The Struggle, Part 1

Nomaphoyisa is the Province Manager for Mpumalanga province. Over the last two weeks I’ve been visiting many of the Mpumalanga sites with Nomaphoyisa. She is a quiet woman, with a gentle face. To be honest, I thought Nomaphoyisa was about my age. When she told me the story of her name, she had to put the events into the context of time and said that she was born in 1961. I just about fell off my chair.

In 1961, the South African police were on a mission to shut down the shabeens in black townships. Shabeens were illegal bars, which often sold home brewed beer. As it was illegal for blacks to drink during apartheid, all sellers of alcohol in the townships were shabeens. Nomaphoyisa's mother was very pregnant when the police stormed into their home in their search for shabeens. The story goes that she was so shocked by the incident that she gave birth on the spot. Nomaphoyisa means 'mother of the police' and it was Nomaphoyisa's grandfather who immediately christened her with the name.

Nomaphoyisa (Noma) and I are rather quiet with each other. We were working together outside of Witbank much of last week. The name of the township we were in escapes me now, but I thoroughly enjoyed the group (PSA S.A.) and was impressed with their work. As the careworkers were busy recording their activities for the year onto sheets for our Monitoring and Evaluation work (I'm now quite involved in the M&E process for our PEPFAR grant), Noma told me some other stories.

Noma was involved with the struggle. She told me of her uncle who would arrange for ANC members to live in exile. Many family members were already living in exile, and Noma's family was often harassed by the police when she was growing up. When she was old enough to become involved herself, she joined the Youth League of the ANC. One afternoon when Noma and I were sitting in silence, Noma looked at me and said that Canadians would often come out to her town to run workshops with the ANC. She told me that after one such workshop, the ANC members and the Canadians sat out in the open eating their evening meal. She said that the townsfolk were upset by seeing this, but those involved knew that by simply sitting together, they were showing the townspeople that whites and blacks could work together.

I'm not sure why Nomaphoyisa told me this story, or why she choose to tell me that story when she did. But it solidified something for me. It confirmed that even though I at times feel that I’m incapable of creating change, just in being here, I’m confirming something to the people around me. It's confirming to a country raised on segregation, that white or black, northern or southern, we are all invested in the HIV/AIDS Orphan issue. It's also confirming to the careworkers that I have been visiting that what they are doing is of global significance. I may not be able to say or do anything to push these issues to where I think they should be, but just by being here, I do have an impact on the struggle.

Upcoming: The Struggle in Jane Furse.