Please indulge me as I leave my adopted homeland. I'm writing a series called
"Top Ten Things I Would Have Never Said in America"
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| Bessie and a Friend carry buckets to my car |
4. The township doesn't have water again.
When we first
came to Africa I strained to see the first sight of it out the window from the
plane. At first sight, Africa looked
like Sacramento, the place I had come from.
I was flying into
Oliver Tambo in Johannesburg, one of the first world airports of Africa. I
would later see the “other Johannesburg" – the townships.
During the
Apartheid Era (1948 to 1994) in South Africa, blacks were evicted from
properties that were in areas designated as "white only" and forced
to move into government assigned areas according to their race. With the Group Areas Act, separate townships
were established for each of the three designated non-white race groups
(blacks, coloureds and Indians).
Apartheid ended
in 1994, but the townships stayed. In
them is an interesting mix of people from all over (the Cape, Zimbabwe, Limpopo,
etc). They have all come to Johannesburg
to work; and they are poor.
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| Darrell with a friend in Diepsloot |
To work in
Johannesburg means a good wage, but you have to survive the living
conditions. Unless you are like Lorraine, who lives on our property, you can’t afford much in Joburg. Rental costs are high and the neighborhoods,
no longer segregated by race; now segregated by economic status. Like all places.
Before you start
thinking how terrible things are, I can witness to you that the township is not
all bad. There is life and joy and
beauty in its corners. It is a place
where families live and there is laughter and music and soccer played in the
streets. There are also many, many opportunities
to minister the Gospel. There are many
opportunities to help.
There are many
people who offer to pray for you.
Diepsloot is
serviced by the mega-organization (mega disorganization) of the Municipality of
Joburg. The garbage pickups, electricity
and water supply are organized through them.
There is often a
problem.
For most of us,
City Power is a pain in the butt. They
provide sub-standard service and have too few generators for South Africa’s
biggest city. Diepsloot has primitive
wiring and many times neighbors “share” power (illegal and dangerous) so often
times the power goes out with no notice.
It can stay off
for days. No worries, its residents are
originally rural residents, used to living without electricity and can cook
with paraffin stoves or gas stoves. Or
open fires.
Diepsloot’s water
supply comes from the Olivedale reservoir system, 27 kilometers west of the
township. The rapid growth of Diepsloot since 2000 had placed a burden on the
existing water infrastructure.
If you are an
average resident of Diepsloot your relationship with water is this way: You wake up, go outside with your 20 liter
bucket, collect water from a community tap and bring it inside of your
house. Once you have done this, you use
the water for a tub bath for you and your family and heat some up to make
tea. If there is leftover water, you
cover it and it stays there for later.
Most people make
two trips in the morning to the community tap, two trips in the afternoon. The 20 liter bucket is the “tap” inside of
your place.
Many times something
goes wrong and the water supply is shut off.
No one can live
without water.
Last year the tap water must have been shut off fifteen
times. In public statements, Joburg water apologizes
saying residents could make use of mobile water tankers dotted throughout the
township. Two water tanks are usually
put next to the clinics in extension two and seven.
The worst
incident of “no water” in Diepsloot happened last year when there was contamination
by sewerage due to a maintenance accident.
"Contractors
working on a sewerage line out of Diepsloot damaged a water main, creating a
strong risk that the water supply would become contaminated," a spokesman
said.
I knew better.
The contractors
that Joburg Water give to Diepsloot for maintenance are people who have to
speak Zulu and Sotho. They are most
likely township guys themselves. The residents
near the “accident” say that the lines were joined –sewage to fresh water – by a
less-than trained guy working with a partner who was on his cell phone the
whole time.
I have a limited perspective,
but in all of my years here I have never, never, never seen a proper “water
maintenance” project happening in Diepsloot.
They are the least of these here in the city.
To illustrate this,
Johannesburg Water and Rand Water signed a joint venture agreement in 2006 to
build a “bulk supply pipeline” from Pretoriusrand to Diepsloot at a cost of
about R11-million.
11 million rand
translation? One million, three hundred thousand dollars. One million dollars for two hundred thousand
residents. Wow. Real humanitarians.
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| Kids play in front of their home. |
I am appalled at
the attention the townships get from the City.
I can’t stand it. It makes me
seethe with anger…
After it happened
I received a call from Forget, a home group leader in extension 11 of
Diepsloot. She wanted to know if we
could help her fill her buckets somewhere else.
I have a car.
In one day we
filled sixty buckets at Mother Touch Academy, a local preschool that ministers
to Diepsloot and its residents. It was
one of the best days of my life.
Seeing the beauty
and optimism of its people, their familiarity with suffering and tolerance of
sub-standard service inspired me. The
people I helped that day acted like I was such a blessing. In reality, they are the blessing. They remind me that we are not owed anything;
each precious drop of water from my tap is a gift.
We have filled
many, many buckets outside of Diepsloot in the six years we have been
here. Each time we do, I am angry and
inspired. I hate the conditions; I am
inspired by the people.
As you drink your
glass of water today, remember that it is a gift. It is not a guaranteed something; it isn’t
something everyone in the world has.
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| Buckets waiting to be filled at the water line in Diepsloot |
And my heart
breaks…
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