Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Day of Reconcilation

December 16th is a day of great significant in South Africa due to two historical events that took place. The first of these was in 1838, when the Battle of Blood River took place between the Voortrekkers and the Zulus. The Voortrekkers, having moved into the interior of South Africa during the Great Trek, were eager to settle on land. The region that they intended to settle on was already inhabited by the Zulu people. Thus the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief was eager to negotiate with the Zulu chief Dingane. Having misunderstood Retief's intentions, Dingane planned an ambush and murdered Retief and his party of 100 people. This act culminated in the Battle of Blood River, in which 470 Voortrekkers, having the advantage of gunpowder, defeated the 10 000 strong Zulu army. This Voortrekker victory was commemorated since then as the Day of the Vow. (to read more about the history behind this event go here.)
South Africa's first non-racial and democratic government was tasked with promoting reconciliation and national unity. One way in which it aimed to do this symbolically was to acknowledge the significance of the 16 December in both the Afrikaner and liberation struggle traditions and to rename this day as the Day of Reconciliation. On 16 December 1995, the Day of Reconciliation was celebrated as a public holiday in South Africa for the first time.

Sister Basso's comments:
"We celebrated the holiday by shopping for Christmas gifts for our beloved little ones at one of the orphanages we visit and help with. We bought eight colorful chairs so that
they don't have to sit on the ground. We also purchased some soccer balls since that is one of the most popular sports here. There is a soccer Ferris wheel."


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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 21, 2011 at 6:54 PM

    Let me know if We can send anything via mail to you or if that is prohibitive. Would be happy to help in some way. Obviously we can give to humanitarian aid on our offering slips. Is there a special designation for where you are that can be done under the OTHER block? Let me know.

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  2. : ) JoyJanuary 2, 2012 at 4:52 PM

    Thanks, Randy. If you send me an email reminder, I'll send our mailing info. A humanitarian offering is always good. Another critical offering helpful here is the Temple Patron Assistance Fund on the tithing slip. Families struggle to obtain temple blessings here from many poor countries and make "meaningful" sacrifices to get here. One family went without meat for a year to save money to bring their family to Johannesburg to receive temple blessings and rejoiced in their experiences there. We also assist a couple of orphanages and have contributed food, white shirts, toys, educational materials, scriptures, temple clothing, wedding and business photography, counselling, graphic design work, business consulting and (hopefully) hope. Mailing costs are very high so financial contributions usually provide more on things that can be purchased here. A Boy Scout grandson of one of our fellow senior missionaries here came from Utah last week to bring a cash donation and many quilts for orphanages for his Eagle Scout Project. We will distribute some of his blankets to orphanages and hospitals later this week. Every penny that becomes available to us for welfare gifts goes directly to those that we observe with our own eyes and hearts to be truly in need. Every time we give, we wish we had more to give. Like the story of "The Starfish" we can't make much difference in the magnitude of poverty in Africa but we try to make a difference for the ones we can. Thanks for caring.

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