A few days ago I had the opportunity to go on visitation with James (Metro South Africa Director). What I was able to see up close really opened my eyes to view life in a different perspective. It allowed me to view my problems and my struggles from a different level and it put me to shame. I know now that I need not to complain about the circumstances that I am in, but rather thank and trust God in everything. On visitation, this is what I saw:
One of the first places we stopped at was at a young girls house (actually it was more like a shack). James went inside to see how the family was doing while Willie, Ryan and myself stayed outside playing with some of the children. When James came out, he looked very thought oriented. That little girl who we just went to visit had recently lost her father of AIDS (a very common disease among the people of Africa).
Another place we visited was another families shack. This was a tiny shack, no bigger than my current bedroom. In this shack lived a family of eight. All eight family members shared one bed, their floor was pretty much dirt, their walls and ceiling had holes in the metal and the wood, and their kitchen, if you can call that a kitchen, consisted of a pot or two and a little portable stove. This shack isn't actually a house. I don't know how people can actually live in these shacks, but maybe that's because I have been Westernized. Some of these families that live in shacks just find an open spot and build on out of wood, metal, rubber, or any other material they can find or that is available to them. They call these squatters. They also don't have running water, a bathroom or even a toilet. One of the mom's showed us what they do if they need to use the bathroom. They go out back and they do their business in a bucket. Once they are done they take the bucket and go to the river and rinse it out. Imagine having to do this every time you had to go to the bathroom. And the amazing part is that these families are content, it puts me to shame.
We then went to another house where a grandmother lived who had been taking care of four of her grandchildren. One of her grandchildren hasn't been able to go to school for over a year, because he has been ill. Nobody knows what is wrong with him, but for some reason he doesn't get enough oxygen. So they have this little boy hooked up to a tank that supplies him with oxygen. The tube goes from the tank to the child's nose. The tube that he is hooked up to is so long, in order for him to move around the house. The crazy thing is that these homes are so small that everyone steps all over his tubes.
To experience people living in unlivable circumstances breaks your heart. But I am not sure if my heart breaks more for these people, or for the people that have plenty and are not grateful.
After visitation, me and Ryan got to enjoy and great game of soccer with some of the boys in the township, so much fun.
This is a strong reminder of where each of us stands in this world, and also of our perceptions of this world. One of the things I appreciated on this trip, during home visits was how well kept some of the shacks were. They know nothing else other than what they have, but they value it so much, because it's all they have.
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