Tell my lover I am Lovesick: Week 1

Floyd blushing as Sally talks

George, what a man

This week we have been getting settled. We are figuring out and talking through how a multi-cultured, mixed gender residence will work. We have listened to a little bit of Floyd and Sally's story today and it was cute, seriously, they're one of those slightly older couples who are so sweet to each other and cute together that you throw up in your mouth a little. Some good friends for the McClungs came and spoke for a couple of days about unity and holiness and purity and honor. They were a fun couple - a (I believe) Zambian husband and an American wife with a cute baby. George, the husband, was fiery, he has a lot of passion to see servant leaders raised up in Africa. I have been told that a big problem in Africa is that it is "over evangelized" with precious little actual discipleship happening. Many ministers and pastors live in a very hierarchical system and expect to be served and honored with really investing in people, without serving people themselves. So to hear of this man all out raising up young people in an opposite attitude - working and investing themselves into where they are called - it is an uplifting thing.

*I would like to take a moment to explain something. In South Africa people are referred to as "white," "black" and "colored." "Colored" is not a derogatory term in South Africa. When I was told that people were referred to that way I freaked out. As a non racist white American it's really hard to coexist with that term. But it is cultural and not a word I came up with. Colored people are varied in they're ancestry. They are not fully white and not fully black. Some look vaguely Latino or Indian or Asian. ***So if I say "colored" people please please know that that is simply what people say. It is NOT meant as a racist statement in the least little bit. I am not racist, I do not refer to people in racist ways.*** If you are at all offended I am sorry that you are offended but recognize that I am not calling YOU anything and that I am not doing anything unacceptable in THIS culture. The labels came about when the South African government classified people according to how they wanted people located geographically. The labels stuck.

This week we have prayer walked three different communities that All Nations is involved in. We will be split into small groups on Monday and we will choose one of these towns to work in for the next 3 months. They are "townships," places where under the appalling law of Apartheid non- whites were forced to settle, ghettos essentially. All these places have distinct feels and atmospheres. Unfortunately I was not able to get any photos of any of them because of safety reasons. If outsiders specifically white folk walk in with watches and cameras and wallets we make ourselves targets. these aren't the most safe of places.
-Wednesday we walked Masiphumalele (Masi for short.) It is a community of some 35,000 people in shacks. It's a tough area, it's urban in the sense that it's mostly composed of shanty shacks built of scrap metals and woods. Dirt roads connect everything, there are a few better built homes on concrete slabs with a few layers of cinder block walls but they're maybe 2 rooms big. Now that I think of it there were a few nice homes which I was told belonged to the big league drug dealers. Walking through the village the children were calling out "mulungo!" which means "white boy!" Kind of a derogatory term I'm told. As the team I was with were praying and walking we passed some guys on the corner hanging. One guy passes us as we pass them walking very fast, he looks over to the corner guys and tells them that he's gonna shoot them and keeps walking. I'm told gangs, drugs, alcohol and violence are big problems in Masi.
-Next day we went to Ocean View. It is a slightly smaller ghetto that really reminds me east Austin or north Philadelphia. There's a lot of project apartments and small houses, not really the shack town that Masi is. I'm drawn to this town most although it is possibly the most dangerous. There is a lot of drug abuse, domestic violence and some gang activity. Lotta Rastafaris and Muslims in Ocean View. It's pretty developed, no shacks here, just small houses and apartments next to paved streets. There have been a few prophetic words that this is OV's year, that God is really gonna move. That gets me excited because this town has the fewest All Nations long termers in it. I'm still praying about applying to work here.
-Finally we walked Red Hill today. Red Hill is very different from the other two ghettos. It is up on a mountain in a remote part of Cape Town. It is a small encampment of about 2 thousand people total. It is very peaceful and is pretty safe. The atmosphere is different in that sense, I sensed no hostility, no one looked at you aggressively, no children ran up to try to take your watch without you realizing it or pat your pockets looking for a wallet. There isn't a lot of drug usage there and no gangs. I was told that there is a fair amount of alcohol abuse by the men which ends in fights and wife beatings but it is all kept under wraps and not addressed publicly really. Not really attracted to working there.