Soweto, Ox Tongue, and Forgiveness

I am now safely in Namibia!

Since so much has happened since I left the US, I will try to depict some of the most relevant times. Please feel free to email me or contact me if you'd like more details :)

First, a population lesson: Namibia certainly has a different feel than South Africa, as the population is 2 million for the entire country (compared with 45 million in South Africa, and over 11 million in the greater Johannesburg area where we spent most of our time while in SA).

One other random note, South Africa has 11 languages and most people we encountered spoke at least 5 of them. I found myself thinking about how I can only speak English and a bit of German? These people are brilliant, and I can teach me so much!

Time in South Africa was very interesting... we went to a lot of museums that brought the history of SA, apartheid, and the end of that struggle to life and challenged me as I saw actual pictures of the horror of apartheid. This truly was a dark time for South Africa, yet as my time in SA showed me, the darkness no longer has dominion. Obviously in the 13 years since apartheid ended not everything has been improved (as we can recognize also in our own history, as racism still is thriving in the USA even after the victory of the civil rights movement in the 1960s).

Yet, improvements certainly are being made. One specific improvement as that since the end of apartheid, the government has been pouring money into making low-cost housing. These housing units are certainly not luxurious, by any stretch of the imagination, but they are much more humane than the tin-shack shantytown homes that lack running water and electricity which are still plaguing parts of South Africa.

The most enriching experience of my time in South Africa was my 3-nigh homestay in Soweto, the largest township in South Africa. Soweto has about 5 million people, and is a community in itself. During this time in Soweto, Rachel, another student from the program and I spent time getting to know Thandi Dube, our host mom, her 18 year-old son Karabo, and 8 year-old daughter Kayise.

The Dube's home was simple; in fact, it had 3 bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a living room with a couch and TV, yet there was no carpet, no paint on the walls, and no kitchen table/chairs. We found that for many living in Soweto, watching television is a common way to spend the day. Thandi did not have a car, so we relied on her trusted friend to drive us in his taxi and other friends to drive us places. Thandi was so excited to have Rachel and me, and her hospitality overwhelmed us. She was also so proud to show us and share with us her house, which while it was not fully finished and scantily furnished, was quite an accomplishment for a single mom.
She was constantly checking in with us to make sure that we were well fed, comfortable, and having an overall good time.

I found that one of my favorite parts of this homestay was getting the opportunity to play with Kayise and her friends. There were about 6 neighborhood kids whom we played with and we played all sorts of games...from marbles, to tag, to red light green light (after I taught them). These children had little material toys, but had so much joy and life. We laughed despite the sometimes apparent language barrier. We had so much fun playing outside, without playstation, Nintendo, computer games, etc. There was so much joy in the simplicity.

My other highlight of the weekend was worshipping with Thandi at a church that probably had 3,000 people in attendance. The service was mostly in English, but many of the songs were in the native languages. At one point in the service we sang the contemporary praise song "Above All" and I found my tears welding with joy as I thought about how this was one of the most beautiful visions of unity I had seen. Even though Rachel and I were probably 2 of the only white people worshipping that day, we could join with people who had been so oppressed by whites, and still join hands and worship our creator together. This truly was an incredible experience and words cannot truly do it justice.

Oh, and I can not forget the fact that for our second dinner, Thandi served us one of South Africa's delicacies: ox tongue! I'm not sure if I'll ever have to eat that again, but I can now say that I have eaten an ox tongue!

One final thought because I know this journal is long...
On our last day in South Africa, we heard from a man named Stake, who was a part of the opposition to apartheid. Even though he spent 10 years in prison for his opposition, this man embodied a hope and life that was incredibly encouraging.

One of my favorite quotes of his was:
In this world we have gone great distances to bridge gaps between us and things very far away. We have travelled to outer-space, landed on the moon, etc. Yet too often we fail to bridge the closest distance between us and our neighbor.

May we all seek to bridge those gaps and love radically and genuinely even if our neighbour seems completely different than us. The spirit of South Africa and the power of forgiveness in this country are incredible.

The power of community is also unbelievable as we walked around Soweto and were greeted by people all around us who were curious to hear from us and share a bit of their life with us. White people in Soweto are rare, so many of Thandi's neighbors were excited to meet Rachel and I and greeted us with such hospitality. I hope that this concept of community is one that I can strive for in years to come, for we are a people who were created to live with one another and to share joys and challenges.

May we live in forgiveness, peace, hope, community, and love with one another.