South Africa-Day 10 and 11

South Africa-Day 10 and 11 

Thursday was a day of traveling to different ministries in and around Durban.  We started the day by visiting the monastery near where we were staying.  They had a beautiful chapel full of the large and ornate wood sculptures of characters from the Bible:  Jesus, Peter, Isaiah, Abraham, David, John the Baptist.  The walls of the monastery were full of beautiful paintings and murals, as well.  The monastery is located in the middle of a more rural area, but near a large community of people.  When I ran this morning, I shared the street with many people walking to work.  

As we set out, the first stop was to the Hillcrest Aids Center.  This is a ministry started out of the Hillcrest Methodist Church to care for people with HIV/Aids.  They provide free testing, home care, and also a respite care for those in whom the disease is more progressed.  They ministry is funded through sale of artwork and plants (they have a beautiful nursery).  The idea behind the ministry was to give the best possible care to people suffering from the disease.  For those who are close to death, to help them die with dignity.  In the respite section, they help the patients write notes to loved ones and are surrounded by a community of love.  In the back of the respite care house there is a wall with all of the names of those who have died.  I think that Jesus would be proud to see his church reaching out to such people today.

The second stop was to the Methodist Seminary in Pietermaritzburg.  This is a relatively new seminary, but is the main place of training for Methodist ministers in South Africa.  There is a holistic approach to learning.  The goal is for students to learn not only theology, but to develop spiritual disciplines and practices, and to learn how to live in community with one another.  A part of the curriculum is teaching students how to plant and maintain a garden.  The belief is that if a pastor is sent to one of the poor townships the church can grow food to help feed the people.  We had lunch with the President and the chaplain.  From an architectural standpoint, the most interesting thing to me was that the back of the sanctuary was actually two massive doors (biggest doors that I have every seen) that opened the sanctuary to a beautiful grass courtyard.  It truly gave the sense that the church is not called to remain in four wall, but we are sent into the world.  

The final stop of the day (and the final ministry visit for the trip) was called Mpower.  It is a program for youth/children who are now heads of a household because parent(s) have died from HIV/Aids.  I think part of the ministry though included youth from the community that needed a program to connect with.  For the first time this trip we actually walked through a township and visited a home.  We split into two groups of three and an Empower leader who also lived in the community took each group to a home.  The homes are very close together and very small.  In home that we visited a young woman (23 years old) was caring for her siblings and several cousins (10 in all).  In addition, she just gave birth to a premie baby a little over a month ago.  

Walking through the community was very eye opening and allowed us to see the poverty that people live in every day.  It was hard for us to see, but I am glad that we saw it.  I don’t think you can be in the middle of something like that and not have it impact you.  The thought that I kept wrestling with, though, is that I am here for an afternoon and then get to leave, they can’t.  I did get a chance to kick the soccer ball with a group of community boys, playing on a small clay field with wooden posts for goals; there must have been 25 boys playing.  In the midst of such poverty there are glimpses of joy and laughter and life.  

After our neighborhood visit we participated in a brief program with some of the youth.  We had a fun and interactive way of learning each other’s names and then did a short activity called “Why/Because”.  Both were a way of breaking down walls for all of us.  We finished by watching (and helping a little) the youth create posters that they are going to hang in the local school.  The theme was about not bringing weapons to class.  It was inspiring to see these youth working to make their community a better place, a less violent place.  I think the team agreed that this was a great way to end our ministry visits.  

The evening was a little bit lighter.  We went to dinner on the Promenade in Durban.  We had a beautiful view of the Indian Ocean and the lit up sky line as evening came.  After dinner went to a show at the university theater.  

This morning started for me with a six mile hill run-last run in South Africa-then back to the lodge for a quick breakfast and packing for the trip home.  We had a final devotion time with Roger (one of the Methodist ministers who served as our host).  We all shared something that we learned through this trip and then finished by sharing communion with one another.  

Before going to the airport, we went to the Victoria Street Market in downtown Durban.  This was quite and experience it was a huge market where people bought and sold everything from souvenirs to meat to herbs and medicines.  It was a little overwhelming with the crowds of people and we saw some unusual things.  For example, there were cow heads and goat heads for sale in the meat section.  In the herb section there was all kinds of dried plants, bark, and even animals (dried monkey and owl) that were used to mix together for medicinal purposes.  A short time here was enough.  There was a huge crowd of people and the passages between booths and traders were very narrow.  

This led us to the airport in Durban where we flew to Johannesburg.  Now we are in the air flying towards New York.   

God's Peace,

Brett