Retreat Weekend for Sinikithemba Kids

Every second weekend of the month, McCord's Sinikithemba (treatment center) program has a support group for kids and teens. The support group run by the counselors (the counselors don't get paid for the time they spend on Saturdays with the kids) at Sinikithemba because they found that as the kids in the program were growing older, they were struggling with continuing on treatment because they felt different from their other friends. So the kids and teens come to support group so that they can spend time with HIV positive kids and teens and get support from each other.

This past weekend was the second Saturday of the month. But, instead of the kids and teens getting together to discuss issues, the counselors decided to have a fun month. So they took all the kids and teens to the pool (picture to the left is of the pool). Fortunately for me, I got invited to come along. In total there were about 60+ kids and teens that showed up. The kids swam and talked and just hung out. We had a braai (in the states it's called grilling or bbq) and plenty of fruit drinks to go around. It was a wonderful way to spend a bright sunny Saturday.

The whole time I was at the pool I was thinking about one kid in particular who I had met a week prior in the hospital wards. I meet him because he had been admitted due to a secondary infection and the doctors found out that he had stopped taking his ARV medication (anti-retro viral or HIV meds). The counselor that I work with was called to come and see the patient and to talk with him about why he had stopped taking his medications. The patients stay in the hospital was funded by Loving South Africa, because he doesn't have anyone who was able to pay for his treatment. In talking with the patient, we (Makhosi and I) found out this is the third time that he has stopped taking his medication. When we asked him why, he just said that he couldn't do it any more. He just wants to be normal. Shortly after stopping his medicine he got sick and was admitted to the hospital. We asked him if he was interested in starting the medication again and he said yes (we won't start treatment if the individual is not ready to start). We asked him if he meant it, because he has stopped taking the medication three times. He stated yes. We asked him is he understood that he would have to take the medication for the rest of his life, and he stated he understood. We asked him why he wanted to start back on the medication. His response was because he doesn't want to be sick any more.

This young man was 16, yet he looked 12 years old. This is why, the support groups at McCord are so important. This young man is not a special case. I personally can't imagine at the age of 16, adjusting to an ever changing body, emotions, and world, having take a handful of pills daily knowing that they are the only thing keeping me alive and well. This young man, is fortunate that he is at a hospital and in a program that is focused on holistically providing care to their patients. It would be easy to provide just medical care for the patient and tell him that he needs to get his priorities in place and start taking his medications again. It takes a lot more to organize support for a teen or child, knowing that it is difficult to live in a world were, even though nearly 50% of people have HIV, you are ostracize because you have HIV and it's not cool to take medications that are keeping you alive and well.

On Saturday, the young man came up to me and we talked for a few minutes. It had been a week since his hospital stay and he looked much better. With a fedora on, fo-Ray Bans (apparently I'm pretty cool with my $10 fo-Ray Bans as well), and blaring music from his cell phone, he committed in a soft voice that he liked that I had trimmed my beard (apparently the mountain man look isn't in right now). I imagined a kid in the States in a youth group coming up to me and saying the same thing. Just wanting to be normal and accepted.

Below is a picture for the Doctor's Consultation Room on Friday afternoon. What a beautiful picture of the coast and Durban.

View from my office with Makhosi. You may be able to see me in the reflection of the windows. Things have been going very well with the internship here. If you could lift up McCord hospital as they are going through a lot of transition. It seems as though there has been a lot of bad news about budget cuts within the hospital, due to recession and so forth. McCord just recently celebrated it's 100th year of service to the Durban area. Historically McCord was one of the only hospitals that provided medical care to the Zulu and Indian people during Apartheid. And still is committed to serving those who cannot pay for treatment. Pray for wisdom and vision, as the hospital continue to serve those in need.

Rainbow Nation

Sorry it's been a minute since my post. Time got away from these past few weeks. I will be working at making a more concerted effort to post once a week.

This past weekend I was at the coast with friends and we were approached by a British South African who was very excited. He stated that, “we were a wonderful picture of the new South Africa.” He was referring to the fact that each of us was a different color of skin: Caucasian, African, and Indian. A rainbow of color and culture, the sad part being that none of us were South African. We were American, Botswanan, and Australian/Indian. This experience has made me think a lot about how the world should be, and the present state that the world is in right now.

I have had a hard time trying to figure out how to present this topic in a blog. However, I think the best way to do it is give a little history. In South Africa, people of color (black, mixed, yellow- basically anyone who was not pasty white) before 1994 were not allowed to have any say on who governed over them. That means that 90% of the population in South Africa was powerless to have control of where they lived and the types of jobs they could get. This was known as Apartheid. Fortunately in 1994, Apartheid ended with the election of Nelson Mandela as the first black African president of South Africa. If you have seen any movie about South Africa recently (such as Invictus ), you know the huge impact the election of Mandela to the presidency made for the people of South Africa and really the world. Unfortunately, despite the political changes in South Africa, the segregation didn’t necessarily end in the mental or social sense. Just because there are changes in the law, doesn’t mean that people suddenly change their habits and attitudes – at least right away.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that eleven o’clock on Sunday mornings is the most segregated hour of the week.

This bothers me. The Church should be the most integrated and diverse group in the world. Instead, we seem to seek the comfort of being with people who are the same as we are. I am not just talking about segregation in the ethnic sense; I am talking economically and culturally. Let me explain a little. When I read the Bible I see Jesus inviting all to come to him, I see him breaking down ethnic, economic, and cultural barriers to bring people to Him. I see the Church of Acts creating a new culture where no one is in need (Acts 2:42-47), I see Paul being all things to all people so they might know Christ (1 Corinthians 9).

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about Jesus flipping cultural, economical, and ethnic norms upside down. In John 4 we are told of Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan women. Jesus goes through Samaria; exhausted he sits at a well where he meets a Samaritan woman. Speaking to the woman, he asks for a drink. The woman knowing the history of her people addresses the fact that He is Jewish and she is Samaritan (Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans). Not to mention, if a man were alone, culturally he would not have addressed a women. Furthermore, it is sixth hour of the day. Normally, people draw water early in the day or late in the afternoon due to the heat of the day. The sixth hour of the day is noon, where the first hour of the day would be about 6 a.m. The Samaritan woman was coming to the well at the hottest time of the day, knowing or maybe hoping that she wasn’t going to run into anyone. Further along in the story, we understand why she was coming around at noon, she was getting around. She has had five husbands and is with a guy that isn’t her husband. Socially, Jesus would have had every reason to write her off, condemn her, and send her out of his presence. Yet, he doesn’t. Jesus does the exact opposite. He sees the women for who she is, a child of God. Very aware of all the reasons that he shouldn’t talk with her due to cultural norms, he speaks into her life. How does the women respond to all of this? She goes around telling everyone she knows of Jesus, a Jewish man who told her everything about her life. When Jesus’ disciples return to him after getting food, they are puzzled to see him with a woman, let alone a Samaritan.

Jesus went against the cultural norm of his time when speaking with the Samaritan women. He spent two days in Samaria teaching people and gathered people around him. Jesus didn’t see the woman and say, She is a Samaritan, as a Jew I don’t get along with a Samaritan by principle so I’m not going to talk with her.” He addressed and called her into a new way of living. I can’t help but think this is how the Church should be. Instead of segregating ourselves because of cultural, ethnic, and economical differences, shouldn’t we be creating a new culture? I see a culture like the Church of Acts, where people were devoted to the teaching of the apostles and breaking bread and praying with each other. On the first Saturday of every month there is a Christian Medical Fellowship meeting at McCord Hospital. This past Saturday before we started our meeting, everyone introduced themselves and told of their Church background. It was such an encouragement to be with people from different countries and denominations all coming together to worship God.

I understand that is not always comfortable to be in community with someone who is different. For instance, what if you invited a homeless person or drug addict to church with you? There might be some social norms that the person might not pick-up on and that person may embarrass you or dare I say make your friends uncomfortable. Or maybe, some one visits your church from say, Africa or the Middle East, would you be the one to go an introduce yourself to them, invite them over for dinner, learn about how they came to where you are? Jesus had a vision that was far past his generation or the next. Where all people devoid of ethnic, economical, or cultural differences share life together creating a new standard of how to live.