MPOP

By Cheri Roland

Something’s happening here – but this is the good kind of something. Such was the impression Doug I received the first time we drove up the tree lined main road into the township of Mpophomeni, just 40 minutes north of the seminary.

Today the term “township” comes with a negative, at best, connotation. A township is an area, usually remote, established by the Apartheid government to assure separation of the races. It is a rabbit warren of squalor, HIV, and hopelessness. Violence, child-headed households, unemployment, starvation, open sewage, lack of water, alcoholism, cultural superstitions, witchcraft, and garbage heaps punctuated by ramshackle shacks of tin and mud are the norm. We have experienced many such areas in the developing world, unfit for human habitation.

But the township of Mpop, as we call it, paints a different picture. This large tract of land, lying between high contoured hills of sugar cane and trees, once belonged to a white farmer; in a reverse move from politics as usual, the farm was confiscated by the government to be used for the 35,000 displaced Zulus that now make up the Mpop community. This farmer was so distraught, after learning that his precious land was going to further the Apartheid cause, that he committed suicide. The majestic line of trees, reminiscent of rural roads in France, is courtesy of that original farm owner. As we travelled up and down the rutted dirt roads, we noticed actual yards around some houses, several with fences, flowers, and gardens. There are more goats and cows than in other townships. There are more children in their neat school uniforms. We looked at each other in amazement. We already had been told that this area has 82% unemployment and the highest rates of HIV infection in Kwa-Zulu Natal, the state with the overall highest HIV+ rate in all of South Africa. Add to that, as in most developing countries, the fact that work here is done by the women. In rural South Africa, the majority of these women are the grandmothers, or go-gos, taking care of their many grandchildren since the middle generation has died or abdicated their maternal responsibilities. The majority of men are nowhere to be found.

We were here to visit the Masibumbane HIV/AIDS Mission, which we eventually located in the only two storied house in the area. This organization seemed like the perfect place to establish a partnership with the seminary for our Field Experience and Ministry Course. Rob Kluge, a member of the local Hilton Methodist church, had single-handedly founded this mission in 1999 with the support of the Atonement Lutheran Church in Missoula, Montana. With their support, he purchased a small two room house, adding on a large back room and a second floor. It is now the headquarters of a comprehensive program of self-sustainability, dignity, empowerment, and hope for the entire area.

Supported by contributions from the US and members of his local congregation, Rob has developed and implemented a comprehensive package of 11 programs that are transforming this community from darkness into light. It all begins with a 6 step empowerment agenda to move the clients towards self-sufficiency within four months. The goals include improving the long-term physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the families; the clients then will make a contribution towards rebuilding this community ravaged by sickness. The results “will practically demonstrate God’s love by His Spirit through Jesus Christ”. But there are NO hand outs here; the program is based upon the Biblical principle of “no work, no food”.

The clients move through the application process of understanding and accepting the ground rules (each week they are given tasks to do for which they will be rewarded), and their physical and material needs are assessed while they are provided help with expenses, which they must pay back in full with their first stipend. If they agree to abide by the requirements they are put on the waiting list.

The emergency phase encompasses the first two weeks during which all aspects of the program kick in: 1) the client receives the workbook in which given tasks are assigned and evaluated weekly, 2) full weekly food rations start, 3) money for electricity, cooking utensils and hot plate are given and recorded, 4) their children’s school and health status are addressed, 5) a system of disciplinary actions are initiated if obligations are not fulfilled, 6) accountability for earned money is demonstrated (clients must save a certain percentage), 7) emotional counselling is started, 8) first tasks of tidying the yard and house are assigned, 9) their CD4 count is drawn at the local clinic and if below 200 they are started on ARV’s, and 10) they are assisted in filing their grant applications (if HIV+ or have dependents, government assistance is available).

Step four is the stabilization phase, slated for six weeks. Now the Mission can start to assess if a client is willing to take initiative to better herself and family. She receives food in proportion to her performance of the given tasks; her Mission budget account, as well as an actual bank account, are opened; healthy life style, organic vegetable gardening and home-based care teaching starts; spiritual counselling is offered; her grant application process continues; her funeral policy is applied for (a monumental problem here - sans this policy, her death can sink her entire family); and she learns how to make and use a hot box, a kind of township crock pot, an insulated top and bottom cushion which serves to continue cooking the food, greatly decreasing fuel consumption.

During the rebuilding phase, she get trained to crochet very attractive handbags (marketed locally by the Hilton congregation), learns the basic principles of working with money, starts her garden, and is assisted with making a will and obtaining a title deed for her house.

Finally, after about 12 weeks, she enters the maintenance phase. Now, ideally, her family is strong enough physically, emotionally and spiritually to begin to care for itself. Her food rations stop so she must start buying food and utilize her garden produce. Spiritual and emotional counselling, as well as gardening advice, are still available. To give back to the community, she is encouraged to do up to two hours of voluntary service a week.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Isn’t this just a FABULOUS program? You can imagine how these efforts have served to change the face of Mpop, one person, one family at a time. The mission is staffed by professional administrators and counsellors. The volunteers are this misson’s success stories, their former clients. Now add to this program their two day care centers, or crèches, which provide love, health care, food and teaching to the community children, many of which are HIV+ themselves. The love of God is palpable in this place through the efforts of His servants striving to make life a bit more humane.

Rob Kluge, the sole developer of this program and pictured above in the blue sweater, has given me his permission to share his inspiration with anyone who is interested. For more details, see www.masibumbane.org.za. And I must add that parts of the above description of the program’s six phases I plagiarized from the mission information booklet; I must give credit where credit is due!

You can appreciate the blessings Doug and I have received personally as we have travelled the greater Pietermaritzburg area, establishing relationships with some of Jesus’ dedicated disciples. Masibumbane Mission at Mpop is just one of the agencies in which our seminarians will be privileged to serve during the upcoming years.