It’s hard
for me to believe that my two weeks in South Africa have come to a close so
quickly. The saying “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your
life” has never seemed more valid.
This trip
has made me think very soulfully about life and our purpose on earth. Life is a
blessing; it is a confusing gift we must all sort out. At the end of the day, I
always return to a phrase I was raised with: tikkun olam (pronounced
tee-koon oh-lohm). It is a Hebrew saying, meaning “repairing the world” or
“making the world a better place”. My experience in South Africa has reinforced
my passion for acting on this central belief.
Acts of
kindness and a common HOPE for a brighter tomorrow can make all the difference
in the world. As Americans, we get so caught up in our “first world problems”.
I, myself, have been known to complain when the air conditioning is broken or a
restaurant has overcooked my steak. In Zandspruit, a place where most homes are
simple tin shacks and the bulk of families cannot afford to eat three meals a
day, people hold their heads up high and walk with smiles stretching across
their faces. These people laugh often and relish in the beauty of the little
things.
 |
| Children playing at Emthonjeni |
This past
Thursday, Tsholofelo (our field officer)and I hosted an interest meeting to
introduce *VSL to the community. One particular attendee was David Nesengani.
He is a pastor from Healing World Ministries here in Zandspruit. His stoic presence was heart-warming as he sat
through our meeting, front and centre, expressing his gratitude in careful
English:
“Your work here truly makes a difference in
people's lives. This is what is important. It is about people coming together
and working together to better ourselves. Project HOPE is a very fine
organization and the people will be very grateful for your work. I encourage
you to have more one-on-one sessions about VSL with people because it is such a
good thing.”
Another person
named Solomon attended with his wife, Dorah. He spoke of forming a VSL group comprised
of pensioners to help them manage their money, since they only get paid once a
month. He told Tsholofelo in Sepedi, “thank you for bringing such a program to
Zandspruit. It will help us pensioners to manage our money.”
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| A few of the attendees of the VSL meeting. David is on the far right. Solomon and Dorah are behind him. |
This, my friends,
is what it is all about! Project HOPE touches lives. We bring HOPE and
opportunity to places where it is difficult to find. I have never felt more
proud to be a Hopie.
Sincerely,
Rachel
*My reason for coming to SA is to introduce a new
program to the HOPE Centre: VSL,
which stands for Village
Savings and Loans. VSL is an economic strengthening methodology that helps
people save money, make profit on their savings, and take out loans. Groups of 8-15 people are formed and
HOPE trains them on the methodology throughout a cycle (about 1 year). Each
group also elects a Health Activist we train on varying applicable health
matters (ex: diabetes, nutrition, diarrhea, HIV, etc). They, in return, provide
the newly learned health education to their group. At the end of the cycle, the
group’s money is shared out proportionally, based on how much each person saved, and they
then have the opportunity to continue with a new cycle in which they will be
able to operate independently. VSL offers a form of insurance in places where people often do not have money
stored away for a rainy day,. We hope the program will complement our existing
ambitions of improving people’s health and access to healthcare, thus continuing
to increase their standard of living.
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