Day 3

As time goes on, I am sure that I will not have time to make a post for each day I am here, but I have some time and I have been thinking a lot lately about being here again, so I thought I would make sure to put these thoughts down before I forget.

Today I attended the Mdantsane 1st Ward and it was great. I was reunited with two guys I served mission with, and man these township wards are always something else. The elder’s quorum president spent the entire lesson teaching us the home teaching lesson, which was actually great, but I kept expecting him to get past the regular home teaching chewing out that is universal among all elder’s quorums throughout the church and move to a lesson. Also, in elder’s quorum, one elderly man would not really sing the hymns but would every once in while let out a bellow that was only somewhat to the tune of the hymn (it’s the corky members that make the church true; I have a testimony of that J). He also was asked to read a passage of scripture and he stood up and read it with very loudly with great gusto and authority and then concluded the verse by saying “that’s great!” He is my new favorite person because he just goes with the flow and does as he feels and he has one of those jovial faces and really big, think glasses that look like they come from a cartoon or something.

I had a great conversation with Wilber (my host father who is Xhosa) today before church. He studied political science (heck yes!) and became a high school teacher, so we had a lot to talk about and he is VERY knowledgeable and sensible about South Africa’s current situation mostly because he has lived through all the most monumental moments in SA’s history (he is about 60). The most interesting part for me was the land reallocation talk we had. I brought this up because it worries me. First Zimbabwe is the mess that it is in large part due to the governments crappy (understatement) land redistribution policy (aka force whites off their farms many time murdering them) that placed people that did not know how to farm on the land; thus the “bread basket of Africa” has become a famine ridden wasteland. Also, many whites here say that SA is just a few years behind Zim and will soon be experiencing the same thing. Wilber told me the following:

When the old government ran out of land (they had given some white farmers farms that would stretch from Provo to SLC or from East London to King Williams Town) to give to solders returning from WWII, they began giving the whites land that blacks were living on and working. The blacks there were however allowed to work for the new white farmer (slap in the face!). so many people do feel wronged by this and rightfully so, but you cannot simply give them land. He said that if someone wants to apply for a farm, then they should first show that they can manage land by planting small gardens in their yards, get training on how to farm, be giving small trial farms to prepare, etc. There must be preparation! He also mentioned that people must first try to feed themselves an then work toward running a farm (many people complain about hunger but are not taking the time to grow their own veggies etc). he talked about cooperatives that sounded a lot like what Heber J Grant started in Brigham City (I believe it was him there) that really sent the Utah economy on the right track. Grant and others, who were farmers, all put some money into a manufacturing business that made nails and other things, but they would each only work there part time and the other days keep working their farms. Wilber suggested that people get together and work together on farms while keeping their current employment.

He is very much so all about self reliance (him and Brigham Young would have gotten along).
On another note, Wilder also gives no sympathy to those that blame bantu education on their current situation. Now bantu education was the education that the old apartheid (white, pre 1994) government gave to the blacks; it’s main goal was to keep the blacks ignorant so that they couldnot progress further than their “appropriate” place as subservient to whites. Here is what Hendrick Verwoede (Prime Minister of South Africa in 1954) said about bantu education:
“What is the use of teaching the Bantu (black) child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? The school must equip him to meet the demands which the economic life will impose upon him . . . There is no place for him above the level of certain forms of labor . . . For that reason it is of no avail for him to receive a training which has as its aim absorption in the European community.”

This education was by no means valuable or useful and I detest it in all fronts and makes me sick to think about (if you want some good reading on this let me know and I would love to oblige!), but (as Wilber, a black man, pointed out) there were those that became doctors, teachers, and lawyers in spite of this terrible education such as Wilber and Nelson Mandela (although Wilber did say that he had great support from his family and Mandela was much more well of than the typical South African, so the typical black South African did not have much of a chance). This was a very interesting point that sheds light on the bigger issue of entitlements and affirmative action. In this country I have been traditionally in favor of affirmative action (as long as those that are getting the jobs are qualified and not ONLY given jobs based EXCLUSIVELY on race although I do feel that race is a consideration in light of the past inequalities, and before you disagree with me research SA history and then we will talk! If you are South African and reading this PLEASE give me your opinion!!!) this really got me thinking about the limits that entitlements have and how in the end if someone wants something bad enough they will work for it (again wilber’s words).

Corky people make life worth living and entitlements are delicate things that must be handled with prudence . . .