November 27, 2003
Cape Town
E-newsletter #2
Happy Thanksgiving!
We too will celebrate our blessings with gratitude,
but without one bite of turkey: later today we will meet Siwe,
our language tutor, at the Africa Café where one can sample
16 dishes from all over Africa in one meal. Our formal Xhosa instruction
has come to an end, as we are preparing to spend the last two
weeks of our stay here en route to and in Johannesburg, where
we will live upon our return in February 2004.
Last Saturday we attended a workshop on “People
in Poverty,” sponsored by the Presbytery of the Western
Cape. The South African economy is growing. Will this rising tide
lift all boats, as Reaganomics claimed? Will everyone benefit?
Or will the yachts of the rich sink the rafts and rowboats of
the poor here as in so many other places?
In South Africa the majority of people are left
out of the growing formal economy, among them some highly talented
and trained persons. They live within a vast “second”
economy, together with those who are marginalized, unskilled,
unemployed or unemployable in the formal sector.
Some of the output of this second economy can
be seen at the street corners of Cape Town: used tea bags painted
to decorate paper products, recycled wire fashioned into toys
and art work, beer cans and license plates turned into lunch boxes
and storage containers.
Another model of this second economy has been
pioneered by one of the congregations in the township of Gugulethu.
Through a cashless system, talents and skills are given and received
in terms of an imaginary currency called “Gugs.” In
communities where there is little or no real cash, this arrangement
provides a feasible tool to enhance standards of living—I
earn Gugs by mending a child’s school uniform or giving
someone a ride; I spend Gugs on organic vegetables delivered to
my house, or on having my leaky faucet fixed by another member
of the network.
We celebrate these creative responses to overwhelming
poverty and are grateful for the opportunity to meet the people
behind them.
Have a blessed Advent!
Susanne and Ken |
