Today my heart broke again…

I am staying over with friends in Cape Town after the Word Riders tour. Their church had an outreach to a local squatter camp. They took food and some entertainment, with the gospel.

It is bad seeing people living in these conditions. And still there are a lot of babies born into utter poverty and desperation. These people are of all the races of our country. Some politicians tell the people that there are no poor white people in South Africa. Well, stuff the politicians, poverty knows no skin colour. People are people, and they all have some basic needs.

My heart break for the childrem born into this without a choice!

But how do you get the adults to get some hope, to get some self respect? How do you get them to just clean  their living area a little, and not drown their sorrows every evening with poisonous concoctions?

We brought a little joy to the children today…

We fed them for one meal. 

By now they are hungry again. And when the sun sets, this must be an extremely dangerous place. Specially for the children…

Why?

The end of Word Riders 2014 for me…

This morning we had a final session at a school in Bredasdorp. Most of the group continue until tomorrow. But I had to leave with some friends to get my motorbike on the trailer north…

I had an amazing time! Last Saturday a few old friends from last year’s Word Riders, and a lot of new strangers came together at the Bible House in Bellville. We rode nearly 2000 km together, and visited 61 schools, giving out 3200 Bibles.  Most of the schools we visited are in rural areas, where the social needs are many, the alcohol abuse and other evils abound.

Strangers became good friends, and we had an amazing ride! In total since leaving home I rode about 4000 km. This morning, from Struisbaai to Sir Lowry’s Pass was an amazing ride, really one to put on a to do list of Biking routes in South Africa. The ride through Cape Town’s industrial areas were not that great… So: why do we do it?

We ride to these areas, in partnership with local churches all the way, to bring hope and love to communities in need. The church and Christianity has a bad name in some peoples eyes, and I know sometimes it is deservedly so. But there is also another side that is not often mentioned. In South Africa the churches are the biggest role players in social upliftment, and material help to hungry people. The churches also brought most universities and hospitals into being in the 1800’s in our country, and still plays a huge role in education in rural areas.

We rode to bring hope and help. To people like them:

And to him, and his friends:

May the children of South Africa have love, life and peace! Every one of them!

Thanks for reading!

Word Riders Day 6

This morning started with a beautiful sunrise over Hartenbos. Then we had quite a cool ride over the Garden Route, visiting schools in Riversdale, Swellendam and finally Struisbaai.

The ride and the day was quite hectic so no photos of that.

But when we arrived at Struisbaai, we just HAD to do it! Take a photo at the southernmost point of the African continent.

Ewan Mc Gregor and Charley Boorman also stood here at the end of Long Way Down…

And now we are sitting at the harbout in Struisbaai, having a cold one at nearly the end of the day.

The end of the Word Rider tour is officially ending on Saturday at Bible House in Bellville. But my bike has to go on a trailer north tomorrow, so my tour ends tonight. Tomorrow I am staying over at old friends, but I will be without any wheels. So sorry if I miss you on this trip, all my Cape Friends.

Thanks for following this tour with me!

The fishing boats are coming in with a catch of nearly 2 tons of yellowtail… wish we could buy one and grill it on the coals, we have a date at a restaurant…

Word Riders Day 5

Things are getting funny around here. After yesterday’s wet day, one of the guys in our bungelow went and buy himself a hair dryer, and left it on for hours in his riding boots.
T

It was time for major repairs, like the petrol tank reatouration on my colleague’s f##$/@ beat up Suzuki…

But today we visited another few schools with great results!

After a few schools in the Great Brak, and George and Sedgefield regions,  we had lunch at the beautiful Knysna.

I saw a few amazing yachts in harbour:

On the way back at Sedgefield I came across a dealer of antique cars…

Regular readers will remember a Chevvy Fleetline wreck a few weeks ago. This is how they can look!

Tonight we are having a large barbeque. And tomorrow we are going slowly to the Southern point of the African continent at Cape Agulhus. This is where Charley and Ewan also ended Long Way Down.

I am suffering from a huge tooth ache! So this is enough for today, and my steak is calling my name…

Word Riders Day 4

http://wp.me/p3d8kq-2e3

Word Riders Day 4

We are having a ball of a time on our tour! The food is great. The weather… interesting. Two days ago it must have been about 45 degrees C in Oudtshoorn. This morning we woke up to rain…

It was like the rain of Vietnam in Forrest Gump… It came from above, sideways and even from below!

We got wet to the bone!  This guy is my mother in law’s pastor, she would cry if she saw him being mistreated like this! Look at his feet…

But we visited 5 schools in our group. We really had a good time meeting with the kids in the rural areas…

We rode over Robinson Pass in heavy rain.

Really rural areas, really wet!
And all of us, even the beginners, arrived safely in Hartenbos. At the moment we are sitting in the Spur, overlooking the Indian Ocean and seeing a group/ flock/ pod/ of dolphins playing in the water.  And the frustration is: no camera with a zoomlens with me…

It was a good day so far!

Our flat tonight overlook the bay between here and Mossel Bay… But wet…

Word Riders Day 3

We started quite early this morning at the Dutch Reforned Church at Schoemanshoek. I went with the group that went to Calitzdorp. My father in law grew up here.  We meet with grade 7 learners, and we give each one a brand new Bible, talk a little with them and pray for them. 

This is me in action at the Gamka Oos School.  Our smaller group went to 3 schools around Calitzdorp, including the school my father in law attended. 

Afterwards the 3 groups met for lunch at Meiringspoort, definitely a must see for any biker!

This afternoon we have a bit of free time. So I decided to… Ride some more. I just came over the Outiniqua pass through George to Victoria Bay…

In the pass it was quite misty, have to be carefull back to Oudtshoorn, wouldn’t like ending up like Hansie Cronje…

Tonight another lovely meal to look forward to, the people of the Klein Karoo is such gracious hosts… Blogging when I find the time and signal! Thanks for reading!

Word Riders Day 2

We have no mobile signal at the moment, staying over at a guest farm near the Kango caves in Oudtshoorn.  This morning was beautiful, we started riding at 7h 15,  Route 62 is spactacular just after sunrise, with the mist in the valleys. I had the privilege to preach in Ladismith.

Afterwards we had the amazing Huisriverspass just before Calitzdorp.  Beautiful riding at it’s best.  It was just so hot, it felt like 45 degrees C!

We are sleeping at a guest farm outside Oudtshoorn, our Ostrich capital. Tomorrow more riding. Sorry, short post, really tired… and no signal…

Our guest farm…
Oh, and the  church at Schoemanshoek gave us a very good dinner, outside in the orchard underneath the stars..

On this trip we really enjoy motorbikes and friendship a lot!

That’s all for today, folks!

Word Riders Day 1…

This morning we started Word Riders 2014 at the Bible House in Bellville… Before that I stopped at the Thruxton Bikeshop around the corner, and saw some beautiful oldies. And some newer oldies as well…

But this tour is not just about bikes- We have 42 bikes with some 70 people on the tour. The first stop from Bellville was at the beautiful but touristy Franschhoek.  Then some fun on Franschhoek Pass

The wind was really blowing , as we made our way over Villiersdorp, Robertson, Ashton to our overnight stop at Montagu… this is a beautiful town with white and green houses all over, in an old Cape Dutch style..

Realy a gem of a place on Route 62…

This town is famous for wine and dried fruit.
It was really hot on the bikes again today. We are staying over at the school hostel. This is the view at the moment:

We are knackered! Having our first dinner as a group together tonight, and tomorrow some of the pastors will conduct church services in towns along the route, the congregation of Ladismith will suffer me on their pulpit! A good first day in a beautiful part of South Africa!

Reflections- Weekly Photo Challenge

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/weekly-photo-challenge-reflections/

I saw this old fishing boat’s reflection in the Cape Town Victoria and Albert Waterfront. I am on an extended motorbike tour, 1700 km from home and just able to post pics on my mobile phone. 

The sea is quite stormy at the moment, being the flow tide. I would have loved totally calm waters for this photo, but we don’t get to choose the weather…