2004...blessed to study political science in South Africa with an amazing professor and incredible group of 11 souls. I think about that month of my life on a daily basis. The tears...oh the tears. I was confused...on overload...in disbelief. If you aren't familiar with the history of South Africa, it's definitely a story worth learning.
The forty-six year regime of apartheid had left the country in ruins...the air was thick with pain, you could literally feel the broken-hearted hopelessness. 2004 celebrated the 10-year anniversary of democracy in S.A. and yet 10 years out from under the rule of apartheid, citizens still found themselves bound by the ties of nearly five decades of injustice. It isn't until you see a family of 6 living within the walls of a make-shift structure no larger than most of our laundry rooms, surrounded by hundreds, and hundreds of other family dwellings made from the same refuse, that you stop and ask yourself, "what have we done, and what have we allowed to be done to one another?" It isn't until you've cradled an abandoned baby with full-blown AIDS that you feel a depth of sorrow that makes the world around you stand still. And it isn't until your fingers grace the bullet holes left behind a murderous rampage of innocent refuge seekers that the reality of despair settles deep within...at least those were my moments of revealation in which I knew life could never be carried out the same.
Much love and peace <3
"Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy."
-Mother Teresa
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