Lost in Faith

Met with Mike and Freddy, two SA doctors from the Free State or as they joked Freeze State.  Both of these guys were a delight to talk with.  Freddy is a self proclaimed Pee-diatrician, or in more gentile terms Pediatric Urologist.  He is pioneering surgical treatment of Vistula (see wikopedia on this one!).  One day he may be world famous for this!  Mike is a General Practice doctor who doesn’t know the boundaries of his specialty.  He does just about anything that comes his way.
Mike and Freddy are two white doctors who give much of their time to working in poverty stricken areas.   They are an exciting mixture of medical expertise and soft hearted passion.  We talked for several hours about possibilities and shared information about what we each knew about resources that are available.
Freddy exclaimed more than once, “We are only at the tip of the iceberg with AIDS,” meaning that the incidence of AIDS is highly “UNDER Reported” in South Africa.  Both Mike and Freddy suggested that we acquire a vehicle that could serve as a mobile clinic to support the doctors who might come over (first trip in the imagining stages for January!).
Mike connected use with a source drugs from Lesotho and child welfare NGO (non governmental organization) that helps South Africans access their social services system.  Freddy being on the faculty of Free State University offered the possibility of our medical personnel to work under their registry.  All of this plus the relationship and the magnificent view of this area were worth the drive.  Check out South Africa 08 at www.picasaweb.com/royemoran for some pics.
We departed Mountain Shadows and traveled back to Ugie to pick up our other vehicles and then off to Umtata by way of Tsolo.  In the town of Tsolo we stopped to see Bells and Bells Jr.  I first met Bells Jr. on my second trip to South Africa.  She is a twenty something Africa women who sells texts books to schools.  Her father is a well-connected African National Congress Politicians who has promised to get me into Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday Party on Friday!  We’ll see how connected he is.
In typical African fashion we stopped for a meet and greet and it turned into dinner while 8 South African doctors waited for us at hour accommodations in Umtata.   After a light dinner and a heavy conversation about African culture, politics and the role of women in society we extricated our selves to get to Umtata an hour late.
Waiting at the Hilltop Guest House we no less than eight South African physicians patiently awaiting our arrival.  One might have thought they were ready to leave because all had their winter coats on but the moment you discerned the temperature in the room you clearly understood.  It was in the low 40’s outside, no heat in the building so it was in the middle 50’s inside.
Our reception matched the temperature of the room.  It was abundantly clear that they doctors were not impressed by our long trip to aid in their fight against AIDS.  As we chatted, a picture of their lives developed before us.  They were doctors of various specialties but everyone of the drowning in the three-letter tsunami, HIV.
The harsh reality remains a constant reminder, there is no cure.  They are healers who can only comfort; fatigued by the battle they are in.  There is no hope in site and only the promise that it is getting worse.   The average life expectancy of a South African is just under 40 years of age.  Young girls dying of AIDS because they were raped, older women dying of AIDS because their husband’s visit prostitutes, young men dying of AIDS because of sexual cultural practices and a swarm of children left behind.
In a nation of 45 million 800 people die each day from AIDS.  Remember Freddy from above, these figures are grossly understated because many time to avoid family embarrassment the cause of death listed is pneumonia or some other opportunistic bacterial condition.
As we persevered and ask them to teach us about their health needs in rural areas the room began to warm up, emotionally speaking only.  They described the needs not only in health terms but agricultural, nutritional, education, and economic.   They encouraged us to teach, train and equip.  Unfortunately they didn’t offer to come along.
We ended the meeting with prayer and parted with hugs and handshakes.  I know that they still possess some skepticism that we are going to do what we say we will do.
It was time to turn in and find warmth under a gaggle of comforters blankets and oh yes, the electric blanket that only worked on Candy’s side!
After another delicious “English Breakfast,” we greeted Nicholas and Josh Comninellis goodbye for their 10-hour drive to north of Durban to Mseleni near the border of Mozambique.  It is after dark as I write and we hope they have arrived.  Mortality goes up significantly on the roads in South Africa after the sunsets.
Today we must divide and conquer.  One of our South African operatives scheduled two appointments at the same time.   Rufus and Candy went to see the Minister of Health for the Eastern Cape (comparable to a state in the US) and Almarie, Joy and I went to see the head of surgery at the Nelson Mandela Academic hospital.
The doctor was polite courteous and to the point which is unusual for an African.  After hearing about our mission he agreed to do battle for us with the South African medical authorities.  Since he was the Dean of the medical college for the past 11 years we think this was a major coup!
Rufus and Candy also hit one out of the park.   They met with the minister of health and minister of social development both of whom received them with enthusiasm.   So much so that we ended up at dinner with them and 9 of their fellow staff members including the minister of agriculture.  It was obvious a night out with an American was an important issue to clear your calendar for especially when the American was paying!  Not bad, feeding 17 people at a really nice restaurant for 1433 rand (divide by seven to get USD).
It was a productive evening as we explained to them that we were going very slow, only attempting to achieve what was sustainable and in this for the long haul.  I think they understand but I always wonder if they take a little cooperation and hope for bigger things.  Despite what is indiscernible the food was quite good (Mike’s Kitchen in Umtata).
Wait, I failed to fill in the afternoon.  We drove to downtown Umtata to meet with Pat, a single lady in her early forties, who arrange for 6 men to meet with Rufus about going to the Eastern Cape Bible College.  They were all eager and wide eyed and agreed to meet Rufus at 8 am tomorrow morning to travel to Bathurst to enroll in the school.  Rufus explained to them this is a serious commitment (up at 5 for two hours of Bible reading and prayer, fast every Wednesday as you run a soup kitchen in a poverty stricken part of Port Arnold and can’t go home for 6 months).
After a terrorist like run thru a grocery store to get a snack (coke, potato chips and bag of peanuts) we headed out a few kilometers of Umtata to a HIV Shelter.  Talk about ruin your day.  A small three-bedroom house is home to about 20 HIV patients from 14 to 26.  There was no mistaking what these people struggle with, frail, gaunt, wrapped up in blankets on their beds in the middle of the day to keep warm.  My South African Hunter friend, Rufus, can fell the fiercest of animals, gut and skin them with out even the faintest of struggle.  Yet this house brings this rugged outdoorsmen to his knees, as it did all of us.
The youngest a girl with a brilliant smile, took you heart and disturbed you soul.  Here lies this beautiful young girl who was going to die of AIDS.  Not as soon as she could because of these good people in this shelter but die she will.  Was she sexually promiscuous, yes.  Was it her idea, NO!  An older relative forced himself on her and she did what women in this culture do, endured the powerlessness and physical pain.  Now she is dying of AIDS.   All I can do is hope in the justice of God!
The workers in this shelter are all volunteers, 20 in all they take turns doing shifts to make sure that someone is there at all times.  In the face of such hopelessness they continue to practice a lost art, faithfulness.  They don’t see quick results and observe failure regularly.  What keeps them going, God’s call on their lives to love him and love others.  I know that if heaven has strata, I expect to be looking up at them!
After a brief rest at the Hilltop Guest House we left for dinner at Mike’s Kitchen.  Tomorrow we meet with the doctor in charge of licensing for the Eastern Cape and then depart for a meeting in Bukwini (spelling given to us at dinner by the lady in charge of the Depart of Social Development responsible for Bukwini.)