Forever Changed

My work here in South Africa is done for the time being. There is still work to be done in this entire country, but it is time for me to go home. Throughout the last 15 weeks, I have fallen in love with the country of South Africa. The people here are so beautiful and loving. Wherever I have stayed, the people have made me feel so very welcome. With my love for this country, however, has come extreme heartbreak. The government here and many people are extremely corrupt. Nelson Mandela became president in 1994 and did what he could to abolish the apartheid completely, but change did not happen over night. Before this point, the blacks had an extremely low education rate, so giving them the same rights and in some areas, even more rights than others in order to compensate for the apartheid, had its consequences. Those blacks who were well into adulthood were given jobs that required a higher education that they themselves lacked. Qualifications were no longer looked to on job applications, but race and the color of the skin was looked to instead. While in Pietermaritzburg, I was exposed to the negative effects of HIV on the community and how women did not have any rights. All I wanted to do was empower the women. I wanted to tell them that they did not have to have sex with their husbands if he did not use a condom to prevent HIV transmission. Since I have been here in Cape Town, however, I have learned about all the various corruptions of the government and so many people here. Husbands force their wives to have unprotected sex with them and the wives have no say whether or not he wears a condom. My first thought is that the wife should leave him or get the police involved. There’s a problem though. The government and the police force are corrupt. Since Mandela became president in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) became the leading party of South Africa. Little side note: there are more than 20 parties here in South Africa. The ANC is the party of the black people and the other main opposing party is the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA is supported by the white and colored people. During the apartheid, the colored people were not white enough, but since the apartheid, the colored people are not black enough. The colored people are treated better by the DA than the ANC. Since the ANC has become the leading party, however, the uneducated blacks have been given jobs that require skill and experience that they lack due to the effects of the apartheid. The current president here in South Africa is also of the ANC, Jacob Zuma. Zuma has been accused of fraud, bribery, and assault. He has been accused of raping a girl rather recently, but charges were dropped because the people ruled that she wanted it. He also supposedly slept with someone who was HIV-positive, but Zuma reported that he took a shower, so he is not positive. Ridiculous! So basically, all that to say that I would love to empower the women here more than anything, but the government would not support them. Once again though, change does not happen over night. Racism and oppression have gone on far too long and although it has officially been abolished due to the destruction of apartheid, this country of South Africa needs prayer just like our own country. Prayer changes things. Now that I am fully aware of what goes on here in South Africa, I will go home praying specifically for this country as well as my own and I hope you all will join with me in this. I am still in love with this country and its beauty and the genuinely innocent people, but there are still those who need Jesus. I will leave this country forever changed, always remembering my experiences here, and full of my new passions that I have discovered here. Thank You, Jesus, for the experiences that I have had here in South Africa that I will never be able to forget. This country and its beauty will always be remembered and cherished. As the saying goes, “Once you have tasted the waters of Africa, you will always be thirsty until you drink from them again.”