Staying Long Enough

Today marks 4 ½ months that I’ve been serving here in Ocean View, South Africa. One of the most eye opening experiences I’ve had so far though is when the group of Elon students came to help us the other Thursday and Friday. Because they were only here for a couple of days, I realized their experience in Ocean View was dramatically different than mine.

For example--to the Elon students, hearing that we couldn’t use the multi-purpose center in Ocean View didn’t quite make sense.  Over time though I’ve found out it’s rarely allowed to be used because it was overrun with people drinking and using drugs on it and so it was shut down completely. There’s history behind it. But even as we walked in Ocean View, the flats and people the Elon students saw were only that. Overcrowded and run down flats with a large coloured population living there.  For me though it’s completely different. It’s the community I call home. It’s where I stay and it’s become a part of my identity. It’s a place that is being restored and brought back to life with genuine, down to earth people living here. Something that you wouldn’t know if you don’t stay long enough to meet and get to know the people living here.

In staying here for 4 1/2 months now things have changed for me. It’s been a transformation in the way I view the people I came to serve. They are no longer “the coloured people living in Ocean View” but rather my good friends who I live with in Ocean View. I’ve been here long enough to see that I’m not necessarily the one with all the resources to all of their needs. An attitude that was easy to have coming from the background I do going into a more broken community such as Ocean View. Rather, I’ve begun to experience that they’re the ones who have all the resources to all of my needs.

I believe that kind of transformation can only come with enough time. Something that’s been very cool to experience firsthand.

Austin