Facing Reality

In class last friday Friday, Grant took us on a little field trip to a nearby farm. The walk was about a mile and we took the route that many of the children walk to school. He wanted to bring us to see the conditions that the children and their families live in. The walk there was an eye opener on its own. The walk consisted of crossing train tracks that don’t have the crossing arms to signify the train is coming, crossing a very busy highway, and walking down a narrow road without sidewalks. This is a route that my mother wouldn’t want me walking now at 21 years old never mind the 6 or 7 year olds that do it every day.

When we arrived in the little area of about 5 or 6 houses, we met with an elderly woman named Kathleen who lived in one of the houses. Grant fosters one of her grandsons and pays the school fees for her other grandchildren as well, so he felt comfortable asking her if we could see her house. After she told us her story of her life living on the farm, she brought us inside. It was easy to see that she took a lot of pride in her house and family. She loved showing us pictures of her grandchildren and telling us how well they were doing in school. She was a lovely woman, but unfortunately the living situation wasn’t as great. Her house was made up of 3 rooms that were probably 15 by 15 for 3 people, which isn’t too bad. However in the past the house had had 10 people living in it and that definitely isn’t okay. The toilets are outside and she pointed out how she had asked many times for the farmer to put bathrooms in the house because of how terrible it is for an old lady to have to walk outside to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. This is how the workers live, making about $100 a month while the farm owner is a millionaire with 5 houses all over the world. This farmer was one that treated his workers better than most or he wouldn’t have allowed us to look around. Still better than most is does not translate into a comfortable living. We all thanked Kathleen and shared some hugs as we were leaving and we could tell that our visit had made her day and ours.

On the way back we stopped in a little chapel on the farm that the families worship in. Grant wanted us to know how integral religion is to their lives because it gives them hope of earning something better in the end. He told us how this is a place where the families who live on this farm come to pray for miracles like food for dinner or for sick family members to get better. Sitting in this place made me feel stupid for 90% of my prayers that have to do with my favorite sports teams winning or their not being traffic on the highway. We all just sat there and reflected on what we have seen and learned over the past month. This for many was a pretty emotional time, but nice to compose all our thoughts and emotions in this peaceful place.

Our spirits were lifted a little bit when we returned back to find the entire student body in the gym watching a Valentine’s Day fashion show. The children were all dressing in red and pink and had lined the walls of the gym. Music was playing and everyone was dancing. Then some of the littlest learners would do their little catwalk down the middle of the gym and the entire school would cheer. It was adorable seeing all the little guys trying to act sassy and put on a show for everyone. You could see how much their face would light up when the cheers would come from the whole student body. It was just the pick me up we needed.

Saturday was a little bit of a different story however. 2 of the students at Lynedoch’s mother had been drunk and been hit by a car and died a week ago, so there was a funeral being held. Alcoholism is a huge problem in this area ranking among the highest in the world and 2nd highest amount of fetal alcohol syndrome in the world. Grant had mentioned that he would like it if some of us would take some time out to go and arranged a ride for us. We met around 7:30 and headed for one of the farms. The funerals here are held in their home because of the lack of financial resources to pay for something better. When we arrived, we quickly realized that Grant hadn’t lied the day before when he said that Kathleen’s farm had a nicer living situation than most. The first thing we noticed before even reaching their house was that the group of 8 or 10 houses dumped their garbage in a ditch right next to their houses. This created a very strong stench and also attracted a lot of flies. I had never experienced anything like it before. The flies were 100 times worse than anything I’ve ever endured and there was never a moment that I was there and I couldn’t feel at least 5 flies crawling on me somewhere. We walked up to the house, were invited inside, and were surprised to see the open casket sitting right there in front of us. We walked up showing our respect and could tell that they had worked to put her face back together after the accident she had been in. We stood right outside the door during the service because there wasn’t room inside for us. The principal of Lynedoch went in at some point and explained in Afrikaans who we were and why we were there because we could tell people were confused what the group of white people was doing there. They were honored that people from across the world would come to show their respect and we were told it made her life seem more valuable because of our presence. This was a little uncomfortable for us getting attention when we were supposed to be honoring the life of this woman. Something interesting that Mr. Janssen pointed out to us was her son, Jonathan’s, reluctance to be a part of the service and stayed distant from it. He explained that this is a survival tactic that people here use because pain is such a frequent occurrence in their lives. They distance their emotions, so that they don’t have to feel the pain, but unfortunately also end up losing out on feelings of happiness as well. When they were processing out they asked us to lead the casket and then the hearse to the end of the road. This again was an uncomfortable moment, but we honored their wishes and did as they asked. This was quite an experience and something that I don’t think any of us will soon forget.