Personal
Motivation
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Dams
for Africa was founded in January 2000, by Nicholas Papenfus. This
page gives his motivation for doing so, and explains the direction the
company has taken since then:
July,
1970
I felt
emptiness, hopelessness, and fear. The army truck was moving at high speed
and I calculated that if I jumped off over the side I would be instantly
killed when I hit the ground. My father who I had loved dearly, the sole
breadwinner in our family, had died two months earlier, and though I was
just eighteen years old, the future looked dark. Crouching forwards,
holding onto the end my rifle with both hands for balance and support, and
with my head down between my arms I cried out from the depths of my heart
“Oh God, help me!”.
What happened next can only be described as a
miracle. In an instant, my emptiness changed to joy, my fear to peace, and
my hopelessness to a sense of great purpose. I became intensely aware that
God loved me. Then I had a vision. I saw myself building a dam in a very
rural area, to provide water for the poor people of that community so that
they could grow crops successfully. In the vision I also saw myself
standing on the banks of the stream at the end of the day’s work,
preaching to the construction workers, many of them from the local
village. They were relaxing on the embankment and listening to me telling
them about the God of love who had met me at my darkest hour, a God who
had changed my life and given it purpose, a God who could and would to do
the same for them if they called on Him.
Soon after receiving this
vision I wrote to my mother in RSA (from the army camp in SWA, now
Namibia). I told her that I wanted to be a civil engineer. She applied to
The University of the Witwatersrand and I was accepted.
December,
1974
My university
years were behind me. I was in a prayer meeting at a three week YWAM
(Youth With A Mission) discipleship training camp. A lady, who I only
remember as Norah, came to me, saying that she needed to give me Is
43:18,19: “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of
old. Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you
not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the
desert.” I sensed that this was a very significant prophesy for me, a
glimse into the future that God had planned for me, and made a note in my
bible. But somehow I did not see the connection between “a way in the
wilderness … rivers in the desert” and the 1970 vision. The connection
between Isaiah’s “wilderness / desert” and the remote rural area of my
vision would only become clear in 1999. So too would the realisation that
a dam is able to tame raging floodwaters and harness run-off from heavy
downpours into a steady year round “river” to support life. Neither did I
realise that in building a dam “a way” or road is required, which will
also be required to bring the produce to market.
1975
Following a
time of seeking God's will for my future live, He led me to spend that
year in Johannesburg as a full time student of the Theological College of
South Africa. Subsequently this opened the door for many preaching
opportunities and accelerated my involvement at a leadership level in our
church. Strangely, once again, I did not see the significance of this in
equipping me to share God’s love with the dam construction workers in
terms of the 1970 vision.
Another very significant event occurred
in this year. I met Alison, a lady at our church who was deeply committed
to the Lord. We were married in 1977.
1976 through
1999
My years as a
civil engineer: I spent the first two and a half years working for a firm
of consulting engineers, mainly designing reinforced concrete structures.
Thereafter I worked for two companies, both specialising in the production
of a variety of precast concrete products. I became proficient in several
aspects of civil engineering such as concrete technology, reinforced
concrete, prestressed concrete, concrete masonry. Working in factory
environments I was exposed in some depth to some of the other engineering
disciplines such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and in
the course of time designed and supervised the construction of a number of
fully automated plants. During this period I was a factory manager,
national production manager, and technical manager. I became fully
conversant with the various managerial and financial systems used in well
organised companies.
1999
By this time
the 1970 vision was nothing more than a distant dream, which seemed to
have passed me by.
Then in August of that year the company's
largest customer informed us that orders would be severely curtailed on a
permanent basis. To limit the extend of forced retrenchment, the company
offered a generous voluntary severance package to all interested
employees. At the same time, I had an idea for building cost effective
dams, and this led me back to the 1970 vision. After intense prayer, I
took the severance package. My last day with the company was 31 December
1999. I had walked away from a good position in a sound company to take a
huge leap of faith, to re-embark on the journey that had started many
years earlier.
2000 to
2006
My first step
was to consider several concepts for dam designs in an attempt to arrive
at a design that is very cost effective - but no fruit came of this. Also
a document for building numerous small dams near remote villages in rural
South Africa was formulated and presented to government - see
'Transformation for South Africa’ [Papenfus, Mar 2002]. Then in May 2000,
while waiting for a response from government I set about completing a PhD
thesis that had been lying dormant for several years. This took much
longer than expected, so that I only returned to the activities of Dams
for Africa in February 2002, to which I have given my full attention to
this day.
Step of Faith: Leaving my former employer and launching
out into this project was for me like getting up and walking through an
“open door” (Rev 3:8) which God had opened. However, accomplishing the
goals of Dams for Africa has been far from easy. I have gone through many
'valley experiences', but I am happy to report today that I have also seen
many divine interventions (too numerous to mention here) that have kept
the company and its vision alive.
The story of the little boy who
presented his five loaves and two fish to Jesus seems appropriate here. It
was such a pathetic gesture in the face of 5000 hungry men. But that was
the gesture of faith that Jesus was looking for, and it opened the way for
him to perform the miracle. God is able to take our small talents and
abilities, and enhance and multiply them as only He can, to accomplish
something that is very meaningful and significant.
Jesus tells the
story of those that will be eternally blessed because in helping the
destitute of this world they were unknowingly helping Him. "The people of
all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as
shepherds separate their sheep from their goats. He will place the sheep
on his right and the goats on his left.Then the king will say to those on
his right, 'My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that
was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you
gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to
drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you
gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I
was in jail, you visited me.' Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask,
'When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you
as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick
or in jail?' The king will answer, 'Whenever you did it for any of my
people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.' (Math
25:32-40 CEV). For years this passage of scripture convicted me; today it
is a source of inspiration.
The ultimate goal of building
dams/water-schemes in remote places is to empower people not only
materially, but also spiritually. This is where the preaching/teaching in
the 1970 vision comes in. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to me
in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Sprit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age”. (Math 28:18-20 NASV).
My
involvement
Initially I
saw my role as a grand visionary facilitator, influencing funders and
government/s (e.g. see ‘Transformation for South Africa’ [Papenfus, Mar
2002], but that has not met with success. Instead what has worked is
hearing of a rural community project here or there that either requires
consulting or contracting to be done, be it NGO, CBO or government funded.
Mostly this entails investigating a need, on an at-risk basis, determining
a conceptual solution including a cost estimate, meeting with the
community to give feedback and get approval, followed by a detailed design
and construction phase. So for example:
· Proposals are submitted
to funders involved with communities, and several have come to fruition.
(e.g. Africare 2002, Fanang Diatla 2003, Mzinti 2004, Eskom Development
Foundation 2005).
. Proposals are submitted directly to communities
eager to develop their land (Mabopane Baptist Church 2003, Sekhukhune
Farmers Development Trust 2004, Leboeng Farmers Association 2006).
·
Work is done for government departments (e.g. Limpopo Department of
Agriculture 2003; Socio-Technical Interfacing Consulting 2005, 2006) -
here I serve as a member of a team facilitating the installation of Rain
Water Harvesting reservoirs in rural homesteads nationwide, funded by the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (a Millenium Development Goal
initiative).
When doing contracting work at remote sites I have
had several opportunities to share God's love with the construction
workers, mostly during the lunch break, but sometimes at the end of the
shift. Often this has been beside a stream – and at such times I am
reminded how faithful God is. Having spoken to them, I invite them to
receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour – who died to save them
from their sins and give them eternal life, be their Friend, and live in
them to comfort them and to help them on their journey in this life
henceforth.
If you are reading this, and you have never invited
Jesus into your life, then allow me to extend the same invitation to you.
I invite you to say this simple life changing prayer:
Father
God, I thank you that Jesus your Son came to this world to die for my
sins. I am sorry for my sins and for all the suffering and pain that Jesus
had to endure on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. I now ask you
Jesus to come into my life. At this very moment I ask you to come into me
and live in me. I receive you into my life now by faith. Thank you Lord.
Thank you that you give the gift of everlasting life to all those that
trust in you for their eternal destiny. Henceforth teach me your ways of
righteousness, truth and love, for you have called me to love God with all
my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind, and, to love my fellow
man as much as I love myself (Math 22 : 37-40). Thank you God,
Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer, I would encourage you to
start fellowshipping at a church where people sincerely love God. Then get
a bible and begin by reading the New Testament. Start praying (talking) to
God – tell him about everything - as your Father He is vitally interested
in all your concerns. Finally, begin to trust God to open up opportunities
to tell others about Jesus, your saviour and God, who died to give all who
believe in Him abundant life and eternal life.
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