First evening; first day

Guys, for some reason, blogger won't let me upload the pictures for this blog. :( Here's the written version for now-- I'll try to get the pictures up asap. If you're my facebook friend, they're all there.

Well, it’s definitely winter here.

After 20 hours in the air, we finally touched down in Johannesburg at about 5pm their time (8am in Seattle), and the sun was already setting—the big red orb of it.

[sunset pic]
Today, I wore a t-shirt, a cardigan, a jacket, AND a scarf to keep warm. Here I am on the stoop of our Bed and Breakfast—it’s pretty, isn’t it?

[me B&B pic]
“We” is myself, and the two Wheaton college professors I’ll be working with: Andy and Sally.

[andy and sally pic]
They’re both incredibly nice—I think we’re all on our best behavior with each other right now. In fact, I’m looking forward to the moment we start throwing some sarcasm around. Andy has been here once before and is our trip lead; he’s the one that’s planned the lessons we’ll be carrying out with Peer Educators. When he describes anything, he lifts his eyebrows just a bit and gives a boyish grin as though he expects we might not believe what he’s just told us. Though he’s an esteemed retired professor, he often reminds me of a kid who’s just stolen a cookie from the cookie jar. Sally is my roommate and will be leading us in our evaluations of the Peer Educators. I don’t know how to describe her other than incredibly sweet. I think we’ll get along great. I also loved that Sally had the same reaction as I did when coming into our room at the B&B—

[B&B pic]
“It’s beautiful...” she marveled, and then looked at me with a hint of concern. “Almost a little too beautiful—I think it might be hard to come back to this every day after being in Soweto.”

Therein lies the rub of South Africa. Everywhere we’ve been today has been gorgeous. We came down to an exquisite breakfast:

[breakfast pics]
... And spent the day meeting in a cosmopolitan hotel. There, we drank tea served in silver pots, ate meticulously prepared lunches, and finished up with gourmet hot chocolate. And yet, all this wealth exists behind tall, imposing walls—EVERY structure we pass it seems, is behind an enormous wall.

[wall pictures]
Many walls have barbs or spikes lining the top.

[spike pic]
Colin Bishop, our South African host and the founder of Prevention Time, spoke to us about the enormous disparity between the wealthy and the poor here. “The situation is absolutely dire,” he said quietly on the drive away from the airport last night. “The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. South Africa has the highest HIV infection rate in the world... And corruption is everywhere.”

From what I understand, the system of apartheid— i.e. legalized racism and the forced segregation of blacks and whites (these are the “PC” terms)— functioned on a basis of fear. Because whites elevated themselves through oppressing the blacks, the blacks developed ferocious animosity towards the whites. During the 1970’s riots, where students massively protested the apartheid system, the blacks tried to initiate their protests in the style of MLK Jr.: with non-violent action. However, the police-force retaliated by slaughtering members of the protests in huge numbers. That, in turn prompted violence and arson from blacks. One horrific method of revenge Colin told us about was “necklacing”—angry black protestors picked out anyone that looked as though they might be opposing the rebellion, and then trapped them inside a car tire, filled the tire with petrol, and then lit it on fire. The victim slowly burned to death—Colin himself was almost a victim of necklacing. This violence resulted in whites’ deeper fear of the blacks, which perpetuated racist tension. Though apartheid was abolished roughly 20 years ago, Johannesburg still bears the effects of fear, violence, and racial tension—which is further complicated by tension among the different African tribes. Wealthy people live behind walls—

[another wall pic]
... While violence and corruption still exist in abundance. We witnessed this in subtle ways while being taken around the city by Colin. When spotting a guard in a parking lot, Sally asked, “Are those guards effective in protecting people’s cars?”

“Not really...” Colin replied. “Perhaps their presence is a deterrent, but if someone wants to steal a car, they could just shoot the guard. Most often the guard would just let them take the car.”

“Have you ever had your car stolen?” I asked Colin.

“We’ve had five cars stolen over the years...” Colin mused in his precise South African accent.

He echoed something similar when we asked about the large guard dogs we sometimes saw.

[guard dog pic]
“Do the guard dogs help prevent burglaries?”

“Well... if someone wanted to rob a house, they would just shoot the dog,” Colin said.
Our guard dog at the B&B, by the way, is not so imposing.

[sleeping dog]
Guns must be common in Johannesburg, if this sign outside of an apartment complex is any indication:

[gun sign]
Another hint of the corruption that exists in this city: while looking for a parking spot in the mall garage, we circled the top level several times. Andy asked, “Are there other levels we could try?”

“Well... yes,” Colin said. “But this is the safest level.”

Colin also told us a story of when someone bashed in his car window and reached his hand in to take Colin’s phone. “But...” Colin said, with a twinkle in his eye, “I made sure he regretted trying that.”

“What did you do??” I asked.

“I grabbed his hand, first of all, to stop him from taking the phone... and then I pulled him over and rammed his head against the window several times. Of course, that was many years ago.” So you can appreciate the irony of this remark, let me briefly characterize Colin:

[Colin pic]
Colin is 6’3” and solidly built—he was a rugby player for most of his life. Now, after suffering some back injuries, he walks carefully but still makes an imposing figure. Still, Colin’s quiet, articulate way of speaking and his chivalrous gestures (he gave me a laptop to use for the duration of my stay, for example) make his foremost impression that of a meticulous gentleman. Furthermore, he is one of the most devout Christians and one of the most determined humanitarians I’ve ever met. To imagine him bashing a thief’s head against the car was a vivid picture of what can happen, living life in Johannesburg! “I had to show him that he couldn’t just expect to get away with that every time...” Colin calmly explained.

* * * But don’t worry Mom, I’m being super careful. * * *

Despite all of this, my primary experience in Johannesburg thus far has been incredibly cosmopolitan. The bulk of today was spent in Mandela Square,

[mandela pic]
... Eating gourmet food in a stunning hotel restaurant to the soundtrack of live piano playing.

[hotel pic]
[bruschetta pic]

In this first meeting, Colin explained his take on the AIDS epidemic in South Africa and the logic behind the Christian component of the Reach4Life curriculum the Peer Educators will be implementing. This, to me, was fascinating.
“Behavior is driven by values, and values are driven by one’s belief system,” Colin said. “If you want to change behavior, you need to start with the belief system. The primary faith in Africa is ancestral worship... Africans believe that, if you want to prevent bad things from happening to you, you need to appease your dead relatives with sacrifices and rituals. It’s a very hopeless faith, there’s no saving component, there’s no higher power to turn to.”

“It sounds fear-based,” I said.

“And culture and faith are completely intertwined in Africa,” he continued. “That’s not the case in America-- American culture has nothing to do with what religion you are. Muslim faith and culture are intertwined, you can see... and here, culture and faith are intertwined. The AIDS epidemic has spread through premarital sex, transmarital sex, polygamy... rape, incest, and commercial sex— all of which occur with huge frequency, and many of these are acceptable cultural practices... The push to prevent AIDS from spreading has everything to do with sex staying in the context of marriage and practicing safe sex.

“Now,” he continued, “A man named Dr. Clem Sunter published a book some years ago on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and it’s essentially considered the bible when dealing with this issue. I read it, and there was one line that stood out to me above all others. The author had written, ‘It is the ideal to get young people to stop living immorally and to live a moral life. But it is unfair to ask young people to live morally without giving them the power to do it. So we don’t demand abstinence from our young people.’”

Later, Colin would go on to point out one of the practical problems with that contention: at this point, the country’s main effort at curbing the AIDS problem is by making condoms available in ready amounts all over the place. “But then, you get a 12-year-old who’s handed a fistful of condoms, and what’s his first question? ‘What do I do with these?’ And the answer he gets is, ‘Well, you have safe sex.’ So then you get a 12-year-old who wouldn’t have thought about having sex until he was 16 starting to have sex at age 12. And often, they get sick of using condoms, so then they’re not having safe sex, they’re just having sex.”

Apparently, after reading that statement in the book—“It is unfair to ask young people to live morally without giving them the power to do it” — he called up the author and asked to meet with him. He told Dr. Sunter that he was a pastor and said, “Doctor, you state that it’s unfair to ask young people to live morally without giving them the power to do it, but I know of a power that can transform behavior— the power of Christ.” He went on to explain his reasoning: “Man is essentially immoral; he cannot heal himself, he cannot transform himself. Even if you have the principles right, you still need POWER to transform—and that must come from God.”

“I tend to think of sin as falling into a pit,” I told him. “The only way you can get out of that pit is by Christ grabbing your hand and pulling you out. You can’t climb out of a deep pit on your own.”

“That’s right,” he said. “So Dr. Sunter recommended that I develop a program that incorporated the gospel and he’s supported Reach4Life ever since. In fact, when Reach4Life reached its millionth student, this author celebrated its success more than almost anyone.”

Whether or not you agree with Colin’s philosophy, the statistics overwhelmingly support it: where Reach4Life (R4L) has been implemented in schools, the pregnancy rate has dropped to almost nil. Furthermore, the pass rate has gone from 27% to over 90%. Additionally, other sources contest that Christianity has proven to be overwhelmingly effective in combatting the AIDS problem. A book that I’m reading called Love in the Time of AIDS states, “Christianity... helped to rework intimate worlds in South Africa, and low HIV rates in predominantly Islamic countries invite further attention to questions of faith” (Hunter 29). Also, I remember my pastor Richard quoting an atheist who had said something along the lines of, “Africa needs Christianity. I may not agree with the concepts, but the ideas of moral living, redemption, and living for a higher purpose are critical to the healing of Africa.”

For all these reasons, Colin is adamant about the Christian gospel being incorporated into this AIDS education curriculum. I wouldn’t have been a tough sell on that point to begin with, but he managed to dispel any skepticism I may have had.

One last story before I conclude this incredibly long blog: the first native South African I conversed with besides Colin was the young black man who helped me get my cell phone set up. As he waited for minutes to load he looked at me and grinned. “Are you engaged? Married?”

“Um, yes,” I said, and promptly turned bright red.

“Ohhh, okay,” he said. “Married?”

“Engaged,” I said, and made a mental note to put a ring on my left ring finger.

*** Lies all lies.***

Andy, Sally, and Colin have all determined to keep a special eye on me—which I appreciate!

Tomorrow, we'll go to a Zulu church service and do more planning in the afternoon-- Colin kindly gave us an easy weekend schedule to help us recover from jet lag. Monday we'll meet with the entire team, and Tuesday begins our work with the Peer Educators. I can't wait for that part!