Adventure in Africa: Part III

It has taken me a little longer to sit down and write the next installment on my Africa trip. My emotions are still a jumble and I have so many thoughts going through my mind, I am having a difficult time putting them down on paper. Oh, even in person it is hard to describe. Customers will come in and ask me how my trip was and I just look at them for a minute, then I start to say something and stop, and then I start to say something different and stop again. Then the words just spill out and I hope I am making some sense. But that is how Africa was to me – a mix of emotions. I never knew I could experience so many different ones at the same time - joy and sadness in the same moment, hope and despair together in another moment. But out of all the emotions and feelings, for me HOPE for the future of South Africa is what I think about most and I experienced it and witnessed it myself the rest of the week I was there so that is what I will focus on in this installment.

The rest of the week passed much too quickly. My time was spent helping to cut and paste art projects for first and second graders and having sixth and seventh grade students welcome me to their class by performing traditional dances and songs and I even got to join in! The third and fourth graders also sang to me, their beautiful voices and smiles, well, I still cannot believe I was there.

Then one day, myself and a few others were privileged to spend a few hours walking around this very rural, impoverished village and I was able to see progress at its best. The Thanda organization had observed that, in an area of food insecurity and malnutrition, people were not growing any of their own food. Somewhere along the line, gardening had become a lost skill. Villagers, a very few with their own cars, would have to pay cab fare to the nearest town, about 30 minutes away and buy fruits and vegetables from the market. So Thanda, always adapting to the needs of the people, offered gardening classes to teach people how to grow their own food. Initially about a half dozen families took part and we were there to check up on their progress.

These individuals, who had only recently started with the smallest of gardens, proudly showed us the newer, expanded gardens they had made. They were growing everything – lettuce, scallions, corn, beets, beans, and everything else you could think of. I was simply floored. I mean, it was that easy. Just provide some seeds and show people some gardening skills. Period. People are growing their own food and to not only feed their families but they will also be able to sell to their neighbors at a lot less cost and minus the cab fare. When I said in the first sentence of this paragraph that I was privileged to walk around the village it is because of the people I met this day - these half dozen or so individuals and their families. These people live under the harshest circumstances. Illness – HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Polio, Hepatitis- and death are found in astounding, heart breaking numbers.

These people have lost sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandchildren to AIDS. Poverty is, well, you can just imagine. But here is the thing: Every man, women, and child that I came across that day whether just passing by or in the case of the new gardeners, a little longer encounter, took the time to smile, wave, and say hello. The men and women whose homes we visited to see their new gardens, stopped their tilling and weeding, shook hands with us and proudly, welcomed us to their homes. Africa made me question everything about myself and this was one of those times. Would I be as gracious and welcoming if someone, obviously from very, different circumstances, came into my village…I like to think I would, but would I really? And that is where the hope lies, with the beautiful, proud, and gracious people of South Africa. My next installment will continue with the hope for the future when I talk about the workshop I gave to the High School seniors about how to start a business.

Until next time...