It is quiet in Hamburg, South Africa. The only sounds you hear are the tide of the Indian Ocean, the cooing of doves and melodies of other birds, dogs barking, the wind blowing, the rustling of monkeys in the bush. Sounds of television and that four beat Microsoft Office tune are out of place here – like an errant horn blow when the symphony is at rest.
One other sound is at home here – people singing. Their voices pure, strong, and without any instruments – just the voices God gave them. Umtha Welanga Health Care Center, the AIDS clinic in the center of the main village, is a beautiful place. It is well built, tan cement with a red roof. Colored glass tiles are glued onto the outside front pillars, creating a welcoming mosaic. Huge windows frame the view of the Keiskamma River and the rolling green hills of the Eastern Cape. It has the feel and character of a very old building, which it is, with its uneven steps painted red and slanting floors, but a solid building. It also has good acoustics.
Patients come here day and night, summer and winter, rainy season and dry, for treatment for HIV/AIDS, opportunistic diseases and palliative care. Every morning around 8:15 or 8:20, someone – Thandie an AIDS counselor or a patient perhaps – breaks into song. Just one voice at first, the others listening to see if they know this song, if they have the strength to join in. Then some patients sitting on their beds will start to sing, and a patient stands from her bed and joins in. Then perhaps Rachel, the head nurse, will join in as she’s writing her morning notes on each patient. The men patients in the nearby ward will walk in slowly and join in. Eunice, another AIDS counselor, will climb the steps from her downstairs office and also join. Soon the room is loud with beautiful, strong voices, joined in a praise song.
And one after another, they sing praise songs to God and to Jesus. Even though most of the songs are in Xhosa, you can still feel the spirit. Then they sing the Lord’s Prayer in English and a patient or a visitor may be asked to pray.
Thandie explains that even if patients cannot get out of bed that they at least listen and try to sing along. “I believe if you sing and pray, then God will help you. Some people who come here do not believe in God, but maybe the songs will move them.”
Athwel, one of the four drivers at Umtha Welanga, said the tradition of morning prayers did not start with the staff. He said he has had patients die in the car with him as he’s driving them to the health care center or the hospital. “Before they die, they want to sing their song,” he explains. So they sing, and then they die peacefully with a strong spirit.
The patients in the health care center may be having a very hard time and Dr. Carol Baker will be attending to them. And the patient struggling, and perhaps other patients nearby, will start to sing. The singing unites everyone and makes the patient strong, Athwel explains. Realizing how singing positively affected them, the patients started the routine of morning prayers.
Alec and I have been touched by morning prayers every time we come here. We go home and try to explain it, but I don’t think we do it justice. So this year we’re bringing a version of morning prayers to the United States. To commemorate World AIDS Day (Monday, Dec. 1), Thandie, Athwel and others from Umtha Welanga, will travel to the Washington, D.C. area and sing at several churches in Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. Through their music and their stories, they will share with us the hope and strength their faith brings them from a place full of hope in the face of poverty and AIDS.
-- Amy Zacaroli
One other sound is at home here – people singing. Their voices pure, strong, and without any instruments – just the voices God gave them. Umtha Welanga Health Care Center, the AIDS clinic in the center of the main village, is a beautiful place. It is well built, tan cement with a red roof. Colored glass tiles are glued onto the outside front pillars, creating a welcoming mosaic. Huge windows frame the view of the Keiskamma River and the rolling green hills of the Eastern Cape. It has the feel and character of a very old building, which it is, with its uneven steps painted red and slanting floors, but a solid building. It also has good acoustics.
Patients come here day and night, summer and winter, rainy season and dry, for treatment for HIV/AIDS, opportunistic diseases and palliative care. Every morning around 8:15 or 8:20, someone – Thandie an AIDS counselor or a patient perhaps – breaks into song. Just one voice at first, the others listening to see if they know this song, if they have the strength to join in. Then some patients sitting on their beds will start to sing, and a patient stands from her bed and joins in. Then perhaps Rachel, the head nurse, will join in as she’s writing her morning notes on each patient. The men patients in the nearby ward will walk in slowly and join in. Eunice, another AIDS counselor, will climb the steps from her downstairs office and also join. Soon the room is loud with beautiful, strong voices, joined in a praise song.
And one after another, they sing praise songs to God and to Jesus. Even though most of the songs are in Xhosa, you can still feel the spirit. Then they sing the Lord’s Prayer in English and a patient or a visitor may be asked to pray.
Thandie explains that even if patients cannot get out of bed that they at least listen and try to sing along. “I believe if you sing and pray, then God will help you. Some people who come here do not believe in God, but maybe the songs will move them.”
Athwel, one of the four drivers at Umtha Welanga, said the tradition of morning prayers did not start with the staff. He said he has had patients die in the car with him as he’s driving them to the health care center or the hospital. “Before they die, they want to sing their song,” he explains. So they sing, and then they die peacefully with a strong spirit.
The patients in the health care center may be having a very hard time and Dr. Carol Baker will be attending to them. And the patient struggling, and perhaps other patients nearby, will start to sing. The singing unites everyone and makes the patient strong, Athwel explains. Realizing how singing positively affected them, the patients started the routine of morning prayers.
Alec and I have been touched by morning prayers every time we come here. We go home and try to explain it, but I don’t think we do it justice. So this year we’re bringing a version of morning prayers to the United States. To commemorate World AIDS Day (Monday, Dec. 1), Thandie, Athwel and others from Umtha Welanga, will travel to the Washington, D.C. area and sing at several churches in Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. Through their music and their stories, they will share with us the hope and strength their faith brings them from a place full of hope in the face of poverty and AIDS.
-- Amy Zacaroli
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