August 2009

Anathoth is the headquarters of Africa Upper Room Ministries. On five acres of land near Johannesburg, South Africa, it takes its name from the Jeremiah passage in which land at Anathoth is purchased as a sign of hope for the future. Anathoth is, for Upper Room Ministries, a sign of hope for the future of Africa. This newsletter from staff-person Roland Rink brings news from this important ministry.

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Seven months of the year have passed! June and July have been exciting as we have said "hello" to new structures and projects and "goodbye" to some trusted friends.

We have included a number of photographs for you in the photo gallery of the AURM page to assist you in visualizing who and what we've been about over the past weeks.

We received our two refurbished sea containers during June. These arrived, were unloaded by crane, placed in position and placed in service within two hours. The most difficult part of the whole exercise was steering the flatbed truck through the trees in the Anathoth driveway! Posted photographs tell the story far more eloquently.

The reason for the purchase of these two containers is to make space for the computer skills training project that begins in the Anathoth Conference room this coming Saturday morning. The books that have taken up the Conference room space for the past years are now safely and securely housed in their new "mobile homes."

The beginning of the computer training course marks the end of a long journey. We were forced into providing satellite internet access in January 2008 because of the continual theft of our telephone cables; we then received no fewer than 24 refurbished laptop computers from a donor in the USA. We wondered about how best to utilize this extremely generous gift. What was God asking of us? We dreamt of a community computer skills training site, but did not have an accredited, skilled trainer to offer the course. We also did not have the necessary space or funding required for the building of a skills development/training centre. All of the constraints have disappeared like the morning mist. God has inspired Candice Adams, an accredited Apple-Mac trainer, and member of our mission partners, Come Back Mission, to make herself available to the students of this very important project. We are extremely grateful for Candice's response to God's call in her life.

The containers have been purchased at a fraction of the quoted cost to formally build a skills development centre -- and they're easily moved to other parts of the property if required.

So many people (young and old) in South Africa today are unemployable because they have not been given the opportunity to participate in navigating their way around a computer. By the grace of God, generous donors and participants making themselves available, we can in some small yet significant way begin to offer people the opportunity to change the circumstances of their lives.

A visit by a group of young people from Brentwood United Methodist Church, Nashville, TN, USA allowed us the opportunity to officially bid farewell to Stephen Bryant, our mentor and friend for the past years. The Gauteng AURM staff all attended a small informal meeting at Anathoth to wish Stephen well in his new position. As part of the event, Stephen planted an acacia thorn tree to offer shade for the containers in future years.

We also presented him with an African Chief's walking stick -- not as a reminder of his accumulating years, but as a symbol of his new journey, and our willingness to continue to offer support (like a walking stick) for him. The walking stick featured a bicycle bell to help clear the way ahead, a small bottle containing sustenance for the journey, a small torch to help light his way, and a funnel attached to a length of plastic tubing (no explanation required).

Enjoy the pictures.

We go forward
Roland Rink