Saturday in South Africa

As I write this, it's early Saturday morning in South Africa. In a few hours the cemeteries in many of the black townships will be crowded with mourners burying their loved ones (most are AIDS-related deaths). If it's Saturday in South Africa, then it's Funeral Day. Before I went to South Africa I was told that many in the townships spend two or three Saturdays every month attending funerals because so many people are dying of AIDS. But when we actually drove through one of the cemeteries on a Saturday morning and saw numerous funerals already in progress and others setting up, and then we saw several busloads of people drive into the cemetery, it became more real to me the staggering number of people that are dying from this disease.




On another day we drove through Avalon Cemetery, the largest cemetery in Soweto. As we drove through this huge cemetery, we were focused on the many grave markers extending as far as we could see. So many of them indicated young people in their early twentys; there was also a large space reserved for children. And there were rows and rows of empty graves, already dug and waiting to be filled the following Saturday.




A common sight in the townships is advertisements for funeral parlors. Visiting the cemeteries and thinking about death was not a fun part of the trip, but I think it was an important part because it helped put a face on the AIDS pandemic in Africa for me. Along with interacting and holding children suffering from AIDS and listening to the stories of adults affected by the disease, the cemetery visit was a reminder that thousands of people are dying every day. It's a reminder that we need to do all we can to help. I'm so thankful that my church, as well as many other organizations, is trying to make a difference in the lives of those who suffer from AIDS and show them the love of Jesus.