Hearing from us

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South Africa’s turn leftward

Upon majority rule in 1994, South Africa instituted many reforms, including prohibiting discrimination, outlawing the death penalty, and establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which I wrote about in my last post. These conciliatory measures smoothed the transition to majority rule. The situation today, however, appears ambiguous, with some South Africans questioning where the country is heading. Why is this?

Although Nelson Mandela began by leading the continent in peacemaking, in recent years subsequent leaders have turned decidedly leftward. At the United Nations, South Africa now routinely sides with China, Russia and other repressive regimes in blocking resolutions on human rights and supporting dictators such as Qaddafi, Castro and Mugabe. As well, South Africans are concerned about corruption charges against the man who may become the next president of the country.

Under majority rule, South Africans now appear to identify more with other African nations and less with the more prosperous West. A recent Economist article locates the problem in “South Africa’s ambivalent sense of identity, with one foot in the rich world, where its main economic interests continue to lie, and the other in the poor one, with which many of its people identify.” Its leaders seem to be reasoning that the world’s rich nations must decline in order for the poor nations to play a bigger part in ruling the world.

Next: What does this mean for the South African church and for missionaries living there?

Dealing with the uneasy past of our new home

In 1994, South Africa officially dismantled Apartheid (meaning “apartness”), shedding its racist past and granting political rights to all its citizens. This result was not achieved, however, without decades of violence and protest.

Attempting to deal with the horrors of the Apartheid era, leaders of South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Its purpose was to uncover human rights crimes, to provide reparations for victims, and to allow victimizers to earn amnesty. This process helped those who had suffered to be recognized and the guilty to find forgiveness.

During the years of the Commission’s work, which took place in Cape Town, 22,000 people testified of crimes against them or their families and 8,000 people were granted amnesty. As a result of this public purging, South Africans have been granted a measure of peace with their past and hope for living together as a “rainbow nation” of many races.

What do missionaries learn?

When missionaries gather to study, here’s a sampling of what they consider:
• What does it mean to indigenize?
• How do we work alongside missionaries from other countries?
• What happens if we need to evacuate from a country?

This week John and I gathered with Foursquare missionaries to improve our cross-cultural skills. It’s good to be associated again with Foursquare Missions, a mission agency where 100 percent of giving goes to the field.