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,
May we take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent us such complimentary letters about our daughter's wedding after you had seen the photographs on the website. We are delighted that you were able to share in a small way with this occasion; thank you for taking the trouble to see the photographs.
This year is just flying past for us; we cannot believe how close it is for Christmas already. Life here seems to be continuously busy for us both. Graham is visiting the UK this month; he will be home for a month doing research for a book he is writing, as well as visiting your presbyteries as we try to find ways and means of remaining here in South Africa continuing the work we are both deeply committed to.
As you are aware our contract with the Church of Scotland comes to an end next year and, as with some other Mission Partners, it will not be renewed. Graham will be meeting with people from your presbyteries and hopefully, together, they will come up with some appropriate solutions.
You may remember us talking about Sarah who was so sick from AIDS and we thought that we would be sharing her death with you in this letter. In fact, we are happy to report that she is so well at the moment. We got her a food supplement that she was able to drink and sometimes suck through a straw. Then we managed to persuade her to share her status with the staff at the clinic who were then able to advise us on how to get her on to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). She has been on medication now for almost 6 months and you would not believe the difference! She has gained weight so much, in fact, that she has been able to return to work! I got a great surprise the other day when I went to the place where she works to get some sewing repairs done and there she was, large as life and looking so fit and well.
Daniel who works with Sandra at Sedibeng was called home – he comes from Kwa Zulu Natal – because his mother had been admitted to the hospital. She has full-blown AIDS and is suffering from Alzheimer's which is one of the opportunistic diseases common here with those who are HIV+. Daniel is only 22 years old and since his father died 2 years ago has been both parent and breadwinner for his younger siblings. Has has 3 younger siblings with the youngest being 9 years old. His mother has since died, she died last weekend peacefully at home and fortunately he was able to be with her. He now has to be both parents for his brother and sisters as well as the only breadwinner in the family.
Unfortunately this situation is all too common these days where children much younger than Daniel are left in charge of younger siblings and have to become both parents and breadwinners. Daniel and Sarah have both been very fortunate; because of the donations which many of you send to us, we have been able to assist them both and, in fact, Sarah is still alive and Daniel's mother had a peaceful death in the arms of her son because of the kindness and generosity of those of you who have sent us funds to assist with our AIDS work.
It is also comforting for us to know that we can make a difference against HIV/AIDS as all too often the disease seems to be so immense that we feel for every step forward we take 5 steps back!
Sandra, together with some of the women from the Women's Fellowship (Manyano), is trying to set up a feeding scheme for those families living with AIDS. They will use the local churches as their base and she is trying to arrange with Woolworth's – Marks & Spencer to you – to donate what they do not sell from their 'waste' to these churches in the townships, and the Manyano and any others willing to assist will distribute it to those families in need. This food tends to be mostly fresh vegetables and bread and salad ingredients so it would be perfect for anyone living with AIDS. Sounds easy on paper but we still have to persuade Woolworth's that this is a good cause and then to get the commitment from the community to visit and distribute, that will be the hardest part.
We are nearing the end of the academic year; our year is from February until the end of November when we break for the summer holidays. We are so looking forward to having a break, it has been a very busy year for both of us.
Sedibeng – the student House of Studies – has been full for the most part of the year and we have had a constant flow of guests from throughout Africa, USA as well as the UK. We have had large groups from the Congregational Church in Southern Africa, ministers who are doing a shepherding and pastoral care course at Pretoria and who have travelled from all over Africa to stay with us for 4 days at a time as they participate on this course.
Because we have been so full up at Sedibeng there has been an overflow which we have housed in our own home as well as sending some to Susan our daughter (we housed 6 and she housed 4 for four days!). We have accommodated 34 ministers in all three times this year between us. It was very hectic for us all as we also had to transport them from airports, bus stations and railway stations and those from Zimbabwe tended to arrive at around 2 o'clock in the morning! But we coped and found it to be a very exciting experience to spend time and hear the stories of their respective countries, especially of Zimbabwe.
We believe it is also good for our students to stay with such people as it widens their vision and introduces them to other denominations also through their interaction with the visitors as the gain knowledge of other countries. This is important here because xenophobia is very rife in South Africa and these fears tend to rise out of ignorance of what is happening in other countries.
We find it strange because, during apartheid, black South Africans were welcomed and supported in their struggle by many other countries of the world.
Both Graham and Sandra attended the final part of a course called Investment in Excellence in September. We were so excited about the prospect of this material assisting our church with transformation and dealing with some of the very real problems we are facing since the union. We were optimistic after doing the first 2 parts of the course earlier in the year because, although it is very western in its approach, we felt it could be translated into this context of Southern Africa.
Alas we found the last part to be so disappointing; instead of dealing with the issues that arose and that some wanted to focus on, we were led to focus on the tools which we had been which we had been learning to use to deal with the issues. This seemed to us to be a bit of a cop-out and that last session ended up in a very heated debate which was split along racial lines.
Whites in the church are very afraid to deal with issues such as inequality of stipends and pensions and racism within the church. Perhaps in time we may find a way to use the tools we have all learned to the benefit of the church ,and God will give those of us the courage to face the very harsh and deep-seated problems we have with each other.
The family news is that we are looking forward to spending Christmas with our granddaughter who is the light of our lives. When asked what she would like for Christmas she replied, “sweets, crisps and uncle David to visit” in that order!
Fortunately for us, uncle David will be visiting; he has to depart on Christmas Day back to the UK but we are grateful that he can come and spend some of the festive season with us.
Susan is in the midst of exams; she is completing her degree and will graduate next year. She has done so well and has been invited by the university to do honours next year. Richard, her husband, is in the IT (Information Technology) business and has had to do some considerable travelling this year, to the UK as well as most of Africa.
Michael, our son in the army, we have not heard from for some time and we miss our grandson Ellis terribly. We have missed out so much on his life and our Christmas wish is to have all of our children and grandchildren surround us... perhaps one day?
We decided to send this out in addition to our partner letter as a kind of Christmas letter to you all. We have had to send it out early because Graham will be leaving for the UK this weekend.
As you are all busy preparing for Christmas, please take some time out to think and pray and remember the people whose stories we have shared with you. They have an improved quality of life and death because some of you cared enough to do something. Remember our church as it struggles to face the inequality we still have ten years after the end of apartheid. Pray for us, asking God to give us the strength and the courage to look at the issues we have honestly and with integrity.
Join with us in our prayers that we can find a way to return to South Africa when our contract with the World Mission Council is completed next year. There is so much work yet to be done here and we still have the strong belief that God has not finished with us in this context.
Finally, may we take this opportunity to wish all of you a very blessed Christmas and everything you wish for in the New Year to come?
With lots of love from
Sandra and Graham
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