Change of heart

Tonight, as I was cleaning up the kitchen after supper, my cellphone rang. It was a call from a fund raiser for an organisation that I used to support a few years ago, Bibles for Israel.

The woman kicked off with offering me prayer for whatever personal burdens I wished to divulge to her. Now, once upon a time, I used to be part of a church community and a bible study group. And we did pray for each other, but only after building some form of familiarity and moreover - confidentiality. Sorry, I do not indulge in public sharing of inner turmoils with some unknown person phoning me to offer prayer and ask for money in the same breath. But I do write this web log. Perhaps it should be made private for the sake of consistency.

Then the woman got to the crux of her call: Do I wish to make a further contribution to her cause? On that point I declined in an adamant tone. Three years of a closer following of Middle Eastern politics had caused a significant shift in my sentiments concerning Israel and Christian support for that oppressive regime.

This particular movement, Bibles for Israel, has its roots in Zionist Christian denominations that believe in the literal re-establishment of an earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ, seated in Jerusalem. It regards the disastrously one-sided formation of the state of Israel as a fulfillment of Biblical prophesy on the return of the Jewish diaspora.

By implication this view condones the partitioning of Palestine into Israel and the rest of it, as well as the inhumane displacement of Palestinians after the formation of the state of Israel. Sorry, I have not voted against Apartheid in South Africa, where some people of European decent wanted to carve up that area into a white South Africa and the rest of it, only now to contribute to a cause that by implication believes that the apartheid regime of Israel is somehow God-sent.

But I spared her my political rant. After ending the call, I thought perhaps I should have asked her and her fellows to pray for the undoing of the Israeli regime and the restoration of peace and justice in Palestine. But then, perhaps it would have been futile to do so.

On this day

"On this day in 1992, nearly 69 percent of white South African voters backed F.W. de Klerk's reforms—which included the repeal of racially discriminatory laws—and effectively endorsed the dismantling of apartheid."

My daily email from Encyclopedia Britannica took back my memory to that day in South Africa. I went down to the Rennish High School, where the voting poll for my ward was located. There was a strong upcome at the voting polls. Although there were some misgivings in my mind over the prospects of a fundamental change in South Africa, given the glaring examples north of South Africa's borders, I still did vote with hope and some sense of idealism. I voted for change.

The change did come, in droves, and the watershed was perhaps that day when the white electorate set in motion the process that removed their exclusive hold on power in South Africa in 1994.

On Friday, 3 March 2007, my Green Card arrived in the mail. It was highly anticipated since November last year, when the INS had informed my verbally that my application for permanent residency was in order. There was a sense of relief on the one hand and achievement on the other. Many would give much to have this status. Yet, in a sense, it felt like the dog that had caught the car. What did I intend to do with this residency? Eventually, I would want to return home, in South Africa.

Now, the future is open-ended. Where does my path lead? What are my goals? Things certainly do no lack potential. I am well qualified and have a steady job. It is up to my imagination, dedication and endurance.

In five years, on this day, where and what would I want to be? That is the question, on this day. And I wonder - where will my country be?