John Walker's speech

One Life South Africa – visit, October 2013,

John Walker

Thank-you for letting me come today to share my experiences on a recent trip to South Africa, where I had the humbling opportunity to visit the One Life supported children and families in Nselini, Kwazulu, South Africa. I know many of you here sponsor children and support the different co-fundraising events of the church and One-Life.

In spite of often harsh and brutal conditions and tragedies of inexplicable heartbreak, I found collective resilience, hope, belief and rays of sunshine for the Nselini children. I have no doubt, this wouldn’t be the case if it wasn’t for One-Life’s – our – ongoing support to the work of Nancy and others at the children’s centre.

This was my first visit to South Africa. I was there as a trustee for an international business education charity that helps entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities; this work took me across the country and into different townships. Scheduling time to visit the One-Life supported children was, for me, a necessity, not an option.

I met Elena in 2007, shortly after my wife’s cousin had moved in next door to Elena and Roy. It will come as no surprise to many of you that soon after we were sponsoring six-year old Thembeka in a South African life I knew little about. Since then, the ups and downs of the One-Life journey have given us joy and distress.

I hoped that my visit would provide context and insight to the lives of the children we sponsor. It didn’t disappoint. I’m still understanding how this is affecting me. I think Elena shared these same hopes for my trip - she also hoped that I’d carry bags full of essential supplies - clothes, underwear, toys, colouring books and lots of sweets/treats!

I spent a full-day with Nancy, Khanya, family, helpers and the wonderful children. A large banner they had decorated welcomed Uncle John. I was then treated to a wonderful performance of traditional Zulu song and dance, poetry, thoughtful, powerful readings in local Bantu language and English; prayer; and the national anthem. Each and every child (young and old) performed – even baby Princess giggled on queue. The children had diligently rehearsed. It was their opportunity to give –back, to say thank-you, to proudly portray their heritage, and – probably without realising it – it was their opportunity to be children. This was priceless. The stark importance of the children being children hit home with the awareness that the majority of the 40 children in front of me were not just orphaned by the South Africa’s AIDS epidemic, but had HIV/AIDS themselves.

Lunch followed the show, where community spirit and collective responsibility were evident. The older children helping and setting example. In fact, such spirit was a constant throughout the centre. The values that Nancy and everyone believed in had meant that in spite of many setbacks – Nancy and Khanya’s illnesses being the latest – the older children, now young adults and Lieley, Nancy’s adopted daughter, had stepped-up, and along with other helpers, had more than kept things going.

The centre is the centre of the childrens’ lives – it ensures they get a meal before school, without which their school learning wouldn’t be half as good. The centre is a sanctuary – it provides safety, love and a sense of belonging. It gives dignity to young lives, that in many cases, will be painfully cut short.

In response to chronic need, One Life now supports better shelter as well as food and school education. I visited half a dozen families, where typically seven to eight family members live in two small rooms. All were a tough existence. One Life-funded breeze block houses and essential repairs are helping these families live in better conditions. The task in hand is though bigger than physical resources. Mbali’s family life highlights this.

Mbali, one of the most creative performers earlier in the day, is thirteen years old. Both her parents are dead. Last year her sister froze to death in her arms in the cold of winter in an un-insulated home. She lives with her six young siblings and cousins, in the care of her older cousin. All are HIV infected. Mbali, lucky to have treatment, has skin blistering side effects to her medication so painful at times she can barely sleep. Living conditions were distressing. Physical accommodation improvements would help, but it is hard to feel that only by supporting the reinstatement of a family unit would life outside the centre become bearable, and in any way self-sufficient for Mbali’s family. This is so much harder.

Nselini is a semi-rural township, not far from the large industrial town of Richard’s Bay. The area’s natural beauty contrasts with social challenges, in many ways as difficult as any I saw in South Africa. Professionally, I place much value on work opportunities. In Nseleni, the enterprising, thriving atmosphere of townships elsewhere in SA wasn’t so evident. Crime, theft of what little possessions they do have, is destroying the community, and I feel eroding the freedom to work opportunity.

I heard much of the breakdown of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is something more than community spirit. It says I am what I am because of who we all are. We are all diminished when one is hurt or oppressed.

On the day I visited, tensions in the townships were heightened by a political rally from a party with a history of violence. With scant jobs and the consequences of inherent real and felt inequalities, community, society cohesion – Ubuntu – felt wafer thin. I was afraid for me and them.

Life after childhood – particularly work - feels much less certain. It would be easy at this point to feel dissolution, to question even what we are trying to achieve: to show at school what may be, only to close down this hope at adulthood, feels cruel.

In many ways it is this very problem that provides for the most hope. Here the stories of Sakhile and Zama need telling. Sakhile was the first One Life young person to be funded through university, in the event his drive, values and knowledge won him a scholarship. An engineer, Sakhile is now moving through the ranks of one of Africa’s biggest and most important employers. His spare wages get sent home to help his extended family and his achievements provide inspiration. The same applies to our other One Life graduates. Zama is now our fifth young adult to get this chance. This opportunity changes the generations that follow, funded by South Africans for South Africans. Sakhile would not be in that position without everything that One Life, Nancy and the centre have given: food, schooling, safety, belief, inspiration and love.

I know that not all of our One Life children will follow in Sakhile’s and Zama’s footsteps. For those that don’t, for reasons that tear at our hearts, our support gives dignity to all lives lived. It allows all our children to be children.

But there are many difficult choices – where to spend; what is the priority. For instance, with extra funds, the centre itself could provide so much more and perhaps even skills to help families like Mbali’s cope better.

One Life and our support matters wherever donations are spent. They make a difference; a big difference.

One Life is now many lives. Lives connected from Chingford and beyond to Nseleni and beyond. I hope my visit is one small part of that.