Keira is growing up

Ways of Staying...

As we have come back to South Africa, hoping to be a part of building a better nation, what we have discovered is that the divisions are still strong between black and white, rich and poor. We have discovered that the distance between these groups has for the most part not got closer in the "Rainbow Nation" but in fact grown further from each other, relationally and financially. This has been perpetuated by a desire to pretend that everything is now ok, to forgive without reconciliation and without being able to have healthy dialougue on the issues that affect our lives in the New South Africa. See article by Steve Khumalo on Rainbow nation mantra obscures racial inequality.
I am reading a book by Kevin Bloom called Ways of Staying. It is a challenging and yet refreshing book on the complexity of South Africa post Apartheid.
This quote jumped out at me. "to live here we have to understand. We have to understand that we kind of rub off on each other...We're living in the hangover of an incredibly violent history, and to make sense of living in this place we have to be able to understand."
This is the central reason why we have to move past our Apartheid lenses, past our language of blaming them, blaming those people, creating them vs us. We have to get together to talk, mostly to listen, to hear the stories and experiences of those who are different than us...to start to understand. That is the only way we are going to be able to stay in this country. We have to cross old boundaries and engage with what is, the reality of the struggle of South Africa, to move beyond our history into a true New South Africa.
On Sunday night we had our regular discussion on how to follow Jesus within the context of the struggles in SA. We studied Acts 1:1-8 and were convicted that the Holy Spirit was given to help us cross boundaries not protect them. Tom blogged on this Boundary Breaking here. We hope that our discussion groups will be the start of understanding.
Let me know what you think.

Our second Home

This last week we spent time at our "second home" in Zandspruit. Our friends, Thabo and Dikiledi, opened up their home and their lives to us. I have to say this experience was much different than the last time Trev and I stayed in Zandspruit. This time we had Keira, previous relationship with Thabo and DK and other relationships within the community. However my eyes were still opened even wider.
Our time last week had a strange dichotomy of comfort and discomfort all at the same time. Being with Thabo and DK's was easy, from the moment that we entered we felt at home, there wasn't that awkward couple of hours or days where you are figuring out what to do with each other in this space. They welcomed us showed us the ropes of how things work in their house ( i.e. bathing in a small plastic tub, heating water for bathing and washing dishes etc.) It all felt very natural, even Keira took to calling them " My Thabo and My DK" ( she sometimes calls us My Mommy and My Daddy)
The uncomfortable part came once we were outside their place. I felt comfortable walking around, greeting people, but some days I just felt like a spectacle, I have written before about how some people can just tell I'm not from here or just choose to stare at me. And with Keira, it kinda felt like she was an exhibit, as adults and children would come and talk to her or stare at her or want to touch her hair. Now it is one thing to experience these same interactions every once and a while at the store or where ever, but in Zandspruit the streets are always pretty full of people walking or standing around so its like every other step or turn.
And then we would be home again, arriving at someones home we were visiting or back at Thabo and DK's.
When I think about the amount of fear that people, including myself, have about squatter communities, my mind continues to blare RELATIONSHIP! as the answer. I am only uncomfortable when I don't know the person staring at me, once I am in a home of someone I know I feel safe again. Or even as I walked up and down those streets, toward the end of the week some people would return my greeting and not just stare. And just like anyplace, there are normal people trying to get by and then there are people who are out for no good. Usually the previous out weighing the latter.
Another thing I realized after coming home was how much luxury that I live in. I never thought of sitting in a hot bath in the quiet and privacy of my own home as a luxury (OK maybe the privacy part, Keira is tall enough to open doors !) Or turning on a hot water tap in my house, or not having to share a toilet with anyone but those who live in my house, or having a toilet inside my house, or . . .having a house, where you can't feel the wind blow through the cracks and wholes, where you don't have to worry about rats eating your food or anything else. Or having control over the noise.
I have privilege, and i live with privilege. . .
And . . .I have the privilege of having a second home in Zandspruit. It seems like not having all the conveniences and extras in life make relationship all the more valuable. And time, time and more time, is how you built the relationships. Sometimes I feel like I don't "Do" a whole lot, but my days seem very full, in Zandspruit, if you don't have a job, you are probably going to be sitting chasing the sun to stay warm and just being with the people around you. For us "doers" that can be hard to do, but that time can be time very well spent.
I am thankful that we got to spend time with Thabo and DK and be a part of their everyday for a week, and I am happy to have friends that are willing to walk this journey with us!

Funding for our work in South Africa..

Hi family and friends,

We wanted to pass on some urgent news.

We have recently learned that we will be loosing $900/month or $10800/year in support at the end of this month. This is almost a quarter of our budget. This has serious implications and we need God to lead, guide and provide for our family and ministry.

Please join us in interceding for God to provide new support.

Please could you pray and consider making a contribution, either an extra gift or starting for the first time.
If you have any connections that might like to partner with us in this way, please let us know.

Please visit https://servantpartners.org/give.php to give.
If you live in South Africa, please contact us and we will provide you with giving details.

Thanks for your partnership,

Trevor, Chrissy & Keira Davies + 1
Servant Partners - South Africa
www.servantpartners.org
thedaviesupdate.blogspot.com
trevsa@gmail.com
davies.chrissy@gmail.com

Reconciliation: A journey together…facing the past to move forward…

This past weekend we went to the Apartheid Museum. The purpose of the trip was for a group of us to discover and learn more of the history of our country so that we could move forward in to the future. The Apartheid Museum is unfortunately not a popular place for South African’s but very popular for foreign tourists. The funny thing is that Chrissy and I visited it on our honeymoon. It has been a helpful place to recognize what we are up against as we seek to walk into our call to be bridges of reconciliation. There is hope if we can walk through our past into the future together. One thing that struck me most was the pervasive lies, propaganda and systematic oppression that were put in place under apartheid. Everything was set up to segregate blacks from whites and to benefit the whites minority population at the expense of the majority black population – The scariest thing though is that post 1994, the democratic elections, one would have expected things to have changed but for the average black person on the street not much has changed. Apartheid might not be the law but the is an ever increasing distance between the haves and have not’s, a distinction that runs mostly along the black white line does not help to bring people together. This is what we are feeling more and more called to work against. The challenging thing for the wealthy white, I being one of them, is that because of our privilege we have to choose to enter into this struggle for equality and justice. We also have the choice to leave and return to our lives of privilege. It can be difficult to stay and learn, as it is easier to turn a blind eye and remain ignorant. It is a more radical choice to try to listen to and identify with those who are oppressed or who are poor, especially when you are part of the reason they are in the position they are. I pray that more white people will stay and commit to the journey of learning together how to reconcile, to follow Jesus into a place of healing together. Praise God for food, taxi rides, singing songs, soccer balls, rugby, tea and coffee and laughter that were also part of this challenging day. They all brought us closer together and give us stories that we now share.

Apartheid's Legacy

( A picture of my family that I miss very much!)

I don’t make a habit of thinking about evil too much. But today I have thought about it quite a lot. You know satan doesn’t have too many tricks, just the same old material that we fall into.
Thinking about Apartheid and how just a few people thought of this horrible thing and it became a nationwide plague, for not only blacks but whites too. I think the evil that was inflicted on the blacks was also harmful to the whites inflicting it. What I mean is hearts were hardened and blinders made thicker, and humanity taken away from a whole race of people and. . . that is evil.
What’s worse is that even though the institution is gone, the results of it run so deep . . . I am not sure when everyone will be able to breathe easily the same air and be comfortable in their own skin.
Our group that is meeting on a Sunday night seems to be pretty unique and I am enjoying the time I get to be apart of the discussions, I am mostly just listening a lot and trying to learn and take it all in, and its great to feel like there is one place where I feel like we (T and I) are living out our call on our lives, our relationship.
But sometimes when stories of pain are shared or ignorances are revealed I shudder, and I suppose that is a natural response. But for someone who sometimes just wants things to be better . . now! . . . it is a very difficult place to sit.

My heart feels tender and I think that is where God wants it to be, but part of my reaction to that is to miss home, friends and family terribly, so here is a picture that I stare at when I get a chance to stare and pray.
Remembering the Love that conquers all,
Chrissy