Post Card from Table Mountain, SA

Here's a recent photo of Dr Dan Claughton taken in front of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa. He was on a few days' break from where he is working in Kwazulu Natal in the Eastern Cape. He is an Associate of CMS and for these six months he is working as a medical doctor in a tiny village called Ingwavuma. He has been there for four months already and is due back in Perth in July.

In a recent letter he said that one of the reasons he wanted to stay for six months, and not just a few short weeks as he did when he went to Cambodia last year, was because he wanted to get beyond feeling like a tourist. He wanted the routines of life in a remote community to really hit home. It has. He knows everybody in the village and everybody knows him. Only about 12 other health care professionals speak English so his socialising is limited. But he has been able to spend a lot of time with them and has had wonderful opportunities to share his Christian worldview with them. One Swedish doctor, Anna, says she grew up in a religious context and has been confirmed but had no idea that the Bible had a message for people today. Dan asks us to pray that in the next two months some of these 12 will open their hearts to the Gospel.

But he wants to learn the local Zulu language so goes to the big morning church service. He doesn't understand much at all, but joins in the dancing and singing. The Church leadership is faithful to the Gospel, but most who claim to be Christian still hold to their African spirit beliefs. Most couples are not married because men can't afford the dowry. It is 11 cows if the girl is uneducated, 14 if she is!! Most people practise polygamy and HIV is running at 46%. The Zulu king, Jacob Zuma, who is most likely to take over from President Mbeki next year claims to be a Christian but has many wives and has been charged with corruption many times. It is reported that at the high school in the village where Dan is working, 64% of the girls are pregnant. So you see, he is working in a very complex needy social and spiritual environment. He realizes that long-term work is needed in Ingwavuma in order to build relationships with the Zulu community. He would need to learn Zulu well and build trust over time before he could effectively speak to them of serious matters of faith. We need to pray that Dan will know what God wants him to do after this tour of duty is over.

On the medical front, he feels he is going well. The hospital is critically short of doctors and this lack he says accounts for the strong possibility that he will be appointed as a Senior Medical Officer. He has been working in the Isolation Ward until now, but in May starts in paediatrics. He feels he lacks experience in that area of medicine and asks for our prayer support. He asks us to pray for perseverance in a working environment which is often frustrating: that he would continue to be joyful and not grumble or complain. His longing is that his manner of life will reflect Jesus and draw people to want to know Jesus for themselves.

BT