Vleifontein’s people are not rich (at least not monetary). Their history is one marked with the deep lashes of apartheid. In 1982 the white government resettled all the people living in Louis Trichardt. They were forced unto trucks and found themselves in a new location – change was not an option for them, there was no democracy. Even though apartheid is now something of the past; Vleifontein (population 30 000) has no white people living there. Over the weekend we were the only white people in town! Now imagine with me …

You’re an eight year old. Life is good in the valley of Louis Trichardt. You have your favorite places to swim. Everyday you and your friends come together for your habitual play time where you use your imagination to the fullest. One day you come home and your parents share the news with you … You’ll be relocated away from your school, your secret hideouts and all the places that drip with years of accumulated experiences. The white people are moving you away from them, segregated. There’s something wrong with you. It is 23 years later – into Vleifontein drives the white people, the people that gave you more sadness than goodness. What do you do?

I think an experience like that would have filled me with anger. Bitterness would have poured from me like a squashed banana. In Vleifontein we experienced nothing of that sort! The people opened their hearts and homes to us. Not one negative word was hurled towards us. The people there are a testimony of forgiveness and grace. One of our assignments was to talk about Kingdom Leadership. We focused on being servants. A Kingdom Leader is first and foremost a slave. Teaching the topic of servanthood as a rich white man to the people my race oppressed was a humbling experience. To end our time with the pastors of the community, we washed their feet. After the washing one of the pastors exclaimed that he NEVER expected a white man to wash his feet. We might have washed their feet, but their actions cleansed our hearts. May we be testimonies of forgiveness like our brothers and sisters in Vleifontein.