Sharing lives…reclaiming our humanity
Last night at our discussion group where we are crossing racial, economic, gender and age boundaries we stopped to reflect on what God has done and what we have learnt so far. We stopped to remember that 6 months ago most of us didn’t know each other and many of us were living the usual South Africa story of division and separateness. We are starting to slowly tell a different, new story…
From the voices of the people:
I have learned to face conflict and not shy away from difficult conversations.
I am finding my voice, this is a safe space to speak up.
People are speaking their minds and not holding back, learning to be real.
I am learning that the wounds of the past go very deep.
I am grateful that I am accepted for who I am.
This is my support group.
This is my second family.
I have learned to not treat all people of a particular race the same. Not just "those people" but individuals.
I am learning to trust those of different races and backgrounds, to share my life.
I have a place to share frustrations and struggles that I have bottled up my whole life.
I can be proud of my African name and don’t need a white name.
Hearing others stories has allowed me to have more compassion, to understand better.
Honored to be together. Privileged to share this journey.
Dissatisfaction with Church and segregation, wish there were places like this in the Church where we could talk about real issues.
Realize there are issues we need to work on amongst our own people.
Have been challenged to work on our friendship outside this group.
Helped us talk about real things in our friendships.
We are meeting each others families.
Wished we could bring colleagues and other Church members to this group.
Grateful for peoples generosity as I take small steps.
Blessed by opportunity to relate cross culturally.
Learned to respect other opinions even if I don’t agree.
We are on a journey and a different story is unfolding…we have taken small steps…and we have many more to take together. We are recovering our humanity.
God is at work and restoring his people.
