'A God-Ordained Thing' - Holland nonprofit is making an impact in South Africa
Published in the Holland Sentinel October 1, 2026
Austin Metz | Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY NETWORK
8,520 miles.
That’s about how far it is from Holland to South Africa, complete with a journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
But that distance that hasn’t stopped a local nonprofit, encompassKids, from making a major impact in the lives of kids and youth in the country.
The organization’s work started in 2001, when Paul and Cathy Scholten made their first trip to South Africa. From Over the next few years, Christ Memorial Church of Holland worked to open a community daycare in Botshabelo, South
Africa.
The work continued for several years with the formation of Courage Youth South Africa and Setshabelo Family and Child Services. In 2017, encompassKids formed into a nonprofit as the North American partner, based in Holland, to those ministries.
Today, the organization changes the lives of children facing poverty, abuse, addiction and HIV through those two offshoots.
The organization works with their South African partners to help children find permanent adoptive families, provide safety for women and children escaping abuse and mentors students through Christian life coaches in public schools.
Earlier this year, Andrew Rienstra took the reins as the organization’s new executive director, bringing a diverse background that made him a great fit for the position.
Born in Costa Rica in 1989 as Gilberto Salas Sandoval Cespedes, he was placed in adoption at 3-months- old and was adopted by West Michigan missionaries shortly after. “(My parents) originally set out to adopt my older brother and sister, and after getting to know them, the orphanage introduced them to me,” Rienstra recently told The Sentinel. “ I sometimes joke that they got a ‘ buy two, get one free’ deal.”
Rienstra grew up on the southeast side of Grand Rapids and attended Grand Rapids Christian High School, then Calvin College. He’d later pursue his MBA through the University of Southern Indiana.
As he got older, questions about identity, abandonment and pain from his childhood surfaced. He ended up learning about his mother, that he had another sister and about his father, who was Miskito — an Indigenous people whose homeland spans parts of Nicaragua and Honduras.
Rienstra said that while his upbringing is different than the children in South Africa, he sees similarities.
“Family preservation especially resonates with me,” he said. “When I eventually returned to my biological family, I found many of the same struggles that had existed when I left. It makes me wonder what might have been different if the family itself had received the right support earlier.”
In 2025, encompassKids served over 15,500 children and youth, 8,620 adults and families, completed 38 in-country adoptions and had over 350 child and youth care workers serving province wide.
The broad approach to supporting those that need it Rienstra is something that excites Rienstra.
“encompassKids touches the entire arc of vulnerable children and families,” he said. “ From prevention and family preservation to domestic violence services, foster care and adoption, and from school-based mentoring and counseling to helping young people prepare for adulthood.
“What excites me is that it’s not one program trying to solve one problem. It’s people walking alongside children and families at different points in their lives.”
Paul Scholten, who remains involved in the organization, said the organization is on solid ground under Rienstra.
“It’s totally a God- ordained thing,” Scholten said. “It makes me feel really good. I’m 84 and it’s the kind of thing we really celebrate because we’ve been thinking about this day for many years. In the right time, the right person came.”
Learn more at encompasskids.org
Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com
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