During this first week in South Africa, I’ve been flooded with so much new information and so many new ideas and so many voices. It’s been really good, but until a couple days ago, I was feeling quite overwhelmed with it all.
I love South Africa.
I am in awe of its physical beauty.
I am fascinated by its history.
I am humbled by its people.
But I have been deeply bothered by how much its reality reminds me of my reality back in the States.
I’m from Los Angeles County in California, where you can find the entire spectrum of wealth distribution in our country: billion-dollar homes; million-dollar homes; three-, two-, one-story houses; a slew of apartment buildings; condos; trailer parks; people living out of cars; Skid Row…and that’s only speaking in terms of real estate. And all of these places can be found within 10 miles of one another. But what’s sad is that people can live in L.A. their entire lives in a comfortable two-story house and never come into direct contact with someone who lives on the street. And the same is true of South Africa.
Upon coming to Port Elizabeth, my team was told that we were going to be living in “a first-world suburb in a third-world country.” It’s totally true! We are primarily being hosted by Lighthouse Family Church—a wonderful community of real, God-fearing people who have been loving us SO well. My team has been invited to cell group meetings, people have cooked us dinner, we’ve been given a tour around the beach area/city center, and we’re never in need of anything. It feels like life in suburban America, with people with cool accents.
Fort Frederick, Port Elizabeth
Motherwell Township, Port Elizabeth
But where we work is different. Just a street over, in some cases, there are townships (places where black and colored people were relocated to during Apartheid), where the living conditions are exactly what comes to mind when I say “third-world country.” And there are people living in the suburbs here who have never even crossed the street to step foot in a township. This fact troubled me. I was bothered, I was disappointed in humanity. But—oh! What is this? A plank in my own eye?* Who was I to judge anyone in this country for their ignorance? For their fear? Back in L.A., I live under mirrored conditions and I have rarely intentionally gone to a poorer community and extended my hand to those who would benefit more from my time and money than I would. This fact frustrated me.
All of this hit me during Lighthouse’s youth group on Saturday night. We played ridiculous games, had an abundance of snacks, had a full worship band, and everyone was there because they drove themselves, their parents drove them, or their friend invited them. It reminded me of home, and it was a lot of fun. But the entire time, I had extra weight sitting on my shoulders; because the previous night we had attended a different youth group in Shauderville Township, where some of the kids hadn’t eaten that day, some are being abused or neglected at home, and maybe only God knows what else. How could I enjoy being at Lighthouse, eating milk tart for fun, when I knew that just kilometers away was someone in Shauderville whose food supply for the day could have been my superfluous dessert?
To be honest, I don’t fully know. I mean, I know that God’s grace is sufficient and that His love for me isn’t contingent on what I do. I know that my salvation isn’t based on my interaction with the poor. I know that God gives us good gifts because we are His children and He wants to.
But I also know that we are to be selfless. I know that we are to surrender everything when we are following Jesus (I also know that this is SO difficult). I know that we are not to store up our treasures on this earth, and that our lives are worth nothing compared to heaven.
So what do I do? How do I respond to what I know? How crazy am I? What is God going to ask of me? UGH!
I’ll keep you posted.
(Disclaimer: I am not condemning anyone for not living/working in poor areas. I have just been personally convicted. I believe that God calls everyone to different paths of life. Rich or poor, everyone needs Jesus, and God knows who to send to best reach each person.)
* “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5).
