Contrasts

We continue to see a wondrous mixture of beauty, courage, and pain. Today, Laura and I obeyed the encouragemen1t our friend, here, Mark Stephenson gave us to drive along the West Coast to a place called Blouberstrand and saw Table View, one of most photographed and celebrated sights of Table Mountain. I added to the mass of pictures by at least a dozen. The addition of the pounding Atlantic surf gave power to the sight. This is truly a land of vast beauty.

Right up against this, even with expensive housing in sight, is the presence of people who struggle to live. Earlier today Laura and I visited Dr. Denise Ackermann, a theology professor whose husband was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve as a justice on South Africa’s Supreme Court. Both Denise and her husband Laurie were activists in opposition to apartheid and paid dearly for it, at one point losing position and nearly all they had because of their convictions.

Denise explained to us that though there was a miracle in 1994, with the ending of apartheid and a transition to full democracy without major bloodshed, it is frustrating that more has not been done since that time to bring the realities of justice to the people. Laura and I have seen very graphically what she is talking about: millions living in townships with barely a roof over their heads or food for their stomachs. Denise is concerned that if their plight is not considered and dealt with over the next 6-8 years, there could well be a major upheaval with which to contend. There is suffering that continues here.

This made me wonder how much headway we have made in the United States. There is suffering that continues at home.

And there is courage. Yesterday, Laura and I visited the District 6 Museum. District 6 was a poor yet vibrant and diverse community in Cape Town that thrived as the heart of South Africa in the face of apartheid. Then, the government declared it a “White District”, displaced all its residents and bulldozed all its buildings except for the churches. The Museum is housed in what used to be the Methodist Church. I peered through the banners hanging in the main part of the room and saw that they covered the old chancel, and I saw the pulpit where Dr. Peter Storey once preached.

We have met with Peter Storey as well as John de Gruchy and, now, Denise Ackerman – all who were brave enough to take a stand against a White society that did not want to give up its privilege for the sake of those they disenfranchised. We have become fast friends with Mark and Arlene Stephenson who act boldly in mission. In addition to them, we have seen the suffering that refuse to be called, “victim,” but would rather be considered victorious in surviving with oft-thriving spirit through oppression and poverty.

These stand as examples of courage. They are people whose witness in word and action becomes inspiration to the world for the prophetic voice to be raised and the human will to hope, that the kind of contrasts we have seen here and can also, in our way, at home will fade and the human experience become one with the beauty and joy of the land.