Two Bits

Whether it’s the beggar knocking on your window at the traffic lights or the appeals for help that you might read in newspapers like this one, sometimes you want to cover your ears and hope that they would all go away.
And while you know that’s not going to happen, we all know that there is so much to be done, so many people that need help, that we don’t really know where to begin.
I suppose you know the starfish story? An old man sees a boy on the beach, throwing starfish into the waves. The boy says he’s throwing them back because they’ve washed up and are going to die. The old man says there are thousands of them, how is the boy going to make a difference? And the boy replies, throwing one back, “It makes a difference to that one!”
I want to tell you a real starfish story. Our housekeeper has worked for us 27 years – cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing and looking after our child when we were so busy starting the Courier. She’s absolutely fantastic.
Josephine came to us via the late and lovely Jilly Reynolds, who had employed her mother, Flora, for many years. Jilly decided she wanted to do something for Flora and so paid the university admission fees for her granddaughter, Josephine’s obviously bright and motivated daughter.
I won’t mention her name in case she’d be embarrassed, but the daughter put her back into her studies and completed her Ba LLb with flying colours. Years went under the bridge and today she’s a very successful lawyer in private practice in Umhlanga.
Through the years we’ve been aware that Josephine has a very big heart, and has taken in all the children of her own siblings and relatives who have died. So in addition to working for us, she went home to Etete every day to take care of another group of children. There are so many that whenever I went there I couldn’t keep count.
We’ve also been aware that the lawyer daughter has also had a very firm eye on the betterment of her family. She paid for the education of the orphan brood, packing some of them off to boarding school to get the discipline they weren’t getting in a home headed by one elderly lady.
Imagine our surprise – and huge pleasure – when Josephine told us recently that she was about to become our neighbour. Her daughter has bought a large house in Salt Rock and in that she plans to put her sisters, an uncle, Josephine and the orphans, including herself and her husband, of course.
My wife Rose is delighted with this development. “It is such a good example of what can be done by someone who is determined to pull herself up out of poverty. While she was helped initially, she has been enormously resourceful. It really gives me hope for the future.”
And while congratulations are due to all involved, one mustn’t forget that is was Jilly who decided to save a starfish. She gave the girl a chance and so much the better that she grasped that opportunity with both hands. So while Jilly has long departed, she must be smiling down today and seeing how her small effort brought riches to many.
On the subject of resourceful girls, I learned something from economist Dawie Roodt who spoke at an Ilembe Chamber lunch last week. He reckons the greatest economic breakthrough in recent history happened in the last 100 years, when Western societies started sending girls to school. Until then family planning was a distant dream, with families of a dozen or more children commonplace.
Everywhere (except Africa) population growth has slowed significantly, to the extent that within 50 years the world will see population shrinkage across America, Europe and China. In other words, to put education in the hands of girls (and boys) is to empower families. Think about that and what you can do, however small, to help a starfish back into the sea.

* * *
These entries (with all the bloopers) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services.
• The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
• The sermon this morning: Jesus Walks on the Water. The sermon tonight: Searching for Jesus.
• Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
• Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say ‘Hell’ to someone who doesn’t care much about you.
• Don’t let worry kill you off – let the Church help.
• Miss Charlene Mason sang ‘I will not pass this way again,’ giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
• Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
• For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
• Pot-luck supper Sunday at 5:00 pm – prayer and medication to follow.
• Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their schooldays.
• A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
• At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is Hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice.