ITMI’s Gerhard and Elmane le Roux and 5 of their 8 children minister in the Northern Cape area of South Africa. 

The le Rouxs have established Onseepkans Mission, which has come to be a “city on the hill” in their community. 

Many who live in this remote and mostly forgotten farming community have little income and live on meager government subsidies. Jobs are scarce, and infrastructure is primitive at best. 

An Onseepkans resident, happy to earn an income working in the Onseepkans Mission garden.

The local trading post in Onseepkans, South Africa, where those without means of transportation to a nearby city must purchase groceries.

Recently, ITMI was able to help the le Rouxs continue to reach their community for Christ through a Project Joseph outreach because of your generosity. Gerhard wrote this letter sharing how the Lord used your gifts. 

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Gerhard and Elmane le Roux, South Africa

Dear Brothers and Sisters at ITMI,

In our town of Onseepkans, the local shops, mostly owned by foreigners, ask unaffordable high prices for their goods. 

One specific area concerns the availability of bread and flour. The bread are sold at very high prices, up to R17 (17 South African Rand, which is about $1.13 USD) per loaf. Flour is now sold at R150 ($10 USD) for a 22 lb. bag. Many of the local people buy the flour, since the bread is just too expensive to afford. Furthermore many times the bread are not of good quality. 

When they buy the flour, they make bread cakes that they bake on the fire. They need to fetch firewood, and sometimes they have to walk long distances to find good firewood. This task is mostly performed by the elderly ladies in the household, typically fifty years or older. In winter it gets quite cold in the evenings, and to gather firewood in the cold is not a very pleasant task.

Collecting firewood is mostly performed by elderly women. 

When ITMI Director, Steve Evers, informed me that they want to spread the Gospel by helping us with a Project Joseph outreach, we prayerfully considered how we should go about it. We came to the conclusion that the best way to help the people and make the best use of the money that was entrusted to us was to make it a special project through our small bakery. 

Since ITMI provided the flour, we could now offer bread at a very special price. At $1.13 a loaf, it made more sense for impoverished families in Onseepkans to buy an expensive bag of flour. 

Now we could offer bread at less than half price. At that price, they get more value for their money than by buying a bag of flour! 

Apart from the people buying at our bakery, we identified individuals in the community who could sell the bread for us. Some of these individuals sell the bread and make a small percentage for their service, but one kind-hearted family sells the bread at cost.

People from the community are overwhelmed by the discounted price. Some ask if there is something wrong with the bread! 

We bought 80 bags of flour thus far, and still have the funds to buy 50 bags more. 

Some positive outcomes of this outreach include:

One lady selling the bread for us in her community was able to buy a few dinner plates for her home from the little profit that she made.

One gentleman who regularly buys our bread now buys extra and distributes some to the needy people around him on his way home.

A Christian family who distribute the bread for free explain to the people that it is the goodness of the Lord.

A household who could scarcely feed their family on one loaf can now buy three loaves for nearly the same price.

The shops that used to charge such high prices are now forced to reconsider their bread prices.

Many children come to our mission to ask for bread. They walk for nearly a kilometer. We are in a position to help them and in the process, we build relationships with them. We pray with them and thank the Lord for His provisions and also encourage them to be a blessing at home and to make sure that their lives are right with the Lord.

Thanks to ITMI’s Project Joseph many children do not have to go hungry. More importantly, we can inform people about the goodness of the Lord and His love towards them. 

- Gerhard, Elmane and Family