Need a Summer Internship?

If your interests are in any of the following:

 

Social Work, Criminology

Law, Orphans, Adventure

Travel, Counseling

Psychology, Ministry

Education, Sociology

 

Look no further!  Here in South Africa, we have the honor of working with two excellent organizations.  This is definitely a shameless plug, but mostly we just want to describe some of the people we work with. 

 

First, the Andrew Murray Centre:  This organization is based out of an old missionary training school that Andrew Murray (a hard-core Scottish theologian) built in the 1800's.  The goal was to provide housing and education for students who would not be able to accompany their parents on dangerous missions north into Africa.  David Bliss purchased the center for his base of operations, but maintained its focus on South Africa's youth.  The Andrew Murray Centre takes a residential approach to prison ministry, and many of the team members have lived in the building over the years.  Recently he has begun a leadership training program for orphans coming out of prison.  In all seriousness, this is why I am currently in South Africa.  I spent a summer working for these guys in 2003, and at the time it was both the most exciting and meaningful thing I had done.  Needless to say, I was scheming about how to return to South Africa ever since, which leads me to:

 

Hope Prison Ministry:  The AMC is involved in about ten different prisons, but they are all far away from Cape Town.  Pollsmoor Prison is really six different prisons in one, and Hope Prison Ministry is turning it upside-down!  They have an incredible variety of services ranging from meeting with juveniles who have just been incarcerated to running counseling sessions in maximum security.  I have recently become involved in their restorative justice program, and this has transformed the way I think about working with prisoners. 

 

Through this blog, as we describe our experiences, I hope you get a brief taste of two organizations that are special to us.  In all seriousness, there would be opportunities if you ever wanted to spend a summer working with prisoners and parolees.  Getting here will be expensive, but room and board will practically be free!  It's dangerous though...  That is what I did in 2003, and the next thing you know you will have returned for a longer stint!