Reflections before leaving

A few years ago at a celebration event for fundraising efforts, a representative from MaAfrika Tikkun said that we "couldn't understand" the need and what our efforts would do to help children and families in South Africa. 

I'd like to say I've tried to understand - but I'm not sure I "get it" just yet.  I've read up on the catastrophic impact AIDS has had on the country.  According to a 2010 study from the government of South Africa - for adults aged 15–49 years, an estimated 17% of the population is HIV positive.  According to other sources the number of AIDS orphans in South Africa alone is reaching nearly 2 million.  The tragic "phenomenon" of child-headed household left in the wake of the disease. 

I've tried to understand the impact of apartheid (which was enforced until 1993!).  I do not claim to know/truly comprehend the impact of a government based on empowering a race of people vastly the minority in the country over/at the expense of the majority of other people - strictly based on hard racial lines.  Think of the legacy a regime with singular focus of self-promotion over others would have on everything.  Think of the impact of an education system that "was designed to prepare black people for lives as a labouring class".  Generations of people lived under that line of thought.  In today's population - of the nearly 50 million people in the country almost 45 million would have fallen into that 'classification'.