Macalester College chaplain Lucy Forster-Smith recently returned from a two and a half week trip to South Africa. Traveling as a representative from Macalester with a group of Twin Cities clergy, doctors, nurses, dentists and educators, Forster-Smith sought to explore the issue of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and begin to foster connections with the Macalester community. The group consisted of representatives from House of Hope Presbyterian Church, the St. Joan of Arc Parish and Open Arms Ministry, a hospice/meal delivery support service for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The delegation spent the first five days in Cape Town in the township of Guguletu. Many citizens of Guguletu are infected with HIV/AIDS; the township also suffers from an 80 percent unemployment rate. The congregation, which hasover eight hundred congregants, is one of the only ministries that provide outreach to people with HIV/AIDS.

The congregation provides hospice work, a support group and educational ministry for sex education. "I guess the thing that was most striking to me was that since the colonialism of the White church, a lot of repression on issues of sex and sexuality have been piled on an already reserved society," Forster-Smith said. "How can they start to have these conversations? The church taking the lead in this is a powerful kind of statement."

According to Forster-Smith, sex education is needed to combat sexist patterns of relations between men and women as well as incorrect assumptions about sexuality. Young South African women are frequently forced into sex against their will, and there is still a prevalent assumption that having sex with a virgin is a cure for HIV/AIDS. Forster-Smith also says that poverty and lack of economic opportunity contribute to sexual activity. "Someone explained to me that people here really don't have much else to do."

The South African government has addressed HIV/AIDS in a limited manner. "Although the government has been criticized for saying that there is no connection between HIV and AIDS, just this massive denial, it's actually politically motivated," Forster-Smith said. "If they confirm that AIDS is a problem, they are compelled to do something about it, and the country is simply too financially devastated right now. South Africa has chosen to go the path of denial." Forster-Smith added, however, that there are some government programs that distribute free condoms and birth control and that the government is moving towards instituting free HIV testing.

After the initial five days in Cape Town, the delegation traveled to Umtata, a rural community four hundred miles outside of Cape Town and the birthplace of Nelson Mandela. Here, there is no economic base, no water and very little plumbing. Many people in Umtata are sick, yet the hospital cannot meet their needs. "The hospital was the most bleak situation I have ever been in," Forster-Smith said. She said lines for care were up to five days long, with patients coming in at 4 a.m. to wait for a doctor. Doctors are routinely overworked and the hospital understaffed—a condition Forster says is typical of rural hospitals. Additionally, the extreme poverty makes consistent schooling difficult. Many teachers cannot attend school everyday.

The delegation ended their stay in Johannesburg, where they encountered the differences between white and black faith communities. Forster-Smith says that of the white clergy she had spoken with there was "huge denial" on the issue of HIV/AIDS. "They said that no one had ever come to them about it. Well, of course they hadn't because their congregants are all older white people! The vibrant churches of South Africa are the black churches. Otherwise, there's not a lot of support out there," Forster-Smith said.

While Forster-Smith has not yet had a chance to formulate how to bring these ideas back to the Macalester community, she says that there are a number of options. Primarily, there is the possibility of an exchange program or a January event in which two to three students could travel to South Africa and teach in a rural community, while a South African seminary student could come to Macalester and participate in an internship. Forster-Smith says that seminary training in South Africa is limited to academics and that there is a need for practical training in pastoral care, preaching and cross-cultural skills. The latter issue is especially important due to the growing refugee population in South Africa from other African nations. "Black ministers must have the skills to examine the dynamics of these interactions," Forster-Smith said. "What would it mean in this society to learn about problems of race and class? " Forster-Smith is beginning to look into possible funding for this program.

Forster-Smith also has simpler ideas for fostering connection, including donating Macalester's old soccer equipment to South African teams. She described the idea as not only an act of giving, but "a symbolic connection. For people in dire straits, to have people from the outside providing support means a lot," she said.

Forster-Smith returned to Minnesota with an appreciation for the faith of South Africans. "I left hopeful from this trip because of the faith of these people. It's not a shallow sort of piety, but it brings strength in a way that Americans don't really see," Forster-Smith said. "What keeps you going, how do you keep hope? It's also the understanding that their families will not abandon them, that someone will stand with them. There really is this deep faith that there is a source of strength and comfort that extends beyond me."

Forster-Smith says this faith results from life lived on the edge, where personal security is never assured. "There is a lot of violence and they have a whole different understanding of what it means to be secure. Americans are so protective and self-satisfied. We love security, but we barricade ourselves from something larger."

Of her trip to South Africa, Forster-Smith says that "in some ways it was a conversion experience, to turn and see something more difficult and emotional. It really has the possibility of changing you."