South Africa is working really hard to impress us.
From the moment we've set foot in the country things have been special. I have been coming to terms with Africa for a while now, trying to mentally prepare myself for what is notoriously one of the most challenging legs of the Race, and I didn't have high expectations that things would be very awesome here. I've never been an Africa Christian.
Yet I couldn't help but notice a growing sense of anticipation and excitement within me as our plane landed in Johannesburg. For what and in expectation of what, I didn't know; I just knew that something inside me suddenly felt much more wide-eyed possibility than dread.
First, the five teams headed to Cape Town for the month made our way to the bus station where we'd take a bus later that evening and found ourselves with several hours to pass with about forty people and forty people's things. It goes without saying that we stood out. I ventured off with my good friend Sassy to procure nourishment and on our way back noticed a man following us very closely. Long story short, he reached down to pickpocket me and I instinctually turned around and hit him square in the chest with the fiery passion of a little sister trained by years of brotherly sneak attacks. I told him to "get outta here" quite angrily as he walked away and was immediately overcome with the conviction that comes after hitting a perfect stranger who probably just needed a few dollars for food.
Mostly I felt bad because I'd asked the Lord to give me grace for people that tried to steal from me in Africa (it happens there most often on the Race) and had come up with the plan that if someone tried to rob me I would stop them, ask them why they felt the need to steal when they could just ask, and offer them the help they were seeking any way I could. I was really excited to have that opportunity, and when it presented itself what did I do? I punched a guy. Way to go, Meredith.
sunrise flying into johannesburg
Anyway, God is gracious.
Shortly thereafter a young guy wearing soiled clothes with black fingernails approached me asking for food. I love homeless people more than anything, so I said I'd be happy to buy him something and we proceeded to chat. Sean, the 22-year-old Leo DiCaprio lookalike, told me his story, how he'd been fired from his job and due to the 40% unemployment rates in South Africa had been unable to find work for two months and since been living on the streets. He told me how unfriendly people are, how he'd approached several places asking for work and had been turned away because he was too dirty, didn't look appropriate or trustworthy. He expressed how difficult his situation was becoming as he was only getting dirtier and would continue to do so until someone gave him a job, the only thing to cure his dilemma yet the main thing his dilemma prevented him from having. So many unemployed in South Africa are experiencing the same thing. After he finished I filled him in on the World Race and he asked sparing questions about Jesus while I bought him a meal in the meantime; I invited him to hang out with us in our corner and keep talking for a while but he insisted on leaving, thanked me profusely and left.
A little disappointed that we didn't talk more, I noticed my friend Justin with his guitar and grabbed Steve's djembe to join him in making a little music under the escalator we were camping beneath to pass the time.
What ensued over the next hour was awesome.
Eventually Steve picked up the djembe and I got my guitar, and as the three of us played and about fifteen of us sang songs, a seemingly homeless man began to dance behind us using what may well have been a homemade drug pipe as an air guitar. We kind of laughed because he seemed really out of it, but he danced and moved with such conviction and passion that we merely moved our valuables aside and let him keep going. As we continued to play worship songs, people slowly gathered, at first one by one and eventually in small groups, until we were surrounded by maybe forty Africans singing along and praising the Lord in the middle of a bus station completely out of nowhere. We ended up having a very long worship session with people singing, people talking, people praying and people laughing – all accidentally. And by accidentally, I mean by the hand of God.
this picture is sideways and poor quality i can't figure out how to make it not sideways. but that's the homeless air-guitar player in the background.
I turned around and Sean was back.
We talked as he played my guitar. He shared with Steve, Catherine and me about how someone told him once that God was the father to the fatherless, how he'd lost his father and how maybe God could be his father now. We wholeheartedly agreed. Sean told us that he enjoys talking with God in the mornings whenever he wakes up because most often God is the only one available to talk to. As we hugged his neck on our way to the bus, Steve took his shirt off his back and offered it to him, Catherine gave him an oversized long-sleeve shirt she didn't need, and I was able to give him a toothbrush and toothpaste. We're hoping he can use all three to stay warm and help him in his job search. I know I'll probably never see him again on this side of eternity, but I found that my faith for him was greater than my sadness in leaving. It was an honor to meet him.
Finally, we'll be spending the month working with Malcolm, the creator of New Chapter, a ministry that is working in the small shantytown of Phumlani with its youth trying to stop the cycle of gang violence and drug abuse, to offer them a new life and hope as an alternative to the one that currently surrounds them. We've already helped begin a garden that will contribute to the upcoming nutrition center Malcolm is developing for the community where unemployment wreaks havoc on quality of life and food security. This week we'll spend our time with children and youth in New Chapter's after-school program and Friday we might have the opportunity to serve the nutrition center's first meal.
the phumlani community center (the nutrition center will be run from the trailer on the left)
That's about as practical as I can be. We have very limited internet this month and blogging will be challenging on a regular basis, so I hope this filled you in on where I'll be when you haven't heard from me in a week. Please pray for the kids of the Phumlani community, pray for Malcolm, pray for more jobs and pray for an end to poverty.
Really, just pray. There is much need, but there is much hope.
m
