19-01-2010
A locally supported partnership of churches and individuals in Scotland
with those involved in ministry and mission in South Africa
with those involved in ministry and mission in South Africa
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Dear Friends,
We gather you have only recently received our last partner letter so it may be a surprise to receive one so quickly again. Today (Saturday, July 31) is the first Saturday we have had off this year so we thought we would take this opportunity to try and catch up with some correspondence.
Since our last letter we have been away from home for most of the time apart from odd days changing our luggage and getting some washing done – thank goodness we are in Africa or else we would not have managed with the UK climate!
Graham spent the second week of June in Kenya where he attended a meeting of African church leaders sponsored by the All Africa Conference of Churches called to discuss the current situation on the HIV/AIDS crisis. It was as illuminating as it was distressing as we heard actual experiences to support the never ending stream of statistics. A marked feature of the meeting was the discussion on the need for church leaders who are HIV positive, as well as the rest of us of course, to speak out on the matter of stigmatisation which is hampering the effort to offer care and support in a contest where fear of dire consequences hinder many people from declaring their status.
We think the highlight of our most recent travels was our tour of the two presbyteries of Zambia. When we arrived in Lusaka both Presbytery members were there to meet us. Some had traveled by bus for 6 hours to the airport! It was a welcome fit for the Queen! We were presented with beautiful bouquets of roses then we were ushered into the VIP lounge for refreshments and to freshen up for a press conference. Our luggage, passport control, etc. were all dealt with for us.
Our first port of call was Kitwe in the Copperbelt. We had requested to visit the poorest congregations because we felt these were the people who never get the chance to meet with the Moderator of the General Assembly.
The Copperbelt Presbytery is divided into 3 zones and we began in zone 1.
For 3 days we visited an average of 4 congregations a day and Graham preached in every one and Sandra was asked to address the women. Because we had an entourage of the Moderator of Presbytery, Presbytery Clerk and several elders with us all the time, we could not repeat the sermon or the address as we felt we had to make it different for each place!
Everywhere we went we received the warm welcome we had on our arrival and it was moving to see how grateful people were to meet the Moderator of their church – they kept saying this was the first time they had ever met with a Moderator and they thought that they never would. We were showered with so many gifts it was embarrassing for us as we saw and experienced the poverty of this area due to chronic unemployment since the closure of the copper mines.
Then we moved to zone 2 at Ndola. We stayed with a family of sisters who had requested to host the Moderator. They were all widows; their husbands had died of AIDS. Two of the sisters had been infected by their husbands; one had died and the other had full blown AIDS. They also had two children with them who were HIV+; one had died a few weeks before we got there. It was a very humbling experience for us to have stayed with them for 3 days. They were so kind and so positive despite all the tragedy that they have suffered. They told us that before we came they had assumed that the Moderator was black and panicked a little when they saw that we were white! Our Programme was similar to that of zone 1.
We then set off for zone 3 which was in Kabwe. We had to travel by bus which was an experience for us. We got onto the bus at 2pm and had to wait until it was full before it departed! We eventually left at around 5pm arriving in Kabwe at half past 9 that night. In Kabwe we met many children who were living with AIDS. Some were orphans, some HIV+ and some whose parents are very sick. St Columba’s congregation in Kabwe has a school where they teach all the children up to secondary level. They asked us about the possibility of taking these children to South Africa for a holiday and if we could assist them? Sandra is busy at the moment trying to make this possible.
Again we visited many congregations, some without even a church building – we just met and worshipped in a field - others with open sides and a grass thatched roof. But the commitment and the depth of faith of the people we met was so inspiring for us despite the hardships and extreme poverty they are faced with.
The hospitality and generosity of the Zambian people in the Copperbelt was so overwhelming and humbling for us. This area has become so depressed since the closure of the copper mines but people were trying all sorts of different ways to feed their families, such as breeding rabbits and farming. What we found interesting from a sociological viewpoint was the changing roles in families where women were the ones who are now the breadwinners and men have become impotent. This has apparently caused a great deal of disruption within the male population leading often to severe depression and occasional suicides.
We said farewell to the Copperbelt and set off for Lusaka where we were to meet with another Presbytery. We spent 4 days in Lusaka visiting congregations, laying foundation stones and meeting many influential people from the Zambian government, past and present. We found massive building programmes; most of the congregations we visited were involved in education and were building schools next to the church. Apparently there are not nearly enough schools in Zambia and so all of the churches appear to run their own private schools. This seems to be financially lucrative as well as providing a service to the community.
From Lusaka we took a plane (thank goodness!) to Livingstone where we spent 24 hours with our congregation there. We did manage a very brief trip to the Victoria Falls which was amazing. We have only ever seen the falls from the Zimbabwean side but the Zambian side is even more spectacular! We then flew back to Lusaka for our last weekend in Zambia. It was a very hectic weekend and we spent most of it separated in order to meet all the commitments the Presbytery had arranged for us.
Sandra visited AIDS programmes, orphanages and hospitals/hospices. Graham met with the Men’s Guild, attended the funeral of one of our colleagues’ mothers, preached several times and laid a foundation stone. It was a very exhausting but exhilarating visit to our congregations in Zambia. Like Zimbabwe the people were so warm and so pleased to have a visit from their Moderator, it was a truly humbling experience for us both.
On our return to South Africa, we went straight to the Selection Conference for 5 days which was held in Johannesburg. It was a tough time as we had 22 offers for the ministry but could only select 5 as this is all the church can afford to train at the moment. We find this to be a very exhausting job to do because we are aware of the heavy responsibility of making the correct decisions since this is the future of those people who believe that they are called to the ministry.
Last weekend we had a 4 day trip to White River where a minister and his wife from our church run a very big HIV/AIDS project. Margie is a doctor and started a clinic for those people who wish to be tested to know their status in confidence. The whole project grew until presently they have the clinic, 2 hospices and a training centre where they train people in palliative care, counseling and AIDS awareness. Harry runs the training side of the project.
Sandra sent 2 of our students there during the summer holidays for practical work and it was such a huge success for both the students and the Munnings that they suggested that we take all the students for some training in pre- and post-testing counseling, and in the process hopefully all of our students will be tested and know their status. Some got tested including us, others were just too afraid to go through with it.
One of the biggest problems with HIV/AIDS here is that people do not know their status and live as though they are negative and those who are positive continue to infect others!
We had a bit of a crisis while there, our vehicle broke down; it turned out that the clutch plate had burned out! This was just on the day of our departure, it took the whole day and nearly ₤500 to repair! Again it was a very exhausting weekend, particularly emotionally as we got involved in the work of the clinic and hospices. Despite the tiredness and the trauma it was a very worthwhile experience for us all.
Most of you will know by now about Susan’s terrible accident? She is now recovering well, she had to have 3 lots of constructive surgery on her right hand and it seems as though there will be no permanent damage. We cannot afford medical aid for her and so she had to go to the government hospital which in itself was very traumatic for us. On the night of the accident she was in emergency for 16 hours before she saw a doctor. She was in terrible pain and was given nothing for it, she was not even cleaned up and so there was blood everywhere. Graham was with her for the first 6 hours then Sandra took over.
We were so distressed about it all we tried to have her removed to a private hospital but had to put R20,000 up front which we could not raise. The whole hospital experience has been a bit of a trauma for us all. She has had to suffer racism, nurses who would ignore her when she asked for help as she was completely dependent on them for a while.
It was so bad that the black lady in the next bed to her tried to assist her and apologized for the treatment she was receiving and asked that she not judge all black people by this example. We are not surprised nor for a minute believed that the dismantling of Apartheid made everything ok but it was nevertheless a shock and painful to be on the end of such racism.
Since she was discharged we have had to go as an out patient every week and that has been frustrating! We have to go on a Tuesday at 7 o'clock in the morning and we wait sometimes until midday before we see the doctor who sends us to the x-ray department where we join another queue for about 2 hours. Then we have to go back to the doctor with the x-rays but we are not at the end of the queue so we wait for another 2-3 hours. When he has checked the x-rays we then have to go to the plaster department as the plaster has to be adjusted constantly as the bones are healing and you guessed it we wait in another queue! From there we have to then go to the physiotherapist and guess what – another queue? So every week to date Susan and Sandra has spent approximately 12 hours at the hospital.
We share this with you for 2 reasons:
1.This is what the medical care is like for the majority of blacks and poor whites in South Africa and we still had to pay quite dearly for this!
2.Don’t take the National Health Service for granted, how we wished there was such a thing here.
Despite our complaints above we are very grateful that she is recovering and will have a full recovery. The car was an absolute wreck and we thank God that she is alive. Thank you all who have been praying for her and all the lovely cards and messages which we have received. We believe her miraculous recovery is due to all the prayers that have been said on her/our behalf
It is only a few weeks now until the General Assembly; we are looking forward to that. We had hoped that things would slow down a bit but there always seems to be something else to be taken care of.
We are hoping to be able to take some time off immediately after the Assembly; it will be nice to spend some time at home for a change.
We hope that you have all had a lovely summer, that you are having lots of sunshine.
With lots of love
Sandra and Graham
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