I am out in Kuruman, John Toale Gaetsewe District in the Northern Cape. Yesterday was All Pay for child support grants. The payment of social grants in South Africa is commonly called All Pay.
It was evidenced by many people pushing trolleys up and down the street. Trolleys filled with large bags of sugar, maize, flour, cooking oil and rice. Some peoples trolleys included some more items than that. I was struck by the thought that this food possibly consumed all the money that people have and would not last a month; after all R330 is paid for one child. This is very little and children have other needs. A friend from this area told me that some of the young mothers waste this money on card gambling games on the streets, drinking and buying themselves nice things.
This situation is not very different from one part of the country to the next. I wonder what will become of our future as a nation when we have so many people reliant on social grants, an ever increasing unemployment rate and limited development opportunities. We are more preoccupied by media circus events, than by the need to alleviate poverty in our country.
It is these moments that return me to clarity of purpose, to recommit myself to the work of helping people to reconnect with themselves and rediscover their power and beauty.
