Christian Aid visit to South Africa

The team, Deborah Doherty (Christian Aid), Louise Monroe (MCI), Lesley-Ann Wilson
(PCI), Alf McCreary (religion correspondant), Bishop Patrick Rooke (CoI)

So I’ve been in South Africa for four weeks now and it has certainly been an amazing and varied experience!  From the few days of project visits with Christian Aid in Pietermarritzberg and Johannesberg, doing the touristy thing in Jo’berg and three days holiday in Cape Town.  Then Bishop Patrick went off to Swaziland, the rest of the guys flew home and I continued on to the rest of my Big Adventure.

The project visits with Christian Aid gave an opportunity to really see the work that Christian Aid supports.  But also a chance to see where some of the money we raise as a Church really goes and actually meet some of the people who benefit from it which was a very humbling experience.

We had the chance to meet with three organisations; Church Land Programme (CLP), Kwazulu-Natal Christian Council (KZNCC) and Bench Marks

Here I am just going to give some of the highlights of the experience for me as there are too many things to note here.

Kennedy Road informal settlement

With CLP we met with some the shack dwellers who live in an informal settlement called Kennedy Road in Durban.  The group of people we met are a committee that have been put together to try and improve their life conditions.  

Bishop Patrick presenting the cross to Mama Zodwa

Graham Philpott the Director of CLP

But the CLP visit I want to talk about was to Ladysmith, home of the famous Ladysmith Black Mambazo singing group!  We were taken out to a rural settlement where the residents had been forcibly removed during apartheid.  Sometimes it was because it was rich fertile ground that could be used for farming, sometimes to create residential areas.  But more often than not the land was not used for anything and just left vacant after the people who had been living there had been removed and their livestock shared out among the local white farmers.  This was the case in the place we visited and met a lady named Zodwa, who had experienced the violence and humiliation of the removals back in the 1970’s.  She shared her moving story with us but her real pain was the loss of her Church.  The Church building was just a little way from her home and it had been destroyed during the removals, and when they were allowed back to their land in the 1990’s there were all sort of promises from the government about restitution for these losses but she is still waiting for her Church to be rebuilt.  She took us to the rubble, showing us the original foundation stone and where the pulpit would have been.  There was a very moving moment when Bishop Patrick gave Zodwa a St Bridget’s Cross on the site of the pulpit.  This was very poignant because of the very deep links that cross has with women within the Church and the link with the woman at the well.  What made this all the more poignant was the image of a well in the background.  We then held hands in the rubble of the Church and said the Lord’s prayer together, a very moving moment.

The church does still meet in a makeshift building in Zodwa’s homestead, proving that God’s people will never be kept down.  It did, however bring up questions for me about the importance of a building, something I will perhaps share at another time! 

We all went into to the Church building were we met ladies who were representative of a number of groups around the area who are involved in income generating projects.  In this case it was mainly bead work.  These groups of ladies work with beads making beautiful jewellery and craft work which is then sold giving them a small income.  So often when you are in African countries you see beautiful local crafts and you are told the proceeds go to those who have made them.  Often you can become cynical about this, but it did my heart good to actually meet these people who make crafts and sell them to make ends meet.  It was such a humbling experience to meet with them and to be able to buy some of their crafts directly from them.  Although most of them were actually working to orders.

Now on to KZNCC.  With this group we had the chance to see some of the work they are doing to help the huge problem of AIDS and HIV that plagues South Africa.  We met with an HIV support group who meet frequently to share with one another, to find friendship and understanding which quite often is not available anywhere else.

Very sadly this can also include the Church.  One lady shared with us that when she discovered she was HIV+ her husband left her, leaving her with children to feed.  Sadly she found only discrimination from her Pastor and Church.  So when she was put in contact with this group she found people she could confide in share her problems.  Sadly at the minute that is all they can do as they are struggling to get funding and help to get food which these groups all have a right to.  But it can take up to a year to register a group for a certificate which allows them to receive bread and various other small items.  The problem is when taking meds, like the ARV’s you need food to take them with and if you have no income you can’t buy food.  They would be keen to start a vegetable garden which would provide fresh healthy food, but again there is the issue of money for seeds etc.  But yet the group is still vital for these ladies as it is a vital lifeline for them.  You may have noticed I have only talked about ladies here, that is because men are reluctant and often refuse to be tested for the virus which means it will continue to spread due to ignorance and naivety.

One of the toxic tailings

And so our final visits were with Bench Marks and a very intense and full day was spent with them on the ‘Toxic Tour’ of the greater Jo’berg area.  They are involved in many social campaigns and advocacy work and one of the main things they work on is the issues of the local Gold mines.  The waste that comes from mining for gold and other precious metals are dumped in large areas that become known as tailings. In many instances there is toxic material in that waste mainly due to the uranium that is often present.  This causes issues with the water system, rivers can be seen to flow bright green or a deep red.  With high winds the dust can be blown in to residential areas which are dangerously close.  The worse case we seen was an informal settlement which was built pretty much on top of one of the tailings and children play daily in an area that has been registered as dangerously radioactive on a Geiger counter reading taken by Bench Marks.  Many local people are totally unaware of this very dangerous issue.  The next project which Bench Marks is taking on is a health survey within Soweto which is surrounded on at least two sides by tailings.

A river running green

So this is a little bit of what I got up to during the Christian Aid visits before our short trip to Cape Town which is a beautiful city.  But I would ask you to pray for the people I have mentioned above, people I have met and listened to their stories first hand.  But also for the many many others in this country who are in exactly the same position.  A beautiful country but one of such division, diversity and extremes.