This is not very long, and it is not a full picture, but it is what
is currently on my heart. I am almost exactly seven days into my
sixty-nine day stay in Lavender Hill, a township in Cape Town, South
Africa. I have already been to the funeral of a man whose life was cut
short by the gunshot of a gangster. His funeral is how I spent my very
first morning here. The gangs have currently called a ceasefire in my
area, so instead of gunfire I hear radios blasting American pop music,
and children playing soccer (football), and dogs fighting. My home for
the next two months is a busy place. So much life happening in a small
place. Sadly also, so much tragedy. I have already met two mothers who
sold their babies to infertile couples. Together, both mothers were
given less than the cost of my plane ticket home. That is much of life
in these types of spaces. The townships, projects, slums, and ghettos of
the world. These places that leave their inhabitants undervalued,
unappreciated, and unloved far too often. And so many of their
inhabitants are beautiful, happy children.
They are full of life! They bubble over with curiosity and fun. They like soccer and chocolates. They easily recite the worldwide recipe for success: stay in school, go to university, get a good job, make lots of money, live the good life. They dream of visiting the United States of America, land of opportunity and Hollywood. Americans represent the good life to such a degree that one of the biggest street gangs is named The Americans. I learned last year that when someone was referred to as being "American", especially if the description ended with "...used to be an American." that it was far more likely that they were a South African gangster than that they were from the land of the free and brave.
To me, the true American dream is to work hard and thereby support your family, with enough left over for a little fun, and a little left over for helping your fellow man. I hope that the kids I am working with will be able to live that American dream without even leaving South Africa, and that they will not try out the counterfeit one offered by their uncles, classmates, and fathers with the eagle tattoos. I hope I can be a small piece in the work being done, with great love, to get them out of the repeating cycles of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and gangsterism that too many of their families are trapped in. I hope I do not have to go to their funerals.
P.S. All the photos are from Tuesday, when a couple of other ladies and I helped Auntie Charmaine make a pot of beef and bean stew for the kids.
Prayer Requests:
They are full of life! They bubble over with curiosity and fun. They like soccer and chocolates. They easily recite the worldwide recipe for success: stay in school, go to university, get a good job, make lots of money, live the good life. They dream of visiting the United States of America, land of opportunity and Hollywood. Americans represent the good life to such a degree that one of the biggest street gangs is named The Americans. I learned last year that when someone was referred to as being "American", especially if the description ended with "...used to be an American." that it was far more likely that they were a South African gangster than that they were from the land of the free and brave.
To me, the true American dream is to work hard and thereby support your family, with enough left over for a little fun, and a little left over for helping your fellow man. I hope that the kids I am working with will be able to live that American dream without even leaving South Africa, and that they will not try out the counterfeit one offered by their uncles, classmates, and fathers with the eagle tattoos. I hope I can be a small piece in the work being done, with great love, to get them out of the repeating cycles of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and gangsterism that too many of their families are trapped in. I hope I do not have to go to their funerals.
P.S. All the photos are from Tuesday, when a couple of other ladies and I helped Auntie Charmaine make a pot of beef and bean stew for the kids.
Prayer Requests:
- Praise God for the ceasefire and pray that it will continue. Where I grew up, we have snow days. Here they have shooting days, when school is closed and the children are forced to hide out inside.
- Please pray that I can pick up more of the language quickly. Most have at least conversational English, but they prefer to speak Afrikaans.
- Please pray that I will structure my days well. I have a lot of free time and am trying to discern the best ways to utilize it.
