I have attended several meetings in the past week, where the big challenges that hold children back, have been discussed. Business leaders, community representatives, house-holders, pastors and, most important of all, children and young people themselves, all seem to agree on South Africa's BIG FIVE!
Poverty, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, drugs, and booze!
The super-sized beer can pictured here, towering over Betty Nkoana, Manager of The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville and dwarfing the shacks which house destitute families, just about sums up the drink problem of the township. It's massive, highly destructive and pervades every aspect of life in the community.
I once described alcohol as the cheerful destroyer - making people "merry" as it robs them of of their dignity, their health, their wealth and their future. But, in a place like Munsieville, it appears to go straight for the kill - you rarely see people enjoying the "happy" stage. You just see lives being wrecked; the lives of the drinkers, and the lives of those who share their space. (And in Munsieville's informal shack settlement, sharing space means living as a family in a tin hut with a dirt floor measuring as little as six or seven square meters.)
TIME TO CHOOSE
When Project HOPE UK started its journey down The Thoughtful Path, it was pretty clear that demolishing the walls of the "prison" which prevents the orphans and other vulnerable children of the community from becoming healthy, productive adults, was going to take a very long time. There were no quick-fixes, no short-cuts and no easy solutions. And perhaps most disconcerting of all for us westerners who imaging that if we can fly to the moon we can solve anything, it became abundantly obvious that if the transformation of Munsieville did not come from within the community itself, it would certainly not come from outside!
When Project HOPE UK started its journey down The Thoughtful Path, it was pretty clear that demolishing the walls of the "prison" which prevents the orphans and other vulnerable children of the community from becoming healthy, productive adults, was going to take a very long time. There were no quick-fixes, no short-cuts and no easy solutions. And perhaps most disconcerting of all for us westerners who imaging that if we can fly to the moon we can solve anything, it became abundantly obvious that if the transformation of Munsieville did not come from within the community itself, it would certainly not come from outside!
So, as one who lives, eats and sleeps Munsieville, but only gets to sit down with its people every few weeks, it is so indescribably exciting to see seeds of change germinating and sprouting through the hard crusty ground of this beautiful community, as very ordinary people take extra-ordinary steps on the path to a better future.
The government's strategy for Munsieville over recent years has been to try appeasing the anger of destitute communities by throwing huge sums into high-profile capital projects, like a new sports centre, the opening of which was accompanied by an announcement that from now on, those wanting to hold sports and cultural events for children would have to pay an impossible fee for facilities which had previously been free! In contrast, our strategy is to search for the seeds of change in the lives of the community, and then water them with encouragement, nurture them with mentoring and fertilise them with training.
Like the rest of us, the people of Munsieville are faced with a bewildering array of choices. There are many who continue to choose destructive "solutions" to their pressing problems. There are many who choose to wait for someone else to solve their problems. There are many who choose to stand on the side-lines, probably with a can of Castle Lager in their hands, and jeer at those who choose to be the change that they long for in their community.
And, from what I have seen in the past week, a growing band of people is making that brave decision - a businesswoman in her 80s with a longing to give shack-dwellers the opportunity to create productive enterprises; a fiery group of young adults totally committed to make Munsieville a zero-tolerance location for child abusers; a dozen women who have lived in poverty all their lives who have created "Heart Gardens" as their first step towards self reliance; a growing band of school children diligently constructing a plan to eradicate alcohol and substance misuse amongst their peers!
Another week here in Munsieville has reinforced my belief that even the biggest problems faced by a community start to diminish when people decide to be their own solution.
