Ten years of democracy has had what effect?
28 April 2004 saw thirty people working hard in the sun as their contribution towards creating a new South Africa.
Today we went to plant trees in Harare Khayelitsha, the main township outside cape town. At our meeting on Friday night Anele had announced that his organization (CNF) will be having a tree planting event and we are all welcome. I had so much enjoyed the previous trip we had done that this was fantastic news to me. My friend Gabriella and I decided to compile a leaflet promoting the event and spent a whole morning walking the city streets with these inviting all to come plant trees. Our efforts led to a group of about fifteen of us traveling through to Khayelitsha on Tuesday morning.
As we were driving closer and closer to our destination the remarks made by my passengers were very interesting:
“Look at all the children!!”
“This is where the majority of Cape town really lives!!”
“Oh my God! Look at the bull over there!”
“Look at all the stuff they are selling!”
“Check out the sign: “Linda’s Tavren’”
I was reminded of how alien an environment so called townships like Langa and Khayelitsha can be to us suburb and city dwellers. I heard the question “Where are you from?” several times today, followed by the question: “Denmark? Germany? America? Sweden?”. I was surprised at the surprise I met when I mentioned I came from a place even farther than Denmark: Muizenberg. The few friends from kgotla I had around me today were proud not to be first timers in Khayelitsha anymore and the first timers relieved to be first timers no longer! The friends we had made at our conference (Skura, Anele, Thogoziso and the rest) were glad to receive us and the hundred trees we planted were planted with love and care as much as compost and water.
I reflected on this today as we drove back from Harare. My car was filled with young people that had faced some small aspect of the massive need we carry as humanity and had had the opportunity of doing something positive, however small, about it. And how small is planting a tree? Let’s ask today’s babies that are going to climb the trees of Khayelitsha forest in 2050. Like a baby we made a visit to a the world today and gave a few more of our tentative steps. And like a baby the willpower engaged is immense. The conversation on the way back was less enthusiastic and more subdued. I detected however a sense of determination present which could only be born through the interaction of the day.
It seems that the energy needed to fulfill a particular task depends on the completeness of the picture that task involves. If fresh willpower is engaged through finding new pictures, I believe we did exactly that today.
I also transfer this metaphor to the larger family which we are a member of, the global youth community. If our work seems dead and lifeless in a community, does it lack the new pictures gained by crossing a threshold of some kind? Which threshold could it be? Crossing the border between Khayelitsha and Cape town, Katha tells me that she is glad to be back in touch with our work.
Maybe getting in touch with the part of me that is out there in the world I come closer to finding what will sustain it all...
