 |
|
The latest Newsletter is available for downloadSee details by clicking the Home link. |
South Africa 1999
We saw incredibly beautiful scenery unrivaled anywhere in the world. We saw lions and cape buffalo, hippos, giraffes, zebras, many varieties of antelope and unusual birds and plants and other exotic animals. We ate ostrich and wildebeest and warthog and mopani worms! We toured the beautiful South African wine country and tasted the wines and champagnes and brandy made there and saw one of the most mechanized breweries anywhere in the world. We saw the Premier Diamond Mine that continues to produce 6000 carats a day. We saw the government buildings in Cape Town and Pretoria and the hospital complex where Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant and the hospital in Soweto which is so overwhelmed with patients that you're only admitted on weekends if you're bleeding. We saw where Nelson Mandela spent much of the 27 years he was imprisoned. Some of us saw the beautiful Victoria Falls. BUT WHAT WE REALLY REMEMBER THE MOST ARE THE PEOPLE, THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE WHO HOSTED US AND SHARED THEIR LIVES AND THEIR HEARTS WITH US. Many of us were given the beds of the hosts while they made do on sofas or elsewhere. We were treated to wonderful meals, shown the area, and entertained by family friends as well. This Friendship Force really understands the meaning of friendship as they are mostly of modest means and yet they in turn minister to those who have practically nothing in the Vygiekraal Informal Settlement, or shantytown, one of many that surround the big cities. Millions of people live in these shantytowns with no electricity or heat and share in the use of a water spigot. They build shacks out of corrugated iron, cardboard, rocks, or whatever is available and “squat” on land unrestricted by the government and at no cost to them. One of the shantys was the shabeen, where liquor and drugs are sold. The church has erected a community center here, reaching out to help. Ministers and deacons and church members come regularly to help the residents. Our contingent took a box of donations in lieu of checking a second piece of luggage. We were lucky to have been given brand new English books that were out of date and unusable by our schools as well as many donations from Friendship Force members. If only you could have seen the gratitude on the faces of those receiving these gifts. Local principals started calling the church as they heard about the books and many were distributed to schools where they were incorporated immediately into the curriculum. Our group also gave a thousand dollar donation to the settlement through the church and one ambassador couple equaled that on their own after they had visited the shantytown. The donor said, “I think that’s probably the best investment we ever made.’’ These gifts enabled four children to go to school next year as well as giving the means to buy many needed things for the project. This is a country struggling with economic and social problems of enormous proportions and a new government only beginning its sixth year and committed to improving the housing situation a top priority. It is a country fraught with violence and crime, but we experienced only warmth and love in the arms of our host families. It is Africa’s most advanced nation and is the beacon for progress on that continent. The Rand Africaans University in Johannesburg hosted us at a reception here. They showed us their school for gifted but disadvantaged children and their Technolab to introduce children and adults to the wonders of technology. This is formerly an “all white” university which is now struggling to achieve racial diversity. Jan Jaeckel and Mike Lowe had just married prior to the exchange and had saved the blessing of the rings to be done on this very special honeymoon. They were triply blessed as three ministers performed a repeat wedding ceremony complete with the exchange of rings for them at the Sunday church service. Jan was wearing a new blouse provided by her hostess and they were presented with a beautiful South African Certi€cate of Marriage. A highlight of the exchange week was a Braai, or barbecue, with a 50 pound lamb roasted on a spit, grilled sausages and snook (a type of fish) and much more. Our contingent of €fteen Nebraskans, eight Iowans, two from Wisconsin, one from Utah and one from Colorado presented a patriotic skit about the meaning of the flag. Many ambassadors spoke eloquently about freedom and hope and related the flag to those ideals. Reverend Leslie Scott said no group had ever done anything like that for them before and another man said he hoped that one day their country would have such feeling about their flag. Many of us left this exchange profoundly moved by our experience with a sincere hope that we would meet our new friends again some day. Now, we hear that this may be possible in the near future as the Friendship Force of Mispah is to be adding Lincoln to their itinerary when they come to the United States next summer! Please consider being a part of the incoming exchange because these are very, very special friends! |
©2008 Friendship Force of Lincoln. All Rights Reserved. |
|
pringtime in October and the Friendship Force of Mispah in Cape Town, South Africa welcomed their first official exchange. The word Mispah comes from the Book of Genesis and is the saying, “May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from the other.” The Rev. Andrew Lewin, minister of the Bethel Memorial A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church, is a friend of both the Carters and Andrew Young and the driving force behind this new club along with Rev. Leslie Scott and exchange director Brenda Hull.