The Twin Powers of Truth and Mystery

Life Orientation ("LO") is a South African mandated class, aimed at social emotional learning, for the well being of South African students. In LO, students circle to discuss the hardships of their lives and their relationships with each other.

LEAP's LO program is well touted by its students and the local community, and after attending three LO sessions in LEAP 2 today, I am the program's newest fan.

Due to the sensitivities that confidentiality requires, I won't divulge any content ... but it will suffice to share that, with some prompting from their LO facilitators, these teens carry forth some powerful truth-telling with each other. So much so, in fact, that their candor impelled me to confront a conflict with one of my fellowship colleagues. Now, our friendship is stronger for it.

When the school bus dropped us at our after-school stop, I walked home with one of my housemates, a current LEAP student. She and I joined hands to help each other avoid a rapidly oncoming car, and after the vehicle passed, she showed no signs of letting go.

So, for the ten minutes it took to arrive at our doorstep, we walked hand in hand, swinging our arms backward and forward, exchanging life stories. I felt like a girl of ten again, excited to have made a new friend.

From all I hear and observe, a friendship between a black and white woman in South Africa is a delicate, complicated matter. When these two to hold hands, while several neighbors stand in their front yards and stare, a rare event is taking place.

I don't know what this young woman felt as we walked, but her act of associating so closely with me the whole way home seemed deliberate and significant. At her age, she was born right around the time when apartheid ended - but let me make no mistake that vestiges remain. Her act of reaching out, and my reciprocation, healed something in me ... even as it saddened me that it should mean anything other than two people connecting.

For the second time today, a LEAP student inspired me, teaching me something I can use in my own life. In this case, the reminder is that I don't always know what impact my engaged presence will have on another - but whether or not I ever find that out, I can feel secure in the knowledge that it does.

And that awareness alone propels me forward, as I navigate the various mysteries of South Africa and its brilliant teenage minds.