Welcome to South Africa!

It's been several years since I have gotten butterflies in my stomach before traveling for my work with Untold, but in January I kissed my family goodbye, jumped into an Uber, and felt the excited nerves of a first-timer.

My first time in South Africa did not disappoint. Justin and I spent a few very packed days in Johannesburg in preparation for Untold's official expansion into South Africa. This expansion has been a dream and a prayer for our team for about five years, and seeing the groundwork being done to prepare for the first two centers was a gift.

Over the course of our three-day trip, we met with nurses, community leaders, pastors, and NGO leaders. We visited hospitals, churches, and community centers, met with potential partners, bonded with our new South African team members, and spent some time in the two communities where we hope to launch the first South African Untold centers. The social and systemic challenges facing communities in South Africa differ slightly from what we are accustomed to in East Africa, and we have our work cut out for us when it comes to contextualizing the care we will provide to meet those needs.

In one of the communities we had the opportunity to visit, we learned that gun violence posed as much of a threat as HIV. The community leader who hosted us estimated that they had lost 500 young men to gun violence in the past two years alone. In another community, we had the opportunity to listen to several young women express themselves through poetry and dance, and the theme of their art was the domestic violence they had already faced and overcome. In yet another community, unplanned pregnancy and baby abandonment were the primary concerns of pastors and leaders. Extreme material poverty and HIV of course exacerbate all of these difficulties.

I was impressed and encouraged to see an ecosystem of care that Untold will fit into seamlessly, and I am also more convinced than ever that the work we do is absolutely necessary. We have successfully onboarded two full-time indigenous team members (whom you will meet soon!) and established a South African Board of Directors. We are officially registered with the government, and are poised to start serving clients in June- stay tuned for more updates as we move toward launch! Thank you for making this work possible.