Don't Count Your Wounds

I started at the JL Zwane centre this week. We're all still trying to figure out what I'll be doing, but things are starting to pick up.

The community centre is physically linked to the JL Zwane Presbyterian Church. The church has a registered membership of about 2000 families. It draws participants from a large area, including Guguletu, Nyanga, Langa, and Khayelitsha, four big Black settlements around Cape Town. The community centre serves even more people, as you do not need to be a member of the church to receive services (most are, though). JL Zwane has several meeting rooms, a computer lab, and very active kitchen. It runs an HIV/AIDS support group for about 100 members, an after-school tutoring program for kids having trouble in school, and an after-school program for pre-school kids. It also rents out its meeting rooms for community meetings, educational seminars, and many other things. It is a very busy place.

JL Zwane also provides daily meals to members of the HIV support group and the after-school program. For many of these people, it's the only meal they will get during the day. The meals are nutritious and hot, especially important as we're heading into winter and the rainy season. The meal programs are sponsored by Open Arms of Minnesota, a non-profit group in Minneapolis (of which I'm a board member). It's amazing how little it costs to feed people here - that doesn't mean there isn't a need for more. (Check out www.openarmsmn.org if you want to know more about Open Arms' programs and how to get involved. Or, drop me a line.)

The key people at JL Zwane are Rev. Dr. Spiwo Xapile, the pastor; Rev. Edwin Louw, Associate Pastor; and Yvonne Duki, Director of Ministries and Outreach. Rev. Spiwo has been at JL Zwane since 1989 and was instrumental in creating the centre and programs as they are today. Rev. Edwin has been there for about a year and is kept very busy with outside groups who want to use JL Zwane as a model for other faith communities to get involved in human development and HIV/AIDS education. Yvonne spends every day seeing people in their homes, assuming they have one, and helping them to keep hope in their lives.

Yvonne has telling me about her personal journey to JL Zwane. She used to be a senior person in the Methodist Church, almost becoming a minister a few years ago. However, she didn't feel a calling at that time and ended up very depressed and discouraged. She found JL Zwane about a year ago, and realized that it was where she was supposed to be. She has a very deep faith. She told me that people are not seeking her out when they need help, but are looking for a relationship with Christ and that she is only the conduit. I said she must get very tired being dealing with people all day, and sad with what's she's seen and heard. Without batting an eye she said "In a war, you don't stop to count your wounds. You just keep on fighting." That certainly shut me up for a few minutes.

Tomorrow, I'll be meeting 8 students from Bethel University who will be spending 2 weeks in Guguletu and at JL Zwane. (For those of you outside the Twin Cities, Bethel is located in a northern suburb of St. Paul, maybe a 25-minute drive from where I live. It's truly a small world). They will be living with families in the township and attending sessions at the Centre. They should get a very good experience, one that very few white South Africans have had. I'll write more about this later in the week.

Learning new words: I'm trying to learn some Xhosa while I'm here. The clicks are presenting a real challenge, as my tongue just doesn't want to participate in the lessons. I'll write more about this later. But, here are a few easy ones that you can use at home. They're pronounced pretty much as you think they are:
- Nkosi = thank you
- Nkosi kukule = thank you very much
- Molo = hello
- Uphile unjani = how are you
- Ndipelele = I'm fine

More to come.