YWAM J'Bay scales down

Piet Liebenberg
AFTER months of speculation within the Jeffreys Bay community of the impending closure of the well-known missionary organisation, Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Jeffreys Bay, their regional South Africa director, Stefaan Hugo has admitted that they have decided to temporarily scale down operations of the base.
According to Hugo the regional leadership consulted with the Founders of YWAM Jeffreys Bay, the board, staff and students, and a decision was reached to discontinue the daily operations until some clear solutions were in place to combat the challenges the base was facing. He said that the YWAM base in Jeffreys Bay encountered "leadership, financial and operational challenges”.
"Since its commencement in January 1999, YWAM Jeffreys Bay grew to become a vibrant, dynamic and spiritual platform for vision, training and empowerment of young people both locally and internationally. Even though this was the best solution for now, the YWAM family has expressed deep sadness regarding the releasing and relocation of staff and students from Jeffreys Bay to other operating locations in the country.”
Grace Goeda, co-founder of YWAM J-Bay and a member of the regional leadership team said: "It's like letting my child go, but it was very necessary”.
Hugo emphasised that they do not see this as an end to their work, but an opportunity to set things right and get the necessary procedures in place.