Hamba Ekukanyeni

The few days I have spent so far at my service site, Walk in the Light Ministries, have been some of the most powerful days I've spent in South Africa this semester. The week after we finished our 2 elective classes (Biology and Human Growth and Development), we began the second component of our study abroad semester - service. The 53 of us were divided up into 5 different service sites around the Pietermaritzburg area. I joined the team that was to serve at Walk in the Light (a.k.a. Hamba Ekukanyeni in Zulu).

Some background on Walk in the Light: The founder and leader, Bruce, started Walk in the Light right in the middle of a successful career in the business world. After the near loss of his young daughter a few years ago, Bruce said it was time for him to start serving God's people in need. Somehow, he ended up on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg where he founded Walk in the Light in the township of Haniville. Today, Walk in the Light encompasses a few acres on the side of a highway road across from Haniville. A church, pastor's house, greenhouses, vegetable gardens and sugar cane fields are all a part of the ministry that works to benefit the people of Haniville. What I've found so amazing about Walk in the Light is its strive toward self-sufficiency. By growing rose geranium plants and sugar cane on site, the ministry can raise money for projects such as clothing donation, clinic transportation, youth programs and even local employment. From day one, I have been stoked to be a part of this incredible organization.

Over the past several days, the 20 or so of us have been hard at work helping out with the various projects going on at Walk in the Light. We have been able to help out with clearing land for the vegetable gardens, digging an irrigation trench, as well interacting with a women's group and youth groups that meet at Walk in the Light. It's been truly awesome to get to know the people of Haniville and become a part of the community there - even if its only a small, 4 week part of the community. I have already learned so much about what it means to be a part of a community, and what it means to be truly in need. I am learning how to show love to people who have experienced nothing but brokenness for their entire lives.

Coinciding with our Principles of Community Engagement class taught by a brilliant Kenyan man, Francis Njoroge, our service at Walk in the Light is the field extension of the models we are learning about in class. Francis, a middle aged grandfather with a permanent smile on his face, has devoted his entire life to developing communities across Africa. He is a total storehouse of wisdom, peace, intelligence and friendliness. I am nothing short of honored that I get to be one of his students for a few weeks. Francis has been teaching us how he views community engagement, and what works and what doesn't work in community development. I am learning how real community development must directly involve members of the community for the entire process. The role of outside help is not to develop, but to empower the community to develop solutions themselves. This model promotes self-sufficiency and maximizes the positive effects of development for a community. Learning about it in a book is one thing - listening to it from a man like Francis, and then going into communities and practicing it is completely another.

Today, I worked alongside Bagie, Michael, Tish and a few other locals from Haniville to work on building a house for a man named Mandla. Mandla is crippled from the waste down. He was stabbed by his daughter's boyfriend, and spends his time laying in his bed within his one room house made of mud and iron. On top of his paralysis, Mandla is HIV positive and is infected with Tuberculosis. The mud walls of his house are crumbling, so Bruce and his staff at Walk in the Light have committed to building a new house for Mandla. We hope to be done by this Friday.

Mandla's story is just one story out of hundreds within Haniville. This is a community that is only minutes from half-a-million dollar houses and a modern shopping mall, yet has slipped through the cracks of society where the well-off have turned a blind eye toward the impoverished. There are so many people in need, and the solutions are so available and present. How is it that a man can easily buy 4 meals a day for himself, yet a woman can barely provide 1 meal for her children in the same city? Every day that I work at Walk in the Light, I am reminded how truly blessed I have been for my entire life. But more importantly, I am slowly realizing that after my experience here, I will no longer be able to simply ignore the situation of the broken in this world. Much more to come from my time at Walk in the Light...