Wrapping Up the Week

This has been one of the most stressful, yet most rewarding weeks I've had so far. I just want to note a couple things I didn't include in other postings to close out the week and get ready for the next one.

Mkhululi's funeral was yesterday. It was a very nice service. There was a lot of music, singing and dancing. About 10 people came and gave their respects and offered words of encouragement to the family and friends. I was asked to speak again, and repeated some words that are stenciled on the rafters of the church: Beka ithemba lakho kuye uthuthuzekele (Put your trust in Him and be at peace). I said I was looking up for guidance on what to say and it was literally written right above my head.

The end of the 3-hour service was different from other funerals I've been to here. A group of young men shrouded in blankets came to the casket and performed a Sotho chant over the body, something to the effect of saying good-bye. This group then led the procession to the cemetery, meaning it took about 45 minutes to go the 3 miles to the graveyard. I couldn't take my foot all the way off the clutch, we were moving so slowly. But, they chanted all the way and it just heightened the experience of the day.

After the grave-side service we went back to the house for lunch. The women did an excellent job, and no one went away hungry. The "umfundisi table" (where the ministers and church elders sit) had mutton and chicken, spinach, squash, rice, beans, and potato salad. Everyone else had something similar, served in a take-out box for ease of clean-up. I'm hopeful the family has enough food to last a few days until the can sort out where food will be coming from in the future.

On a different topic, last week I was approached by one of the staff, a young man named Isaac, about an idea he had for some of the orphaned children. First, some background on Isaac. He's about 20 years old and is a first-year student at CT Varsity, a film school in Cape Town. He's studying animation and is quite a skilled artist. The Centre supports him financially, and has done so for the past few years after his parents died. As pay-back Isaac works weekends at the Church doing odd jobs and setting up the hall for Sunday service.

Isaac's idea is to take a few of the kids to a movie every now and then to give them a new experience. He thought of this when he took his girlfriend to a show - she had such a great time that he thought other kids might like it, too. We spoke with Yvonne today, and she is going to prepare a list of kids for Isaac, and he'll take them next Saturday.

While this doesn't sound like a big deal, it's actually huge. Isaac is one of the first to see that giving is not about donating hundreds or thousands of rands/dollars/Euros. It's about taking a small step to improve someone else's life, even if for 2 hours on a Saturday. He feels so good about what he's received that he wants to give something back, and this day out is his idea of a meaningful experience for children who have never been to a movie. This concept of turning receivers into givers is something Yvonne and I talked about during one of our first conversations, and I'm really glad to see that it can be a reality. Isaac is hoping to do more in the future, even taking kids to Table Mountain or Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was jailed) to open their eyes to the world around them. I'm hoping he can be a role model for others in the community and that many more will take on the challenge of giving back.

This week should be more relaxed. Edwin's back from his trip to Mexico and the U.S., no doubt with plenty of stories to tell (including the airlines losing his luggage in New York and never finding it). I have a new group of high schoolers to shepherd, and we'll be painting more of the school. School starts again tomorrow, so the after-school will be in full swing (it's been very quiet around the Centre, not that I'm complaining much). In other words, back to normalcy.

More to come.