or so…a group out of this programme will continue with a second course in this, and then perhaps, later on, and if the victims are able and willing to meet up with their offender, this can take place. The family was invited today instead, parents and wives, because they are closest to the prisoners. Today was an opportunity for the prisoners to take a step into restoring this relationship, which was often very broken. The family and spouse is where the prisoner comes home after his sentence…these people are so important in his life.

well…too much to talk about, but this will give you an impression at least of all I am experiencing! That is, if you’re still with me, after such a looooong blog…
on Tuesday we’re off to Johannesburg, and I’ll keep you posted there about all our other activities in the last two weeks of this outreach!

Ji everyone!
We’ve arrived in Capetown, for part 3 of out outreach! Though part 1 and 2 were both in Durban…these 2 weeks we will be working (and some of us will be living in..) Poolsmore prison in Capetown. (or Pollsmore, am a bit confused) Our 27 hours bus trip from Durban to Capetown went well, i managed to sleep a lot! Who would have thought. I was scared of being left behind though, as the driver gave us short stops and didn’t really check if he had everyone!
Sunday morning we arrived in the city and we were welcomed by the main man of our prison ministry, Jonathan Clayton and his wife Jenny. They are both working fulltime in the prison, in the Christian ministry called Hope Prison Ministry, and in this work a good 20 fulltime workers and many more volunteers. They spend time with the prisoners, talk to them, run different programs with them for the short time they are allowed out of their cells…Jennifer has started this organisation, and Jonathan is a man who has spent 3 years in prison for fraud, about 20 years ago, who came to Christ in the prison and has now for the last 14 years or so worked in Pollsmore. So Hope Ministries is about 15 years old now. I am very impressed with what they are doing, and from tomorrow on we will be involved in it as well! So much to tell…all of us are staying with host families, I am living with a couple in their forties, who work in the prison, and they actually live in the prison area, inside the gates…I can say that I am in prison for the next 2 weeks!! George and Rachel live 2 streets awayfrom me, Ramy lives just outside the gates and Erin, Christy and Lina stay with Jennifer and Jonathan in their family. Each day all the fulltime workers and volunteers meet for morning devotions, with a worship and sharing time, and then each one goes to the different sections. Some work with the women, some with the young guys…
We will be working with the young boys, aged 14-17, who are not sentenced yet. We will bring our Forgiveness programme to them. They have a few hours with us each morning. Normally, they are locked up in their cells for 23 hours a day…incredible hey?
And in the second week, wow…remember I wrote in my thesis about Restorative Justice? Well, one of the biggest things that Hope Ministries does is run a weeklong Restorative Justice Program with the men in the prison. It’s about taking ownersip for their deeds, recognising that they hurt their victim, their victims family, perhaps their own family with their deeds, and eventually it works towards forgiveness and restitution: the families of the prisoners are invited and sometimes they get a chance to meet up with their victims as well. It’s very challenging, as many prisoners deny their deeds, or talk themselves out of responsibility. But in the course of this programme, after a couple of days, often many changes take place, as the men and women are confronted with their deeds and the results of it…I’ve watched videoclips of people repenting of what they did, and being reunited with their families. It’s pretty amazing! All the work Hope does has a biblical focus, with the love of God centrally in everything…Today we had a big introduction to the prison and the ministry, and to the people we will be working alongside with.
So, it’ll be an interesting and challenging 2 weeks for us! Please keep me in your prayers! Especially cause I’m not feeling too well right now, I think I might have caught a bit of a flue or cold, I just hope it doesn’t get worse. People might be able to phone me on a landline as I will be staying in a place with a phone, let me know if you’re interested so I can find out their number!
Gota go again…hope to keep in touch a bit more this time!
love!

Hi everyone!
Just a quick message to let you all know I am still alive and kicking! I spent the last two weeks in the middle of nowhere, no internet or phones, so thats why i have not been in touch at all! tomorrow we really leave Durban, at 5.30 AM (ouch!!) we take the bus to Capetown, where we’ll aririve at 9 in the morning…long trip hey? There we will work in a prison ministry, I am not sure what that will look like, but I already heard we will take our forgiveness programme to the teenagers that are imprisoned there…there’s an Afrikaans couple running this ministry, YWAM has worked with them before, and they (I am told) are crazy, funny and passionate about all they are doing! Plus,. Capetown is said to be the most beautiful city in the world, so…sounds promising!
We left World Changers Academy today, that was really, really sad…after 2,5 week we really made friends, and it feels strange to have all that disappear as you step into the taxi again…i had an amazing time there. We have been teaching in the different programs they offer, Life Skills and Leadership, for highschool students and people that for some reason haven’t finished their education. These classes are amazing, about visionbuilding, purpuse in your life, about healing of the past, all ment to give the young people hope and something to live for..we’ve had some great talks with people in those courses, and they are really life changing. This is my type of ministry, really! To empower people, give them hope..
And we had just a great time hanging out with them, young guys and girls our age. The Zulu people can sing and dance as no other…their singing blows me away!!!!! We felt kind of silly with our guitar,,,even with 30 people we can’t fill the room with sound as they do! and the valley of a thousand hills is amazing…the last few days we spent in one o f the townships, kwa Nyasua of something, with Vusi, the guy who was supposed to be in our DTS but didn’t get his visum. He’s working for world changers as well and runs a community centre, also amazing! I watched a dance class, and oh MANNY I wish I could stay to learn all that!! They were SO good!!
Oh guess what…all the Zulus are impressed with my dancing…muhahahaha! And THEY are the best dancers…I feel very proud, hehe!
Gotta go here, a few minutes internettime left…
love you and miss you all! I hope Capetown will be better again for internet and phones! But I’ll have to wait and see.
hugggsssssss!!!! Margreet

Hi everyone!
Wohoo, I found an internet place! So I can give you a quick update about my life here!
Last week on Wednesday we moved from the city of Durban to a place nearby, in the country. World Changers Academy is a school that gives courses in Leadership and life skills, all focusing on equipping the young, mostly black South Africans, to find jobs more easily. I am having a great time…a 4 week course on leadership is going on right now, with about 20 participants who live at the base, and last weekend they left for the weekend and a group of highschool kids arrived for a feedback weekend on the 10 days Life Skills course they recently completed. This weekend was for them to evaluate what they’d learnt, and to tell what they were doing with their new knowledge, how they were trying to inpact their friends in school…for the teens, it focuses on creating a bigger worldview, setting goals in your life, having a vision, but also about HIV-Aids, the moral issues that are linked to that, about developing leadership…its amazing to see these kids drink all the information, wanting to learn, wanting to become a leader! It’s so hard in the townships where they’re from, most people are not able to look further then their current problems..but these kids are taught a bigger picture, that will enable them (hopefully) to achieve goals, have a focus, find a job, continue their education! I had such a good time!
This Life Skills Program is what we as DTS will be involved in as well. We will be teaching different groups next week about teamwork, conflict resolution and leadership. It’s quite similar to the Forgiveness teaching we did before, it’s just with a different topic. It will be exciting!
We stay in small wooden cabins here, world changers is on a hill so we have to climb up every morning to the main building for breakfast and the main program..it is so incredibly beautiful up here! We’re not actually in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, but nearby, and it’s amazing…the weather has been really hot and sunny during the days in the first 2 weeks we were here, but yesterday it started raining and it’s a lot cooler now. But still nothing compared to Belfast…hehehe! It’s really weird that it’s autumn here, I am in spring mood! Summer mood, with all that sunshine we had before…I’m nicely tanned by now!
My phone works fine here, I managed to find an adaptor to be able to recharge it. I don’t have a landline phone, so I can’t make any phonecalls…maybe next week, when we might move to Jeffry’s Bay! It’s not quite decided yet where we will go after Next Tuesday, but I’ll keep you posted.

Pappa, kun jij je mobiele telefoon regelmatig aanzetten? Ik stuur af en toe een sms maar ik zie dat hij niet altijd afgeleverd wordt…en na een paar dagen komt hij niet meer aan. Ik kan jullie volgende week per sms laten weten waar we precies wanneer zijn, als er iets verandert in het schema dat ik jullie heb gegeven!

I feel really in Africa, now I’m here! Christy, our staff member, did her DTS before mine, and in her school were 2 South African Zulus, Ayanda and Sandile. We met them here, and as well a few other Zulus who were in Belfast for the DTS in previous years, and it’s so cool to meet them! YWAM Belfast sponsors a few Zulus each year to come to Belfast, and I can see the fruits coming out of this…the people that have come are leaders with big responsibilities here in their home community.

So, thats it for now I think…I will talk to you soon, or at least whenever we are able to find an internet place again!
Lots of love to you all! Margreet

Hey! Ik geloof dat Erins nummer niet klopte, ik denk dat dit het goeie nummer is!
0027769021099
zoals ik zal zei heb ik geen elektriciteitsomzetter, dus weet ik niet zeker of ik de komende twee weken mijn telefoon kan opladen. maar we zullen het wel zien! En voor noodgevallen is Erins nummer.
hugs!

Hoi guys!
Vanaf woensdag ben ik twee weken lang bij World Changers, heb ik waarschijnlijk geen internet en niet zeker of ik mijn telefoon kan opladen! Onderstaand nummer is van Erin, en voor noodgevallen.
002731769021099
tot snel!! Margreet