Br. Khumbalani - Apartheid

This evening we were in charge of the couples fireside here at Dukes

Ct.  There were 50 people in attendance.

Br. Khumbulani Mdletshe spoke to us about what it was like living during apartheid.  He spoke of how as a youth he was so angry at white people & thought they were good for nothing and that they all needed to be pushed into the ocean from where they came from.  He wanted retaliation for all the trouble the whites had caused.  

One day he met two white missionaries.  He was scared of them and ran away but they coaxed him to come and talk to them.  He felt their love and it was cool to feel that towards a white person.  He ended up joining the church & serving a mission in England with Rex J Pinegar as mission president.  

At the end of his mission,there was alot of killing and violence here in So Africa so his mission pres wouldn't let him come home to it and instead, sent him to BYU Hawaii!!!  

Khumbulani got an education there and felt so happy feeling loved by so many races all living peacefully together.  He was amazed by it.  He got a job and there was a white secretary who came to him one day and said, "Khumbulani, why do you never give me any work to do?" He expained to her that he was from SA and black people never give orders to white people.  

Br. Khumbulani bore such a great testimony of how much the gospel completely changed his life for the better.  He might still be living in the bush hating whites if not for the gospel.  He expressed to all of us that if there was anyone present with any prejudice or bad feelings that it's just not worth it and to work on it.

Johannesburg Temple

Yesterday Chris & I spent the afternoon serving as ordinance workers in the temple.  While there I got to spend several hours in the children's room and met a family from Zimbabwe who had come to be sealed together for Time and all Eternity.  Monday night, with just an hours notice (because of one of the children's visas that came through at the last minute) Ane and Ano left Zimbabwe with their mom and dad on a bus at 7pm.  They traveled all night and into the day, arriving at Johannesburg around 2pm where they then got ready and came to the temple.

Ane & Ano.  (English names are Alison and April)

Today I got to dress the little girls all in white and be with them in the sealing room with their mom and dad.  It was such a sweet experience to serve these little girls and feel the families joy in becoming a forever family.

What a blessing we have in the knowledge of eternity and being together forever.  There are things we can choose in this life to bless our lives forever.  What joy the gospel brings into peoples lives.

Soweto

On Friday afternoon, six of us (with Claytons and Eggets), took a little time off to go with Brother Khumbulani Mdletshe (CES Institute Director) on a tour of the township of Soweto.   

He first gave us a little history of South Africa ... here is a wee bit of it ... 

1647 was the year the first white man came to South Africa.  A Dutch ship marooned near Cape Town and the first European settlement began.  In 1910 the Union of South Africa was created with no voting rights for blacks.  1913 a land act decreed that native populations could only own 13% of the land.  The rest of the land could be owned by the 10% white population.  1925 Afrikaans is made an official language.  1948 Apartheid is institutionalized.  1960 Sharpeville massacre.  Zulu's were protesting the requirement to carry identification papers, being treated like a visitor in their own land.  1964 After many years of peaceful protests being completely ignored, things got violent & Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for his leadership in the uprisings. 1976 Soweto uprisings.  School children opposed the mandate to be instructed in the Afrikaans language rather than in their native tongue.   1990 Nelson Mandela freed from prison after 27 years.  He preached forgiveness and reconciliation and was elected president of South African National Congress (ANC) which become the ruling political party.

Grave of Walter Sisulu, one of the architects in the
anti-apartheid struggle & close friends with Nelson Mandela

Next stop Regina Mundi Catholic church.  This church became a refuge for students during the Soweto uprisings in 1976.  Police followed the students into the church and fired shots.  This caused panic among the students and they attempted to find an exit and flee.  Several bullet holes have been preserved in the structure to bear witness against the brutality of the police.

When Mandela would speak here, he never stood up on the riser
but down on the level of the people to show respect and equality.

Nelson Mandela home on Vilakazi Street. 
Mandela and his family lived here from 1946 to the 1990’s. 
In 1962 he went to prison for 27 years & his
 family continued to live here.

It is a sad story that while Mandela was in prison, his wife, Winnie became an activist and was sentenced to 6 years in jail.  Their hearts were knit together while they were apart but after Mandela was released they discovered that they had drifted apart & so they separated.  Mandela had softened and saw the importance of loving one another and of working together.  Winnie was cultivating hatred.  She said that by hating, it kept her strong.  After Mandela was released from prison, he was sad to see what Winnie had become.  

This reminded me of the scripture in Alma 62 that says: "But behold, ...many had become hardened because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility."

Ate lunch in a café on Vilakzai Street.
Brother Khumbulani encouraged Chris to try the Zulu delicacy, tripe. 
Debbie was glad she chose Greek Salad because man oh man that tripe was smelly!

We were entertained by a performing group of young men
who danced a Zulu dance.  They were excellent and
we got a great video that I hope to post soon. 

Next stop,  Hector Pieterson museum which overlooks the square where the Soweto uprisings began and 23 people were killed by police in their response to a peaceful student demonstration. This set off a chain of violence around the country marking the 1^st internal challenge to the apartheid government.  13 year old Hector Pieterson was killed by the police which became and international news story.  Hundreds were killed in protests in South Africa.  International condemnation and pressure on the government for change increased.

                                                                                                                                                                Our final stop was at one of our church buildings in Soweto.  This building was built during apartheid.  It

has beautiful landscaping and is well maintained by the local members.

It's just not right at all that any people should come into a land of another people and take over.  So many lands on this Earth have had this happen -even our own land. The one thing I was most surprised about in coming to Africa is the huge inequality between the black people and the white.  Things are better now than years ago but the gap is just too huge still.  I told Br. Khumbalani that I was grateful for the gospel that calls us brother & sister instead of black and white but that it is sure sad that anyone should have to work so hard just for equality.   Someday we will all be equal and live happily ever after in peace and joy and love. 

Sharing with the Basotho People

 Unexpected opportunity to share the Gospel with the Basotho people

   On the very last day of 2013, we had a most amazing experience.  

On our drive back to Johannesburg we stopped at the Basotho Cultural Village,
another fun place Chris discovered for us :)

As we got out of the car the parking attendant greeted us and told us where to purchase entrance into the village.  While we waited for the next tour I chatted with a man who was making pretty earrings and necklaces. He said to me  "When your car came in I saw all this light and so I asked him (he pointed to the parking attendant) 'what is all that light' and he told me it is the light of Jesus Christ."  (The parking attendant had noticed our missionary tags.)  The man then asked me   "Do you have a book?  Do you have a bible or something I can have?"  I asked him if he reads the bible.  He told me yes he reads it every day.  I told him that was great and that we had another testament of Jesus Christ that we would like to give him.

Chris went to the car to retrieve the little bag that we had prepared earlier with a Book of Mormon, Articles of Faith card and Plan of Salvation brochure.  As he did so the parking attendant asked us if he too could have one.  Then a lady came out of a door and asked if she could also have one!  I was so very thankful that I just happened to have put 3 books in the trunk just in case someone wanted one!  They asked us where the church was and we were able to tell them because we had just come from there.

We toured the village and as we returned to the car we noticed them actually reading!  They said to us "see you on Sunday!"  :)

We thought we were coming just to learn from them but they wanted to also learn from us and it was beautiful to share with each other.

They make their own beer and pass it around for all to sip from a gourd bowl called a calabash (of course you know we just jumped at that opportunity!)

This lady was grinding roasted maize.  It is mixed with sugar or sweet sorghum & salt.  The lady put a spoonful in each of our hands and it was very good.

They make fermented sorghum porridge and again passed the bowl around for everyone to sip from (was kind of sour like plain yogurt) and then they gave us a spoonful of maize that had been soaked then baked.

The X is where they would cook.  They would build a fire in one of the four areas depending on the direction of the wind.  Very clever. :)

Here's picture of them playing music.  The handmade drum has little tambourine cymbal things on string stretched between the sticks.  He beats the drum and chimes the cymbals.  I'll try later to post a video of them playing.

Leaving the village we were in for a thrill! (click the photo to see what we saw)

Zebra and Springbok running across the road!

A large herd of zebra, springbok and others