Participant Blogs

One of the first leads when we dreamed of what the Silk Route journey might be at the latter end of 2018, was the 2020 Olympics in Japan: “If we traverse the Silk Road from West to East, or from Turkey to China, we could extend it to Japan and serve as volunteers at the Games!”, or so we fantasized. I remember still adding, “Nations across the globe all in one place at one time—what better opportunity to reach out to so great a diversity of people groups than this?” Needless to say, this plausible idea fizzled out as the...

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who...

Lord; In the cold light I live to love and adore You. It's all that I have, it's all that I am. In the cold light I live, I'll only live for You. It's all that I have it's all that I am   This is my way of worship. To embrace every moment for what it truly is, a gift from You Lord. To understand that there is something beautiful in brokenness, even if that brokenness is in me, also knowing that in my greatest struggle there is a lesson to be learned. And h aving utter and complete...

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...

Davis, aka The Ambassador greeted us with his white smile and a dashing white suit on Sunday morning. He was ready for church. Marié and I ran some last errands, I all the while thinking how the heck is this guy going to keep his white suite white. Why would he even bother with one? It won't stay white, I could guarantee him that. Everything is dusty in Busia, Uganda. Even the tar road has a thick layer of dust making it unrecognizable – and we were far away from the tar road anyway. We were to go on The...

Karibo Kenya! This Swahili word, 'Karibo' greeted us all along our journey along with warm smiles and hearty handshakes.    Kenya was kicked off by crossing borders on foot and spending the night at the police station - FOR FREE! We pitched our tents and enjoyed one of many meals to follow of 'ugali' (mieliepap). The following day we embarked on our journey across country via the Mojale Star. As sophisticated as this sounds, it turned out to be a bus loaded with dust and broken seats. This journey was an all-nighter and early the next morning we arrived in...

When we say 'pioneering Ethiopia' we do so because that is exactly what took place. We arrived in Ethiopia with nowhere to go, nowhere to specifically serve and nowhere to sleep. After being chased out by airport security we recall sitting outside in the parking lot weighing our options. We could either set up camp across the airport in a field or risk our low budget by sleeping at a hostel in expensive Addis Ababa.    We went with the latter option. So we found ourselves praying and seeking the Lord that we would do His will and that He...

“If people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” 2 Chronicles 7:14   Morocco bursts with colour, flavour, sounds, people and culture. It catches you by surprise if you don’t prepare yourself, but is this a case of being careful not to judge a book by its covers? With statistics such as a 99% Muslim population and having laws prohibiting evangelising, makes one wonder what is going on in...

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:12-13   Living without borders became a reality the day I entered the refugee camp at Tabanovce border post in the North of Macedonia. The Explore Africa Team was based for 3 weeks in the Capital of Macedonia called Skopje. Our South African hosts, Danie and Ester with their three children, made our stay in Macedonia an unforgettable one. While living next door to them in accommodation their neighbours, Godse and Betty provided,...

We arrived in sunny Spain at the port of Tarifa after a windy and breathtaking ride on a ferry.  Like clockwork we gathered our belongings on our backs, went through customs and met our hosts. Our home was to be a basement transformed into a storeroom containing boxes and boxes of 'ingils' (gospels).    Here we spent a week packing and handing out Gospels and other materials to North Africans crossing the border into Spain. We had the loveliest hosts - Spaniards and South Africans. Often times we enjoyed rusks, rooibos tea and on one occasion even biltong.    Joyfully...