At Hands at Work, our volunteers are called by God from all over the world to serve the most vulnerable in Africa. Each of us has a unique story of how we were transformed when we stepped out in faith and were obedient to His call. Dawson and Celine Reddekopp share their story of following God's voice and the journey that has led them to fully trust and serve in Africa.
Dawson:
From a very young age, I had always hoped to one day travel to Africa. Other than to say this desire was divinely inspired, I can’t remember having any solid reasons for this.
Despite being raised by a Christian mother who made every effort to train me in the way I was to go, I drifted from the faith in my teen years. After many years and MANY mistakes, I felt as though I was stuck in a deep dark pit with no way out. It was only then that I recalled all my mom had sought to teach me growing up, and so in December 2014, I cried out to God in a final act of desperation, and in an incredible act of mercy, He responded.
Though I was baptised in March of the following year, that day in December was the day God filled me with his Holy Spirit. This changed everything! After God had redeemed my life from the pit I was in, I attended church the following Sunday and never missed a service; I longed for Sunday to come so that I could worship the Lord and fellowship with his children. I remember feeling so in awe of God’s grace in my life and I quickly came to love Jesus so deeply that I wanted nothing other than to simply live for Him.
In the spring of 2015, my mom came back from her church (we were attending different churches at the time), and shared with me that a team of people were being prepared to visit Zimbabwe with Hands at Work that October; I jumped at the opportunity! God deeply challenged me during this visit, so much so that I came back saying, “I never want to go back to Africa!”, but at the same time, He opened my eyes to many things. What stood out to me most was the simple and genuine worship and faith of people in absolutely unimaginable circumstances and that Hands at Work was focused on finding the most difficult communities and caring for the most vulnerable within those communities. It was as though I could hear Jesus saying to me, “Dawson, I lived and served and ministered in communities such as these. I want you to come and share the hope and the truth I have given to you.”
So, in February 2017, I travelled to South Africa with the expectation of serving with Hands at Work for one year… nearly five years later, I am still here. God truly has captured my heart, and the more that He breaks my heart for what breaks His, the greater my desire becomes to go further and deeper into caring for the most vulnerable and sharing with them the hope found in Jesus Christ.
Celine:
My journey to Africa started when my family and I came to South Africa on a team for the first time in 2012. Throughout that visit, my heart was broken by the stories that I heard and the poverty and vulnerability that I saw. On our last day, I remember being asked if I had thought about coming to volunteer with Hands at Work for a year. With confidence, I answered, “No, that’s not part of my plan.” Little did I know how my life was going to unfold and the irony that my confident statement would later hold. Six months later, I was back serving with Hands at Work in Zambia on a two-week trip from my school. Coming away from that trip, I knew that I wanted to volunteer with Hands at Work for a year – Africa had captured my heart.
After graduating from high school, I attended university for a year and then joined the 2014 Volunteer Intake with Hands at Work in September, which was an amazing and life-changing experience. The following August, I returned to Canada to continue with university. However, as the year progressed, I grew more and more uncomfortable and discontent with what I was doing and knew that school wasn’t the path that God was calling to me to. As God spoke and stirred those feelings in my heart, I began to see the path that He was calling me to walk – a path of obedience that meant serving in Africa. And so, in January 2017, I moved to South Africa to serve with Hands at Work as a long-term volunteer.
This journey hasn’t been easy but God never promised that it would be. He doesn’t say ‘if’ there are challenges, but rather ‘when’. As believers, we can be confident in the fact that we will experience challenges. There will be trials that come from choosing to follow Jesus but the hope is that He promises that we will never be alone. God has taught me what it means to speak for truth, knowing that His truth is the only thing that can set us free from the brokenness that we carry. It is this truth and the promise of the hope that we have in God that I feel challenged to bring to the most vulnerable communities. The longer that I serve with Hands at Work and the more time that I spend in the communities, sitting in the dust playing with the most vulnerable children and hearing their stories of desperation, brokenness and at the same time hope and restoration, the more assured I am of the calling that God has placed on my life.
Dawson and Celine:
We met when Dawson arrived in South Africa for the 2017 Volunteer Intake. Over time, we slowly developed a friendship, even though Dawson was based in Zambia, and I (Celine) was based in South Africa. We only saw one another a couple of times a year. Despite the distance, we started dating in 2019, and after doing this over the long distance for ten months, I moved to Zambia in October 2019. In June 2020, we were married in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, surrounded by our Hands at Work family in Zambia and our Canadian family from afar. It was a beautiful day of celebration and joy!
For both of us, it was a non-negotiable to marry someone who not only understood this vocation but was also deeply committed to serving God in this capacity. We love living in a community of people from all different cultures and backgrounds who are committed to bringing the hope of Christ to the most vulnerable. It is a privilege to do life as a family, through the highs and the lows.
Currently, I serve on the communications team, helping to bridge the gap between what’s happening in Africa, and the International Church, who are partnering with Hands at Work to care for the most vulnerable. Dawson is a part of the Regional Support Team, supporting the local Hands at Work teams as they build capacity and resiliency in the communities that they are serving in. Though our responsibilities on a daily basis are different, our calling remains the same and it is a joy to serve as a couple.
Serving as a couple is a journey, but a journey that we are very much enjoying! It is definitely full of lessons: learning what it means to serve one another in a godly way, learning how to submit to one another as the Bible teaches, learning what it looks like to serve hand-in-hand while spurring one another on…. the list is extensive, but it is a beautiful thing to be in a relationship that mirrors Christ’s relationship to the Church.
Currently, Celine serves on the Communications Team while Dawson serves on the Regional Support Team. They are based in Zambia.