Howdy
y’all! In many ways, life in Johannesburg very much resembles life in a
similarly sized city in the States: morning rush hour on the freeways,
neighborhoods quiet but for the yappy dogs next door, stores bustling with
afternoon shoppers, and everywhere English being spoken. But some of the
differences have become particularly apparent this week as we engaged in mercy
ministry (see the paragraphs from Daniel and Alex later this week for more on
our ministry). To explain, as we worked at a orphanage and organization in
Alexandra, a township to the north of Jo’burg, we saw that here the physical
boundaries separating the very rich and the very poor are much more easily crossed.
There are no “train tracks” delineating different socio-economic classes; rich
and poor live literally next door to one another, and the gap between the two
is much higher than that in the United States. With that in mind, the scramble
at the university to get the best education is put into context: many of these
students come from places like Alexandra, and a college degree is how they get
themselves and their family out of such stark poverty. Personally, I have never
been put in this position; this fact of life humbles me and grows in my heart
compassion for those in need. Please pray that this compassion increases in us
all. We cannot ever take for granted the things that we have; instead, what
could happen if we view what we have as what we could potentially give away for
others’ benefit?
-Phil
Swanger
What is
life in South Africa like? I can already hear the question as I get off the
plane in Charlotte. As a 20 person team in a single guest house in South Africa
we have been doing well. we all have
spent at least 2 summers together with each other already and have been looking
forward to spending yet another summer together in another country. Everyone
works well together. We have ministry partners that we go into the Res
(pronounced “rez”, their dorms) with and even though we thought that we were
very similar to them we have all found how different we are from our ministry
partners. Still God uses us to work together in unity to reach the campus. We have had disagreements but have quickly
settled them and grown closer to each other and to God.
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