Jesse Zink, formerly of St. John’s, Northampton, is a missionary serving in Mthatha, South Africa.

He is writing about his experience on his blog at mthathamission.blogspot.com. Here is Jesse's latest e-mail letter back home.

Jesse Zink was raised in St. John's, Northampton and worked at Bement Camp and Conference Center for many years. He is now a missionary in Mthatha, South Africa through the Young Adult Service Corps, a program of the national church for young Episcopalians.

He works at the Itipini Community Project, a clinic, pre-school, feeding program, and community center that serves a shantytown outside Mthatha, the center of one of the poorest parts of South Africa. The Project is funded by the African Medical Mission, an organization started by two long-time Episcopal missionaries, Chris and Jenny McConnachie.

Jesse posts regular updates to his blog about his work and life in South Africa and he encourages you to check it out (and keep coming back) to learn more about what wonders God is working among our African brothers and sisters.

He says communication with home keeps him sane in South Africa. He loves getting your comments, questions, and feedback. Jessie can be reached at: c/o CCP McConnachie/P/Bag x5014/Mthatha 5100 South Africa or jessezink – at – gmail – dot – com.

Where is Mthatha?  Click here.

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The Most Recent E-Mail from Jesse Zink in Mthatha

January 24, 2008

Dear friends,

The new school year has begun in South Africa and amid the attendant
chaos of paying school fees, buying uniforms and school supplies, and
watching former pre-school children walk off to school for the first
time, my responsibilities in Itipini have undergone a modest
alteration. In addition to what I did last fall/spring, I have
recently begun teaching an after-school English class with the five
young women – and other similarly-aged people who for one reason or
another aren't in school – from Itipini who are currently in high
school.

For a variety of reasons, teaching English is always something that
has had zero appeal to me and is a role I assiduously sought to avoid
when considering options for overseas placements. I began this new
class with considerable reluctance and exceedingly low expectations.

But the surprises and blessings so far have been amazing. First, the
English ability of a group of people I had previously thought spoke
only Xhosa has been quite remarkable. Thanks to generous donations
from several of you, I have a few hundred books to assist me and they
are flying off the shelves as these students blow through them with a
speed that astounds me.

Second, I am actually enjoying facilitating these sessions. What I've
realized is that the major block these young women have is not
knowledge of the English language but general comfort and security in
that knowledge. This is intimately familiar to me. When I first
started learning Xhosa, the biggest challenge to overcome was my own
pride in that I had to be willing to mess up and be laughed at. These
young women have the same issue, I think. In their case, however, they
can retreat into their mother language fairly easily and that is what
they frequently do.

One of the reasons I have avoided teaching English is the belief that
I am unprepared and ill-equipped for the task; I hardly know where to
start. It turns out, however, that what these young women need most is
a friendly and supportive (and corrective) environment in which they
can develop their language abilities. It just so happens I've spent
most of my time here unintentionally preparing for just that by doing
my best to make connections with people here and learn about them,
their language, their culture, and their way of life. I am finally
seeing the fruits of my frustrating first few months when I hardly
"did" anything except smile at people and play with children. It turns
out that some of those children were the sons and daughters of the
young women I'm now trying to teach English to. Maybe this is why
longer-term assignments are so important.

Third, when I sit down with these young women, the contrast between us
could not be more stark and yet more rewarding. On the one hand, there
is the college-educated, tall, single, white, well-fed, richly-blessed
white man whose only housing complaint is his thatch roof leaks when
it rains. On the other hand, are a group of young women, some mothers,
some HIV-positive, some primary-school drop-outs, few of whom can
point out South Africa on a map, none of whom live in places with
electricity or running water or routinely get enough to eat. Indeed,
the biggest disagreement at a recent meeting was over who should get
the extra apples I had brought along. Despite/because of the wide
divergence in our areas of expertise and life experience, we manage to
joke, laugh, and learn together. This is, I believe, reconciliation at
its most basic level.

This is likely the first monthly e-mail I've begun on such an upbeat
note and when I assess the trajectory of my time here, I like to think
it is generally upward and forward. In many infinitesimally small
ways, none of which I take for granted, I can see how I am accepted
and valued in Itipini. To be honest, though, the vast majority of the
time here is aggravating and frustrating beyond belief. Language and
culture barriers don't go way – you just learn new ways of dealing
with them. I try to look at this in an educational sort of way and
think, "I'm sure I'll appreciate this some day" yet it's difficult at
times to truly believe that. But on the rare occasion when everything
comes together just so and "works," it is truly a transcendent moment
like little other I've known.

My language abilities continue to improve more slowly than I'd like. I
now have enough confidence to attempt to communicate with everyone
from clinic patients and pre-school children to grocery-store clerks
and my barber in Xhosa, with widely varying degrees of success.
Confidence is key, I am learning, because even a friendly greeting, no
matter how mangled it may be, in a person's native language goes a
long way to breaking down barriers before the interaction even begins.
Ironically, just as I am advancing past the two- and three-word phrase
stage, I am forcing myself to speak English for the benefit of my
students. There's plenty of other people to speak Xhosa with, though,
many of them with no English at all.

The bulk of my time continues to be occupied by work in our clinic. I
still helplessly watch as the health of patients deteriorates over
time until one day they are carried into the clinic on a stretcher and
I take them to the hospital, basically so they can die. Many of these
patients I see regularly and I've learned the importance of valuing
and remembering each interaction with them. HIV did not take a break
for Christmas and New Year's as we did and it was difficult to return
to work and learn about the people who died – including the mother of
the baby I began the last e-mail with – while we were closed.

Speaking of that holiday break, I spent the time gallivanting around
Uganda with two fellow missionaries. (Had you told me a year ago, I'd
be spending New Year's 2008 in Uganda with two guys I didn't know at
the time, I'd never have believed you.) We marched for peace with some
bishops; danced in the New Year with several hundred Ugandans; saw
hippos, giraffes, and much more along the Nile River; coped with a
severe fuel shortage brought about by post-election violence in Kenya;
swam in Lake Victoria, praying we wouldn't get schistosomiasis; and
generally enjoyed the chance to sit around and talk aimlessly about
nothing in particular. It was a magnificent and transformative trip
that introduced me to a completely different but equally wonderful
part of this great continent.

I continue to write about my experience here in much greater detail
than these cursory (!) e-mails allow on my web log –
http://mthathamission.blogspot.com - and I encourage you to check it
frequently, as I update it frequently. If you check now, you can read
some of my stories from Uganda – including the two children that sat
on my lap for 250-kilometers of a bumpy bus ride and close encounters
with three tons of hippo and several tons of elephant – and my
experience navigating the South African bureaucracy and language
barriers to get the high school students to school.

And while I add this to every e-mail, let me again conclude by
sincerely thanking you all for your support – in multiple and diverse
ways – that has allowed me to come this far, stay this long, and wring
every drop I can from this remarkable experience.

Your man in Mthatha,
Jesse

Jesse Zink
Episcopal missionary in Mthatha, South Africa

c/o CCP McConnachie
P/Bag x5014
Mthatha 5100 South Africa

jessezink@gmail.com
http://mthathamission.blogspot.com
mobile: 079-840-7683

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