Addressing some issues.

The sinking sands of racial imbalances are incredilbly difficult to address, as Europeans themselves well know! So perhaps we should be cautious about denigrating the efforts of this still young democracy of South Africa. Undoubtedly, there have been mistakes made since the change from the apartheid governments to black government. On taking power, it was natural to try to reverse the process of reducing the black.  In retrospect, the only agenda  should have been to educate the black population and lift it out of poverty asap. When the child support grant was introduced, (now higher, at R250 a month=17 pounds a month) it was too little to do much good. But it had the unbelievable effect of encouraging black women to have babies. The grant was insufficient to feed a baby properly, but to somebody with no income, it must have seemed better to share their hunger with a child, rather than starve alone.
Free condoms and free abortions are readily available, but sex education is difficult. It is not the practice amongst the black population to speak openly about such issues. It could be that the government could learn some lessons from the Uganda experience. The government there, instead of going it alone, has engaged the whole of society, and is bringing down the incidence of Aids.
Central to everything here is education. There are two stories, with this connection, I would like to tell you about.
The first concerns one of the older girls. She is very bright, very motivated and talented with a very pleasant demeanour. A white couple here have agreed to pick up all the costs relating to her education, university included, in the hope of her realising her potential. She could be a future leading light in her community. Though you might argue the money would be better spent spreading it more widely. What do you think?
The other case relates to the oldest lad in the orphanage,17 years old. This lad lost all his immediate family, was abused by a man who took him in, and then started into bad ways himself. He had never been to school. Once Tia took him into the orphanage, in 2006,he started school .Now that he is bigger, an aunt who lives in another township, encourages him to go there during the school holidays. Common to many such situations, he is now seen as somebody who can be a helper. This week, he had left the orphanage to go to these relatives, without telling his housemother. In law, he is a ward of court, in the care of Thamsanqa. Tia, as his social worker, is responsible for him. She accepts he may want, and  should be allowed, to see his family from time to time. But it must be agreed with the housemother, so she knows where he is.
I drove Tia and Maureen over to New Brighton, an old township, 20 minutes away. We parked outside the shanty. Straightaway, we could here the raucous laughter from inside. Entry was through a rear door, accessed through a small passage, which separated it from the adjacent shack. From there also there was the unwelcoming cackle of drink-induced merriment. We stood out like priests in a brothel. Tia knocked on the door. A youth invited us in. She moved a leg forward, but, as her eyes got a glimpse of inside, retracted it. With a no-nonsense approach, she told them she wanted to see Zola (a false name for the boy).They said he was not  there. She said we would wait for the aunt. When  the aunt came, there were strong words, in Xhosa, between Maureen and the aunt. The aunt did not want to let Zola go. When Tia got the translation from Maureen, she waded in. No way were we leaving without Zola. Nor would she permit him to stay in a house  that she was using as a shabeen  (a place where alcohol is bought and drunk). Only when the aunt protested that she had another house, which she pointed out, where she lived, and used this one solely for the drinking, did Tia consent to him visiting for a week after Xmas.
Later, I asked her why she was so strict with Zola, when he will have to leave the orphanage at 18 anyway. She explained that because Zola started school late, he still  has two years left before matriculation .In such cases, the government allows an orphan to stay in an orphanage till age 21,with continuing, free education.
Ideally, Tia would like to acquire another building, where orphans that have to leave at 18, could stay till they got on their feet.
While I have been helping Tia with this and the paperwork for food parcels, the other volunteers have been doing some tremendous work. They have started the process of getting all the kids to a dentist, motivated the kids at Maureen’s to help clearing all the old wood and rubbish in the yard, and got them making their own Xmas. decorations. They have used the simplest of materials,  look so good, and the kids have enjoyed it so much. (The sale of their Xmas. cards at the church the other night, realised about 22 pounds).
Before I fall asleep at the computer, and before you drop of your chair, I would like to make just one further remark. There is a lot of goodwill here and there are a lot of charities doing tremendous work in very trying circumstances. But the mistrust and ignorance, embedded in the national conscience during the apartheid years, are indelible marks.95% of whites here have never been in a township. One big Afikaaner I was speaking to ,looked at me blankly when I explained where we worked.  He would never go in, it was ‘’super, super dangerous’’, he said. You never do see whites there.
The beautiful tapestry of this county has been despoiled by the mildews of misunderstanding and mismanagement. Determined will, exercised with patient tolerance, is essential for the salvage operation.
Tomorrow we take the kids for a day at the beach. It will be a marvellous day, I am sure, and  I look  forward to telling you about it!
Best wishes,
Eric.

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