A tale of two valleys

South Africa is a place of contrasts.  One place this can be seen is in the Drakensberg mountains, where two valleys tell different stories.  I was staying in a wonderful backpacker's hostel in the Champagne valley surrounded by such things as golf courses, hiking trails, and resort lodges.  Only a few miles away is another valley full of tiny huts, starving cows, and abundant poverty.

UPC (University Presbyterian Church) Betsy Meyers works in this second valley.  Only a couple years older than me, she has been here for six years and runs a home care organization.  She carries a young baby boy named Moses with her that was left by the river; she is adopting him.

Betsy allowed me to join her on home visits in a population that is 40% HIV Positive.  I learned from her how Tuberculosis (TB) is just as big of a problem and how AIDS and TB work together to destroy lives.

In this valley, Zulu politics collides with municipal politics.  Tribal traditions often take precedence over local laws.  Everything is run by a Chief.  If the Chief is a drunkard or otherwise absent judge, problems ensue. 

Education is crucial here.  The first lady we visit has several times stopped taking her ARV's (anti viral medications for AIDS and TB).  Young girls sleep around and have children by several fathers.  AIDS orphans 1.2 million children in SA.  We visit a home where a 19 year old girl cares for four brothers and sisters -- while still going to school.  We visit another house where there are 14 people under the age of 27 (without the parents) in the house.

Watching Betsy, her warm personality connects with these girls.  They laugh about boys and she warns about AIDS.  The organization she founded, Thembalethu Care Organization (http://hopeforaids.blogspot.com/), trains women to be caregivers in the area.  They visit houses and check up on the patients.  If need be, they refer them to the American nurse on staff or to a clinic or to a hospital.  They urge the patients to get tested for AIDS and multi-drug resistant TB and provide taxi fare for getting there.

Their heart is big and their resources limited.  They have carried out God's command to love the poor and the sick; they love unconditionally.  They make due with what they have, but somehow are still managing to build a center that will provide such services as support groups and a children's soup kitchen.  Surely we should all be serving the poor, the outcast, the alien, the helpless, the sick, and the lonely.  Surely this is what the Kingdom of God must look like.