Becoming Undignified

In Jamaica I discovered why the word "challenge" is at the centre of ''Global Challenge Expeditions''. How ironic that the pastor's wife gave a sermon on the very first Sunday in which she repeated the phrase: ''Challenges, troubles, trials'' almost 50 times in a time frame of an hour. On the day we arrived in Kingston, half of our team was sick. Most had Chick-V fever, which is caused by some musquito (not very hard to believe since we lived in a musquito nest in Guyana). I on the other hand, had a VERY random pins-and-needles irritation on my arms...

Not much has changed since we left South Africa for the first time on the 5th of March. Coffee is about R3.50 more expensive per 250g and the Stormsrivier toll gate has increased to R40. 26-inch mountain bikes are almost phased out completely, which means by this stage everyone has a 29-inch to brag with. Some people got married, others got engaged and the rest are still single. Some people have also been oversees, some got new jobs or a raise in their salary and a few have property on their name for the first time. But apart from these...

We are in Kenya. We are in Kenya. We are in Kenya. A year ago I would have been at work doing some MS Excel programming and moving automotive parts in a warehouse to create space for more parts... I AM IN KENYA. We are walking through the streets of Kenya, we are teaching primary school kids that Jesus is the Winner Man, we are eating mangos, chapattis and beans. Karibu. We are in Kenya. No matter how many times I repeat it, it still feels weird and unreal. When we arrived here alot of us asked the question: What...

A year ago I made a definite decision about 2015. It's a year later and we are debriefing the past 24 weeks of the journey. I am not sure who I am quoting now, but this is truly a life like no other. And this is what I mean by that:   We have lived in dodgy hotels with almost no facilities and grand hotels with warm showers and coffee machines. We have lived in musquito nests and random islands. We have slept in airports and busstations. We have travelled with ALL kinds of buses and taxis (including a truck...

Pink dolphins in the amazon, wild horses on the Guyana plains, red parrots in the Iwokrama forest in Guyana, coconuts of varies kinds just falling from trees around you, small wild mangoes, cake for breakfast, free condensed milk coffee on the amazon, acai, brigadeiro and more acai... Sao Paulo Brazil. The first thought that popped into my mind about the people here was: ''Wow these people are really entering my personal space with all these hug-and-kiss-on-the-cheek greetings!'' Lets just say physical touch did not score very high on my love languages test. But nonetheless I felt loved. I felt at...

In C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian, Aslan says to Lucy, "Every year that you grow, you will find me bigger." We just completed our third country, and I find Jesus bigger than ever before. It took us about 2 weeks of travelling to get from Brazil to Suriname. During this time I realised that another way travelling adventures can enrich our faith is simply by showing us new facets of God’s exotic world, confronting us with its gloriously peculiar variety and terrifying power.  When we encounter Him on the road, in a foreign land, in cultures and landscapes utterly alien to...

Movement, travel, journeying: these are central motifs in the Bible, as they are in Christian life. One reason is that these things jolt us out of what is comfortable, requiring us to step out in faith into the unknown and uncomfortable. And OH WOW have I been jolted these past 7 weeks. I came to Global Challenge with ALOT of preconceived ideas. About myself, about my walk with Jesus, about my future etc etc. I had Marié in a nice little box and all figured out. I thought I was taking a journey to Africa. This changed to South America....

At this stage of the journey I could write a blog about almost anything. Endurance would be a good subject... With only 22 days to go I have to bite my lip more every day. Even long suffering or forbearance would fit. And when I see the word ''fit'' I am reminded about some of my clothes that does not fit as nicely as they did when I started the journey. My physical, mental and emotional fitness at this stage is also not something to write home about.   Despite my frustrations and irritations God opened my eyes to see...

Guyana: land of many waters (especially in rainy season), many many musquitos (also known as the national bird of Guyana), ALOT of jungle and ALOT of sand... Overall Guyana was one of my favorite countries so far. Guyana is like a little India in Africa but situated in South America. The beauty of the jungle is something you only dream about or see in movies. The people: le-gen-da-ry. Just to give some insight into this statement. One day our faithful mode of transportation, an old school bus, failed to start and we needed to be at the pastor's village in...

That we may know Him...this is our only desire. Africa, my Africa In this place corruption brews in governments, injustice flows through the rifles of child soldiers and poverty strikes the poorest of poor. Yet beauty abounds in its sprawling jungles, mighty desert dunes and raging rivers; is evident in the eyes of the humble farmer, the joyful singing of the women and the innocent actions of the locals. That we may know Him... We have been exposed to different ways of thinking and living, we saw the crippling effects of poverty and disease and searched God’s heart for answers...