Tis the season

As part of our family tradition of helping those in need over the Christmas season ( see adventconspiracy.org), this year we decided to help those literally on our doorstep. In Cape Town the homeless and destitute people are often referred to as 'bergies' which literally means 'mountain people' in reference to their only home being Table Mountain. This derogatory term not only undermines their existence but also their plight. Every Thursday for us is trash day, for them it is a chance to scavenge for food and any thing they can sell or use. We often see and hear them outside early in the morning with an old food cart wheeling away anything of value.

So this year, instead of digging through trash, we decided to put together some care packages with non perishable food items and hand it out to them. It was an exercise I expected to last about 30 minutes or so. Instead, within 5 minutes, the homeless gathered outside our door one by one and all the packages had disappeared. Each one destitute, each one in need. As we handed out the packages and wished them well for the most important season of the year, I wondered and hoped if they would get the message. Perhaps the most difficult part of the whole thing was the several rings of our doorbell over the next hour from others who were in need but for whom we had nothing left to give.

Afterwards Emma commented that it was a nice feeling to give them food instead of them having to dig in the bins for it. I am just sorry that she has to live in a world where so many have so little and so few have so much.

It's not too late to join in and make the difference.