Participant Blogs

Since I joined Global Challenge in 2010, I always hear about these couple of places that ex-Global Challengers always speak about, those places that have been visited by many of our teams over the years.  You hear stories of God’s provision, challenges, teams sleeping on the streets, people turning their lives around etc.  Hong Kong is one of those places.  Though, what separates Hong Kong from places like India or Guatemala, is that there isn’t an established ministry point that all teams visit. There isn’t a foundation in place for teams to build upon.  Instead, teams tend to do their own thing each year. 

Since the birth of the vision of Distant Islands, I knew that Hong Kong is one of the places we have to visit, even though it doesn’t sound that “distant” to most and even though it’s only partially island...

The desire was stirred in my heart for our team to go and establish something that will last longer than the week that we’re in Hong Kong. My dream is to see a foundation being laid in Hong Kong so that future teams can go and build upon it and so that we can one day hear of all the fruit that’s being reaped over there.

Albie’s uncle and aunt have been residing in Hong Kong for the past 9 years after his uncle accepted a job as a pilot for Cathay Pacific.  They offered to host us for the week we were going to spend there, and luckily for us they live on an island called Lantau.  This came as an answer to a lot of prayer for accommodation to suit our budget.  The hospitality we experienced from Wim and Juanita, their kids and even Stella, the lady that works for them in the house, just blew my mind!  Never did we think on a Global journey we’ll be having rusks, boerewors, koeksisters, biltong and all sorts of other little huge blessings! Furthermore, we had the opportunity of spending real quality fellowship time with each of them and really got absorbed into their world.

In the area of ministry we reached a couple of dead-ends which raised a couple of questions within myself, especially after I felt so certain about coming to Hong Kong.  In the end we found an open door at 2 very well established ministries with a lot of international acclaim. They invited us to become a part of what they’re doing in Hong Kong and most importantly, what God is doing there.  It turns out that in the future our teams might have the opportunity to get involved in outreaches to muslim minority groups, prostitutes, drug-addicts and the poor and destitute living in the city.  What an awesome provision from God!!  Our prayer is that these contacts will be fruitful and that our involvement in their ministry will bear much fruit in the future.

After Hong Kong, all I can tell you is that we serve a Living God.  We serve a God that longs for fellowship with us.  We serve a forgiving but just God.  Jesus is Lord, and that’s all I know and that’s all there is to it...

Fulani town of Tanout in Niger If we were all created out of mere dust and sand, the Sahara must be the palet in God's creative hand. Having tea with Saharawi people in the Western Sahara (Dakhla, Morocco)   Celebrating Magdel's birthday in the desert! "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants."(Isaiah 44:3) The Southern borders of the Sahara in Niger "He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs."(Psalm 107:35)...

The Bible speaks of provision and God the provider numerous times. Surely many of us, as Christians, has experienced God's amazing provision at some point in our lives in the same way it is written in the scriptures. This is true also for the URN project, which raised more than R60 000 in less than three weeks to feed the needy and the hungry masses of Niger.   Not only has God blessed this project in miraculous ways with finances, open doors and heaps of favour, but He is using this project as a means to reach more and more...

The island of Java for long periods of time enchanted the minds of those in search for the largest commodity of earlier ages...spices.  Later on they came here for the good quality tobacco and world renowned coffee.  These days, People come here for spiritual enlightenment.  It's true...Indonesia has become the new India!  Distant islands came here for one reason... to reach the lost and to encourage our fellow family members in Christ!  Our journey brought us to the city of Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta is not a name that will sound familiar to a lot of South Africans and most of our team members have never even heard of it.  Well, Yogyakarta (Yogya for short) is the third largest city on the island of Java in Indonesia and is the powerhouse of Javanese and Indonesian heritage, art and culture.  And, as it goes this year, we ended up there by the divine guidance of the Lord...

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9U-nlH4olA 100x100] On the 3rd of February, Global Challenge Expeditions will be sending their teams to the Transkei, a rural area in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.  The area is know for its poverty and soaring AIDS statistics.  The teams will be serving the needy people of the Transkei at two locations: The Mahosheni AIDS Project and the Coffee Bay Christian School.  The need in this area is so big and the funding too scarce to make ends meet.  Please help us in our efforts to help the people of the Transkei. God Bless The GCEX Team

Jamaica is one of those countries like Switzerland or Morocco or the Maldives, meaning that if you ask people if they would like to go there, 90% of the replies will probably be a firm “yes”.   I wonder why that is, though.  Is it because of the publicity the country received through mediums like Bob Marley or the Cool Runnings movie?  The fact of the matter is that Jamaica is not what most people would expect.  It is probably one of the countries that resemble Africa the most outside of the African continent.  Which did make it all the...

The beauty of Zanzibar is absolutely breath taking.  We will forever be thankful that God brought us to this unique little island to witness the great things He's doing all over the world. Our first ministry point was Chuini just north of the island's capital, Stone Town.  The pastor we stayed at has a spice farm and we helped out on the farm for a day.  Unfortunately it started to rain (like it does almost every day on Zanzibar).  While we were waiting for the rain to clear up one of the workers quickly made each one of us an...

As it goes with all pioneering journeys...we travel without a plan and purely by Faith.  A lot of people don’t really grasp how this works or why anyone would want to do something like that.  They also don’t really understand why we would go to a country or place without any pre-arranged accommodation etc.  Boy, did the authorities in the Cayman Islands NOT understand this concept!!  And thus began our adventure on the island of Grand Cayman...

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Global Challenge Expeditions is a registered NGO with registration number: 066-651-NGO.All donors to GCEX will be able to receive tax benefits and all donations will be tax deductible and we will supply you with a Section 18A tax receip t on request.