September 13-21, 2013
Hello to you all. The pace has accelerated
here in South Africa
as we have begun working with those to whom we were sent, those who are in need
and want to become self-reliant. To those of you who may not immediately grasp
the impact of this term, the goal/objective of everyone should be to provide
for their own needs. To some, this is common place and fairly easily
accomplishable. However, to those who have not, either in terms of material
things, education or vision of their God- given abilities, it is not. To many
who are impoverished, the task of providing for their daily needs consumes
their every thought, their time and energy.
I don’t believe that a menu of chicken heads
and feet are necessarily the chosen diet which many of these people have each
day. However, when one is in a pure survival mode, that which is the least of,
becomes delectable. Our job is to not only help them to understand they can
also feast upon the other parts of the chicken but how they may accomplish it. As we have worked with these
people it has become vividly clear they are neither ignorant nor indolent. Many
of them are extremely bright and quick to grasp the concept that a new light shines
before them. They want to reach and grab ahold of the light but don’t know how.
Thus, comes the second part of our assignment, to show them how to accomplish
this new found desire.
You more than likely have heard the saying,
“"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he
will eat for a lifetime" (There are a number of variations of that saying
but they all arrive at the same place). Our objective, after turning on the
light, is to teach them how to fish. If you think deeply enough about that
objective, you will come to understand that there are a number of ways to
tackle it but in all cases you have to find a pond with fish in it to begin
with. And you also have to understand that in order for one to become self-reliant
he/she has to be intimately involved in the struggle. A quote by Elder Maxwell, I think illuminates
the concept, "Is not our struggling amid suffering and chastening in a way
like the efforts of the baby chicken still in the egg? It must painfully and
patiently make its own way out of the shell. To help the chick by breaking the
egg for it could be to kill it. Unless it struggles itself to break outside its
initial constraints, it may not have the strength to survive thereafter.”
Indeed it is tempting to break the shell for those that are struggling but we
have seen many times the harm that will cause. Throughout the world those who
have received dole come to perceive it as an entitlement and are offended when
it ceases to be handed out.
An example of “teaching one to fish” is the
following: If, for example, the typical meal for a given family you are
teaching is indeed chicken heads and feet, show them that if they sacrifice and
eat only the heads or the feet and save that which they would have spent on the
other delectable, they soon would have enough money saved to buy a chicken.
Sacrifice again and they can buy their chicken a mate and soon they will have
many chickens. These chickens can supply them with eggs to sell. On special
occasions they can eat one of their chickens but they will need to control that
desire so that they don’t destroy their means of income. As their business
continues to grow they will have to reach out to those around them to help run
the business thereby providing them employment. Soon these newly employed
individuals will see their own light shining before them and search for their
own pond in which to fish.
The work is exciting and so rewarding. These two pictures are of those who have attended our “teaching-how-to-fish” workshops.
This couple has found their own pond as they work in their garden and provide fresh vegetables to those in the community.
We were also able to attend two different
baptismal services. These are not individuals who have the sheep mentality of
following the leader on unknown paths but rather individuals who are ready and
willing to share that knowledge recently acquired through the power of the Holy
Ghost. And you should hear them sing; they don’t need a piano or organ, but
with great clarity and gusto they sing with great sincerity and feeling.
Here are a couple of pictures showing those who were recently baptized.
As always, Angie has been on the prowl for new and exhilarating wild
kingdom adventures. We took a couple of hours this past week to visit a Cheetah
“farm” which also housed a pair of lions. The sign over the entrance did not
give one much of a sense of comfort and made one wonder if the suggestion given
by the guide that we would be able to pet the cats was given as humor. However,
Angie decided that if she stuck her arm that had the metal plate in it through
the cage, the cats may not be able to bite it off. She started off with a timid
pet of the smaller Cheetahs but, with the success of retaining her hand, moved
on to larger prey. The unusual flowering cacti along the path to the cats provided
an added reward to the visit.
One has to admire the frugality of the government here in South Africa. Tractor mounted mowers to mow along the highways have not been seen. Instead, goats and cows are the accepted method of grass cutting; and, by the way, they also have the right-of-way.
Occasionally, they may even pause to slurp up any standing water that may be on the road oblivious to the traffic.
One of the largest employing industries in the area is Volkswagen. This picture shows just a part of their vast plant here that manufactures approximately 680 of the Polo model per day. Amazingly, it is the only model made here; all the other models found here are imported. On the flip side, those made here are exported to many countries on this side of the Atlantic.
Other businesses are not quite so elaborate but do serve an important role.
Sometimes workers can not afford to pay for travel to work and wait along the road for someone to offer them a ride; others simply join them in hopes someone will pick them up to do odd jobs.
Here is an example of entrepreneurship. The ride may get a little breezy, and wet and cold at times but it is better than walking.
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