When Mourning Turned Into Dancing: Seeds of Hope in Post-Apartheid South Africa

The topic of South African Apartheid (1948-1994) is controversial, and the real-life stories featured in When Mourning Turned Into Dancing: Seeds of Hope in Post-Apartheid South Africa are passionate, inspirational, and heart-wrenching. Within these pages, there is also violence, hatred, and racism. Under Apartheid, people were hurt, and many died. People disappeared, never to be heard from again. Others profited hugely from the spoils of institutionalized racism.
Now, South Africa is experiencing a period of unparalleled renewal and change. Non-Whites are looking through the uncertainty with new hope. Oppression is fading, and poverty is being slowly pushed back. Tethers have been broken, and justice is beginning to be restored.
When Mourning Turned Into Dancing is a candid look at life in South Africa after the fall of Apartheid. The personal stories told within weave a patchwork quilt of devastation, hope, and finally, rebirth--a poignant reminder that even in the absence of prosperity, there is still beauty, and where there is the seed of new hope, the gift of renewal will blossom and flourish.
Hope springs eternal in When Mourning Turned Into Dancing: Seed of Hope in Post-Apartheid South Africa, a collection of memoirs, interviews, and correspondence from author and youth minister Mark Simone's 16 trips to South Africa to aid the victims of Apartheid.

Mark Simone is a husband, daddy, grandpa, minister, professor, author, and part-time missionary. He lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where he is the Minister of Children's, Youth, and Family Ministries at the Federated Church, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. He loves to play guitar, write, and work with children all over the world, including South Africa, where he has led many ministry programs during his 16 trips there. Mark has written numerous books and articles on the field of youth ministry. He has also traveled intercontinentally to train youth leaders and teen leaders.
 
Additionally, he is the author of The Ghosts of Paw Paw Lake, which is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. So spooky!
 
Mark also holds two world records as a team member of a group of fire-stunt people who have accomplished two Guinness Worlds Records in full-body burns. Here is a link to the first one from 2009: youtube.com/watch?v=tpYiOA6j5tI.