Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Village grannies brave the crocs

Yesterday's daily paper had a picture and a story that gave me another new view of South Africa. The article told of retirees who need to risk drowning each month when they are forced to cross a raging, crocodile-inhabited river to collect their old-age pensions. The elderly, school children and mothers carrying children have for years braved the river as the nearest bridge is more that 45 km away. A week ago an eight year old schoolgirl drowned while crossing the river to attend a school activity. 

For years these people have been pleading for a footbridge. That  plea has not been answered. So now the grannies form a human chain and roll their clothes up before crossing the river. The journey does not stop when they have braved the crossing as they then must walk another 10 km to reach the pay point. One of the women was quoted as saying: "We better be eaten by the crocodiles than stay at home without collecting our pension. Others stay with orphans here and they have to collect child support grants to ensure that there is food for the children in the house."

The local mayor was "shocked" to hear from the newspaper of the retiree's plight. He said that he would have asked for social development assistance for help.

Cecilia's comment: The mayor not knowing about the local situation is the only part of the situation that I had known something about. The officials of townships are not local people, but appointees of the ruling political party who may live a great distance from the area they are supposed to serve.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Current News and a Balance

Today I read a newspaper that had three disturbing items. This was a daily paper, not a scandal sheet.

The first story was about a man who with about 50 others in this one suburb, goes down through the man hole cover into the sewer system with a bucket to sort through the sewage looking for items worth retrieving. He explained that he has been out of work for 5 years and got tired of looking for handouts or being hungry. He says with the sewer items he can get enough to eat and a rough place to sleep.

The second story was about a man who has been in custody for over two years waiting for a trial for a crime. The case has been continually postponed for a variety of reasons having to do with the justice system. The conditions of over crowding and deprivation where he is held were described. He has little hope of the case being settled soon.

Then there was an article warning the readers of ten ways in which they could easily be taken advantage of with their computers, credit cards, etc.

This week on the TV news there was footage taken by a bystander of the police beating up a man. The scene was terrible. But perhaps more upsetting for me was the background laughter of the other people on the scene.

I remember when were in formation in 2003, one of the directors suggested that Christians should have the newspaper in one hand and the bible in the other. I am glad that I have the resource of the scriptures. I have also been studying a helpful book, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life. This book is a compilation of writings by Henri Nouwen. It has a great deal to say that is a balance to the many problems of the world.

Cecilia