quarta-feira, setembro 20, 2006
sexta-feira, setembro 01, 2006
My trip and visit to Salvation Army Social work in South Africa
AN ARTICLE FOR THE FINNISH WAR CRY - RELATED TO THE FALL COLLECTION
Text: Leandro V. da Silva
After taking part in the - The Salvation Army Theology and Ethics II International Symposium, assisted by 57 delegates and the General of The Salvation Army, in Johannesburg - South Africa, I, the delegate from Finland and Estonia Territory, had a wonderful privilege: I visited some of the social centers our Partners in Mission (the South African Territory) have in the Johannesburg metropolitan area.
Downtown Johannesburg, in a very "rough" part of the city, there is a Salvation Army Children's Home called Ethembeni (place of hope). It is a big and beautiful building, where 57 babies live, until they are either adopted, reintegrated back into their own families, or are found a foster family. If none of the above happens, at the age of three, they move into another S. Army Home.
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
Ethembeni is a home for babies who have been abandoned or mistreated. Some also have AIDS - (about 10% of them). Twenty-eight employees, two nurses, and many volunteers turn this place into a home of love and care for babies who, in most cases, have nobody else in this world to look after them!
(Picture by Captain Patti Niemand)
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
As I was entering this place, two things immediately caught my attention. Right in the hall, picture-frames hanging on the walls, show small African children playing in the snow, while others stand by a "koivu" tree near a lake. Well, I obviously had to say, "These look like landscapes from Finland!" Finnish indeed they were- I was to learn that those are children whom Finnish families have adopted over the years.
The other decoration that I could not help but notice was in the Memorial Chapel: many beautiful embroidery-drawings, with names as well as dates. "What is that?" I asked. "They are in memoriam to the babies who have passed away, because of AIDS. We try to catch and to express the personality of the child through the drawing. Here in the chapel, we can pray as we are reminded of them," answered the major in charge of the home.
(Picture by Leandro da Silva)
Johannesburg is a big metropolis of about 8 million inhabitants. It is, in fact, a typical developing-country metropolis, full of contrasts. During a few-minutes-car-ride, one will see high and beautiful buildings - including super modern arquitectures, the Nelson Mandela Bright, for example. One will also see beautiful houses, and shopping malls that differ in no way to any European-capital large malls. During the very same ride, you will most certainly have to face true poverty, watching many slums pass by, while their needy crowd the streets, trying to sell you all kinds of things, trying to make a living.
In some downtown areas, the official unemployment percentage is an estimated 70 - 80%. They tell me that this percentage, in reality, is much higher, due to the many illegal, uncounted people, who have moved to South Africa searching for a "better life".
South African Territory Headquarters and Johannesburg City Corps' building (picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
Captains Garth and Patti Niemand, the couple who kindly took me to visit all these places, are the Johannesburg City Corps leaders. Alongside that, they administer a Residence with a sixty-bed-capacity - all occupied by the poor and the unemployed. The Corps is located within the South-African-Territorial-Headquarters-building, in the city center.
The residence and feeding scheeme
(pictures by Captain Garth Niemand)
Fortunately, this Corps has understood well the meaning of the old-old message, "soup, soap and salvation," preached and practiced by the Army, even today. Corps members volunteer, doing their part in helping the needy community.
The sixty-people-residence provides daily meals not only for its (sixty) occupants, but also for a hundred more people. From Monday to Sunday, the feeding scheme is ongoing: at lunchtime, a big number of hungry people get in line, and they are satisfied.
Keeping the Residence open in the future is a very crucial matter. It is a common thing to find groups of about 40 people living in a single-room apartment, in this part of town.
When running social- programs and facilities for adults, the biggest challenge encountered is a financial one. Donators and sponsors seem to feel very touched when helping small children, to whose benefit generous sums are given. Nevertheless, when it comes to other suffering victims, the same does not really happen.
Therefore, let us get acquainted with a sad truth: many of the individuals standing in the food-queues today were minors (kids) as recently as yesterday! They have just barely grown out of childhood, and do not have much in perspective for a living.
Nonetheless, the Salvation Army is right there, right now, doing its best to help children, teenagers, and adults likewise, without discrimination!
A Day in Soweto
The rich nature and its exotic animals are not the only reason why King Lion's land has attracted so much of the whole world's attention. "Apartheid," which in Afrikaner (one of the eleven official languages of South Africa) means "separation" is a much known word. But it is not only a word. It carries heavy-loaded memories of oppression, humiliation and longsuffering, which the majority of the population - which is black - had to endure from their white governmental leaders, in former times.
Soweto (Pictures by Leandro da Silva)
This half-a-century-lasting historical period has ended, and it has a great hero, Nelson Mandela, elected president in 1994, after twenty-seven long years in prison.
To try to understand a little of all this, it is necessary to visit Soweto - a poor district, with more than a million inhabitants. The history of Soweto is intertwined with the stories of segregation in South Africa.
A hundred years ago, using the excuse of an epidemic, the government relocated more than sixty thousand goldmine-workers into southwestern areas - the so-called South Western Townships, from were the word Soweto designates.
As time went by, and especially during the fifties, when apartheid was at its worst, the Soweto region received more and more people - all-black.
One just cannot miss visiting the house - now a museum - where Mandela used to live with his family, before his imprisonment. It is an unforgettable experience.
(Picture by Captain Garth Niemand)
The Salvation Army has also marked its presence in Soweto in very special ways. Oh, I wish you could listen to the wonderful Soweto Corps' Singing Group, in a Holiness Sunday Meeting - just to get the feeling! Dressed in the well-known-worldwide-Salvation-Army-uniform, they sing and sweetly move to the rhythm of the music, with African perfection, reminding me that, although we are different in color, race and culture, although we speak different languages, we are part of the same family of Salvationists.
The Salvation Army in Soweto is far from being music, only! Captain Niemand (who visited Finland in 2004) took me to see a bit of the wide ranged work the Army is doing to benefit its poverty-stricken population.
There, we find Carl Sithole Social Centre, a complex of several buildings for community-social assistances. Captain Magdeline Phore, the director of the place, gave us a tour while sharing the every-day work that goes on there:
Bethany Combined School has 268 (1st-8th grade) students. As I spent some time talking to the children, they seemed to be very happy! When the teacher prompted them, they willingly started singing and dancing, in the incredibly small classroom. They wanted to tell me about their future careers, which they did in a very articulate manner. They love soccer, and Ronaldinho is their favorite player. I felt proud to tell them that he is from the south of Brazil, just as I, from Porto Alegre, the city where my daughter was born.
Bethany Combined School (Pictures by Leandro da Silva)
Bethesda House provides shelter to abandoned HIV/AIDS infected children (ages 2-10). It presently accommodates 27 children.
Bethesda House (Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
Carl Sithole Memorial Crèche is a whole day pre-school, currently caring for 40 children. Theirs is a basic four-fold program: creativity, story- telling, discussions and music. Oh yeah, these small kids can really sing!
Carl Sithole Memorial Crèche - Picture by Leandro da Silva)
Fifty-three kids live in Bethany Children's Home. These 6-18 year-old-orphans are victims of things such as violence, abandonment, and physical- or sexual abuse. Socially deprived, some are also HIV/AIDS infected.
Looking at the bad conditions of this building, you sadly realize once more: donators are few when it comes to meeting the needs of suffering teenagers. Captain Magdalene tells us about some of her efforts in keeping the house with the lack of proper incomes.
Bethany Children's Home - Picture Leandro da Silva
Very visible in this complex is a mobile clinic, The Wellness, Voluntary Counseling and Testing, and Anti Retroviral Treatment - Support Centre. Completely free of charge to the public in general, this clinic and laboratory is an effort of the Army to provide HIV blood tests, and treat patients suffering with either AIDS or Tuberculoses - while also helping their families. It came into being through donations from the Norwegian Territory, and has been open since Oct. 2005. HIV/AIDS is a terrible problem in South Africa, with an estimated 5.5 millon people infected.
A facility called the Trauma Counseling Centre tries to alleviate the psychological and emotional trauma of HIV/AIDS victims. Professional psychologists counsel patients and lead support groups. On the walls, many colorful posters and paintings give the impression of a pleasant, lively atmosphere. I was happily surprised to see a very familiar poster: a Finnish Christmas painting, by Captain Helena Nevalainen, Kuopion Osanton Johtaja.
Trauma Counseling Centre
(Picture by Leandro da Silva)
Leaving Carl Sithole Social Centre, we finally headed to our last destination: a day-care center with 140 children (The Salvation Army Bridgman - Jabavu Crèche)- the largest in Soweto. I was marked by everything I?d seen, and there my farewell was made complete, when the children gave me a real show: they sang the South African National Anthem, among other songs, which starts with a well known melody in the Finnish Salvation Army Song book: Siunaa koko maailma... (Heavenly Father... Bless the whole world...)
The Jabavu Crèche - Pictures by Leandro da Silva
As we sing this song in prayer, may we also be participants in this huge work of love. The Salvation Army Fall - Self Denial collection will raise funds, once again, to help the South African Territory, our Partner in Mission.
Text: Leandro V. da Silva
After taking part in the - The Salvation Army Theology and Ethics II International Symposium, assisted by 57 delegates and the General of The Salvation Army, in Johannesburg - South Africa, I, the delegate from Finland and Estonia Territory, had a wonderful privilege: I visited some of the social centers our Partners in Mission (the South African Territory) have in the Johannesburg metropolitan area.
Downtown Johannesburg, in a very "rough" part of the city, there is a Salvation Army Children's Home called Ethembeni (place of hope). It is a big and beautiful building, where 57 babies live, until they are either adopted, reintegrated back into their own families, or are found a foster family. If none of the above happens, at the age of three, they move into another S. Army Home.
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)Ethembeni is a home for babies who have been abandoned or mistreated. Some also have AIDS - (about 10% of them). Twenty-eight employees, two nurses, and many volunteers turn this place into a home of love and care for babies who, in most cases, have nobody else in this world to look after them!
(Picture by Captain Patti Niemand)
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
(Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)As I was entering this place, two things immediately caught my attention. Right in the hall, picture-frames hanging on the walls, show small African children playing in the snow, while others stand by a "koivu" tree near a lake. Well, I obviously had to say, "These look like landscapes from Finland!" Finnish indeed they were- I was to learn that those are children whom Finnish families have adopted over the years.
The other decoration that I could not help but notice was in the Memorial Chapel: many beautiful embroidery-drawings, with names as well as dates. "What is that?" I asked. "They are in memoriam to the babies who have passed away, because of AIDS. We try to catch and to express the personality of the child through the drawing. Here in the chapel, we can pray as we are reminded of them," answered the major in charge of the home.
(Picture by Leandro da Silva)
Johannesburg is a big metropolis of about 8 million inhabitants. It is, in fact, a typical developing-country metropolis, full of contrasts. During a few-minutes-car-ride, one will see high and beautiful buildings - including super modern arquitectures, the Nelson Mandela Bright, for example. One will also see beautiful houses, and shopping malls that differ in no way to any European-capital large malls. During the very same ride, you will most certainly have to face true poverty, watching many slums pass by, while their needy crowd the streets, trying to sell you all kinds of things, trying to make a living.
In some downtown areas, the official unemployment percentage is an estimated 70 - 80%. They tell me that this percentage, in reality, is much higher, due to the many illegal, uncounted people, who have moved to South Africa searching for a "better life".
South African Territory Headquarters and Johannesburg City Corps' building (picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
Captains Garth and Patti Niemand, the couple who kindly took me to visit all these places, are the Johannesburg City Corps leaders. Alongside that, they administer a Residence with a sixty-bed-capacity - all occupied by the poor and the unemployed. The Corps is located within the South-African-Territorial-Headquarters-building, in the city center.
The residence and feeding scheeme
(pictures by Captain Garth Niemand)
Fortunately, this Corps has understood well the meaning of the old-old message, "soup, soap and salvation," preached and practiced by the Army, even today. Corps members volunteer, doing their part in helping the needy community.
The sixty-people-residence provides daily meals not only for its (sixty) occupants, but also for a hundred more people. From Monday to Sunday, the feeding scheme is ongoing: at lunchtime, a big number of hungry people get in line, and they are satisfied.
Keeping the Residence open in the future is a very crucial matter. It is a common thing to find groups of about 40 people living in a single-room apartment, in this part of town.
When running social- programs and facilities for adults, the biggest challenge encountered is a financial one. Donators and sponsors seem to feel very touched when helping small children, to whose benefit generous sums are given. Nevertheless, when it comes to other suffering victims, the same does not really happen.
Therefore, let us get acquainted with a sad truth: many of the individuals standing in the food-queues today were minors (kids) as recently as yesterday! They have just barely grown out of childhood, and do not have much in perspective for a living.
Nonetheless, the Salvation Army is right there, right now, doing its best to help children, teenagers, and adults likewise, without discrimination!
A Day in Soweto
The rich nature and its exotic animals are not the only reason why King Lion's land has attracted so much of the whole world's attention. "Apartheid," which in Afrikaner (one of the eleven official languages of South Africa) means "separation" is a much known word. But it is not only a word. It carries heavy-loaded memories of oppression, humiliation and longsuffering, which the majority of the population - which is black - had to endure from their white governmental leaders, in former times.
Soweto (Pictures by Leandro da Silva)This half-a-century-lasting historical period has ended, and it has a great hero, Nelson Mandela, elected president in 1994, after twenty-seven long years in prison.
To try to understand a little of all this, it is necessary to visit Soweto - a poor district, with more than a million inhabitants. The history of Soweto is intertwined with the stories of segregation in South Africa.
A hundred years ago, using the excuse of an epidemic, the government relocated more than sixty thousand goldmine-workers into southwestern areas - the so-called South Western Townships, from were the word Soweto designates.
As time went by, and especially during the fifties, when apartheid was at its worst, the Soweto region received more and more people - all-black.
One just cannot miss visiting the house - now a museum - where Mandela used to live with his family, before his imprisonment. It is an unforgettable experience.
(Picture by Captain Garth Niemand)
The Salvation Army has also marked its presence in Soweto in very special ways. Oh, I wish you could listen to the wonderful Soweto Corps' Singing Group, in a Holiness Sunday Meeting - just to get the feeling! Dressed in the well-known-worldwide-Salvation-Army-uniform, they sing and sweetly move to the rhythm of the music, with African perfection, reminding me that, although we are different in color, race and culture, although we speak different languages, we are part of the same family of Salvationists.
The Salvation Army in Soweto is far from being music, only! Captain Niemand (who visited Finland in 2004) took me to see a bit of the wide ranged work the Army is doing to benefit its poverty-stricken population.
There, we find Carl Sithole Social Centre, a complex of several buildings for community-social assistances. Captain Magdeline Phore, the director of the place, gave us a tour while sharing the every-day work that goes on there:
Bethany Combined School has 268 (1st-8th grade) students. As I spent some time talking to the children, they seemed to be very happy! When the teacher prompted them, they willingly started singing and dancing, in the incredibly small classroom. They wanted to tell me about their future careers, which they did in a very articulate manner. They love soccer, and Ronaldinho is their favorite player. I felt proud to tell them that he is from the south of Brazil, just as I, from Porto Alegre, the city where my daughter was born.
Bethany Combined School (Pictures by Leandro da Silva)
Bethesda House provides shelter to abandoned HIV/AIDS infected children (ages 2-10). It presently accommodates 27 children.
Bethesda House (Picture by Captain Leandro da Silva)
Carl Sithole Memorial Crèche is a whole day pre-school, currently caring for 40 children. Theirs is a basic four-fold program: creativity, story- telling, discussions and music. Oh yeah, these small kids can really sing!
Carl Sithole Memorial Crèche - Picture by Leandro da Silva)
Fifty-three kids live in Bethany Children's Home. These 6-18 year-old-orphans are victims of things such as violence, abandonment, and physical- or sexual abuse. Socially deprived, some are also HIV/AIDS infected.
Looking at the bad conditions of this building, you sadly realize once more: donators are few when it comes to meeting the needs of suffering teenagers. Captain Magdalene tells us about some of her efforts in keeping the house with the lack of proper incomes.
Bethany Children's Home - Picture Leandro da Silva
Very visible in this complex is a mobile clinic, The Wellness, Voluntary Counseling and Testing, and Anti Retroviral Treatment - Support Centre. Completely free of charge to the public in general, this clinic and laboratory is an effort of the Army to provide HIV blood tests, and treat patients suffering with either AIDS or Tuberculoses - while also helping their families. It came into being through donations from the Norwegian Territory, and has been open since Oct. 2005. HIV/AIDS is a terrible problem in South Africa, with an estimated 5.5 millon people infected.
A facility called the Trauma Counseling Centre tries to alleviate the psychological and emotional trauma of HIV/AIDS victims. Professional psychologists counsel patients and lead support groups. On the walls, many colorful posters and paintings give the impression of a pleasant, lively atmosphere. I was happily surprised to see a very familiar poster: a Finnish Christmas painting, by Captain Helena Nevalainen, Kuopion Osanton Johtaja.
Trauma Counseling Centre
(Picture by Leandro da Silva)
Leaving Carl Sithole Social Centre, we finally headed to our last destination: a day-care center with 140 children (The Salvation Army Bridgman - Jabavu Crèche)- the largest in Soweto. I was marked by everything I?d seen, and there my farewell was made complete, when the children gave me a real show: they sang the South African National Anthem, among other songs, which starts with a well known melody in the Finnish Salvation Army Song book: Siunaa koko maailma... (Heavenly Father... Bless the whole world...)
The Jabavu Crèche - Pictures by Leandro da Silva
As we sing this song in prayer, may we also be participants in this huge work of love. The Salvation Army Fall - Self Denial collection will raise funds, once again, to help the South African Territory, our Partner in Mission.
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