The Classes of Society in the KwaDabeka area

Having spent more than a week at the KwaDabeka-Clermont Township and observing most corners of the township, I have made a conclusion that our society is not the same and miraculous intervention is needed to bridge the societal gap between the so called rich and poor class. The area is characterised by different types of individuals who are living unique lives and who are affected by different challenges and problems.  One challenge that is almost a burden to all communities in Africa if not the whole world is unemployment. This challenge has led to more than two billion people in the world living under a dollar in a day. The KwaDabeka- Clermont is also victim to this pandemic that is increasingly affecting each and every one each day.

Across the Clermont clinic there is a blue container whereby homeless people and those who have no food to eat, gather and are served soup and bread.  Every day when I look at those people I ask myself one question (which I think is common to all of us), Will this world be a better place for all of us one?  Well I do not think an answer will come in our life time; however as an advocate for change it is just fair for me to bother myself with those questions even if I will not get answers eventually.  Well thanks to St Clements church Clermont that has seen a need to feed these hungry men, women and children without expecting any gains from the government and where so ever but doing out of love and being directed by compassion ministry.

Having observed those people for more than a week, I see one common thing in their faces and that is grief. Most of them enjoy the food they eat because they hungry (even though the food does not look appetising to me) but deep inside they think about where they will sleep for the day and if their family members have had something to eat for the day. After scrutinising all that I then think about their occupations for the day, I mean these are normal human beings and they should have daily occupations like anyone else.  Most of them come in the morning for breakfast, eat and sit under the tree near the container waiting for lunch. It is not surprising that even after lunch you find those people there and I assume they stay there until dinner.  Learnt helplessness has become an order of the day and they do not feel they can do something to improve their lives or those of their loved ones (we need to come in here as Occupational therapist).

Are these people lazy to work, I ask myself.  I then quickly realise that most of these fellow South African citizens have spent more than 10 years in search of jobs in the industrial areas of West mead, New Germany and all parts of Pinetown.  They are no longer motivated to even wake up to those gates with barbed wires at the top and a foreman on the other side pointing only 10 people who will do temporary work for that day out of a possible 450 people in one gate. 

Is this what the world is supposed to be?  Is this what God wants the world to be?  Why are there classes in one society? I ask myself.