Welcome to Africa

A week after our return to South Africa and some of the differences between our two life styles have become apparent. Superficially and perhaps surprisingly we live in a very similar house, in a very similar tree-lined street in a fairly similar town to our UK one except the South African place boasts a kilometre of beautiful golden sands.

Fish Hoek beach

Shopping is by no means a Third World experience either. There is little that we cannot buy here that we might wish and there are some bonuses – great meat and buttery avocados to name two. With the impeding arrival of our two inquisitive grandchildren aged 6 and nearly 4 I have tried imagining the differences they might notice. In common with most of Africa, the ladies carry their babies on their backs not in pushchairs. People sell a wide range of products by the side of the road, risking life and limb at traffic lights and you may even have a man with a large plastic bag offering, for a few rand, to take away the rubbish from your car.

A more amusing occurrence is finding someone around lunchtime lying on the grassy pavement by the side of the road. In UK we would immediately phone 999 fearing a collapse or even worse. Here it is just someone having an afternoon nap after a hard morning’s work.

However one morning in church and the differences become very apparent. A lady told of some American nurses here on placement spending a night in the Emergency room at the local hospital. This is in our quiet town not in Johannesburg. It was a night of stabbings and drug and alcohol overdoses. The nurses were trying to process their unexpected experiences.

Another church member who works with Metro Ministries in Lavender Hill, one of poorest areas of Cape Town, told of the shocking incident of a gang shoot out which had left 8 dead and 32 injured and children traumatised.  He was about to go to a meeting between police and gang leaders so he could speak up for the children in the area and to ask the gang leaders to consider the effect of their lifestyle of crime and violence on them.

Finally, another church member, a former missionary to Libya, spoke about how a colleague had just been kidnapped in Niger where he had spent over 30 years working with the locals in providing more secure food sources for them. No one knew where he was though fortunately his wife and children were safe in US.

 

What could we do but pray and pray we did. It made the topic of Brexit in UK and the Trump / Clinton presidential election seem very far away. But all these events, here and abroad, can be overwhelming for the man in the street or the Christian in the church. Do we sit back and howl about the immensity of these problems or do we take them to the Lord in prayer?

These are pivotal days. Our nations need our prayers and considered thoughts. This is the time for the Church to arise with God given wisdom and prayer.  We can show God’s perspective for the poor and needy, his great love for them and his desire for the Church to share that love with those around them and in the furthest corners of the globe. Drought stalks Africa and the effect of Hurricane Matthew is most visible in Haiti. They need our prayers and aid. Haiti desperately needs some God given long-term solutions to their problems.

Haiti

Our politicians and governments also need our prayers and for the Church to speak with wisdom and compassion about God’s view on Brexit and the presidential election because, believe me, God does have a perspective.

When the problems of the world seem overwhelming, God has some answers and he is happy to speak to whoever asks and seeks him. We may not have access to the ear of government but we have access to the highest courts in the universe, the courts of heaven. There we can hear God’s heart and petition him for our communities and nations. There we can change our world through our intercession and there we can make the most profound difference both to the rich and mighty and to the poor and suffering of our world.