A Bit of Everything

Today our delegates had quite a busy day in the Cape Town area.

It began with hearing some of the challenges being handled by the community leaders in Gugulethu Township who make the tough determination of who qualifies for food distributions each quarter—and who doesn’t. It’s the simple reality that despite our ongoing desire to provide food parcels to families who have food insecurity and significant needs—our largest expenditure is still not enough to feed everyone.

We then met with the Community Director of Monkey Biz. That nonprofit organization is committed to selling the beautiful and creative beadwork of female artists with those profits going back to those families and communities where their financial opportunity and employment percentages are so low.

We then visited the District 6 Museum. We heard the sobering, current-generation, firsthand stories of the removal of more than 60,000 people from a vibrant multicultural neighborhood that started 60-years ago this month due to the destructive rules of Apartheid.

Those rules not only allowed, but prioritized the enforcement of the separation of families and businesses based on skin color.

And our Delegates’ day ended when we walked through two Gugulethu zones (geographic areas)—that are still clearly suffering from the economic impact of generations ripped apart by South Africa’s racist doctrine that made education illegal for people of color beyond a fourth grade education…made basic healthcare unavailable for many… and ultimately restricted the food supply necessary for the healthy survival for millions of families.

While we continue our faithful journey to reverse these conditions…our emotions are often frayed when we witness the current day realities.

But that just gives us more motivation to have an impactful remainder of our visit.