We visited a cemetary today and it was a very sobering and sad experience for us. The photo of the cemetary above is only the portion of the cemetary for very small children under 5 years old. There are an unbelievable number of graves for the size of the area and it paints a very true picture of the devastation that HIV/AIDS has brought to this country and especially to Welkom.
If you have been wondering why it's such a problem here in this area, here's a quick explanation. South Africa has produced a very large percentage of the world's gold. In the hey day of gold mining (20-50 years ago) men who worked at the mines lived there in hostels while they worked. (Some still do.) Many of them came from other towns and villages to work and so they lived on the job site. Each site had a man whose job was to hire prostitutes to "entertain" the men. These men became infected with HIV and passed it along to each new person they were with and eventually took it back to their villages and passed it along there.
In the second photo above, you'll see lots of baby bottles and medicine bottles. It is customary here to put items that the child used on his or her grave. So the child buried above was probably very sick and very young to still have been using bottles. It's so sad to walk along the graves and see toys and bottles and cups and other children's items. It's another experience that is very difficult to imagine unless you see it for yourself. Love is universal and there's no doubt that regardless of the situation, these people loved their children and how sad it must be to see their children dying and be helpless to save them.
A litte way from the children's portion of the cemetary is where the children over 5 and the adults are buried. Most of the children are buried here on Fridays and the adults are buried on Saturday. Every Saturday there is an average of 70 adult funerals. That number is mind blowing and very difficult to comprehend.
It's been a day filled with adventure and one filled with sadness. We are all so blessed to be here in South Africa and have so enjoyed being with the children at The Pines. They are so full of hope, and joy, and love. But today we saw another side of South Africa; a side that seems so hopeless, so sad, and so lonely.
1 comment:
I don't know where to leave my comments because there's SO MUCH you've given us to commont about... this is a fantastic, almost minute by minute accounting of your experiences. It's all so sobering to go back there in my mind and relive what you're doing and seeing. Thank you for such detailed and heartfelt descriptions of everything. You have a tremendous way of expressing the truths of South Africa, Welkom and The Pines Christian Centre. Many, Many Blessings to All, Martha
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