Driving the N1

Groblersdal. I think no matter how you spell it the spell-check is going to tell you it’s wrong so I should just get used to the red squiggly line underneath it. We’ve been here about three days and already it’s challenged so much of my thinking and my understanding of misunderstanding. We took the N4 highway from Rustenburg to Pretoria then switched to the N1 heading south to Johannesburg and then returned to the N4 to get here.

We are in a North-eastern province. The city of Groblahblahblah isn’t actually where we’re working. Instead it’s where we’re basing ourselves at for the next few days. Each morning we drive about an hour north into a somewhat remote and poor area of South Africa. It was here that our minds were twisted with the questions the students were asking.

I’ve been in thousands of schools in over twenty different nations. Usually when we open up to questions you get a few of the normal things about where we’re from, what kind of food do we like, what we think of their country and sometimes even what our thoughts are about the women in their country... that’s always an interesting one to try to answer.

This class of fourteen and fifteen year olds in a village school went straight to the point. No formalities about our lives or anything. We had finished a traditional presentation telling them they are valuable and they really need to consider the choices they are making regarding relationships. After our presentation we had a few minutes so we asked if anyone had any questions. Honestly I didn’t really expect any, the students are usually very shy and embarrassed to ask anything in front of their peers. They will usually shy away from trying to speak a language that isn’t theirs or they’re not comfortable with. Then it came, in English, right from the back, a young girl wearing a blue school uniform; she shot straight to the point when she asked whether a condom is 100% effective against preventing AIDS. Why couldn’t they ask about our thoughts of politics?

We answered the question with the limited HIV/AIDS information we’d learned in grade school. Anyone else with a question? Hoping in our minds that the subject had passed we were slightly more prepared for the next volley. “How exactly does someone get AIDS?” “Do you get AIDS from giving someone a hug?” “If I’ve had sex with my boyfriend using a condom is it still possible to get AIDS?” “Are the condoms they sell in the store more effective than the ones I get for free from the clinic?” “Do I get AIDS by eating food someone else with AIDS has eaten?”

Our minds are spinning with the reality that we’ve just entered. Not only do these kids not really have any idea about AIDS, they really don’t have ANY possible way to find the truth about it. We were some of the first people to speak to these High School kids who’ve probably been sexually active since they were about twelve years old. Not only do these kids not have any possible way to find the truth about AIDS, there’s nothing really being done to help them. As you’re driving around you may see helpful signs saying “Be wise, condomize” or “Practice safe sex, use a condom” but no one is doing anything more to help prevent this disease. Not only are people not helping them in any way, but even the people who should be helping them are totally confused about it as well. As we answered the kids questions the teachers as well sat there listening. Who will tell these kids the truth?

I realized that day that the limited information I had from grade school or high school was more information than these kids may ever be exposed to. They are living in darkness. They are living under a veil that has covered their eyes to the truth that there is a danger and their lives do matter enough for them to chose life over death. But who will tell them?

Yesterday I was shocked at how little is being done and how little these kids know about a disease that is destroying their nation. Confusion, anger and desperation set into my spirit. It tears my heart knowing that these kids have bought into lies they’ve been told.

Yesterday, in a high school of about twelve hundred students- learners as they call them here- we told them. And we gave each of them a book that explained the truth about AIDS and how it’s spread. We told them of their value to God and how they can choose to make positive choices, they are worth saving themselves. We told them.

Yesterday I told a group of high school students that condoms don’t prevent AIDS, I told them to wait until marriage, I told them God loves them and values them. I told them you don’t get AIDS from hugging someone or shaking their hand.

Today someone told me that it’s likely that every one of those kids has HIV/AIDS. Yesterday came too late for many of them.