As I researched where I wanted to go for a Winter Term abroad, I looked for a course that would allow me to get a deeper insight into a culture with which I was unfamiliar, as well as allow me the opportunity to serve. The Call to South Africa course has given me that, plus much more. During my internship at Impact Direct Ministries in Cape Town I was not only granted the opportunity to work in a Non-Profit Organization in another country, but I was also able to learn much about how South Africans view service and the role it plays in enriching and stabilizing their communities.
The organization I worked in, Impact Direct Ministries (IDM), is a Non-Profit Organization that works to help those who are recovering from various drug addictions. The most prominent drug here in Cape Town is methamphetamine or, what they call, “tick-tick” (the sound one makes when you melt the powder and pluck the pipe). A walk-in center, IDM accepts anywhere from 30-40 people and/or families a day and assists them with counseling and rehabilitation center referrals. On my first day there I was able to speak with three of the counselors, Clinton, Craig, and Brent (all recovering meth addicts), and the Head of IDM, Pastor Petersen, about the organization; its origins, how it is currently doing, and their hopes for the future. The first thing that struck me about these men was their intense passion for wanting to save their young people from the grips of drug addiction. Having all grown up in the surrounding community, they all knew what it was like to see, day in and day out, violence, drugs, and constant temptation to do what they knew to be wrong. The young counselors, especially, wanted nothing more than to see each young person who walked in to their center with their head hanging low, feeling defeated and worthless, walk out of the center with the strongest sense of pride and self-worth. A faith-based organization, IDM works hard to instill a love of Christ and a belief that Faith in God can see one through any trial he or she may be facing. Each of the counselors became strong, Christian believers shortly after coming clean from drugs.
This relates to one of the topics I discussed with Pastor Petersen about the role of the church and the government when it came to helping those in need. Pastor Petersen told me how the church is pivotal in all communities in South Africa when it comes to aiding the less fortunate and educating them on how to overcome their obstacles and receive the help they need. Our class saw examples of this when we first arrived in Cape Town and visited churches that had HIV/AIDS awareness banners all around the buildings and even behind the pulpits. The government, Pastor Petersen claims, is not relied upon when it comes to helping the people in need due to its absence in such struggles in the past, according to the Pastor and the other counselors. They were always taught that if they wanted to change something that was wrong in the world, they would need to do it themselves. It saddened me to hear how little faith and trust they had in their government, especially coming from this amazing year in the United States in which I felt my voice, as a first time voter, was truly heard in the election of our new President, Barack Obama. I have always been a strong proponent for writing to Congress and letting our political officials know of the issues that I and my class mates feel need to be addressed on either a state or federal level. I believed that if Capitol Hill did not know about it, nothing would get done. The service workers of South Africa, however, feel very differently.
South Africa’s history is plagued with administrations that refused to listen to its people and, instead, went on with their own personal agendas that satisfied a few and ignored many. Given that the “new South Africa” has only been around for less than 20 years, it is expected that many of the same doubts and skepticisms about the government having a role in organizations such as IDM still remain. Mostly, say counselor Clinton, the people are tired of un-kept and broken promises. For example, Pastor Petersen had read in a local newspaper that the out-going President, Thabo Mbeki, had promised to spend 50 billion rand (equivalent to about 500 billion U.S. dollars) to all organizations that worked with those who are HIV/AIDS infected or drug-addicted before the end of his term. The Pastor says he has yet to receive a cent. To him, such ambitious, yet never fulfilled, goals were more of the same. Therefore, it is the church, which funds IDM and other partnering organizations that work with different populations, who continue to support the needs of ailing communities. The people at IDM are all full-time volunteers. Many of them have spouses who have part-time jobs that help them to keep food on their tables, but the majority of them work under the belief that God will provide all of their needs. “I have nothing, but really, I want for nothing as well”, says Clinton. He also said that, “to know that I have saved one child from becoming addicted to drugs is worth more than any job could ever pay”.
Throughout my time at IDM, I often found myself wondering how much good this one organization could do without the backing of government support. To me, it seems as if the government expects its churches and other faith-based groups to do all of this “dirty” work so that they didn’t have to. But how much better would IDM be had they received a portion of that R50 billion promised? “We would have been set for life!”, said Pastor Petersen, “but we will live on without it”. My time at IDM helped me to appreciate two things: the fact that the government of the United States is built upon the principles of government run “by the people, for the people” and strives to live up to that ideal daily, as well as the immense determination and resilience had by those who may feel ignored or neglected by their own government. I feel as if I can no longer rely solely on the support of my political officials in order to get things I, and others, deem important done. What should the role of our government be? What is more efficient: informing our leaders about an issue, or informing the citizens who may be able to do something about it quicker? My service experience in South Africa has given me a greater understanding of what it means to be a “servant of the people” and has increased my desire and passion to affect change in my society. I look forward to bringing my newfound knowledge to my community at Elon as well as at home.