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SOUTH AFRICA REACHES BACK - -AND WE HAVE COMPANY COMING!

ARRIVING APRIL 4 FROM CAPE TOWN AND SINGING ON APRIL 21ST AT ST. JOAN OF ARC ARE THE and ARRIVING APRIL 24 IS THE MEDICAL TEAM FROM THE

It has been almost five years since parishioners of St. Joan of Arc have heard the soul calling sounds of the Christian Explainers, a singing group from Cape Town, South Africa. From time to time we still sing a song they taught us on their first visit. This is a talented group of seventeen South Africans. Groups like the Christian Explainers perform the wonderfully rich, powerfully harmonic ensemble singing that has been part of South African life among Blacks and Colored (mixed race), but kept hidden from the world by the Apartheid government. For forty years the Apartheid suppression made it impossible for the rest of the world to hear the singing unique to this land. Once Apartheid ended and freedom emerged, so did some of the musical sounds of its people. At 7:30 pm on April 21, 2002 at St. Joan of Arc, we are going to hear those sounds of indigenous South African gospel music.

Some of today’s most engaging, infectious, and spirited gospel music is not coming from studios in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta or anywhere in the US for that matter. It is coming from South Africa.     - Bob Marovich - Blues and..... South Africa has given us some of the most memorable voices from the African continent. Such vocal virtuosity is not surprising coming from a land where Zulus, Xhosas and Sothos have for centuries celebrated life’s large and small moments with song. -Afropop Worldwide

Since the first visit of the Christian Explainers to St. Joan of Arc, four groups of parishioners have traveled to South Africa to see how they might help a people faced with the pandemic of AIDS and struggling with the aftereffects of Apartheid. When each group returned there were many stories to tell but it always included the words, ...“and you should hear the music and the singing of the people!” One of my great life moments was being in attendance when Nelson Mandela addressed the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban South Africa, July 2000. When he entered the room, a great number of South African women rose and in one voice started to sing to him. On more than one occasion we would be sung to by groups of students or adults. Their singing has it’s own sound, so rich and meaningful that it moves you to tears. Being invited to attend a Black or Colored church in Cape Town was a great blessing and the music of the people wraps around you and grabs your soul.

“It was singing lifted by the loosed reins of freedom but also forged by forgiveness for its captor. It was a music that took the best of the past and set forth optimistically for the future. The singing of the people of South Africa is unlike any musical experience I have ever witnessed, and demonstrated to me the power of communal singing.” -Bob Marovich

The group coming to sing on Sunday, April 21st all live around the outer ring of Cape Town. Most have jobs and families to support but they are dedicated to their churches and to their singing. They have won national awards in South Africa. They have three recorded albums: Our Testimony, Sing Shout and Dance, and Explainers In Worship Mode. These will be available wherever they sing. They have made more than one trip to the United States, singing in the South, Chicago, and in various churches in Minneapolis. This trip will be special because they are going to spend three weeks in concerts and workshops and at the Peace Conference at St. Joan of Arc on April 20. What makes their visit different is the time they have chosen to spend in the homes of their American hosts. As usual, it has been Anna Vagle who has helped to organize this wonderful musical exchange.

The term ‘Explainer’ is an Anglo word commonly used in South Africa for someone who has the information, or does the orientation. It describes a person who has knowledge and whose task it is to share that knowledge. The "Christian Explainer's" mission is an international music ministry, committed to the gospel. They wish to be a catalyst for real social and spiritual change. They come to the United States to acquire resources to develop HIV education in the schools, develop programs of anti chemical dependency in youth, and to share the indigenous South African music with their brothers and sisters around the world.

A Brown's Clinic nurse explaining to parishioners, Gene and Mary Lou Ott, and Cyril and Pam Paul about clinic procedures.

In late September of this year a promise was made to Reverend Spiwo Xapile by a group of St. Joan of Arc parishioners to do whatever it takes to help improve conditions in the Brown’s Farm Clinic that attempts to serve some 300,000 residents of the township of Guguletu and Phillpi. Spiwo has many concerns but a major challenge is the people’s isolation. Yes, South Africa is in desperate need of capitol but there is also a crying need for knowledge and exposure to modern problem solving methods. They don’t see beyond their borders and their ability to solve problems is impaired. Spiwo then asked if it would be possible to bring the medical team to Minnesota to see what he and his wife Zethu saw when they came. The medical team will be two doctors and a nurse who have never traveled so far and who have not seen how our medical services work. We made a promise to make it happen. With the help of friends and the CEO of Chronimed, Henry Blissenbach, they will arrive just as the Christian Explainers leave for Holland and then home.

A sense of the confusion faced by 250-300 people each day waiting to see the doctor. That is parishioner Pat Murphy in the crowd of waiting mothers and babies.

St. Joan of Arc parishioner, Dr. Gene Ott agreed to serve as the American Chair Person and Zethu Xapile is the South African chair for this project. Zethu is the medical nurse manager of the Brown’s Farm Clinic. Another parishioner, Dr Jim White, is also helping with coordinating and hosting this medical team for ten days. Their time will be spent in the clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, hospices, and community treatment centers who work with HIV/AIDS clients. There will also be opportunities to be exposed to some of our mid-western culture. Hosting the medical team will be parishioners, Gene and Mary Lou Ott, Jim and Mary White, Cyril and Pam Paul, and Chuck and Beth MacDonald.

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Chuck MacDonald and his wife Beth are members of St. Joan of Arc. Chuck is a member of the Parish Council. He is currently active helping a clinic in South Africa and works part time teaching English as a second language to recent immigrants. Chuck can be reached at chuckmacdonald@attbi.com.