June 24 Reflection from Hannah

Today has been a complex day for me, in terms of absorbing all of the information to which we’ve been exposed. To recap: We spent most of the day touring Johannesburg… We visited Soweto, the Hector Pieterson museum, the Apartheid museum, and the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, where many of the Anti-Apartheid activists’ funerals were held.

I had the most difficult time at the Apartheid museum. I think, though, that it was difficult in a necessary way, because it forced me to think about the struggles that we face as youth today in comparison with those of the past, and how we are called to respond.

Activism has been an important message of this trip to me. It seems that I am often involved in “raising awareness” about various causes, but very rarely do I actually do anything to attempt to make a positive change.

I have learned, however, that the changes I most wish to make (big, definable ones) are often not realistic. The beautiful people from Come Back Mission made it very clear, though through their actions and testimonies, that it is through human to human contact that we can ever hope to create a world founded in peace and equality.

Steve Bryant said it perfectly at devotion tonight… he said that whenever we work consciously to help spread love and help others on a person to person basis, that is where there is a new world, a new creation, and that is where the hope is.

Hannah