Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds Volunteering in South Africa with Urbandale Non-Profit

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Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds is in South Africa with Urbandale-based Blessman Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit that aims to increase the life expectancy of children in South Africa with nutrition, housing and medical programswhile at the sametime meeting ;their spiritual needs through training and support for leaders of the African church.

The organization partners with governments, other nonprofits, corporations, and thousands of volunteers, but Reynolds and her husband are paying for the trip on their own dime, KCRG news reported.

Blessman Ministries Inc. was founded in 2001 by Dr. Jim Blessman, a board-certified family physician and pain specialist, and his wife, Beth.

While serving in South Africa, the Blessmans began working with Jacques van Bommel, the founder and director of Reaching a Generation (RaG).

The partnership has evolved to encompass optical outreaches, feeding programs, teacher training, job creation, and a safari game farm that provides a source of income for the ministry outreach and also serves as the South Africa headquarters for Blessman Ministries (BMI).

While the game farm is owned by RaG, BMI helped raise funds for it and owns the lots of land that our ministry buildings occupy.

Blessman Ministries maintains offices at 2557 106th St, Urbandale and bases its outreach in Limpopo, South Africa, where it maintains a safari game farm that provides a source of income for the ministry outreach.

The medical needs alone in South Africa are staggering. According to the web site:

• Nearly 1,000 children are orphaned due to AIDS in South Africa each day.(UNAIDS 2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic)
• 1.4 million South African children orphaned by AIDS in 2007, compared to 780,000 in 2003. (UNAIDS 2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic)
• It is estimated that nearly 5.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa (Aids Foundation Department of Health 2009 www.aids.org.za)
• The average life expectancy in South Africa is now 54 years – without AIDS, it is estimated that it would be 64. Over half of 15 year olds are not expected to reach the age of 60. (Centre for Actuarial Research, South African Medical Research Council and Actuarial Society of South Africa (2006, November),  ‘The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa – National and Provincial Indicators for 2006′)
• 71 percent of deaths among those aged between 15 and 49, are caused by AIDS. (Centre for Actuarial Research, South African Medical Research Council and Actuarial Society of South Africa (2006, November),  ‘The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa – National and Provincial Indicators for 2006′)
• An estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, bringing the total to 22.4 million people living with HIV. (UNAIDS/WHO (2009) Report on the latest epidemiological trends in Sub-Saharan Africa)
• Schools have fewer teachers because of the AIDS epidemic. In 2006 it was estimated that 21 percent of teachers in South Africa were living with HIV.(UNAIDS/WHO (2006), UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, Chapter 4: The impact of AIDS on people and societies)

If you’d like to volunteer with Blessman Ministries in Africa, details are on the Blessman Ministries web site.