Overview

 

Surfcare’s community development paradigm- Facilitating the movement from survival to life through:

 

Mutuality

The experts on village-level problems are those who live in the community. For development to take place with a true bottom-up approach, the “us” and “them” paradigm must be released to create a space for relationship that is rooted in mutuality. Too often aid and development practitioners employ a covert paternalistic undercurrent that subtly allows shame and indignity to persist in the lives of those being helped. In order to avoid this, Surfcare favors an asset-based community development methodology that focuses on the gifts of the people as well as the community as a whole. True service is ultimately about giving and receiving love.

 

A Cause vs. Sympton Approach

 

The symptoms of poverty vary depending on the cultural and environmental context in which it exists. A lack of self -worth is the root cause of poverty as it is the source of disconnection-from God, self, others and the world around. People forget who they are and what they are capable of. Including me and you. We are all poor. It is only the symptoms of this poverty that vary depending upon the circumstances in which we live.

 

Surfcare seeks to facilitate development while fostering responsibility and community participation while concurrently focusing on addressing the root cause, not merely the symptoms. That’s why we build relationships. That’s why we stare our own poverty of mind, body and spirit in the face. That’s why we are invested in the communities where we work for the longhaul.

 

Why Surfing?

 

As a surfer knows, after your first wave, after that first taste of the glide, you are never, ever the same. But what if the glide on a wave can go beyond just surfing and be about more? What if the glide can transcend time and space and cutbacks and snaps and noseriding and barrels?

 

Enter Surfcare. Where the glide is about more than the glide. It’s about transformation. New life. Hope. HIV/AIDS awareness. Education. Nutrition. Development. Relationship. Gifts. And above all, Love.

 

In South Africa’s Eastern Cape, a wave brings the promise of new life and wholeness. And lives are never, ever the same.

 

Our Values

 

Compassion- The reason why we do this work is from the compassion that flows out of us from the love that we have experienced. Compassion is what the world needs and what the children of South Africa need. We seek compassion as the cornerstone of our actions. Without it, healing and change will not take place.

 

Empathy- Sympathy is feeling sorrow at the knowledge of someone’s suffering. Empathy is entering into pain and experiencing it along with others in an effort to bring healing. We walk with the people whose lives we enter into in a way that says you are not alone.

 

Connectedness- We live in a wholly interconnected world. Every person on earth is connected to each other. Surfcare seeks to enhance this connection principle. Transformation cannot take place when someone feels isolated and alone. We are all residents of a global community and have a responsibility to respond to the needs of our neighbors, whether they live across the street or across the globe.

 

Equality- Each and every person has the exact same inherent value. We are all unique, with gifts and talents given to us alone. We each have immeasurable worth, beyond what we can grasp. This belief stimulates our desire to be with those who are marginalized. We act not from charity, but justice.

 

Service- All we undertake at Surfcare is done in the spirit of service. We do not seek our own gains, but exist to serve those whose physical, mental/emotional and spiritual needs are not being met. We assess our actions and ensure, before moving forward, that all we do is done in a serving manner.