The last 2 weeks: orientation
We've been on orientation for the last 2 weeks which has meant very little internet (difficult for me!) and quite an involved schedule. Most of that time has been either self-discovery stuff (like the Enneagram, a cross-cultural awareness test, team building, lectures etc) or community discovery stuff (cultural history museum, Apartheid museum, the Voortrekker Monument, the Lost City (!)...and others). We've eaten lunch at some great places (like Maders - complete with Vierkleur, but what awesome meat! That's where I'll be taking any visitors as soon as you lazy [expletive deleted]s get your [insert body part of choice]'s up here to come and visit me!) and met amazing people doing things which I can only describe as "heaven-on-earth" -type stuff.
That's not to say that their working conditions are great or even that it feels like heaven, or that these people look like angels. they are people who are giving far beyond themselves with little thought of their own "success." Like Thobile, who is running an orphanage for around 60 kids. She was a school teacher when the Aids epidemic first hit, and noticed more and more kids coming to school without food since both of their parents had died and there was no-one to take care of them. So she began feeding them...and finding gogo's to take care of the kids...and other people to help them...and soon others were sending her kids to take care of. She housed them in her garage and started raising money for them...until one day her principal asked her to choose between being a teacher and being a surrogate mother, since she was spending so much time on the latter. So without any promise of a job or income, she left teaching to start the orphanage. They often didn't have food and the conditions were lousy, but over time (years) others volunteered (without pay) and a few major donations were made (like a house in Soshanguve where everyone stays, and some computers to help with education (note - more computers needed!)). Right now they're helping to raise children who have been orphaned or abandoned, helping to feed them, take care of them and educate them.
Thobile is only one story. We've heard many stories, stories which question the self-centered progress ethic of life. My friend Sarah is a strong advocate of ethics, but only ethics as "that which is necessary in a situation" and nothing beyond that. In her understanding, if you want to do something beyond what is required, then you can, but that's not necessary. She's right - it's not necessary. But when someone like Thobile extends herself beyond the expected into the unknown, there's something beautiful...and welcoming about that. Heaven on earth.
That's not to say that their working conditions are great or even that it feels like heaven, or that these people look like angels. they are people who are giving far beyond themselves with little thought of their own "success." Like Thobile, who is running an orphanage for around 60 kids. She was a school teacher when the Aids epidemic first hit, and noticed more and more kids coming to school without food since both of their parents had died and there was no-one to take care of them. So she began feeding them...and finding gogo's to take care of the kids...and other people to help them...and soon others were sending her kids to take care of. She housed them in her garage and started raising money for them...until one day her principal asked her to choose between being a teacher and being a surrogate mother, since she was spending so much time on the latter. So without any promise of a job or income, she left teaching to start the orphanage. They often didn't have food and the conditions were lousy, but over time (years) others volunteered (without pay) and a few major donations were made (like a house in Soshanguve where everyone stays, and some computers to help with education (note - more computers needed!)). Right now they're helping to raise children who have been orphaned or abandoned, helping to feed them, take care of them and educate them.
Thobile is only one story. We've heard many stories, stories which question the self-centered progress ethic of life. My friend Sarah is a strong advocate of ethics, but only ethics as "that which is necessary in a situation" and nothing beyond that. In her understanding, if you want to do something beyond what is required, then you can, but that's not necessary. She's right - it's not necessary. But when someone like Thobile extends herself beyond the expected into the unknown, there's something beautiful...and welcoming about that. Heaven on earth.
