The Community of South Africa’s Dedication to a Better Tomorrow

“It takes a village to raise a child.” African proverb Growing up, I can remember walking down the hallways of my elementary school in Westfield, New Jersey each day seeing a large banner that hung next to the door to our gymnasium reading, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I was and continue to be extremely fortunate to have the upbringing provided me to by my parents, therefore it was not until my experiences in South Africa this past week that I was fully able to begin to understand the true depth within this proverb. I also found it extremely interesting that this proverb is in fact an African one, something that now does not surprise me in any way.  I found today to include our group’s most moving experiences with the various community members of South Africa making this blog assignment extremely appropriate for today. The theme of today’s studies is South Africa’s Other Populations: Surviving Abuse, Torture and the AIDS Pandemic, something that I found to be extremely intriguing when first looking over the course calendar for this Study Abroad trip.  In fact one of the main reasons as to why I chose to apply for The Call to South Africa course over the other Study Abroad courses offered through Elon University is because of my great interest providing service to other individuals. I believe that it is by learning more about those who are different from us that we are then able to gain a better understanding of who it is that we are ourselves, especially by encouraging us to really take a look at our own personal values in everyday life.  This morning we all went to the Christine Revell Children’s Home for AIDS-infected, abandoned  and abused babies. I can honestly say that this is one of the most moving experiences that I have been a part of in quite some time. The Home provides food, shelter, and care for children ages 0-6, until they have been adopted by a loving family to call their own. It is their hope that the children will be taken into their own homes while they are still young so that they do not end up moving on to live in group homes and then on their own. From the minute that my fellow Elon University travelers and I walked into the playroom area at the Christine Revell Children’s Home this morning, I felt my heart begin to drop as we all gazed into the eyes of beautiful babies lying around in the floor looking back at us with their big eyes and precious smiles. It was immediately evident that these children all longed for a family of their own as every child that we came into contact with this morning ran up to one of us with their arms up in the air begging for us to pick them up or give them a hug. Their deepest desires really hit me as I was then encouraged to think about what it is that truly matters most in life, for at the end of the day it is often not what we ourselves spend the most time fighting for.  In our eyes, these children have so little yet I honestly feel as if so many of them had much better attitudes than many people I know in my own life who we think to have so much more. They would just run around the playground outside, pushing their heartbreaking life obstacles to the side, just embracing the moment for what it is simplistically – a gift from above.  One of the main misconceptions that I had before witnessing how life really is in South Africa is that I never fully knew just how hard the millions of members in the South African community are fighting against HIV and AIDS each and every day. I was first brought to this realization during one of the worship services that we attended in the village of Langa this past Sunday morning. The interior of the local Methodist church is decorated with various banners supporting the fight against the disease. One that particularly stood out to me is one that reads, “You…Me…Us. Stop Aids. Keep the Promise.” The quote on this specific banner emphasizes the fact that the battle against HIV and AIDS is one that must be fought head on, by everyone in the community and that is just what is occurring. Unfortunately I feel that in America we are often led to believe that nothing is being done over here in South Africa to both prevent and in some ways treat the disease, instead viewing it as something that only other countries can influence, particularly our own. As we read in Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s New News Out of Africa, however, “On a daily basis, South Africans from all walks of life are showing a positive commitment to making their country work. (p.66)” While it remains incredibly vital that we as a nation reach out to our neighbors around the world, we must do so without the arrogance that we always know best.  The community environment of South Africa is something that has really spoken to me during our time here so far, as I am becoming more aware of just how much adversity everyone has been forced to overcome together for so many years.  The sense of unity and loyalty here is truly inspirational as I believe it affects all of those who see it each day. There seems to be such a great amount of selflessness here, as individuals are fighting each day to better the lives of those around them. The ongoing social issues occurring in this country are seen as everyone’s problem, instead of just those of whom it directly affects. It is one of my great hopes that we are all able to carry this empowering lifestyle of sacrifice and inner-strength back with us to the United States in a few weeks, as well as teach it to all of those who did not have the blessed opportunity of taking this course abroad.