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The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane, D.D. I had just left the Royal Palace of the King and Queen Mother of Swaziland after day long meetings with the Prime Minister of that country, members of the Swazi Parliament, and diplomatic representatives from the United States, South Africa, Mozambique and Great Britain. It truly has been a long day! And so it was too for the other members of the delegation who were traveling with me. We had arrived in the country July 9th and were spending two days meeting with as many people as we could. The delegation was a perfect example of what we as global Anglicans and Episcopalians can do if we put aside our current differences over human sexuality and work together for the common good of God’s people. With me on this visit to Swaziland were bishops from Mozambique, South Africa’s Heighveldt, Swaziland, and Scotland accompanied by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion and the Director of Communications for the Communion Office. The delegation had been assembled at the request of the Bishop of Swaziland to assist the Anglican Church in its struggle with the Swazi Government over human rights issues. Swaziland has not had a Constitution since 1973 and currently has no rule of law other than the total authority of the monarchy. At the urging of the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in the Province of Southern Africa, the delegation was authorized by the Archbishop of Canterbury to engage in a “fact finding” journey to a country of 1.2 million people where 40% of the adult population is HIV positive and where there are currently 75,000 orphans; a number expected to rise to 150,00 by the year 2010. It is a most beautiful country with wonderful people who struggle and survive under very difficult conditions. 70% of the wealth and land of this small country is held in the hands of 10% of the people and Swaziland is a nation that is working hard to grow its very broken infrastructure. After leaving the Royal Compound and a meeting with the country’s queen Mother, our vans headed to a destination five minutes away to visit a small Anglican Mission Church and its deacon and first ordained woman in Swaziland, Mother Oomah. As we drove the short distance, dusk was beginning to wrap its colored elegance of shaded purples, soft ambers, and muted greens about the impoverished countryside. And as the sun began to set and the air became still you could hear the distant sound of barking dogs, crowing roosters and laughing, squealing children. Open fires began to appear outside settler’s huts, accompanied by the pungent smell of burning wood and charcoal as people sought warmth from the early African Winter. As our vans entered the church yard we could see about 30 or so children between the ages of 2-8 standing there to greet us with Mother Ooma. She resembled a mother hen who had gathered her chicks about her, protecting them under her outstretched wings against the encroaching unknown of the night. Mother Ooma had retired from government service several years before and after ordination as an Anglican Deacon, she took 10% of her monthly government pension and put it aside so she could eventually build a church that would be a gathering place for the people who lived in the area. And as she established her little church people came to pray with her. Many people came! And many grandmothers also came, bringing their grandchildren, orphaned because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. So many children started to come to little Saint Margaret’s Church that Mother Ooma could only provide the resources and food for about 30 children at a time. And she did it well, feeding them twice a day, providing them healthcare and teaching them how to read. She was assisted in her work by the grandmothers who lived in the little village. Mother Ooma wanted the delegation of bishops to meet her orphans and pray the Office of Compline with them. It was a very touching time when we bishops gathered in the tiny church to listen to the children sing and introduce themselves to us and then present each of us a small gift that had been bought with money saved by giving up one of their evening meals. The paradox of having come from the security, wealth and opulence of the Royal Palace to this oasis of love and care placed amidst indescribable poverty and pandemic disease and located less than five minutes from the palace was a horror to the eyes and an ache in the heart. And yet it is this paradox of disease, poverty, of lost and abused children living in proximity to great wealth that presently defines our world. And as we said our good byes and as the children sat on the ground eating their evening meal I was reminded of Jesus admonition to you and to me…“Suffer the little children to come to me. Anyone who does not receive one of these little ones does not receive me. And anyone who offends one of these little ones, it would be better that a millstone be hung around their neck and they be drowned in the sea.” “As you have done it to the least of these my friends do you have done it to me.” I was reminded of this painful visit to Swaziland and the orphans, most of who won’t live to see their thirtieth birthday when I was at a meeting recently of Episcopal Bishop’s in Spokane, Washington. As Karen and I were walking down the main street after an evening event we passed a painful scene that too often defines the dark side of our American cities. There, seated on a bench in the damp cool air of the night was a young girl and boy, no more than maybe 16 years of age and obviously homeless, holding a tiny infant wrapped in a heavy blanket. Around them was a number of other homeless persons, some deadened by drugs or alcohol, others suffering from acute mental illness. The young boy gently hugging the child and sang softly to it as the darkness of another cold and dangerous night descended upon this frightened family. Although separated by thousands of miles and 2 continents, the scene on the bench had a similar painful feel as my time with Mother Ooma last July. In both cases children were involved and in both cases poverty, fear and disease were the common denominators. Children are the world’s most precious resources. And yet in too many countries throughout the world they are a painful liability, easily ignored and too often forgotten by governments, politicians and those of means who could make a difference in their lives. In our own country, where poverty and the future of our children ought to be a primary concern for both candidates campaigning for the presidency, the candidates have been less than forthcoming in addressing the complex issues of poverty in America, especially children in poverty. Their silence is almost identical to the silence of the government of Swaziland. And Swaziland is a country without a rule of law or a working democratic constitution. Something is very wrong here! Families living in poverty in the United States are defined as a family of three living on an income of less than $14,824 per year…and $18,660 for a family of four. Think about your ability to live on these income realities. And think about how difficult it would be to raise children on these income figures. Here is some information that our politicians and we in this country must come to terms with: Among the industrialized countries in the world the United States ranks:
We can and must do better as a Nation. Our elected officials and those running for public office must get beyond hollow rhetoric and claim the children as our most precious national and global resource. And yet if we treat our own children with such ambivalence and distain, how then will be able to extend ourselves to reach out to the orphans of Mother Ooma, and the millions upon million of children in our own country and throughout the world who have become invisible to us and who are victimized each day by poverty, disease and violence. I believe God expects more of a response from each of us who can make a difference. There are many who say that it is difficult to know God because they cannot see Him. But God has taught us that often by looking into the eyes of a child, we will be able to see Him. For children are God’s miraculous gift to us. |