Uitenage: Putting Some Things into Perspective

Friday, 13 August

Yes, we did note that it was going to be Friday the 13th the night before.  And, yes we did joke about it.  What we woke up to find out is that our morning activity – a tour of the Volkswagen plant in Uitenage – was cancelled due to a labor strike called for that day!  This threw our host planning team off a bit.  We rearranged some of the schedule for the morning and afternoon.  However, some tensions that had been brewing began to surface.  Low energy levels, length of the trip, and gathering exhaustion are hard to overcome sometimes.

Our hosts decided to take us to a cemetery that held the mass grave of those that died in the Uitenage Massacre of 1985.  This was a year of growing unrest and demonstrations that spread throughout the country.  The Apartheid government reacted with swift and brutal countermeasures resulting in massacres in Uitenage, in the Duncan Village informal settlement in East London and many other places.  It was chilling to have the names of those that died and especially their ages so starkly listed before our eyes.

Next stop on our revamped schedule was a school for children with special needs.  Meeting with children and spending time with them is one of the favorite activities for the members of our group (including me).  However, we were on to tight of a schedule to stay very long.  Still, some of us made some meaningful contact with the children before we had to leave.

A Moravian Church in a very poor part of the city was expecting us.  Again the leaders of the congregation greeted us warmly.  They wanted to feed us lunch with traditional African food.  Unfortunately, we were scheduled to eat lunch at the other church in Uitenage.  Some of us did eat a little at the church (except for the tripe!).  Mostly, we dealt with some issues that were going on with the group.  One girl didn't feel comfortable staying in the household to which she was assigned.  The single, elderly woman is very poor and our group member didn't want to be a burden for her.  Neither did she want to hurt her.  Several people were unhappy with the organization of this part of the trip.  Tensions were beginning to heighten.

The Moravians pray and sing for everything.  Faithful Moravians begin each day with the daily "Watch Word", a devotional with a couple of passages from scripture and a prayer.  The leaders of the church wanted to begin their welcome of us with the day's "Watch Word" and asked that I read it.  I took the opportunity to address some of the tension that I felt among our group.  I talked about all the things we had done and experienced and spoke of how love is not easy, but it is something that we are called to share in relationship with others.  I then called the group together and asked them to go off by themselves (a kind of team meeting for just the "players") so that they could say whatever they wanted.  This they did.  It seemed to ease the tension level anyway.

We went to the Uitenage Moravian Church, had a presentation from some of the leaders about the various community ministries in which the church is involved: HIV/AIDS ministries and a food pantry.  And we had lunch along with some time to rest.

In the afternoon we went to a monument commemorating those that died in the Uitenage Massacre at the spot  of the killings.  Stationed there was a survivor of the event.  He gains most of his income through greeting visitors to the monument.  He told the story of the day and showed us where the pellets are still embedded in his shin.  We were all pretty impressed by the life long impact that one event had on the individuals involved as well as for an entire nation.

The afternoon's activities ended with a visit to a nursery school run by the Moravians in Port Elizabeth. After this the group dispersed to their host homes to get changed in order to go to the Boardwalk, a tourist location down by the ocean.  Talk about a culture shift.  Walking into this mecca of shops, casinos and restaurants I thought I was in Florida.  I did buy a few things.  But mostly, I walked around with Walter and two of the leaders of the Hosting Committee, Sylvia Roussouw and Jeni Johnson.

It was a disorienting day, a fine Friday the 13th!  I was glad to go home to the Boonzaaiers in Uitenage.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles