GROUP III RETURNS FROM SOUTH AFRICA
- A CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN WINGE,
Executive Director of Open Arms of Minnesota
“Even as you read this, AIDS is taking lives in sub-Saharan Africa, swallowing families, communities, hopes. So far 17 million have died. At least 25 million may follow.”
- TIME Magazine, February 12, 2001.
| Four years ago men and women working in the Minnesota AIDS ministry talked with alarm amongst themselves about the news reports coming out of Africa on AIDS. When Durban, South Africa was selected for the XXIII International AIDS Conference some of these same people signed up to go. A few others joined them. That event was in July of last year. Nine months later a third group of men and women mostly from the Twin Cities spent time in February in the hospices, clinics, orphanages, schools, and kitchens in Soweto township outside Johannesburg and Guguletu township southeast of Cape Town. To date, each person from these three groups who has made the journey can tell of their own experience and transformation. To keep the story of our friends in South Africa alive, I asked Kevin Winge to share his insights from this his second and most recent trip to South Africa. |
We sat in the same Minneapolis restaurant the Reverend Spiwo Xipale had visited in November of last year, Maria’s on 1113 East Franklin. In November, Spiwo, the charismatic spiritual leader from a third world nation, had pleaded eloquently for his people. On this March morning the pleas had become Kevin Winge’s. For two hours we talked about cities, towns, and travel, but mostly we talked about the people and what was happening. The news of the day made it a very somber conversation. The Associated Press had just released an announcement from Pretoria, South Africa, “One in nine South Africans is HIV positive, more than previously thought in a country that already has the world’s largest population of infected people.”
I said to Kevin, “People ask from time to time, why travel half way around the world into harm’s way, to a country where maybe millions will die. What can you do by going there?" The answer has always been the same; I heard it in July in a cafe in Cape Town and I heard it stronger now from Kevin. “When AIDS was spreading in America, mostly in the gay community, many would not help. It was wrong then, it is wrong now. Our going to see if we could help has always been a given. I will never accept that nothing can be done, we have already done something. In nine short months we have started to make a difference. 
A building is going up that we have helped to finance. It will give them some place to meet and to teach and minister to others. The clinic has some medicines from us, though never enough. They desperately needed the rubber gloves that we stuffed into our suitcases, and some of the children have clothes and a few toys. But most importantly we have built a bridge and a bond with our new brothers and sisters. Spiwo, Jan, Xethu and others have become close friends. For all of us who have made this journey, we have learned to redefine our understanding of community. They are friends in trouble, and our goal is to help them.”
At the end of January, Kevin Winge, Sister Joanne Lucid and two others had flown first to Johannesburg to continue the conversations they had started in July at the AIDS Conference. Their goal for this trip was to look for tangible ways they might help in the townships. Kevin said they found that in Johannesburg and Soweto there was much more organization and structure in place to work with the people. A woman by the name of Nobesuthu Mnguni of AFXB had been responsible for much of this.
In Alexandra, another township near Johannesburg, things were far less organized. Having spent three days in Johannesburg, they flew to Cape Town to meet up with the rest of the group. In all, ten men and women had come together to learn and see what might be done. Each time a group has gone back,
new travelers are added to the mix and introduced to South Africa and its need. Each of these trips has strengthened and broadened our bond and commitment to South Africa and Spiwo’s people.
On this second trip, Kevin said they saw more, not only of the breathtaking beauty that is unique to Africa, but also more of the people. One place the group went back to was a one-story orphanage called ‘Golden Girls'. Nobody seems to know why it is named that, because it misrepresents its purpose, for in reality it is a holding place for “discarded” children; some with neurological disorders, some with mental problems, and of course AIDS. The one large all-purpose room has beds, cribs, a few toys and clusters of small children begging human touch and attention. The Reverend Spiwo Xipale knows well how to manage the visits of his American friends. Spiwo makes sure that time is spent on the streets of Guguletu and the Brown’s Farm Clinic. 
Apartheid required that the races were to be separated so in 1958 Guguletu was established. It is an endless sea of tin shacks sitting on well-marked lots. The city built streets and little else for these people. About 330,000 live in Guguletu which means “Our Pride". Most are Xhosa or black. The unemployment rate is 60% and the level of HIV/AIDS is considered high.
Spending any time with Spiwo is a gifting experience, spending time on Sunday in Spiwo’s church cannot be truly explained by photos. One has to be with the people to capture or even feel their rich spirituality. The singing and the praying transcends description. 
Kevin talked about being taken by Spiwo on a bereavement call to a family who had lost their 28-year-old daughter. They don’t speak of AIDS, her father simply said that she died of a ‘swollen heart'. Families can no longer afford the rising costs of funerals yet custom requires that the mourners be given something, maybe beer and food. Spiwo told him some come as mourners so that they will have something to eat.
We talked about the rising stress level of those that try to help and the teachers, ministers, and health care workers. Kevin said that the stress level is high. When Kevin and Spiwo talked, Kevin asked Spiwo if he thought of taking his family and leaving. Spiwo with tears simply said, “I cannot leave, they know the color of my hut." Spiwo knows his people have few leaders and he is desperately needed. There was a long silence in our conversation then Kevin said, “Day after day we hear from news reports how big the problem of AIDS is in South Africa. I believe we have a moral obligation to do something. We know that if this were happening in Europe or let’s say California, that there would be a massive effort to help. Our friends are living in a 3rd world country and most of them are Xhosa or black so only a little help trickles to them.”
People say the problem is overwhelming, and there is little we can do. But we have done something. Look what has happened since July of last year. Three groups have gone back to learn and to help. We all agreed to focus on one area to start with and we knew it would be Guguletu. The building of the J.L. Zwane Centre is starting to be a reality, walls are going up. Jim Cassidy and the others have raised money that has gone directly to Spiwo and Jan. (To date a total of 16 Minnesotans have traveled to Cape Town. Fr. Jim Cassidy, Chuck MacDonald, and Pat Murphy , members of St. Joan of Arc were part of Group II. See their Daily Reports ) The building will mean that there is someplace other than the street for meetings. The children will have classrooms, and the people can learn trades. Spiwo talked about ideas that came from us. 
He wants to use the kitchen to cook up meals that they can take to the sick and he wants to build a bunk house so volunteers will have a place to stay.”
By temperament Kevin Winge is an optimist. He sees the progress that has been made in the construction of the building. This might never have happened if Americans had not gone to Cape Town in July. Guguletu with all its problems may still be able to provide a model to other townships. Spiwo Xipale is a rising spiritual leader to his people. So often Spiwo can find the words that capture the emotion that is felt. It was Spiwo who said, “You are tempted to lose hope, but God created out of nothing. Nothingness has potential. It is out of nothing that great things come.”
Kevin Winge was Interviewed on March 21/01
by Chuck MacDonald
chuckmacdonald@mediaone.net
| For more information on the efforts to help South Africa you are invited to attend a Journey Report at Maria’s Restaurant at 1113 East Franklin on April 9, 2001 at 6:30. Please RSVP to Open Arms at 612-872-1152 |
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