Cape Town, South Africa

CAPE TOWN Stats and Info:
These are verified and researched with people that we work with here at YWAM Perth that are from South Africa unless otherwise noted.

2-4 Million People (depending on where the geographical line is drawn)

People Groups :

• Whites - English, Afrikaner
• Coloureds (anyone that's a mixed race, 'coloured' is not a derogatory word)
• Blacks- Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, immigrants

Languages : Most people can speak English and Afrikaans or Zulu

History & Influences on Culture:

"By 1600 all of what is now South Africa was settled by indigenous Africans. European intrusion into the land began in 1652 when the Dutch established a settlement in the area now called Cape Town to resupply Dutch East Indies Company ships travelling between Holland and its empire in South and Southeast Asia. The indigenous Khoikhoi people are driven into the interior and their lands occupied by European farmers who use imported African and Asian slave labourers to work the land." (from a webpage I lost the address for -sorry)

Apartheid 1948-1994: Meaning 'separate' in Afrikaans. As enforced by the government, blacks were given no value, and had previously been slaves. This part of their history -though complicated and uncomparable to my nations history- still influences the entire nation of South Africa today. Think of all the effects on a society or people when they are told they have no value or purpose for living. Also think of the effects of a false identity of being told you have more value then someone else. This only ended within THIS generation, so the invisible lines are still drawn though out the city, businesses, and churches.

Key person to look at Nelson Mandela -First Black president, and the first democratic election 1994. NO one missed that opportunity at the polls that year. He is now retired, and has been replaced by another black president but this man was the key to opening many doors of reconciliation.

Social Issues:

Drugs- Absolutely huge problem with huffing of inhalant substances. Also 'TIC' or 'TIK', a new drug used like meth, with the effects of Meth and Ecstasy x10!!

AIDS/HIV-Still an epidemic in Africa. 'South Africa has the highest number of people infected globally, estimated at around 5.7 million, including 300 000 children under the age of 15 years, in 2007 (UN 2008 Global Report on the HIV and AIDS Epidemic). Although prevalence has reduced slightly, South Africa still has the sixth highest prevalence of HIV in the world, with 18.1% of the population estimated to be infected. The UNAIDS 2008 Global Report, estimated that in 2007, 350 000 people died from AIDS in South Africa. South Africa is regarded as having the most severe HIV epidemic in the world

Many factors contribute to the spread of HIV. These include: poverty; inequality and social instability; high levels of sexually transmitted infections; the low status of women; sexual violence; high mobility (particularly migrant labour); limited and uneven access to quality medical care; and a history of poor leadership in the response to the epidemic. ' (aids foundation/ http://www.aids.org.za/ -2009)

Abuse- 1/3 of girls under the age of 15 is domestically abused. In many ways this is no different then what we are aware of in the US, but staggeringly more apparent.

Abortion- It would be an understatement to say 'abortions are common, legal, widely accepted'. Teams that have come back have shared with us that although socially it is a regular occurrence, hundreds of babies are found in ditches and sewers every year. City workers that clean out those drains and sewers are having to receive counseling in mass, due to the obvious effects.

OTHER:

The culture is extreamely influenced by a mindset of fatalism brought on by their history of segragation of value and has seriously hurt the next generation of leaders. One of the teams that returned was working in schools, and a comment commonly heard from teens about HIV/AIDs was "We are all gonna die sometime, who cares if I get AIDs, who cares if I give it to someone else."

That team also reported that they worked in those schools for the full 3 months that they were there. If you haven't seen the movie "Freedom Writers" you need to. At one point the team there did the same thing that Hillary Swank did to speak to the class through their simalarities, instead of their differences in race, ethicity, or social class. They had the students stand on each side of the room and come to the middle when they answered yes to a question. "How many of you have have been abused? How many of you have been effected by AIDs..... How many of you has lost a family member to AIDs,.....how many have lost more than one friend, family member to AIDs?"

It was amazing to hear the stories of the hearts that were softened, the eyes that were opened. I was devisating to hear all the statistics first hand with stories behind each. All I can say is I am glad to live out a dream like this, and though it looks easy from a distance but the challenge is an everyday in-your-face reality. On the front lines, not just talkn' the talk,.. but fighting in the battle -being the hands and feet of Jesus.