News

Missionary sees effects of 40 years of apartheid

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	NEW HOME: Fr. Michael Murphy outside the three rondavels (huts) he shares with Fr. John Selemela in Dwars River, in South Africa. One rondavel serves as a kitchen and living room, the other has two bedrooms and a shower and the third is a small office. (Submitted photo)

Apartheid ended 13 years ago in South Africa and the country has been under majority black rule for 10 years.

But the effects of more than 40 years of racial segregation based on white control and power continue, said an Irish missionary who has been serving there eight years.

"Today there is no longer a strict black and white divide, but rather a rich and poor divide. Some blacks have done remarkably well since 1994," said Fr. Michael Murphy, a member of the Irish St. Patrick's Missionary Society. Mission Sunday is Oct. 24.

The effects of apartheid can be seen in poverty, community and family breakdown, a lack of initiative and the growing problem of AIDS, said Fr. Murphy in an interview at the society's house in Chicago.

Fr. Murphy, who a few years ago spoke in several parishes in the Green Bay Diocese, had been pastor in Tzaneen, the second largest town in the Northern or Limpopo Province, but this month he became pastor in Dwars River.

The Dwars River area, 250 miles northeast of Johannesburg, has some 12,000 Catholics, about 10% of the population, compared to 3% in Tzaneen. But it has not had a pastor for a year. For the next two years he will be assisted by a former colleague, Fr. John Selemela, a diocesan priest.

The two arrived in Dwars River Oct. 1 and were welcomed by the parish council, which prepared a meal for them.

"Since then we have been busy unpacking, acclimatizing, getting in plumbers and electricians and generally finding our way around the place," he said in an e-mail. "Our first few days were a bit like camping out and making do with little or without. But it has been fun."

While Dwars River is only 70 miles northwest of Tzaneen, the two are vastly different geographically. Dwars River is arid with no irrigation or industry. Tzaneen is in a lush basin. Dams provide irrigation for large farms employing 200-300 people.

Whites own most commercial farms in Tzaneen - a remnant of apartheid. Some farms were taken and given to blacks, but they weren't trained in agricultural management, Fr. Murphy said. As a result the farms soon went broke, leaving hundreds unemployed and once productive land home to a few cattle or goats.

Large commercial farms are needed because they employ thousands and feed the country, he said. But he also would like to see 2-5 acre plots for subsistence farming.

"Of course it also would be good to see blacks get the training to run commercial farms," he said.

In the 1970s, Fr. Murphy ministered in Zambia where people supported themselves by planting maize on quarter-acre plots.

But apartheid sapped the people's initiative. Even on the big farms several people do what one person would do in many countries. Fr. Murphy, who grew up on a dairy farm in Ireland, tells of visiting one farm where 10 men did what both his brother and father did alone - and faster.

There have been changes since apartheid ended, Fr. Murphy said. In the 1980s, only whites could live in Tzaneen and worship in its churches. Blacks were forced into settlements 10 or more miles away, where Catholics attended Mass at one of 12 satellite brick churches holding 20-100 people.

Blacks were allowed in Tzaneen during the day, but not in stores, shopping instead at a cubbyhole in the back wall.

Today, blacks and Indians worship, shop and live in Tzaneen, which is half white, one-quarter black and one-quarter Indian. The parish's 13 churches are considered equal.

Fr. Murphy has learned both Pedi and Tsonga languages. As pastor in Tzaneen he went to each community monthly, meeting with their local council and visiting the sick.

Tuesday evenings, small Christian communities of 3-5 families pray, reflect on Scripture and decide how to live their faith, he said. Youth groups meet on Fridays.

Friday evenings he celebrated a memorial Mass for the deceased. "Masses are the most life-giving experience in the parish," he said.

Settlement of the Dwars River area was a result of apartheid policies that reserved the best areas for whites and forced blacks to desolate spots, Fr. Murphy said.

Because the unemployment rate in Dwars River is 70-80%, most young men leave to work in the Johannesburg gold mines. They'll remain there, except for visits home at Christmas and Easter, until they're in their 50s and 60s. Most have families in both Johannesburg and Dwars River.

This breakdown of family and community leads to many problems, but especially AIDS, Fr. Murphy said. Few couples marry, he said. Children become sexually active when they reach puberty and many have babies by age 15.

The severity of AIDS trails that of Zambia by about 10 years "but is catching up fast," he said. Poverty and poor nutrition combine with the disease to cause horrific deaths.

To address AIDS, the Tzaneen parish started home visits to the sick funded by Catholic Relief Services. It also adopted Education for Life, successful in Uganda and Kenya, which teaches teens about the dangers of casual sex and encourages respect.

Fr. Vince Carroll, an Australian chaplain at a diocesan school in Dwars River, "has set up a team of helpers who are involved in various programs very much like my old parish in Tzaneen," Fr. Murphy said.

These include both Education for Life and Home Based Care, plus a program for Orphans and Vulnerable Children.

"All of this is great," Fr. Murphy said. "The only thing we would like to emphasize a bit more is that it must come from the parish. They must take ownership for whatever response there is to this terrible tragedy of AIDS in their parish."

When the AIDS epidemic first hit in Zambia, grandparents began raising their grandchildren after the parents died. When the second wave hit, there were no grandparents left. That's starting to happen in South Africa, forcing girls of 13 to become heads of families, he said.

He wants to improve family life by having parents meet to talk about "how to bring up children and share their problems. Once the children are 11 or 12 they're out on the streets. They go to these things called shibeens, which are a kind of pub. There's a lot of drink involved, which ties into poverty. It's very sad."

Death presents another problem. People believe the deceased will haunt them if they don't remember them properly, he said. Tradition demands dancing and prayers, followed by a funeral, eating and drinking.

Families buy lavish coffins - some are almost too big to fit into the houses - and rent stretch limousines, he said. "They spend every penny they have on the funeral."

Fr. Murphy said one family recently spent $3,000 on a funeral for their daughter, including a meal for 400-500 people. The girl died of malnutrition.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference has begun speaking out about the problem, which leaves many families, who may bury two or three members a year, in debt for years.

Funeral meals are popular, Fr. Murphy said, because for many it's "the only good meal they'll get all week. They can live on a good meal a week. They kill a cow or two, so there's plenty of meat, plus mealy meal and vegetables. There are plenty of choices. It's as good as you'd get anywhere."

Their usual diet is one meal of mealy meal - a ground maize porridge - and perhaps a vegetable and bread, but little or no meat.

Funerals are on Saturdays so male relatives can come home from the mines. The funerals exhaust people so much that few attend Sunday Mass, he said and all churches and sects face the same problem.

Most South Africans belong to evangelical Protestant sects, though the number of Muslims is increasing, Fr. Murphy said.

Another aspect of apartheid is the white community's lack of awareness and curiosity about the black community, how they live and the problem of AIDS, Fr. Murphy said.

"There is no social connection between blacks and whites," he said. "The only meeting place they have is at work. Away from there they live and recreate and socialize in their own communities.

"But there are a few whites," he continued, "who make the effort and cross the cultural divide and some of them have gone to visit blacks with AIDS and have found it difficult and overwhelming. This kind of effort is a hopeful sign for the future."

As for the blacks, "They have nothing, no food for tomorrow, but they smile and they welcome you," he said. "They would give you their last penny. They are fun loving. When they get together they'll always get a joke or something. They get very depressed at times too and there is a lot of depression, which is most understandable."

Liturgies are joyful, lasting up to two hours because they sing everything and may include liturgical dance. "If I give them a tune, they sing it once and the next time they put harmony to it," he said.

To promote lay involvement, the diocese sponsors "Called to Serve," a two year training program offered monthly from Friday evening through Sunday noon. Since it began six years ago, 13 parishes have taken part.

Its goal is to teach others how to teach the catechism, lead services, conduct funerals, give marriage instructions, organize parish councils, lead small Christian communities and teach Bible studies.

Catechesis is the most important thing he does, Fr. Murphy said.

"I believe if they have a deep experience of a loving God in their lives, that will kick-start them into lots of things," he said. "Self-motivation and self-esteem will improve and they will build up community."

The biggest problem is a spiritual malaise that Christianity, especially Small Christian communities, can solve, he said. "That's where they become caring, loving people interested in serving others."

After the spiritual part is addressed, they will be able to build family and community skills and promote marriage and self-esteem, which will end the AIDS epidemic, he said.

As for battling poverty and unemployment, he said the old model of determining needs, then finding funding to meet those needs leads to dependency.

"Now we ask: 'What are your assets? What can you do? What contribution can you make?'" he said. "Perhaps someone is good at sewing. Then get the sewing going. Maybe get a sewing machine or something and maybe find an outlet and they can sell among themselves. Or grow some vegetables in the back of their garden. In one case I know of, people started making paper flowers and selling them because they use a lot of paper flowers at funerals. Three or four people got a job where there was no job before."