The
Oprah South African Leadership Project provides cross-cultural
immersion and international exposure through travel
and study in South Africa for Morehouse College students.
In the future, it will involve an exchange of students
between Morehouse and South Africa, and will encompass
ethical leadership training and community service
in both Atlanta and South Africa.
May 23, 2005
 “Old
men tend to talk too much. We cannot make babies anymore,
so we give birth with our words,” says Baba
Creto Mutwa, a traditional African healer, in heavily
accented English.
It
is afternoon and the group of students and staff from
Morehouse College and Butler University have gathered
in a park off a main road in the predominately black
township of Soweto. The park, a lush green place,
even as winter begins to settle on the country, contains
Mutwa’s studio space and sculptures.
While
some organizations may push social programs to aid
South Africa’s still struggling black population,
Mutwa advocates a return to the ways of the African
elders: solve problems with love; respect nature;
teach all blacks about their history and they cannot
help but succeed. It is a lack of cultural knowledge
about themselves that is killing Africans as much
as HIV/AIDS, he says.
The
clash between traditional African spirituality and
Christianity plays a large role in the fight against
HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the struggle to uplift
the country and the continent’s blacks. While
the 83-year-old healer recommends the use of plants,
a respect for nature and a return to ancient African
practices as the panacea for the world’s ills,
at Rhema Ministries, South Africa’s largest
Christian church with a congregation of 35,000 diverse
members, education and social services are key.
 Rhema’s
Hands of Compassion ministry provides HIV/AIDS education
and counseling services advocating abstinence, being
faithful and condoms—a radical stance for a
Christian church, says Alan McCauley, director of
the Hands of Compassion, the community service arm
of the church.
“The
latter is controversial in some churches, but if people
are sexually active, then they should wear a condom,”
he says.
McCauley
says the biggest problem facing HIV/AIDS victims is
misinformation from the government—a government
that has given unclear messages that seem to support
cultural myths about the virus.
“The
government should have a clear policy as to how AIDS
is caused and how it should be treated,” McCauley
says, adding that in talking with blacks, many of
them believe different gospels about how the virus
is transmitted and can be cured, such as by eating
healthy foods, taking traditional medicine or anti-retroviral
drugs.
Mutwa
casts the problem in a historical context, lamenting
the fact that whites have omitted truths about African
culture from the history books and Africans have forgotten
the ancient beliefs of their ancestors.
 Like
most Afrikaan-member churches during apartheid, Rhema
was segregated, banning people of color in its pews,
on its executive board and within its pastoral ministry.
But according to McCauley, in the 80s, the Lord began
to deal with him and his brother, Ray McCauley, the
church’s founder and senior pastor, about the
discrimination blacks were facing in South Africa.
“Apartheid was so firmly entrenched and endorsed
by churches,” says Mark Hodgetts, dean of Rhema
Bible College. “There were quite a few white
people in the church who decided to leave after we
began to speak from the pulpit against apartheid.”
By
1990, Rhema was at the forefront of the movement for
churches to reform its policy on apartheid and began
to commit itself to starting and maintaining programs
around the mission of social justice. Soon, people
of color began attending the church, in part because
of the food, clothing, shelter and other necessities
the church offered at little to no cost.
Many
of the black South Africans who were children during
the ‘70s and ‘80s did not attend school
because they were involved in the anti-apartheid struggle.
When apartheid ended, many of them were left with
low levels of literacy and no job skills. Rhema Bible
College, founded 26 years ago, offers diplomas in
the areas of ministry, business and leadership. Fifty-two
percent of its 500 students are black. And at $1,100
a year ($1=6 South African Rand), it’s also
affordable.
 But
Mutwa is not satisfied. “My regret is that there
are no universities in South Africa that teach black
people about their culture,” he said. “In
this democratic country, there is no pride among people
who hijack cars and rape children. …There is
no government in South Africa that respects ancient
traditions.”
Turning
to those tradition, Mutwa has helped create a seven-herb
mixture that he has given to hundreds of people who
have had HIV or AIDS.
“When
the disease called AIDS came to South Africa, they
told us that it was an incurable disease,” says
Mutwa. “[Another sangoma] said the white people
are wrong. There isn’t a disease on this earth
that God hasn’t given us a remedy for.”
Mutwa
said his herb mixture has helped three of his own
children who contracted AIDS, including his oldest
daughter, who had converted to Christianity and was
a member of Rhema Ministries. At first she estranged
herself from him. But later, she came to him and he
gave her the mixture, which he says restored her health.
To him, it’s just further evidence of the power
of nature and the wisdom of sangoma teachings. It
also solidified his affirmation that one day Africa
will one day beat its current challenges of “war,
famine and disease.
“You
must realize that the success of Africa,” he
says, “is the success of humankind.”
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