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KOPANO CONFERENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA A GREAT SUCCESS!
PEER Servants and Aloga Financial Services, our South African partner, hosted 11 other partner micro-enterprise development organizations and many PEER Servants volunteers in South Africa at Kopano ("unity" in more than one South African language). Kopano was PEER Servants' first international conference and was planned to provide training and networking opportunities for our collective network of partnering organizations while also celebrating what God has done and glorifying Him for bringing us together as one for His purposes. The 95 attendees traveled from every continent except Australia and Antarctica to attend the conference, held at beautiful Sizinani Conference Center just outside of Pretoria.
A camaraderie developed among the partners in our global network during the eleven days of seminars and training sessions as we also listened to testimonials and prayed together for each other, the entrepreneurs we are supporting, and the volunteers who work tirelessly to provide the services needed to further this Christian micro-enterprise development ministry.
Worship time was truly special - each day brought a fresh, inspirational (and fun!) program. There was also opportunity to participate in a few service projects (a real blessing to the local community and to conference attendees) and we all laughed together sharing meals and traveling during the various road trips that were offered on the conference agenda.
An exciting development at the conference is the opening of dialogue with potential partners in Sudan/Uganda and Angola/Namibia! We're now all looking forward to seeing everyone again and glorifying the Lord's good works at Ricchari, the next conference in Peru in 2007.
Enter Kopano Photo Gallery... |
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 Kopano was held at the beautiful Sizanani Conference Center, located just east of Pretoria. If you are looking for a great place for a conference in that part of the world, look no further than Sizanani! |
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 Complemented by the beautiful Sizanani venue was an even more spectacular staff -- they met our every need and did so in a way that brought great honor to Christ. |
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 Christ was central in Kopano -- in all we did and the way we did it, we were reminded it was Him we were hoping to glorify and make known. |
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 The Kopano Steering Committee Chairman was Joseph Edmonds -- his tiredless and extremely effective efforts were integral in the success of the conference. |
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 Kopano was co-hosted by Aloga Financial Services, our South African partner. Advocate Moss Mphaga, Aloga Chairman of the Board, led a team of extremely gracious hosts. |
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 Kopano attendees came from every continent except Australia and Antarctica -- here, Pastor Americo (Peru), Irinuska (Peru), and Regina (Brazil) arrive and register. |
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 Mornings at Kopano started with devotions, led by Pastor Odo from South Africa. God used him to bring our attention to Christ and the privilege it is so serve Him. |
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 We had morning plenaries, called our Unity Service, and evening plenaries, called our Jesus Service. In both, we were united in our purpose to bring honor and glory to Christ by strengthening His global church through economic development. |
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 Not many of us had experienced worship like at Kopano! Each day had a special geographic theme -- this was Wednesday, Caribbean and Eurasia Day, and here are some of our Caribbean and Eurasian brothers and sisters leading us in worship. |
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 God often moves in mighty ways when we seek Him in prayer from around the world. Here Kaew, from Thailand, leads us on Tuesday, Asia Day. |
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 We were blessed to have three exceptional speakers in our plenaries representing different parts of the world. Chandran Williams (left, from Asia) and Reverend Panya Baba (right, from Africa) led us in the morning Unity Service speaking from our theme verses of Romans 15:5,6. Paul Borthwick (center, from North America) addressed the topic of "Following in the Footsteps of Christ" in the evening Jesus Service. |
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 Kopano celebrated the top entrepreneurs among the represented organizations by bestowing the coveted "Lydia Awards" (see Acts 16 for the story of Lydia, the entrepreneur of purple cloth). Here Matsha Makena, Aloga Board Member, interviews Lydia Award winner Flydah Mdhluli from South Africa. |
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 Kopano held over 20 workshops where MED practitioners and PEER Servants volunteers taught each other on topics from new MED models to the effective discipleship of entrepreneurs. Here Ghena, from Moldova, speaks on "Effective Media Presentations" as a means to promote your program. |
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 Kopano attendees had an opportunity to visit some of the businesses that are clients of Aloga. This is Winnie's Tailoring Shop located in Pretoria. |
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 Kopano attendees were tremendously blessed by the opportunity to proclaim Christ among the South Africa people in various forms -- praying in an AIDS hospice, using art therapy in a home for abused women and children, and doing door-to-door evangelism in Mamelodi, to name a few. Here a young South African brother in Christ is encouraged by two of his Latin brothers. |
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 It's near impossible to gather folks from around the world without the topic of football/soccer surfacing. Kopano arranged to allow attendees to take their bold claims to the field, where Team Africa knocked off Team Latin America 2-0 in the Kopano Cup final! The Latin Americans already have their eyes set on 2007, the next global gathering of PEER Servants partners, when the competition will take place at 11,000 feet high Cusco, Peru! |
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 No trip to South Africa is complete without getting to Kruger Game Reserve. "An experience of a lifetime" noted one Kopano attendee. The animals cooperated -- we saw three of the Big Five (rhino, water buffalo, and elephant) within minutes of entering the park -- the big cats (lion and leopard) were too shy for us to see them on this day. |
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 2004 is the year we joined South Africans in celebrating 10 years of democracy. We were sobered by our day in Soweto as we learned more about the long walk to freedom. This is Elie, PEER Servants volunteer from Haiti, at the Hector Peterson Memorial. |
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 The Kopano Closing Banquet was an opportunity to celebrate what God had done in our midst in encouraging each of us to serve Him more effectively. It was an evening of tremendous fellowship as we celebrated our unity in diversity. |
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 Laughter and tears filled our farewells. We were close family now, as Kopano had knit us together with the power of the Holy Spirit that will, Lord willing, make us a mighty force in making Christ known in our respective nations. We are counting the days to reunite in 2007 at Ricchari ("awakening" in Quechua) in Peru. |
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 You won't find many family pictures that can match this -- over 15 countries, various denominations, every tone of skin color, women and men, young and old -- but with a common purpose: to decrease so that Christ can increase. In Christ, the attendees of Kopano achieved true unity. |
