Day Five

Peace Prayer of the Fellowship of Reconciliation Spirit of God, we long to mend the broken circle, to heal the fractures in the world around us and within our own souls. We long to see as reality a world pulsing with justice and truth. A society where everyone sits down at the great banquet and eats until filled. Spirit of God, we recommit ourselves To building the Beloved Community, as brothers and sisters working together. Amen A day to celebrate, a day to remember. Our Sunday morning began with a bus ride to Guguletu to celebrate the worship service with the JLZwane Presbyterian Church Community. This is always a highly spirited worship experience, but even more so this time.  This was the the one Sunday a year that the community celebrates their year long efforts in raising money to support their various church ministries and programs.  The church community is divided into 14 zones who compete throughout the year to see who is the most successful and creative, coming up with new and innovative ways to raise the much needed funding for their church.  This is always somewhat of an ironic concept when it comes to fundraising in that this a community that typically have very limited financial resources, further complicated by the current high rate of unemployment in the townships.   Setting aside all logical excuses as to why this should not work out well, the members of the church community playfully and prayerfully compete all year to be one of the top five zones recognized at this morning's celebration.  It is a very festive affair where people wear their "Sunday go to meeting" clothes, children dance tribal drums and the singing goes directly to the soul. This year's efforts raised 467,000 Rand ($46,700).  This truly a testament to this communities dedication to their church programs and their devotion to their faith community.   A tradition of Arm In Arm In Africa is to encourage new delegates to take the Robben Island Tour.  Robben Island was the political prison where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his incarceration.  The island no longer serves as a prison and is a national park where former prisoners work as tour guides.  Soon after Mandela's release from prison the country of South Africa elected him as President, ending decades of apartheid rule. Six of  our delegates toured the island today. Once again at the close of this day, we are reminded of the stark dichotomy that surrounds us every day in South Africa; from the most joyous church celebration this morning to walking through a prison that symbolizes such a dark period of history. We hope you can see in some of the photos the ultimate triumph of hope over hatred. Written by Marianne Williamson, spoken by Nelson Mandela Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we a powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that frightens most of us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated for our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others. Peace and blessings, The 2013 delegation