Seeing the Light, Episode 1

It started with a video. We missed Sarah McLaughlin’s performance at Wolf Trap, so we went to YouTube, where we found the 2009 World on Fire video. In it, Sarah compares the music video production costs with alternative uses for the money (economists call this the “opportunity cost”).  For us, the spark was an example of a $16,500 director’s fee that could pay the running cost of a South African orphanage for a year.  We had just been to South Africa, and could feel the potential and hope of the people we met.  The spark became the light – we could do this.  We could help those schools and orphanages.  And so our adventure began.

In subsequent visits, we connected with the Methodist and Anglican churches who administer children and youth programs.  We met with the teachers and the caregivers, with ministers and priests and bishops. We visited preschools, elementary schools, children’s homes, and youth drug rehabilitation programs.  Staff all shared their vision for the children and youth they work with – the raw talent and energy that is the future of South Africa.  It is irresistible.

Children are a long-term investment – the teachers and doctors and scientists and engineers that they will become are in the future, but they start now.  Our aim is to help them feel the light when the dawn is still dark.

In the weeks and months ahead we will share stories of our continuing adventures with feeling the light and singing to the dawn.

Authors: Jeanne and Randy spend some of their time in South Africa helping the Anglican and Methodist churches with their work on ECD centers, youth programs, and other priority projects for church staff.