Relationship matters: It does matter...

The last few days I have observed older people. I just saw a older couple, most probably on pension. They strolled along the bank of the Liesbeeck River in Rondebosch. This was so cute, them holding hands. Then just yesterday as I was driving a older man in a convertible red sports car pulled up next to me. He had some nice classical music playing, a bike on the back seat, sun glasses on his head and both arms resting on the steering wheel. a satisfying look on his face of contentment and achievement. These two moments should give a 30 plus guy hope! It should give young professionals the end picture of what life will be like after chasing bills, getting kids through school and running to one meeting or project after each other. The most important thing for me here is RELATIONSHIPS. For these older people to have reached these moments of happiness, they had to bare with people, they had to have patience, they had to have tolerance. They had to listen to others older than them. They had to make sure that their circle of influence was of the right mix to be able to reach the right results...

The work I do here at Scripture Union is about RELATIONSHIPS. It is about how I build relationships with volunteers, partners, churches and my personal supporters. It is about encouraging young leaders to make this central to their callings. It is amazing when you enter a classroom week after week and you see relationships growing between the leaders and the children. The exchange of hugs, smiles and laughter. When you work for Scripture Union it is those moments you live for. The sounds of happy kids and teens never loses its electricity! This is the world Scripture Union creates when we do camps, holiday clubs or when we create a enabling environment in a school set up.

At the heart of what we do is the simplicity of the Gospel. That is what Scripture Union has been doing for more than 80 years in South Africa, Introducing young South Africans to Jesus, the Bible and the Church. Its about introducing them to RELATIONSHIPS. Relationships with leaders and friends that most times last for a life time. Just on Sunday I heard a guy speak who have been a legendary SU leader and now is a pastor of a church in Kenilworth. I knew he was going to be funny, i knew he was going to grip the audience, i knew he was going to different and unique, I knew....Because SU grows these kinds of leaders.

The most important thing we do as Scripture Union is encouraging children, teens and young people to have the most important RELATIONSHIP in place and that is with Jesus Christ.

So for the last few months I have been studying and researching technical elements of SU. I even wrote a little thesis. Is this my best achievement since I last wrote to you>? Even spending hours and hours reading and writing???? NO! my best moment was the other day in Athwood Primary in Hanover Park. I take a group of leaders into this school on a weekly basis and we speak about life issues. We had the teen in grade 6 and 7 at St. Philip's Holiday Club. This was the first time we met after club. I felt God's Spirit in the classroom. Shared with them about this most important RELATIONSHIP. Many kids that morning lifted up their hands for prayer and I asked them to pray the sinners prayer. That is what we live for as a SU worker!

I am looking forward to Co-Ordinating the Mini Camp 2013. We have a very talented Directors team and are in the process of selecting a good team of leaders. This is such a popular camp that we already have 20 campers two months before the camp. The camp this year will be at Chrysalis Academy in Tokai, after being at Waddle Park/ Camp Faraway for more than 50 years! So this is going to be history in the making. We only have spaces for 80 kids grande 4 to 7.

I am wanting to get 5 kids per school I work in to this camp. The cost is R850. I work in 6 schools and that would be a whopping R25 000. So once again I am trusting God to make this happen. I would like to appeal to Young Professionals who have been campers and leaders on SU camps to sponsor a child to have the same experience and life changing moments, you had. If you would like to make a donation to get one of these 30 kids to camp you can do the following: 1. Write me an email or sms that you would like to sedrico@su.org.za or mobile: 0820718598 and then 2. Make a eft to Scripture Union Western Cape, Standard Bank Rondebosch, 025009, cheque account number 071401253 and use reference: 30Minicampers. I will then be able to follow up and how many sponsorships we getting anf how many of these kids I can get on camp.

I now share some pictures of the St. Philip's Holiday Club and the visit of a UK group to the SU projects I am involved in...

Thank you for supporting us as a family in the ministry. I value this relationship. Keep praying for us as we settle into our new life of home and the challenges that comes with new bills. I have faith that God is carrying us and will sustain us...Zacharie has been in hospital with Eczema but I thank God for her character and that she is a bubbly child. Sethe has done well in school again, reaching top sevens in all her subjects and received four awards for Art. Hazel has been healing from braking her ankle but we thank God that she is starting to move on that leg. I am ok, really praying that God will come through for us and that we will have enough for all our responsibilities and even in this transition I am challenged to give more. God's economy is indeed different, The more you give, the more God will honor His Word and give you the desires of your heart....

Shalom and may the Peace of our Lord be with you, always :)

Sedrico, Hazel, Sethe and Zacharie...    


              

Foodprint....

Have you ever heard of Foodprint? Footprint yes in terms of becoming more sustainable in the way we relate to the environment and our own health. I am sitting at Red Cross Hospital on a chilly morning with my three year old waiting to see a doctor. Zacharie 3, is trying to survive this eczema thing. Its frustrating for us and a lot of patience is needed on all fronts when bathing and clothing her. Other than that she is a joyful and happy go lucky kid. She amuses us all the time with her attempts in using new words she learns. This foodprint thing is also a new way of saying that we need to be healthy, save our environment and get into a culture of saving. This last couple of weeks as I ventured out with teams of people I lead and I had to think differently about the way I do ministry. Leading from behind is a challenge for me. Giving over the reigns and not interfering in the process is a challenge. You look with a more objective eye and kinda see more things going a bit the other side. I had to trust myself and have confidence that the training I have provided to these key volunteers was substantial enough for them to deliver. Deliver they did! Kensington Holiday Club was run by Jason and Jeremy with a team of very talented leaders. They had an increase in numbers and the Kensington AOG was buzzing with children and teens. The highlight of this club was the turnover of teens into this club as a result of the consistent work SU has done over the last four years. The junior youth at Kensington AOG has already shown signs of growth. Leaders on this annual club have directed other clubs and have been leaders on numerous SU camps. So all in all this HC are a living testimony to the values and ethos of SU. To the Southern Cape I went the following week after battling to get over the flu I have been carrying for a few weeks. Rest I had to get and a few days before I left did the trick. We scrambled for a few more rands as is the norm of pulling final numbers and resources together. Leaders and the core planning team spent more of their own financial resources to make this happen. People gave up their comforts to go to this little village Karatara in between the Outeniqa mountains just about a few Kilometers from Sedgefield. 12 Cape Town leaders went and we had a strong component from Karatara and George. All went to clockwork through our German style director Marc who made sure that everything went to the tick of the clock. We had a good exposure to various levels of leadership to the Southern Cape leaders in preparation for 2014. At the end of the club a proposed new leadership team fully made up of Karatara and George was completed. We look forward to training them early on in 2014 and expecting this vision of a self run club take wings... Thinking Self sustainability, eating lots of food, and saving methods explored as I research best describes my rhythm in the fellowship program I am in with USAID and Freedom House. I have been blessed to have been selected in this program and had to compete with young professionals in South Africa and Namibia to be accepted. A new passion I have developed is to become more educated in financial sustainable approaches for Development work, not only in South Africa but also the SADC region. So I am researching financial policies, banking institutions that provides support to Development Organisations and assisting them in investing and building longevity in their financial resources. For years I have been concerned about the rate projects die and peoples lives get derailed when funding stops. Moving development interventions from donor dependent to being self reliant will be my focus in this two year study program. All in all I am wanting to stay humble, keep my feet firmly on the ground and stay true to the calling of walking alongside young people getting them closer to their God Given Destiny's... I thank God for providing for us as a family a home. All the legal paperwork is done and my Biggest Cheer go to Brian Edwards for mentoring me through this journey. We thank God for Sethe Zion who received the Principals Award last quarter for her sterling academic work. All praise and honor to God who makes all things possible. Thank you for making it possible for me to do this work of building God's Kingdom one brick at a time...may the Lord richly bless you and your family as you invest and sow seeds... Sedrico and the girls...

With the pings still ringing on my phone with the whatsup Holiday Club group, almost a week after this mission, its clear that the buzz is still alive! Relationships formed and memories engraved, this experience I know will and have added valuable life lessons into the lives of the 30 strong team. Most of all the lives of the 86 plus kids and teens from this dusty little fishing community on the West Coast. The preparation of this club started last year October 2012 if my memory serves me right. St. Philip's Kenwyn raised sufficient finances for a group of us to go down in November 2012 to do a fact finding mission. We invited Christ Church Constantia and the relationship has been a winning combination! We met with Shelley Point Resort owner Norman Noland and John Lawrence one of the managers at the resort. We praise the Lord for favor. On Club we had the access to the Conference centre for morning devotions and early morning showers in the golfers bathrooms. Not to mention the free time session around the pool over looking the golf course. Where did the team sleep? On the beach at a caravan park in tents. Yes! Yes! Yes! We had a cooking tent one night where I almost burnt my jacket against a Lamp post makeshift light while passing burgers on bread with warm smoortjie burning my fingers. Oh the other supper night that stood out for me was the first one. No one could find there crockery and we did not have enough plates. Two people had to eat from one plate. Get a partner! Who you sharing with? Nice team building I tell you... The leaders who had preparation sessions with Jason and Alexus (directors) worked hard with decor sessions, music jam sessions and curriculum meetings with section leaders. They planned well and had all resources in place when they left for the mission. A quote a learned long ago, ' a servant who prepares well serves well' The highlight for me was Alex. This boy was the most difficult child last year on club. This year I was looking for him. He was quite. I asked him if something is wrong. He just nodded all is ok. One day I observed him in his group. He commanded the others in his group to make a circle and take note of what the leader was saying. There you go! That's what its all about. Investing in children and seeing remarkable change and that only a year later. The club ended for me with telling the parents why we having club. I started the theme song of last year and the kids sang one song after each other of last years club. Wow! I encouraged the leaders that this is what you doing. Sowing seeds that will reap a harvest! One night kids came walking down the beach in the middle of the night to see where the leaders were sleeping. That was All Pay Day and parents were lights out. The Thursday was also special as the leaders walked down the beach back to camp with all the kids following hours after the club was done. So did the kids and teens leave Holiday Club? Never. Stompies is kinda a 24 hour club...detachment is difficult and I saw tears and tears as leaders tried to say good bye...we don't say good bye, we say hello...so pray with us for the next step in this journey. Thank you to St. Philip's Kenwyn, Christ Church Constantia, Hawe van Hoop Ministries, Shelley Point Resort and all the SU leaders who made this an unforgettable experience. To you my friends and supporters I thank you for making it possible for me to deliver these kind of life changing projects. To God be the Glory and for the 60 kids who made commitments we pray for a long fruitful journey with Christ. Sedrico Husselman SU Western Cape Field Worker Youth and Children's Co-Ordinator: St. Philip's Kenwyn

Dear Friends and Supporters: These last view months have been one activity after the other. I do feel blessed that i am able to reach so many children and young people every week. I must say that i hae been challenged with the out cry of abuse towards women and girl children. You may know well that i have two little girls and i think this is also contributing to my heart being broken for kids in those situations. I prayed a lot and asked God to help me invest something of worth into the young peoples lives i am encountering especially during this time. I think i heard from the Lord. I call it the message of presence. We can give material blessings but it will just satisfy to a certain extent. Presence let people know that you with them. It assures people that you care and most importantly that you are listening. So as Christ is Immanual, God with us so we can take His presence with us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sounds very Theological but practically it means being always aware of the moments God provide to bless a space with His love and care. While driving up Bainskloof on my second camp for the Warehouse with the cook and one of the girl leaders, we started praying. How awesome when God visits. We prayed for every child coming to camp and we had a sense that kids are going to come with heavy burdens. We heard from the Lord that the kids need to rest. We had a sense that we need to bond with them, hang with them and let them be young. The pain I saw in the children's eyes and the emotions which make their shouldres shrug spoke of young people under tremendous life pressures. I then heard again that I need to make Psalm 91 our text. We encouraged them that God loves them and that they can rest in Him. We encouraged them that if they run to Him He will protect them and send His angels to protect them. We had 6 commitments over the two camps. I thank God that I know that maybe a few more made a private commitment. All thanks to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Please pray for me and my Interns from St. Philip'S who work both in Factreton schools and a Hanover Park school with me. Pray for the next two camps 15-17 March and 22-24 March 2013 in Bainskloof. Then pray for the 28 Leaders I will be taking to Stompneus Baai on a mission to do a Holiday Club on the West Coast. This club is in partnership with St. Philip's Kenwyn and Christ Church Constantia. Pray for the Leadership camp I will be doing with Prefects from the Factreton schools 12-14 April 2013 and for God to provide R7000 for it. I am busy with five week ends back to back. I am going to take my girls with me on Stompneus baai Mission and see what camps I can take them with. My first role in life is that of a husband and father. We are praising God for moving us along with our house thing. We are doing the paperwork now and should move into our house in the first week of June 2013. So all Praise and Glory to God who provides. It has been Nine years and so we very grateful to the Lord. Thank you for your prayers and financial support, Much Appreciation, Sedrico and the girls ( Hazel, Sethe and Zacharie)

Its somebody's daughter...

The last few weeks have been characterized by incidences where girls are trying to reach out. I spent a couple of weeks speaking at a school with Grade 7's in preparing them for high school. I gave them a challenge: if you were given the chance to write a Bible verse what would it be and how would it read? One girl responded: Fathers do not suffocate your children! I immediately responded by saying: Dad's love their girls so much and do not want them to get hurt. This world is full of dangers for girls and a father who loves and cares for his daughter is the closest and wants to be the closest to his girl child. I told them about my first trip with Hazy and Sethe to the mall and as we walked with Pram and Trolley the Car Guard approached us and went for the Pram. I stopped him in his tracks and told him to stand back! You can touch this car and this trolley but you dare not touch this Pram! That day the instinct of being a dad and protecting my daughter jumped out for the first time. I then explained to the girls that fathers are the way they are because of that kind of love. When I finished the session I asked them: so what will you remember from this session? one girl responded the Pram Story and I am going home today, wait for my dad, give him a BIG hug and tell him that I love him. I went back the next week and the girl said I hugged my dad he was so shocked and stood there frozen. That’s what I do for a living: creating moments of pure joy and getting children and youth to experience the pleasure of life God have destined them to have and enjoy.

So I have just come from a WOW Camp experience with grade 6 and 7's from Factreton Primary and Sunderland Primary visiting us for the Saturday. The Saturday afternoon I took the group on a hike in the Palmiet Nature Reserve. I walked in front and enjoyed the walk with a few running alongside me. Running yes. You see I am fit like that! lol! Then one of the girls about 12 years of age came walking beside me and wanted to hold my hand. I said nope. I started chatting to her about her family and if her father was present. The girl definitely is searching for fatherly love. I went quiet on the walk thinking when will I be ready sending Sethe on a camp alone. What dangers are out there and will she be able to be strong enough not to fall into traps. Will she be emotionally ready when I let her go? The camp had more girls than boys and watching them seeking attention from the boys and leaders made me think so hard.

Just last night me and my two girls watched Soul Surfer. The movie about the girl Beth who lost her arm in a shark attack while surfing. The moments that stood out for me was how the father responded. He ran out of his hospital bed under anesthetics and the emotion on the actors face showed the intense love a true father have for his daughter. He sat at her bedside holding her only hand left until she woke up from her ordeal. Wanting to be the first person she sees when she awaken. She asked him: Daddy will I surf again? he replied sure you will. He encouraged her all the way tried to find ways to make her 'new' life easier. He even designed a handle in her surf board to assist her. When she entered the big surfing competition he was the most excited person on the beach. He encouraged her before the event that she needs to trust her instincts and feel the vibration of the waves. By then I was in tears already with Sethe wiping it and saying it’s only a movie daddy...She entered the water not alone...She lagged behind in fifth place in the final. By this time the dad is on his feet praying for a wave and for his daughter to have success. She paddles away from the other surfers feels the water with her hand for the vibration. The final hooter is seconds away. She sees the wave catches it and surfs her most amazing wave ever. The crowd is on their feet and as she touches the beach sand the commentator says that wave has been disqualified because the hooter went off. She turns to her dad and says its ok dad: I enjoyed it I felt the vibration. She was interviewed afterwards and said I could not have touched so many people with both my arms... So when I work with girls I always think: this is somebody's daughter. This is somebody's Sethe Zion and Zacharie Alexa. Its somebody's daughter who needs to be protected and needs to grow up into a beautiful young lady. It is a privilege to work with other people’s children and as I send them back home I hope and pray I have made an impact that will have a positive lasting effect for years to come! I must thank all the volunteers and staff here at Scripture Union Western Cape for assisting us to make Camp Splash 2013 program such a amazing success. Then to you my supporters and friends who pray for me and who supports the projects financially. We have one more camp to go 30 November to 2nd December 2013. Please pray that it happens and that more children will get to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you would like to make a donation to Camp Splash send me a email or sms me and I will get the details to you. We most probably would need to raise another R3000 to break even. God provides and I know He will... From Sedrico, Hazel, Sethe Zion and Zacharie Alexa.... Sedrico Husselman Area Coordinator: Northern Suburbs Scripture Union, Western Cape Children's and Youth Worker St. Philip's, Kenwyn SUWC: +27 21 689 8331 St. Philips: +27 21 762 8772 Mobile: + 27 82 071 8598 sedrico@su.org.za www.su.org.za follow me on www.chapmanspeak.blogspot.com