WhatsApp weekly update: 8–13 December 2025

This is the last weekly update for this year as we have now officially closed for the year, except for Hermanus Country Market where we will have a stall as often as possible over the next few weeks. Our excellent volunteers (Walter and Sarah) with two young people will manage this stall for us. For us, it is not simply about “selling drums”: it is about telling the Volmoed Youth story to as many people as possible. We are the most outward-facing ministry of Volmoed and it is important that we share whatever good news we have to share.

It is therefore appropriate to express our immense gratitude to all of you who have been so generous in your support of this rather modest initiative at the southern tip of Africa. I often marvel at how such a local initiative can have such a global reach. Maybe it speaks to the human heart and to the soul in profound ways that we do not always understand. We are about “Jesus, justice, joy and jazz” and can therefore reach most people.

We are of course grateful for those who continue to buy drums from us. Simply text or email me at edwin@volmoedyouth.org.za if you would like to buy a drum. This week I received a video of a child in Japan playing one of our drums!

This week we handed certificates to 23 young people who have been with us this year. Most of them have committed to be on the programme in 2026 and we look forward to welcoming them back. A few new people may also join but we shall see. Internally, we cannot actually manage more than 20 young people per year. Externally of course we impact many many more.

While attending my daughter’s graduation, I was happy to witness someone called Headman Ntlapo receiving a PhD from Stellenbosch university with the following title: “Mission as liberation and justice: a missiological exploration of the lived experiences of the Zwelihle community”. I will follow this up and ask him to speak to us next year.

We are privileged to have a member of the VYLTP leadership team (Seth Naicker) and his family with us at this time. They are based in Johannesburg. I have been off sick with flu but hope to see them soon.

We have received two initial exploratory invitations to visit the USA again. Whether that can or will happen, remains to be seen. Under the current USA President, it seems unlikely as we cannot put anyone at risk, but we know that Americans have this amazing ability to bounce back and we are sure they will do this soon. We hope these visits can happen but, in the meantime, the “Tutu seminars” are going ahead in January and August each year as well as the tours organised by Michael Spath. Any American friends who are interested to visit South Africa on these or other tours can simply email me.