Beacon of Hope International - 2010 Mission Trip!

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Sitholinhlanhla Elementry School 2009

Beacon of Hope News

Taking AIDS Education to South Africa

March 2010

We are starting out the new year with a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement about where God will lead us this year. Our Teams in our five main centers have made good starts to the 2010 program by approaching the schools in their areas and making appointments to get the 2010 program off to a good start. As I reported in the November newsletter we have reached the 10,000 mark of students that have been through our program since 2004. We did about 4,800 last year alone and I am hopeful that we will double that again this year and that we will reach 10,000 students in 2010.

The thrust of this newsletter is to encourage participation in this year's mission trip.

2010 Mission Trip

This summer we will be continuing on with the Smart Choices AIDS prevention education program in Secondary and High schools in South Africa. If you have been following our progress you will know that we have been running this program for six years and that about ten thousand students have been through our program to date. We are now operating in six cities in two provinces and are seeking opportunities to expand into new cities. We have also had requests to expand our operation into neighboring countries. We have been invited to Swaziland, Mozambique and a little further north to Malawi. We are waiting on God to open those doors and provide us resources to take those steps.

The trip this year will take place between August 12 and 29. You can see a step by step procedure to follow on our Website if you are interested in coming with us. Anyone interested in coming with us needs to let us know by April 15.

This is an opportunity for adults and teenagers to take part in a life changing experience for themselves and at the same time bring new hope to teenagers in South Africa as they struggle with the challenges of this devastating pandemic that is strangling the African continent. The South African HIV prevalence rate is the highest in the world and the province of Kwa Zulu Natal where our main focus is has the worst statistics of all the South African Provinces.

The number of people that die from the ravages of AIDS across the world is equivalent to the 2006 Indian Ocean Tsunami happening every 38 days. Equating it to a more modern tragedy it is like the Haiti Earthquake happening every 29 days.

Come and join us on our 2010 Mission trip to South Africa. It will cost about $3400. We will send you a sample fund-raising letter to help you raise your support. Check our Website and send me an email if you are interested.

Chadd Bain

Chadd and Kate Bain were one of the two couples appointed by Horizon International to manage the affairs of the the Horizon-sponsored AIDS orphans. In 2007 Beacon of Hope partnered with Horizon International to provide support for two hundred AIDS orphans in the Richards Bay area where we have focused our AIDS prevention education program. The Izulu Orphan Projects ministry cares for about eight hundred and fifty orphans by ensuring that they have uniforms to go to school, they get food supplies and medical care. They also provided a Christmas party for over two thousand orphans and caregivers last December.

Chadd was tragically killed in a road accident on December 7, 2009 right before the planned Christmas party. Actually he was transporting supplies for the Christmas party when the accident occurred. Chadd is survived by his wife Kate, two boys three and one year old and their two adopted Zulu children Mbali and Sandile thirteen and eleven respectively. Praise God for Kate's courage to continue to provide for the orphans. Horizon established Chadd Bain Memorial fund and were able to very quickly raise over eighteen thousand dollars to help Kate to provide financially for her family for the foreseeable future.

Team Updates

The World Cup Soccer tournament is being held in South Africa this year from June 4 to July 4. We are anticipating that this event might significantly affect our progress this year. One reason is that a lot of churches and mission organizations are planning outreach activities. Some of our partners are going to be involved in their own outreach activities and will have limited time to participate with us in the first half of the year. Secondly some of the schools' soccer teams are likely to be involved with soccer-promoting activities provided by the visiting teams. These activities are likely to cut into their school time and so the Principals will be stricter about other activities that will impact the normal class time.

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Zodwa's Team Soshanguve:
The Soshanguve teams are preparing for the 2010 training program by first canvassing all of the schools in their area of operation to establish a level of interest in the program. The second step will be to get agreement from the principal to commit to a date when the program can be conducted in their school. When the calendar for the year is complete then the training will begin.

Derrick's Team Richards Bay:
Derrick already has two members of the local Methodist church active in his team. In early February he had the opportunity to do another presentation for the congregation and the result is that he has another handful of people interested in joining his team. His team has already taught a class of 270 students at a new school (first time exposure to the Smart Choices program). He is also negotiating with the school where they taught last year to go back and do another grade level this year.

Clement's Team Empangeni:

Clemen's two teams are proceeding with a school district that has twenty-five schools in total where they started working last year. In the first three months of this school they are focusing on six schools.

Kenny's Team Esikhawini:

Kenny is continuing on at the school that he focused on last year. Ilembe School is only allowing him 1 hour per day on three days a week after school hours. The second school that he is doing in parallel (Khula High School) are giving him two Life Orientation periods per week.

Patrick's Team Greytown:

This is the team that started working with us for the first time during our 2009 trip. Patrick's team has returned in January and February to the schools that we taught last year and he plans to continue concentrating on the same two schools for the foreseeable future.

Team Activity Results

Leader	Date	School	Students
Clement	02/09/10	Stheku High	162
Clement	02/01/10	Sbekezek Secondary	250
Clement	02/09/10	Hawulethu Secondary	150
Clement	03/01/10	Uptindo High	320
Clement	02/01/10	Qondindlela High	195
Clement's Result			1077
Derrick	02/22/10	Floraton	270
Derrick's Result			270
Kenny	03/01/10	Ilembe	58
Kenny	02/25/10	Khula	70
Kenny's Result			128
Patrick	01/25/10	Kwadunge	40
Patrick	02/01/10	Nyoniyezwe	47
Patrick 'sResult			87
Zodwa	2/18/10	Tsibogo	44
Zodwa		KlipGat	50
Zodwa	2/25/10-3/1/10	Semphatho	315
Zodwa's Result			409
Grand Total			1971