Monday, March 29, 2010

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Here in Capetown, South Africa, we met with Mike Talley from Living Hope. Also tagging along was Dave Toms a truly remarkable man who is working on several projects throughout Africa. We went into two townships to tour Living Hope's facilities: Masiphumelele and Ocean View. Living Hope is working on several fronts to combat the poverty in these townships. Throughout our meeting, Mike discussed several things that were stunning to me.

What do you want to be when you grow up? It is a simple question to answer. Think about it. You can look in my baby book that my mom has stored on a shelf somewhere and it would say, "Toll Booth Man." Looking back on that I am glad my career aspirations evolved. South African's in these townships do not have an understanding of options. It is remarkable as a Westerner. We were always told we can do whatever you want in life. Here though, poverty is the only way of life. There are 15 year old girls who think that because their parents have AIDS, they have to contract it. That because their relatives are having children at 16, they must have children at 16. This is the true thinking. The mindset is not there. Life skills such as, going to work, staying at work, showing up sober, working for the future do not process. This is why giving money and medicine is not making a substantial impact in the area. It does not go unnoticed. Bill Gates and President Bush (believe it or not), through the United States, have given untold amounts of money and medicine to Africans. The ROI (Return on Investment) is not there. (I say that as unbiased as possible). It goes back to the old saying, "Feed a man a fish, feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life." The giving is great. But the ability to help Africans stand on their own feet is not there. The new model being implemented by Dave and Mike, through different organizations, is, "Teach a man to build a fish farm." The mindset must be changed first before this can take affect.

I feel like we could write a book on everything we have taken in so far. The four of us (Rayanne, Lisa, Tristan, and I) spent three hours brainstorming of ways to help tonight and what we can be doing. The amazing thing is we will visit another township tomorrow and two more after that before we go back. So the ideas will be endless, I am sure.

It is almost discouraging to sit here and write because there are so many areas to go into and in such detail. Hopefully, after the trip, we will be able to put down all of our ideas and experiences into a concise articulate format that will do this all justice.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, Mac: well done! This was an introspective entry. I'll wager not many students are learning as you are during spring break. Where are the photos on the blog?

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