Nobody Wants Her Except the Dogs

Tonight I went to a play entitled “The Train Driver” which was written and directed by Athol Fugard. It was based on a news story from Cape Town several years ago that told an awful story and one that is all too common. A mother with a child on her back committed suicide by walking in front of a train. The driver of the train was traumatized, but the worst part of the story was a simple line that stated that no one had claimed the body. The play followed the train driver who was seeking out the grave of the woman and her child in order to find peace after the accident. He spends a lot of time interacting with the gravedigger of the no-name graves. One of my favorite sections came from near the end of the play:

"Wouldn't you also want to go and stand on a railway line and wait for the next train if that is all life had to offer you and your baby? And then to make it worse... she ends up here... in one of your ingiwabas (no-name graveyards) or whatever you call them. And why?.. Because that is still not the end.. Because the big happy ending is that Nobody Wants Her! ... Except the dogs. Remember what it said? Nobody came to claim her! Nobody wants her! And when we start looking... even we can't find her."

This passage really hit home for me. It reminded me of the enormity of the problem that is faced by those in the townships around Cape Town. The woman is just one of a million others struggling to make it. Struggling because they have no hope. Every person in those towns is facing hardships just because they were born into a region filled with poverty. I can’t help but think of some of the women I met at the Philani clinic on Tuesday who either had no income or one that is very limited and must be used to take care of far more people than it can adequately feed. What can you do in that situation? How can you be expected to pull yourself out of poverty when there are no jobs, limited income at the jobs that are available, and no support? Wouldn’t you lose hope too in that situation? I think it is great that there are organizations like Philani that are really working to make a difference in these communities, but the problems are just so big. Even the combination of all the NGO’s and government work in these cities makes just a small dent in the scope of the issues faced by these communities every day. How do we keep from losing hope in front of a seemingly insurmountable problem? How can you look someone in the eyes and tell them that there is hope for them? I think the way most people get by this is on the premise that if they make a difference in one or two lives, then that is enough. I agree with that most of the time, but tonight I feel like dwelling on the larger picture. Though it is overwhelming, it is important to see. I hope when you read the lines of that play that your heart just breaks as much as mine does. I pray that we can find people like her and that we can help restore her hope when we do.