End of the South African Adventure

Well, Mark and I have arrived back in Exeter after about 18 hours of travelling. I’m feeling a little wiped out and sad to be away from the Hawkins tribe (and Mark, of course!)

I’ll just give you a quick catch up of my last day in South Africa. It was a busy day! In the morning I went with Andy to the Beautiful Gate orphanage, in a township called Khayelitsha, just outside Cape Town. The orphanage is really great, helping over 40 children who have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. Probably 80% of the children have HIV. When the orphanage was opened it was assumed that the children wouldn’t live very long, but with good care, a healthy diet and anti-retroviral drugs (when available) they are still going strong. Of course this is causing the unforeseen problem of what to do with the growing population of the orphanage and how to deal with other children since Beautiful Gate is full. One solution is to develop more and more work in the community of Khayelitsha, a township of about 1 million people, living in shacks with minimal facilities (this is almost 10 times the size of Exeter!)



After visiting Beautiful Gate I was dropped off by Andy to accompany Sindy on some home visits back in the township of Nomzamo. Sindy is employed by Andy & Lyn to do community work. We first visited a woman Sindy knows who is ill. She is dying of AIDS, but because there is such a stigma attached to the disease, she only talks about being unwell.

I’m afraid I don’t remember the lady’s name, because it was in Xhosa, one of the native languages of South Africa. This lady lives in a small shack with her mother, her sister and seven children. When it rains the shack, made of compressed cardboard, floods. She is too weak to work. Every morning she goes to the clinic to get an injection as part of her 6-week course of anti-retrovirals. An important part of the treatment is to eat healthily, but because her sister is the only breadwinner, she only has one meal a day. Despite all this, I’ll never forget the serene beauty of her smiling face. She seemed so calm and peaceful and I felt so welcome in her home. At the end of our visit I prayed for her, but what do you say in such situations?

Sindy and I then visited another family. They lived in another shack made of assorted pieces of wood, corrugated iron and cardboard. A few days ago a boy from a neighbouring family was playing in the yard and climbed up the wall of an outbuilding they used for a toilet. The wall collapsed, fell on the boy and he died. The woman cried as she explained this to Sindy. Not only was she broken-hearted over the boy's death, but also her and her family were scared for their lives, as in Xhosa culture revenge is a distinct possibility.

So after visiting this lady we went to see the family of the boy who had died. At their home, a block brick room in an ex-migrant worker hostel block, there were about 8 women. The mother and grandmother sit on a mattress on the floor, a traditional part of their mourning. Sindy talked to them in Xhosa, so I just sat and watched. She told me afterwards that they were planning revenge. Sindy talked about forgiveness and the fruitlessness of vengeance and won them over. I was asked to pray at the end (which was pretty difficult as I had just listened to half-an-hour of conversation in a language I didn’t understand!)

I left with a real admiration for Sindy, a true minister of reconciliation! She is a wise woman who loves and cares for her community and is respected and loved by them in return.

Going via a crèche, which looks after 60 children in a shed no bigger than the average living room, we went and met up with Andy, Hannah and Bex at the soccer practice. This consists of 150 children between 8 and 13 years old on a school field in the middle of the township. The field is also used by locals to graze their sheep and goats, so you need to be a bit careful where you step!

At first it seems like total chaos, but somehow a form of order emerges as they get into their four teams and get dressed up in their respective kits (including shorts and socks!) of England, Brazil, Argentina and… ahem… Notts Forest (!) They then do dribbling practice before playing matches against each other.

Given the raw material – 150 excited township boys, 11 soccer balls, half-a-cup of coca-cola each and full football kits, this level of organised chaos stands as a testament to Andy’s skill and vision!

The soccer training is staffed by Lizo, Sindy and a few volunteer coaches from local township churches. This sort of community scheme aims to give the children positive input and role models to help them resist the temptation to get involved in the township gangs, a route too many boys take and often leads to danger, violence and gun crime.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to watch Brazil challenge the mighty Notts Forest, as we had to rush to the airport and head home. In all it was a packed day. Although I was exposed to a deeper and more disturbing reality of township life, I really valued the experience.

At the end I felt a bit exhausted and emotionally numb. Somehow, despite such a situation of despair, it’s hard to feel sad, as the people I met were so full of life and joy. While it made me realise the absurdity of my wealth in the face of such poverty, I didn’t feel as guilty about having money as I expected to. You realise very quickly that this is about more than a lack of money. It is systemic poverty and injustice that can’t be solved by me emptying my bank account. It requires me, and as many people as possible, to reassess our attitude to money and possessions, to be freed to give generously in an ongoing way, to schemes and ideas that will gradually change the system.

I guess time will tell if this experience has any lasting effect on me. My prayer is that it will, but I know that it is too easy to get caught up once again in the world pulled over my eyes and forget about those who suffer.

Sorry that this has been such a long entry, but if you are interested I will share about this and more, including news of Andy, Lyn, Hannah and Bex, in the service on Sunday 10th December.