Watching as she walks along a hot city street, you would not suspect that Hermina Damons is anything other than what she appears: a grandmother of eight and mother of seven, of whom six are still living.
Watching as she walks along a hot city street, you would not suspect that Hermina Damons is anything other than what she appears: a grandmother of eight and mother of seven, of whom six are still living.
But Damons is far more than your average granny. She is, in fact, a one-person community service program. A longtime member of the Kliptown Seventh-day Adventist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, the former community worker-turned-business executive is again on a walk to help others, here in Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as back home.
She is in the middle of her first sojourn as an “Ecumenical Accompanier” working with the World Council of Churches in the city of Ramallah, part of the West Bank territory under Palestinian control. Her mission is to “make contact with Christians and be visible in the community,” explaining her own experience in apartheid-era South Africa to the Palestinians and the Palestinian situation to those outside the region. Except for a brief September trip to New York City where she will share her experiences with a United Nations panel, Damons will spend a total of seven months in Ramallah and other areas. She has also spent time with Israeli families, and has attended weekly worship services at the Seventh-day Adventist International Congregation in Jerusalem.
Currently Damons is working with a Lutheran pastor in the West Bank on a “meals on wheels” program, as well as assisting with a Bible study to help Palestinians who want to improve their English language skills.
“This week I led the Bible study, which allowed me to express some of my views as an Adventist,” she told ANN in an interview.
“The Palestinian I interact with is the ordinary ‘man-in-the-street,’” she added. “They want to marry, have children and live an ordinary life.”
Damons said she came to Ramallah on her own, and not as a representative of her church. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches, she added.
At home in Johannesburg, Damons now works with women and children who also long for an ordinary life, but often are far from having one. These are women and children with HIV/AIDS, or young infants and children at risk of molestation by male AIDS victims.
Damons explained that in recent years a vicious rumor spread in some circles, claiming that men with HIV/AIDS who had sex with virgins would be healed. This led to a wave of child and infant attacks, and Damons opened her home to youngsters and infants in her neighborhood who needed protection. One such situation involved two young girls whose mother was hospitalized with AIDS complications. Though the mother’s death seemed imminent, she recovered from her immediate illness and was discharged.
Damons, whose children are grown and living on their own, opened her home with its multiple bedrooms to the woman and her children, who had been living in a rubbish dump. This led to her current outreach of helping similarly situated families, offering three months of food and lodging.
During that time, Damons tries to link the women and children with South African government programs to provide food, medical care and housing. She teaches them about health care and diet, and brings them to Kliptown church services, attendance at which is mandatory for free room and board.
“All I’m trying to do is help restore dignity to these people whose lives have been attacked,” she said of her work.
While fellow church members have embraced her ministry, it is not officially supported by the denomination —or any formal organization. Damons said she first sold her car and used savings to fund her work, now members will just “happen by” with food, baby formula or clothes.
“I now live by faith,” she said. “I have gotten past worrying about money.”
