With an unemployment rate of approximately 60%, the Transkei has the highest unemployment rate in southern Africa. Unemployment is one of the biggest problems in this region of Africa. With no large industries or mines in the Transkei, the largest employer is the government, followed by small businesses, which are generally owned by foreigners from outside the region.
Even though the Transkei has an abundance of land and labor, most of the population lives in great poverty. Resources are available, but the mindset of those who live in the region is that wealth is only obtained through working in the large cities of South Africa. The government has imposed programs to reverse this trend, but without fully understanding the challenges faced within the rural communities, such programs have largely been ineffectual.
In fulfilling its purposes to empower the people of the Transkei, the mission wants to implement various programs such as skills training and agricultural training. Even with limited resources, the mission has made great advances within the community to alleviate poverty and empower the local people. Our goal is enabling the people of the Transkei to become self-sufficient: providing for own their families, growing their own food, raising their own chickens and other livestock, and selling their own produce to others within the community.
In these ways, the mission is not only preaching the Gospel but giving believers the opportunity to have a better life.