CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

“Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets

So that a herald may run with it.

For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

It speaks of the end and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it;

It will certainly come and will not delay.”

        

                                              Habakkuk 2.1-3

                                                            

I typed out the vision in minute detail and in the end it came to 40 pages.  I distributed it amongst the pastors, because I had no idea who would be prepared to take responsibility for it.  I imagined they would all be falling over each other to bring this ministry to fruition.  HA!  I was still very naïve!

After several long weeks of silence, we were put in touch with Ronnie Rautenbach of ‘Rhema Family Care’.  This was the arm of Rhema which headed up all the welfare ministries and ministries to do with children.  I can’t quite remember how the first meeting came about, but the girls and I went to her house.  She seemed animated and sweet.  I liked her.  In fact, I liked her a lot.  She appeared to be positive about the ministry and I trusted her to put us onto the necessary path, so that our work could be established.

During this meeting she questioned us several times on why we were specifically focussing on the black newborn orphan.  Weren’t we aware of the tremendous need for foster families for the white community?  I didn’t think this question was strange, but merely that she was investigating our motives, in order that she might be a more effective help to us.  I replied simply that God had been that specific in my calling.

Then she offered that I was very brave.  She would never consider fostering a black child.  She said I would spend my life raising a black child and at the end of 20 years that child would stab me in the back and return to its roots.  I felt this was a little excessive, but wasn’t prepared to remove my rose-coloured spectacles so early in the game.  So I forgave her.

On the way home, however, Pippa was sitting in the back of the car mumbling.

“Back to their roots?  Back to their roots?”  There would be a few minutes silence and she’d do it again.

“Back to their roots?  Back to their roots?”  Finally this began to irritate me, so I said,

“What’s your case, Pippa?”

“The woman’s a racist, Ma.”  That’s my Pippa. She doesn’t believe in mincing words!  Unlike her mother.

“Nah!”  I flapped my hand back at her.  “She’s Afrikaans, Sweetheart.  She’s just a product of her heritage.”

“Maybe so, but she’s a racist.  That was an ungodly thing to say.”

My heart began to drag a little, with disappointment.  I really didn’t want to take issue with the woman’s history at this vulnerable stage of my ministry.

I cast a glance at Joanna.  My sweet, sensitive Joanna.  She would say something nice, for sure.

“What do you think?”

“Sorry Mommy.  Pippa’s right.  That was a sick thing to say.  She’s condemned these babies before they have even drawn one breath.  How van she be so judgemental?”

I had to face it.  I was on a losing streak.  I conceded that we would have to proceed with caution as far as Ronnie Rautenbach was concerned.

Shortly after this, Ray McCauley’s brother, Alan’s secretary, Lorraine, called in order to set up a meeting regarding my vision which had been delegated to him.  The girls and I excitedly prepared for the meeting, convinced that our ministry was about to be catapulted into being.  Ronnie Rautenbach was also invited to attend.  There were Alan, Ronnie, Joanna, Pippa and myself present.  The meeting went well, I thought.  Alan offered us the use of the Hands of Compassion Fund Raising Number on the basis that we would be falling under Hands of Compassion which is the Missionary arm of Rhema.  He gave us a copy of the Fund Raising Certificate to work with.

We asked if it were possible to start introducing TLC in the home fellowships, so that people could be made aware of the ministry in the event of them wanting to become involved in any way.  I also told him about John Miller’s suggestion that the Southern Suburbs take on TLC as a project, because it had been put forward that all the different suburbs should become involved with local projects.  Alan was quite happy that we should go ahead and implement all these suggestions.  He proposed that we contact Pastor Jack Lake, the Zone Pastor for the South, to get it off the ground.

He made mention of the fact that the ‘Victims of Violence Trust’ people were coming to see him shortly.  If any funds were received from this Trust, and if I could prove that my babies were victims of violence, we too, could be a beneficiary of this fund.  We felt all this was incredibly encouraging.

Ronnie Rautenbach was her normal, amicable self.  However, she kept interjecting with little insidious remarks which left us feeling a little less than comfortable.  For instance, she’d make sly mention of the fact that the Dept. Of Children’s Welfare were very hesitant in accepting our ministry.  When Alan asked for a reason, she remarked that it was because we were specifically looking at newborn babies, and not older children.

To this remark, Alan himself replied that it was ridiculous, because if we did not help these babies they would themselves end up being psychologically damaged, older children.  Why would we not salvage them to begin with and preserve at least a small proportion of children with no emotional and psychological scars.  She had no logical argument against this, of course, and simply passed the buck, saying “Well, it’s not my opinion – it’s just how my colleagues in the Welfare feel.”

After the meeting, as we were all walking back to our cars, Ronnie tried again to dissuade us from focussing on the black infant and rather to consider helping her with the white children or otherwise get involved with the street children.  Now she was becoming more overt in her discouragement and even I could no longer pretend this was not happening.

On our way home, the girls and I decided that we were definitely going to have to limit Ronnie’s involvement in TLC.  They had already been in contact with a social worker who was involved in Children’s Ministry with them, and who had offered us her services as a social worker.  Her name was Ingrid Smit and she headed up the Child Abuse Ministry at Rhema.  Pippa had her home telephone number on the Children’s Ministry Teachers’ list.   When we arrived home, I telephoned her immediately and set up a meeting for the following week.

I liked Ingrid, instantly.  She seemed genuinely committed to helping us.  After discussing all our ideas with her, she immediately set about making appointments with Dr. Pearce of Coronationville Hospital which is a hospital in a coloured area; and had discussions with the Chief Social Worker at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Mrs. Lea Smith.  We had what appeared to be a successful meeting with Dr. Pearce and his social workers, during which he suggested that we contact the Department of Children’s Welfare and also the TPA Head Office in Pretoria first, to get their ‘blessing’.  He said once we received this, he would be very happy to work with us.

Immediately, Ingrid set up an appointment with the TPA.  However, Mrs. Alta Mynhardt, who was in charge at Pretoria office was not prepared to see us without one of the Pastors being present at the meeting.  I asked Pastor Alan if he would be prepared to accompany us, but he declined, saying he was too busy but would ask Pastor Robert Bruun to stand in for him.

Pastor Robert Bruun, Ingrid and I met with Mrs. Mynhardt and Mrs. Anna Nortje at the Germiston Regional Office of the TPA.  They were very kind and encouraging and said that they were very happy to find people like us, who were willing to get involved with the huge problem of abandoned babies.  Mrs. Mynhardt agreed to ask the Johannesburg Office of the TPA to visit me at my home, after which I could expect that babies would start being allocated to us.

We were very happy.  Pastor Robert Bruun spent a long time with me, giving me ideas for fund raising and ministry development, which I really appreciated.  During this time he also confided in me about an enormous ordeal he was facing in his personal life.  This concerned custody of his grandchild after the death of his son and daughter-in-law in a car accident.  I was very moved by what he had told me.  I quietly decided that I would pray for him regularly.  I saw he was under an enormous amount of pressure.  Given the details which he had shared with me, I was surprised that he managed to remain as composed as he was.

The weeks started to slip by, and we heard nothing more from Mrs. Mynhardt.  We felt confident, however, that this delay was merely caused by the normal bureaucratic red-tape.  We were not concerned about it at all.  We set our plans on the ministry being officially established by the 1^st January, 1993.  I busied myself designing pamphlets for the ministry, composing fund raising letters and starting a bit of printing, ready for the ministry’s implementation.  I located a Christian printer, John Tapuch of Panapple Graphics, who did the printing for us for next to nothing. We began making contact with some big firms, like Incorporated Systems Management and others.  ISM agreed to consider supporting us in a limited way.

We have a friend, Peter Watkins, who attended Second Year Bible College with me.  He is a wonderful man and I always respected his gift of prophecy.  I gave him a copy of our vision document to read, for no better reason than he was interested.  He read it thoroughly and took the trouble to come all the way to my home, to bring me the following prophecy which he had typed out very neatly:

PROPHECY BY PETER WATKINS

For TLC

19^th OCTOBER, 1992

1.      First examine yourselves properly now and often from time to time to establish what your real motivation is.

2.      Try to get to the point where you can get 2 or 3 babies so as to find a legal way of doing it and to establish your bona fides with the source (Institution or whatever).

3.      Start with these babies in your home meanwhile extending your knowledge and contacts.

4.      Persecution of high intensity will begin as people try to stop you getting involved.

People whom you thought were friends will turn against you and new friends will rally around you.

Many of the new support group will not be Christians and you will become bitter at Christians who seem less sincere than non-Christians.

Don’t worry about this.  This is a test for them.

God will use this to test those Christians and He will win over non-Christians when they see your love.

5.      Money and support will begin to flow in and more babies will be offered to you.

6.      After about two years, when you have come through the worst, you will be given property and it will almost seem like things are taken out of your hands as so many people offer help.

7.      Eventually, everything in your vision will come to pass, but the most important step is to prepare yourselves first.

GOD BLESS YOU!

PETER

I was delighted with this prophecy at first.  I thought “Praise God! At least we have truly heard God’s voice and have not missed our calling.”  The only point which did not sit easy on me was No. 4. I prayed many times, “Lord, I’ll accept anything you deem necessary for my growth and maturity.  But please, Lord, don’t let anything disrupt my relationship with my church.  Please, Lord, don’t allow anything to happen which will cause me to become bitter towards my brothers and my sisters.  Father, this is a cup I do not wish to drink.”

Bear in mind that in the environment of the “Faith” churches, anyone who is not of their own particular brand of belief is not considered to be a “Christian”.  I knew that the “non-Christians” referred to in Point No. 4 were most probably the Traditional churches, because these had already begun to be openly enthusiastic about our project.  I had no idea of the extent to which this prophecy was going to manifest itself in my life in the next two years.  If I had known the pain I was about to endure, I certainly and without a doubt, would have turned away from the cup the Lord had set before me.

However, in due course it turned out that many, many times my family and I would remind each other of this wonderful Word.  We would console ourselves that God had not left us comfortless but had given us due warning of what was in store for us.