Worlds Apart

Today I think brought me one of my biggest culture shocks since being in South Africa.  When I was on training on Coll they talk about ‘culture shock within the first 4/8 weeks’.  So I never expected it to come this late on in the year.

It started off when a little boy aged 5 was admitted into Bethany.  Admissions are very regular recently so this was just another day and excitement of getting a new child who we get to know and bond with.  However this admission had very different circumstances.  I walked past the social workers office and I saw a young lady hysterically crying and holding her head in her hands.  Not thinking too much of it, I walked down to pre-school to meet the new little boy who was so bubbly and full of energy.  All the other children were crowding around him and to be honest, it looked like he loved the attention.  Then the pre-school teacher, Tandogaz, pulled me to one side and showed me a beautiful hand made card with Xhosa writing on the inside.  I smiled and said it was beautiful thinking it was what a child had made for her and asked her to translate what was written.  What she said next was truly heartbreaking and brought me to tears.  The card read:

“*The new child’s name*… I am so sorry that I have had to do this and please know that I will miss you with all my heart and soul.  Please never forget me, I love you. Mummy”

I pieced together that the lady crying in the office was the mother of the little boy who had just been brought in.  I’m not sure why she had to give up her precious little boy, but it’s highly likely that he will not see his mother again in the near future.  And very soon, he’s going to ask why his Mummy isn’t around anymore.  If this is due to lack of money to feed and cloth him and general poverty then my heart breaks even further.  Knowing there are people in the UK living off benefits unnecessarily or a man willing to burn down his own house with his children inside so he can get more money off the government makes me sick.  The corruption in the South African government means that people in desperate poverty are not getting the finical support they need… all because of greed. 

Today has made me realise more than ever how extremely lucky I am to have such an amazing and loving family who would do anything for me.  I also feel guilty that in 4 months I will be going home to luxury that most around this area can only dream of.  However I’m coming to believe that most things in life is a gift that we have to learn not to take for granted, because if one day we don’t have it… how would we cope?