A summer of helping those in need is in store for three Tsawwassen teenagers.
Caleb VanTil, Andrew Kraft and Melissa Robertson will be traveling to Africa from July 2 to 22 to help out at an orphanage in Swaziland.
The three recent South Delta Secondary grads have been together as part of an outreach and bible study group at South Delta Baptist Church alongside Andrew’s parents Craig and Heather for the past four years.
“The five of us have been meeting every week, we do a bible study together and as we have come to the end of that and the end of high school and heading off to university, we wanted to do something meaningful together,” said Craig. “My wife and I were missionaries in Africa and Andrew spent time there as a young kid, so the opportunity to go back was easy for us.”
The group will be serving at Hope House orphanage in a rural community outside of Mbabane, the nation’s capital.
Hope House is home to 40 children who have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Additionally, it provides meals to more than 300 other orphans and at-risk children.
Outreach Canada has been connected with Swaziland for the past 15 years through the Krafts who served as missionaries there before Craig became the executive director of Outreach Canada.
“There will be some general construction, cleaning, helping to catch up on projects, and some respite for the people who are there,” he said. “We have been supplied with some soccer equipment and uniforms. Caleb is also a very distinguished soccer player, so they’ll do some sports with the kids. Rugby is big in South Africa, so they’ll do that. We’ll be involved in some of their church outreach as well.”
Craig said the team is excited to be able to serve the Lord and the people of Swaziland in this small way.
In September, Andrew heads to Simon Fraser University on a football scholarship and will be studying criminology. VanTil is off to Trinity Western University to play rugby and study kinesiology while Robertson is going to Langara College and eventually SFU to obtain her teaching degree.
“Ever since 2008 when we moved back from South Africa I wanted to re-visit and go to the place where I grew up,” said Andrew. “This trip not only affords the opportunity to go back and take a trip down memory lane, but to also serve and do something meaningful for not just myself, but other people. It’s a pretty exciting opportunity.”
VanTil has been to Guatemala twice on missions with the church.
“Both of those trips were super impactful for me. It gave me a huge understanding and appreciation for where I live and what I have been blessed with,” he said. “To see those people it gives you a different perspective on the way we live. I’m super excited.”
Robertson sees the opportunity as a chance to do something new and impactful as a group.
“This generation of young people, we always want more, so it is an opportunity to spread some love, kindness and show that there is hope in hard times,” she said.
The students have been raising funds through personal donations, bake sales and other activities for the past several months, but still need help to cover the costs of travel and to provide financial support for the orphanage. To assist with their fundraising efforts see: www.outreach.ca/sateam2019.
“These are outstanding kids. They are future leaders and whatever they end up doing they are going to have an impact,” added Craig. “We are hoping that experiencing a very poor country like Swaziland it helps them appreciate the things we do have and the opportunities they have to help and serve the people in their lives.”
