We and our two boys are the Coopers! An ordinary, family living in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We are missionaries with SIM and are based at the organisation MusaweNkosi Ministries. You can read about SIM and MusaweNkosi by clicking their respective logos. To find out more about our story, scroll down.
We are a family of 4: My husband Colin, a mechanical engineer, my self a medical doctor and our sons Peter and Timothy. We grew up in Empangeni before leaving to study and work elsewhere. Colin and I married in 2015 and our boys followed in 2016 and 2017. Although we were both working in secular jobs, we have long had a passion for missions; specifically, ministry through social upliftment and long term work in a community. In 2019, we felt that God was calling us to take the process further. We started to seriously pray about whom to go with and where to go and through prayer and the advice of others we were led to SIM and MusaweNkosi Ministries
SIM, started in 1893 and has since gone through many amalgamations and changes. Today it is an international, non-denominational mission organization with over 4000 missionaries in 70 countries. The purpose statement of SIM is:
Convinced that no one should live and die without hearing God’s good news, we believe that he has called us to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in communities where he is least known.
The more we learnt about SIM, the more we felt it was the right organization for us to join. We agreed with the purpose statement and core beliefs. We believe in the vision of churches sending and mission organizations facilitating. Likewise, we, too, feel that missions need a team. If you want to find out more about SIM, we will gladly help you get in touch with the team in your country.
MusaweNkosi Ministries was started in 2001 by Rebekah’s parents. Originally, the plan was to build a safe place for those orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Since then, it has morphed and expanded to include other vulnerable children as well as a crèche, education programme, home visits in the community and outreach to old age pensioners. The organization is currently working in two rural areas outside Empangeni in KZN. Over the years, the two communities have become more and more open to MusaweNkosi and have started to trust it more. This means we have been shown more and more of the needs, and the needs are overwhelming. The organization is short on manpower.
We knew the organization and we knew the area. We also believe in the way that MusaweNkosi operates – first build trust through practical help; proving yourselves faithful in service, which can take years. The gospel can then be shared in the context of solid relationships. We, too, are passionate about reaching a community sustainably. The more we prayed, the more we knew that MusaweNkosi was the place God was calling us.
What we thought we would be doing and what we actually do are very different, and our roles will constantly be changing as the organization grows and as our family dynamic changes. At the moment, our boys are in school each morning until 12, and then we split primary responsibility between us and their grandmothers during the week afternoons.
Colin’s role in MusaweNkosi is primarily skills training with the older children. We have a number of older children who have not finished school or who we know will not be able to. These children have almost no hope of finding a job and being able to sustain themselves and their families. The plan is to teach them a skill such as gardening, chicken farming, sewing or baking. With these skills, we would teach basic business principles so that they can one day open a micro-business and support themselves. The long-term vision is to open a skills’ academy where people from the community can also benefit from training. Colin’s other roles include keeping the fleet of vehicles running and overseeing the maintenance of all the buildings, as well as being the treasurer on the board.
Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the volunteers who were serving here, had to leave and all the permanent staff had to do more of the everyday work. This has meant the skills training has had to be put on hold for now.
Rebekah was going to be working part-time as a general practitioner in town to help with the family finances and working at MusaweNkosi part-time helping with the communications and administration as well as co-ordinating the volunteers. When we moved to Empangeni, she had been offered a part-time job with another local doctor. However, circumstances made it necessary for her to leave there and open her own practice. We have also been unable to raise the amount of support we needed for her to work part-time. Therefore, she is currently working full time as a doctor. This means her work at MusaweNkosi is minimal at the moment, but we are seeing many ministry opportunities in medicine. She volunteers with Zululand Hospice and supports the nurses and caregivers in the work there. Through her medical practice, she also comes into contact with so many people who need Biblical counselling and a safe place to talk.
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