One of the places we worked at while in South Africa was this township near pretoria called Mamelodi. Mamelodi was a really eye opening experience because when we first got to South Africa we got to see a lot of the really nice parts. We went to this really fancy mall called The Collonade, where we got KFC, coffee, and wi-fi; we went to this mega church called Choose Life Church, which was huge, had really nice audio and lighting equipment, and was packed with some very well dressed people; and we stayed at the beautiful Beam Africa compound, which I talked about in my last blog and is just really nice. So when we first went to Mamelodi I was blown away at how separated the classes were in South Africa. On one hand there are all the nice things we’d seen and experienced, and on the other hand was Mamelodi.
When we got close, we could already see the sea of little shacks which is Mamelodi. It is seriously crazy to behold. The shacks go on for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see. It was even hard to comprehend how so many people can live there.
We Got to the ministry site there, which is a little outdoor church led by this guy Pastor Ezequiel. As soon as we got there we went for a walk around the township, and got to see everything up close. What really got me was the presence of corporate stuff everywhere. The place was so dirty and everywhere you looked was a Coke wrapper, or a Heineken bottle, or an old tube of aquafresh toothpaste, and stuff like that. All these companies that make billions and billions of dollars making a mess of this extremely poor place.
One thing that really struck me in mamelodi were the Abortion stickers. I won’t go into my views on the subject because its touchy, and frankly, really annoying to talk about. But it shocked me in this place. Everywhere you looked there were these stickers.
You couldn’t get away from it. Its like every single solid surface was plastered with these things. Its something that’s so common in this place that they’re literally advertising it everywhere. There are so many women getting pregnant who can’t afford their children, that they have that option so readily available. I just feel like theres just something super dark about that, and it really blew my mind.
We also got to go to pastor Ezequiel’s church one sunday. That was definitely a very different church experience from what I’m used to. It was a really cold day (in africa! we were freezing!) and we were sitting outside with the rest of the congregation. The only instrument they had was an old Casio keyboard on which the guy played the worship songs along to those standard beats that come on the keyboard. They had a little PA and speaker system which they cranked to the absolute loudest setting they could. They even put a fan on top so it wouldn’t overheat.
On top of cranking all the microphones up to the max, everyone singing into those microphones was YELLING AS LOUD AS THEY COULD. You could probably hear them a mile away, it was craaaazy. I was sorta taken aback by the whole thing just because it was SO DIFFERENT from what I’m used to. But in that moment I really felt like God was telling me “Dude, this is their way of worshipping me. what makes it any worse than the way you’re used to.” and that was really cool. These people were making a joyful noise to God, and thats all that really matters.
(video coming soon)
When we were there we didn’t just hang out or walk around checking stuff out though. We worked hard, and it was pretty intense sometimes. We did a bunch of construction work, we put in a gate, we fixed fences, we packed down dirt, we made cement on the ground…
I even got to eat a delicious combination of canned sardines in tomato sauce and canned beans with some white bread. I call it Sardine Beans. It was DOPE. I ate a LOT of it.
But the coolest part about Mamelodi was the people. I met some really awesome people there, who were just so genuine about their faith and their lives, and so willing to share their culture with us. Like my dude Leffa. He told us to call him Donald, but Leffa is a much cooler name. He was an awesome dude.
AND I got to hang out with these awesome little kids who were so freaking happy about everything and just wanted to play and have fun.
So what got me about the people in Mamelodi is how happy they were. Even though they live in this awful place full of poverty and darkness, they still find a way to be soooo freaking happy! And to think of how mad we get in america when the silliest things go wrong. Like when you don’t have the newest iPhone, or they get your coffee wrong at starbucks. We’re so upset all the time even though we have SO MUCH at our disposal. So how about we all just try to be happy through the hardships we go through. How about we all just make a conscious effort to be happy when things don’t go our way. Because I can GUARANTEE you, there is someone else going through something MUCH MUCH worse.
