NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP Reflections on South Africa - Part II

In the last weeks of October, parishioners, Dr. Gene Ott and Chuck MacDonald along with seven members of the House of Hope Church in St. Paul, traveled to South Africa to work with their medical teams and to meet with many men and women struggling to address the problems of a country burdened with the scars of Apartheid, high unemployment, poverty and the growing pandemic of AIDS. We met with the leaders of the Truth and Justice Commission, the founder of the Institute of Healing, clergy, doctors and nurses. Much of the time was spent listening and talking to the people of Guguletu, the township of some 350,000 blacks. On the sixth day in Cape Town we attended Sunday services in the J. L. Zwane Presbyterian Church. The day was October 27, 2002.

Two years ago in another South African October, I walked into the J. L. Zwane Presbyterian Church in Guguletu, South Africa for the first time. Intuition never told me that I and others would again walk through those doors several times again. Faces would become familiar as would the sounds of the black South African hymns. As before, when I walked toward the church, I was met by a tall distinguished and pleasantly confused elder. Again he asked me if I would buy him a car, again I told him I was working on it. Each time we meet he says, “ When I was young, I ran. Now I am old, I watch the young ones run, I am an elder.”

We are always warmly welcomed by the community. Each time in a different way. This Sunday we were ushered into the sanctuary to sit with the elders, and this elevated position made it possible to see the congregation. It had changed. The church was more crowded with people of all ages and there was a sense of somberness. Later I would be told that people are coming because this is the only church offering to help them with AIDS. Poor churches have no great organs, they have voices and when the woman cantor stomped her beat pillow, this large community rose in a chant that had you choking back tears. To hear an African church community in song, is one of life’s unusual joys. When I asked an elder to translate the words for me, he whispered the translation ......”I need your touch Lord, once again, Lord, I need your touch.”

There have been arguments down through the centuries about liturgies and if they should change. But in fact they do change and it comes usually from the needs of the people. This Sunday in October one could witness a changing liturgy emerging from the pain and suffering of the community. When the service was two-thirds finished, Reverend Spiwo asked if anyone suffering from AIDS would like to come forward. A period of silence followed and then a woman approached , followed by her three young children. Spiwo told the community that the first step is to disclose their need.

Spiwo then asked the woman to speak to the congregation and he translated her story into English for his American guests as she spoke. She told of being pregnant and in great fear of being tested but felt she had no choice. So she went to the clinic, was tested and told she was HIV positive. The news devastated her and she hid for several months. In near despair and fear for her children she heard about the J. L. Zwane church and decided to come to the Tuesday support group. This Sunday she came to the church and Spiwo asked her what she needed from the community. “Support” she said and then stood in silence. What happened next left all of us in tears for from the congregation came men and woman, one by one until she was totally embraced by a small army of people who agreed to give she and her children support. In the New Testament this story of embracing and caring for the sick is a key part of early church’s work. I will always remembers that mother and her children embraced by others whenever I am in a church where they read of the list of the sick.

Dr. Gene Ott and friend

When church ended for another Sunday, Dr. Gene Ott and myself moved on to a quiet restaurant in the outer suburbs of Cape Town to meet with Drs. Kwezi and Thamie and Zethu Xapile, the wife of Spiwo and nurse manager of the Brown’s Farm Clinic. It was a long meeting all about the realities of medical care in the townships. Looking at the resources and the needs, it became apparent that decisions had to be made about what would get us the most mileage until more funds and help could be identified. We all agreed to work first to strengthen and give support to the Home Care Program, while working to secure more resources for a hospice. The South African medical team have been briefed and know well about how bad this pandemic is going to become.

The number of identified HIV-infected people in South Africa, as an example, is projected to increase from the current 6 million to 7-8 million by the year 2006. AIDS deaths in southern Africa will peak around the year 2010. The majority of AIDS deaths will be in the young economically productive age groups, impacting on the whole economy and affecting population age patterns. - Source: HEARD. Natal University

Again, the question of Hope comes into play. One of the doctors is using retro-viral drugs with 125 carefully selected patients who are in stage four of their illness. Pregnant women agreeing to testing are being given medication for their unborn. To the north, Doctors Without Borders have also been using drugs with about 200 selected AIDS patients. All of this is a drop in the bucket, but it is a start. What one has to keep in mind is that most of these initiatives are coming from doctors and nurses and ministers who already have full-time jobs but in the face of no outside help from the government or elsewhere, are starting up support groups, trying to build a Home Care Program, and if funds can be found, will create a hospice.

Rev. Spiwo with author

We talked into the late afternoon and repeatedly the role of the churches came into play. Many of South Africa’s churches are still silent or not proactive. The J.L. Zwane Church is known throughout the townships and people are coming more and more for support and help. When we later traveled to Johannesburg, we were told by the Office of Presbyterian Ministry that Spiwo’s church is known for it’s innovation and courageous stance. In South Africa what might save some of the people could well be the brave churches. Before we had gone to church this Sunday, we stopped the cars to watch a very large street march of the Methodists and there was another one gathering around the police station demanding better protection. In this beautiful land with its river of sorrows, one sees hope. We saw it in the doctors and nurses, the brave ministers who are throwing open their doors to take in the sick. Understanding the Gospel message is always easier in South Africa.

“We pray that by our lives, God’s will may be known. The first step for any of us, is to disclose to another that we are in need. When you know that you cannot do this alone, then you must come to your brothers and sisters in the community and ask them for help. You must believe that they will rise and stand with you and that you will not be alone.” - Reverend Spiwo Xapile to the Zwane Church on October 28,2002

Chuck MacDonald is on the St. Joan of Arc Parish Council. He is the Project Coordinator for the South African Hospice program. He is currently a member of the Shannon Leadership Institute. Chuck can be reached at chuckmacdonald@attbi.com.

Other Reports from this Trip "The Poor Die Different From Us" "Journeying Among A Forgotten People - The Rural Transkei" Reports from other Trips Winter 2002 Trip Year 2001 Trip Year 2000 Trip