2 of 2

From there, the refugees were transferred to community halls and other stations, where churches and independent volunteers flocked to meet the desperate needs for food and clothing. I've met a man who is using his vacation days to volunteer, and a couple who took a refugee into their home. I've visited a church social hall that has been twice filled to the brim with food and blankets that were distributed to nearby settlements. Many people stand amazed and proud that the churches have reacted so quickly and compassionately to 19,000 like Joel.

It's unclear when Joel will permanently return to his De Noon residence, or what he will find when he returns. The day I spoke with him, he said he was hoping to go and see his house: "I don't know what I have. I just don't know."

Neither he nor his friends are ready to move back, however. "I still have that fear, because you don't know who is going to stab you in the back. You don't know who is going to befriend you, who is going to kill you. … There are places where people say, 'No, it's a bit calm,' but people still have that fear."

But the fear does not paralyze him. He is not idle, even in the evenings and on days off: "I'm ministering where I'm needed at a certain church. I am playing the keyboard. I just do what I'm supposed to do. And even here, I am ministering to these guys every day; in the night we have a service. I preach to them, to encourage them that God is with them."

Just before the riots broke out, he was planning on visiting his family. "Now with this confusion," he says, "I don't have enough money to see my children and give them what they need."

Given the increasing instability in Zimbabwe, he has told his wife to take their children to Zambia for a while. He'll figure out when and how he can join up with them. For now, he says, he doesn't want his family with him.

"It is good when I am alone, because I can run quickly," he says with tenuous smile.

Mark Galli is senior managing editor of Christianity Today, on assignment in South Africa.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

More on the riots is available from South African newspapers like The Mail & Guardian and The Times, which have full coverage sections.

The Economist , The New York Times, and the BBC also have coverage.

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

June (Web-Only) 2008, Vol. 52