Tuesday at Walk in the Light

I forgot to tell more details from this weekend which I thought i should include! Saturday night before the talent show our chalet had a final chalet dinner. It was led by the two senior nurses in our chalet-"power mom" and "mom". They have been our older sisters and RA's throughout the entire trip and two people that Kat and I have become closest with. They prepared us bread, and spaghetti which are two foods that we have all been yearning for, we just are a tad sick of lamb! They finished the evening by giving us "kitten" awards. I received the "kitten that makes us always laugh" award. This is code for that I am too loud when they are trying to sleep. :)

Today we had a good day at Walk in the Light. It has continued to be exhausting though. It's been high eighties this week and I suffered a sunburn on my strap lines. Don't worry, I applied sun screen, I just missed the spot RIGHT on my tank top strap (this is before my nurse Auntie Nancy sends me an email lecturing me on skin caner....). I have found that doing some many days of labor is exhausting! We finished the trench after we had to go back and dig it again on Monday. Now we are working on the care center that is going to be finished by the time we are out of the work site by Friday I think! This is record time for ANYTHING in Africa. We had to clear out all of the trash that was taken from the care center to out front, and now is on the side of the building. We have been gardening and getting the ground ready to be gardened! That includes, shoveling cement and picking through to pull out tons of rocks. Racking, more hoeing, shoveling, wheelbarrowing and then repeating the process. It's tiring. This afternoon though I was thrilled when the time with the Go-go's came together. Last night I created a large 4x4 puzzle that had sixteen pieces and was the size of a chalkboard. We had the women draw pictures of their prayers, dreams or anything that was on their mind. There was a reoccurring theme of women drawing schools, homes, kids, and trees (something that Africa lacks in a township).  We connected all of the activity by talking about Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans where it talks about the body of Christ. Essentially, that each puzzle piece is not perfect and has to be put together in order to complete the puzzle. It was a fun activity to design and even more fun when it goes well with the women. Thank you Kurt and Peter for helping me learn how to teach  bible studies this summer. Pictures soon to come, they wouldn't all upload!

Swimming in South Africa waterhole at night..TMI?

Tonight Kat, Emily, Christina and I decided to cross off from the South African bucket list of Christina's past friend who was in South Africa and went swimming at 11pm. This was no average swimming experience, it was in a swimming hole that had a waterfall and fast moving water. To add to the experience it was late and night, dark, and full of hippos, monkeys and snakes. Maybe not, but I was pretty sure that we were going to get eaten. As we snuck down to the hole, Kat began to giggle non-stop. To be fair, I think we all had the giggles, but I have never heard Kat so nervous to go swimming. It was a thrilling experience that has left us little rebels very proud of ourselves. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken for the occasion so you will have to let your imagination do the work of our thrilling night. TMI?

Battlefields and Walk in the Light

Today I finished my theology paper that is due at the end of the semester which means a student has to annoyingly figure out how to complete a paper while doing service sites and experiencing the last few weeks in Africa. Not a fun combination so I am excited for it to be nearly finished.

On our adventure through town!

Last weekend we went on a Battlefield Tour. It was quite interesting but more exciting was the bus we took! It was a comfy bus that teams in High School get to take to state. It included extremely comfortable seats, a TV for movies and a lot of space for 44 of us. We drove about four hours and then began making stops. The Battle’s are pre-apartheid but essential to understand for what occurs many years later in Africa. It has to do with the Bour’s, British and the Zulu. Essentially, we were able to understand what we have been learning in our history of South Africa class that will be continued in Cape Town. They were eerie places to visit where a lot of blood has been shed. My favorite story is where 70 Zulu men are trapped inside of a hospital and 4,000 Zulu men are attacking from the outside. These are also interesting monuments because they were built during the African rule to glorify white’s accomplishments against the Zulu. Post apartheid their have been monuments made to “equally” glorify the Zulu side of the story, but quite frankly it’s still very splitting of the country. I was frustrated to be another white tourist since there was only white people visiting the site. It’s hard to explain some of the underlying tones present at each of the battlefields However, that night we got to stay in the cutest little hotel! It had unique rooms that were all different and creative. It was a bed and breakfast from the 1800’s I believe and therefore had a very homey feeling. We basically filled up the entire hotel and so it was a very fun afternoon of exploring all the nooks and crannies, secret passages, variety of rooms, reading, and exploring the little town we were in. That night however was by far the best as it was the “Ask Reg Anything” session. Every semester, the group gets about 4 hours to ask “Papa Reg” any question and he will answer anything and everything. I have a deep amount of respect for Reg and it was incredible to hear what he had to say about life, relationships, moments in his life and advice for our futures.

Pretty and I

The septic tank of death!

Our team in the hole

This week was a very intense week on site for Walk in the Light. How it works is that Monday we had a day in our Community Engagement class. We do a lot of reflections and each group has to go up in front and talk about where they are struggling. It’s a great debrief session and a good way to hear about every team. I try hard to hear from someone from each team every night at dinner but it is also difficult to process and also debrief. As a whole my week had a very difficult Thursday Go-Go session (time with the Grandma’s). Overcoming a unsuccessful and hard week for us from LAST week was our goal THIS week. That we did VERY successfully. Monday night I spent time with another girl on our team and our Zulu professor to really figure out what to do during our Go-Go bible study that is twice a week (on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons). I was slightly weary presenting to our group on Monday night but the ideas worked with our community engagement goals and having a plan for the next two weeks was very helpful. Tuesday when we got on site we also had a great new job to dig a five foot hole for  a septic tank. There also needed to be a twenty foot long trench that was 4 feet deep coming out of the hole. It became quite the task as originally we did not have anything to measure the tank with, no axes to break soil with and a ton of bricks and hard soil to get through. We continued it the rest of the week and by yesterday after many sore muscles and weary diggers, we finally finished the hole (we think, Bruce was not technically there to approve). The tank is for the care center that we are helping to create. The nurses from our campus have designed a plan for patients to come in a building that was not being utilized. Our team therefore has been cleaning it out, taking the trash to the dump, pulling up carpet, washing walls, laying cement and finally painting the center. It has been a lot of work but once the tank is dug that center will be finally used. It has come together very well and has been a complete joy in the process. This week I was able to go visit the first girl that will be put into the care center. She has AIDS and lives in complete poverty. Every morning people from Walk in the Light take her to clinic but besides that she has no visitors and her family does not take care of her. She is just about my age and when I saw her she was laying on a bed. She looks very similar to a girl who has a very extreme eating disorder. I could see the bones on her legs and chest and she had a gaunt face. She barely could use her wrists properly and it smelled nauseatingly of urine and dead animals. I sat with her for awhile and between my broken Zulu and her broken English we were able to pray together and I was able to talk to her for a few minutes. It as heart wrenching because all she wanted was someone to sit on the floor with her, hold her hand and to feel loved. I am sure there are thousand of other girls my age who live the same way every day who I will never be able to meet, pray with or love on for five minutes. What that means for the world and how to move past that thought I am still processing through.

Our group with the senior youth

We have continued to bond well with the senior youth. Our goal is to have the senior youth who are our age help lead with the Go-Go’s for after we leave. Pretty a girl who is 24 and has a 5 year old son who I have bonded with well is who I would really like to take over. The guys who are our age also always hang around and are really great to use during the Bible Studies to help us translate what we are trying to say in Zulu. It was a really encouraging group this week and I am going to feel very sad with next week as we wrap up the service part of the trip.

The high light of our week was Thursday with the Go-Go’s when our group prepared a 3 part harmony version of “In the Jungle”. It included us getting the Go-Go’s to play drums and tambourines. We got the women dancing and it turned into a 20 minute session of singing in English and Zulu. It was one of the more incredible 20 minutes that I have had in Africa blending two cultures together. It was all filmed by Pretty on my camera and I am going to try to post it.

This is why I want to be a teacher...

People are getting antsy for our trip to Cape Town that starts next Sunday. I would like this time to never end and I am going to feel an immense amount of sadness leaving what we consider “home”. However, I am counting down the days until tacos and hamburgers with puppies at my feet to pet!

Videos from Africa!

Here were some random You Tube videos that Christina posted tonight. I wanted to share some random experiences with home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir3IL6Jkrwg
The first is from Halloween when my chalet was the Von Trapp Family. This is our entrance and then the fairwell song that we sang at the end. Yes, we know, we are nerds :).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBI7_XZ_c_s

The second is from our community engagement class. Our task was to come up with a song that represented our community of APU at African Enterprise. This is a song that Brett had already written and we simply added onto the lyrics and put a dance to it. We were given thirty minutes to prepare so this is our lame attempt to sing in front of the class which was filmed :).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smfpxnoNIso

The third is the talking drums group that came to our campus. We had an afternoon where we were taught how to do traditional drumming. It reminded me a lot of my Aunt Deb and Uncle Donny who went into schools doing workshops. I never really appear in this, I am on the other side of the room in my red APU sweatshirt. It was SUCH a cool event though!

More to come this weekend over the week at Walk in the light and the visit to the Battlefields this weekend!

Throw up, Zip Lines and the Von Trapp Family

What if I was throwing up from up there?

I am writing this in my bed which is the first step of a bad sign because it means that I am sick. I have had a cold for the past week here that has caused slight complication, on top of that I started throwing up. I have never thrown up with a stuffy nose and let me just tell you, it’s an experience I hope to never have again. Needless to say, for the past few days a 24 hour bug has ripped through our campus where someone has intense vomiting and diarrhea and after a day of rest stops. There are a few exceptions with this 24-hour rule, Kat had it yesterday so I was bound to get it today.

Our team!!

Dodging the tree

This weekend was a great weekend of zip lining! It was a more than terrifying experience, but nonetheless great. We were able to rip across a mountain. To start it they took us to the top of it in the trees and there was a series of 8 zips to get to the bottom. It was INCREDIBLEY high and also had an incredible view that looked very similar to the Coastal Range Mountains in Oregon. I shared my screams as I zipped across trees, waterfalls and even at times we had to avoid trees (like in my picture). I think my legs were shaky from the experience for just about the next hour, but it was amazing and I wish that it could have continued forever!

The Von Trapp Family

After an exhausting day at zip lining we finished the night by having a bry with a bouncy castle! IT was the final game for the sharks rugby team that ended up winning the championship. It was an exciting game and win and made much more sense this time.

Our course

Sunday we celebrated our own kind of “costume party”. In South Africa Halloween has a very different meaning and therefore we changed our celebrations a bit so that it was more appropriate for the community we are in. My chalet dressed up as the Von Trapp family and learned the “So Long Farewell” and “Do Re Me” songs and dances so that we could perform. It was a very fun Halloween that included a party where people got to eat disgusting mixes of foods. Thank goodness for my lactose intolerance so that I could NOT participate in this part, but instead watch as they ate disgusting contractions.

Oh Africa...

This week was my first week at Walk in the Light. After three days of being in class with Francis our instructor for Community Engagement we FINALLY got to go on site. It’s been interesting being there. I love being on site, but it always fascinates me how differently things work in different non-profit organizations. Essentially, Walk in the Light is on the outskirts of the township Haniville. It’s a township with about 10,000 residents but does not look nearly so packed. Supposedly, it’s a dangerous area which I have seen very little evidence of. It’s been greatly affected by drugs, alcohol, AIDS and poverty which is a tough combination. Walk in the Light is a community center who’s main goal is for every morning to take people from Haniville to the clinic early in the morning. Part of the difficulty is that people who need help are not receiving proper care and so every morning a team member takes those from the community at 6am. Tuesday and Thursdays there are meetings with the “Go-Go’s” (Grandma’s) where we lead a bible study. Friday afternoons there is a time for senior youth group with people who are very close to my age. On top of all these activities there is a dream to create a church/community center which has been drawn up but at this time they do not have enough money and resources to start the project. There is one “head” guy named Bruce who comes in the morning to do devotionals with us and then heads to his farm which is the funding for WITL and his family. This creates some difficulty for our team in having and knowing what to do and how to take the things we are hearing in our community engagement class back into the community.

It amazes me that it is already November and that I am coming back to the United States quicker than I am ready for. I am holding onto everyday at the work site and will be sad when it’s over. It’s nice to get college credit to work hard physically. We have three more weeks here and then will head to Cape Town for the final part of our trip.

Homecoming week!

Finals are completed and I am a very happy girl!!

My fabulous Date and I!

This week the tragic thing that occurred was that we realized that monkeys had peed on our comforters and this is why our room has smelled so bad as of late. This weekend it was also exceptionally rainy and then exceptionally and HOT so our room smelled worse than we had EVER experienced. Kat and I’s first thought was that there was a dead animal in our room no joke, that was the only thing that I could identify the smell with. After a long investigation and long process of cleaning the floors, the comforters were spotted with monkey pee that I have been sleeping in for the past couple of weeks. It’s an incredibly terrible smell which ahs now been taken care of. On top of that there has been mold issues and a bird nest in our shower pipe? Well, I suppose that this is Africa (at least I have not been bitten by a spider like my dear cousin)!!

My chalet!

We had a week of finals which was stressful. However, to make it more fun activities committee planned this week to be homecoming week. Monday was pajama day which Kat and I participated in by wearing sweat pants. No one else seemed to last the whole day but this was a normal day for Kat and I which simple had a title on it. Greeeaaaat!! Tuesday was twin day so Allie Moffit and I dressed alike. We already have been mistaken by our blonde curly hair and Kat and I happen to have the same tank top so we literally matched perfectly, it was fun to confuse our professor in Life and Teachings. Wednesday was white v-neck day (also a normal day in the lazy life of Sarah Charles), Thursday was wacky tacky day and Friday was our study abroad blue polos. We looked like we were from a nerdy christian private school for the day which was a FANTASTIC experience. Friday we also completed the week by having a “homecoming game” which was us playing soccer! It was SO fun to be able to go play after taking off last intramural season of soccer because of my bad hip. The bummer was that Kat and I got put on opposite teams and so our lack of domination decreased. It was an intense game where even some South Africans got involved. I continued my reputation of being too aggressive in sports (oh well…) but my team ended up winning 3-2. I can’t help but mention that I had a lovely assist for the final goal where I slide tackled a guy and then felt the effects of that slide tackle for the next week, but it was worth it. After that we went on the slip n’ slide for the next hour which is about 100 ft long or so. It was an exhausting and thrilling day! Between soccer and a ridiculously fast slip n’ slide my body was achy, sore and beat up. Sunday then completed homecoming by having our dance which was themed “vintage Hollywood”. I naturally have brought a LOT of these items to South Africa with me (joke) and it resulted in our best attempts to anything that look even somewhat “vintage”. That resulted in me pinning up my hair and wearing a “vintage” flower (I tried). The night actually ended up to be incredible and was one of the funniest dances I have ever been to. We ate, played some fun lip sync games and then ended up dancing around like goofballs for about 4 hours. My legs (specifically feet) are still feeling the effects of the night. However, I can say that I officially “danced in the moonlight” on a bridge over a waterfall in Africa with my hot date, Kathryn Devereaux. We also did our best reenactments of “dancing with the stars” to “I’ll be” which included kat running into my arms and me lifting her into the air nearly pulling down her dress for the world to see, I’d say it was a great night by all. I expect my call to be on the show any day now.

            I have been placed at my work site which is “Walk in the Light”. It is located in the township “Haniville”. This is what I will mainly be blogging about from this point on, for my sake to remember stories and for my parents sanity to hear about my life. We have begun our community engagement class which is taught by and incredible Kenyan man named Francis. He is quite the big deal and is known nationally, how APU get’s these people I am not sure but I am honored to be in his class. He is essentially teaching us the steps of walking into a community and evaluating what the community needs and how to empower them. It was explained that Americans like to be the wheelbarrow that pushes a community but cannot be pushed once we are gone. However, his goal is create a soccer ball effect that will keep rolling and only needs one kick to get it going. I can’t say I have ever been in a class that is more applicable and something I hope to remember for the rest of my life. One thought that Francis left us chewing on that I will leave you with for the day…“Until the lions are the historians, the tale about the hunt will always glorify the hunter”

Rugby match!!

Rugby match with Brittany!

This weekend we had the change to be able to go to a semi final rugby game, the sharks versus the bulls. This game was a big deal because normally the bulls when and so the sharks had a lot to go up against. It felt very similar to being at an NBA semi final game, the crowd is pumped up and everyone is excited. The game was originally delayed by a an hour or so because of the bee population on the field. They had people out there spraying constantly and I was a little worried the game would be cancelled but it finally started. Our crew was very excited for the game to start and was sporting our black and white and even had our faces painted! It was very exciting to watch the rugby game, I didn’t have much of a clue what was going on but it was funny to try to figure it out. Those rugby guys are HUGE, and they make American football players look like girls compared to the lack of pads these guys wear. Conclusion: Football is for girls, rugby is for men! My favorite part is when they throw the guy into the air to grab the ball. In the second half however it started down pouring on us and Kathryn and I had conveniently forgotten our rain coats in the car. Therefore, we trekked down to the first floor to find some coffee. While down there, I decided that we should attempt to get into the ground seating that was up close to the rugby players. We successfully worked our American blonde girl act and ended up in the FIRST row for a little bit. I could have reached out and touched the players! We didn’t last long though because at this point the rain was coming in side ways and we needed to find cover. The sharks ended up winning and everyone left singing and VERY happy. It was INCREDIBLE to experience a sporting event in a foreign country which I now have done in England (Thanks to Auntie and Uncle), Mexico, and now South Africa.  It amazes me how sports can unite us all over the world.

World cup stadium!

The rugby match was right next to one of the stadiums for the World Cup which I thought I would include for Uncle and Auntie. I have been told that you can bungee jump off of it-it is definitely huge and I was star struck! 

Slip n' Slide African Style

Best slip n' slide EVER!

This post needs to happen because it JUST occurred. Tonight we had our first MAJOR thunder and lightening storm. We SHOULD have been studying with finals and what not coming up, but what did we do? There was a slip and slide set up and we had an experience of a lifetime at 11pm. Pouring, thunder and lightening, HUGE slip and slide down a hill where someone had to catch you so you could stop to get off of it. Talk about one of the best nights of the semester. Freezing, but exhilarating.

LIONs, ZEBRAS...and bears? Nope, a ZULU village!!!

The "A Team" in the Safari Van

I am sorry that this blog is SO late to be posted but the last two weeks have been out of control here. This is dedicated to my Mom, Aunt Nancy, Michelle, Sunny and Mr. Darcy who have all asked me why I have not updated this.

Let’s start from the basics:

A week of ago MARKING TONIGHT 10 African frogs were released into our chalet. I was in the shower when this originally occurred, at first there were only a few and I tell you those frogs multiplied. We were reenacting the plague like with Moses. It ended up in little sleep and a night of girls finding frogs in their bed and Sarah feeling wet and slimy things that were imaginary frogs. A great night had by all. I can laugh about it now, at the time I wanted to punch a boy through the ceiling. For everyone’s well being we have called a truce and we are at peace again.

 A beautiful giraffe we saw!

What the Safari vehicle looked like

We were able to go on Safari not this weekend but the weekend before. I realized on this experience that this is something that people dream about, and I was able to experience it. It truly was a surreal experience that I hope everyone at some point can experience. We saw a pride of lions (super rare and hard to find), wild dogs (also very rare, they blend in with the ground very well), about 50 rhinos, giraffe, a family of elephants, and countless Zebra, impala, buffalo, wildebeests, and various birds. The only of the big five we did not see is a leopard but boy did Kat and I keep our eyes peeled! We stayed in these cute little rotunda huts, ate TERRIFIC food, and went on safari from 5 am to 6pm for three days. IT was AWESOME besides the fact that we got no homework done but a very good trip to bond on. About 24 of us went to safari while the other 24 went to the Zulu Village. I really felt like I bonded well with the group and everyone missed each other from the other group. When we came home it was like a big reunion. WE ate AWESOMELY and got to bond with out Bible Teacher Reg by always riding in his car. We created the “A Team” aka a group of girls who always rode in the car with Reg in hopes of gaining some of his knowledge. I don’t think I worked for me.

Kat and I with our Zulu pots

Traditional Dancing

This weekend we were able to go to the Zulu Village which was also incredible. It is a traditional set up where the unmarried women are shirtless and the men wear traditional loin cloth garb. Quite a shocker for us American folk. We learned to bead, weave mats, we herded cattle, but more remarkably Kat and I decided that on the rainy cold evening we would run into the freezing MUDDY lake. It was quite the experience-who else can say they ran into a lake in an African Zulu village on a rainy day, we can! There is a picture here of me learning to weave a mat with a Zulu married women (hence why she has a shirt on). She didn’t speak much English and I was pretty terrible at it. I don’t know how I ended up volunteering to go up there, I was just saying to a friend how terrible I was at anything artistic and creative and then next thing I knew I had volunteered to make a fool out of myself. Good learning experience: I make a terrible traditional Zulu wife. The village was really fun to learn about and to sleep in a traditional hut. It felt a little show and tell to me, but it still was interesting. My FAVORITE part of the trip was hearing the traditional dance and song. Uncle Donny told me to pay attention to it, I have never heard something so beautiful. I wish I could have held onto those songs forever however I have no idea what they were saying.

Indian Ocean with Musa as superman!

Sunday we were able to go to a market in Durbin. It was very fun with traditional things. Much like Mexico where you start seeing the same idea of gifts at every place. I thought it was fun since I am so much more accustomed to shopping for bracelets in Mexico! Kat and I spent an hour jumping through the waves with our driver Philip sons Musa. It was one of the funnest hours I have spent in water, hurdling and having the time of our life trying to keep standing. Sadly the fun was ended when one too many waves pushed me over and I got salt/sand stuck in my eye the rest of the night.

Finals are happening next week along with a rugby game this weekend! I am sorry for every person’s email I have ignored or been slow to get back too. I will get to it all.

On a positive note, Kat and I saw Zebra finally on our run and we both screamed. I couldn't have gotten any closer and I was in COMPLETE awe to see my favorite animal in reaching distance. I couldn't imagine this trip without Kat. I feel so lucky to have a best friend along side me through a lot of laughter. We call ourselves the dynamic duo, I don't think anyone else thinks we are QUITE as funny as we do, but we never stop laughing on this trip it seems.

We were THIS excited about the Zebra!

 One last note-last Friday in chapel we met the first guy in South Africa to do the Seven Summits. He talked specifically about Mount Everest which I have been pining over since I read "Into Thin Air". It was and INCREDIBLE experience to hear someone first handedly speak about it, I am not sure if I was the only one about to wet my pants but it was and awesome experience.

Random Happenings of the week:

-A McDonald's run for McNuggets at 10pm (Did you know it's healthier in Africa and good study fuel?)
-I chased and cuddled every cat in site, it has happened, I like cats now, Sorry beth...
-With 3 friends we broke into the kitchen in hunt of food late at night, the things college students do when they get hungry
-I stepped on a dead snake and jumped about 10ft into the air
-Kat and I have slept through our alarm clock just about everyday because I hit it in my sleep, change the time and somehow we keep randomly waking up
-We have eaten rice and fatty lamb just about every single day for at least lunch or dinner, you would think after awhile it would get old for the kitchen staff to make it...nope!
-I dominated Kat by pushing her mid air into the cold lake mud as she tried to tackle me (it's on film and will be playing on a Sports Center highlights near you very soon, don't worry Dad)
-I attempted to be motivated to go to school and stay awake

Indian Ocean!!!

From the Caves the paintings from hundreds of years ago!

Indian Ocean!

Last Saturday I didn’t have a chance to blog about our time at the Indian Ocean which cannot be forgotten since it was a fantastic day. In the morning for my Intercultural Communication Class we went to an Indian town called “Umzinto”. It was a fun couple of hours being able to walk around and talk to people. I specifically enjoyed being able to go into a mosque and meeting shop owners.

Kathryn and I

After our trip at Umzinto we went to the beach for the afternoon! I don’t know what it was, but it was SO comforting to be back at a beach. The Indian Ocean was so powerful and so blue! Right when we arrived we jumped into the waves and they pushed us over. I specifically took a few steps in where it was barely ankle deep, a big enough wave came and it flipped me and dragged me across the sand. Talk about embarrassing moment! After the beach we had a bry (BBQ) with an Indian youth group. We had to move where our bry was because we were next to a lot of drunk African guys that were giving us trouble (this tends to happen when you travel with a group of 44 Americans…). I got to ride in the “boot of the buckie” (the bed of a truck) to our new site which I thought was going to be only a few minutes away. It ended up being MUCH farther than I thought and they went really fast! I felt like a dog in the back of a truck. It was awesome!!

This week was pretty uneventful. A LOT of homework and studying. Sadly, I left our window open though and a guy saw a lot of monkeys in our room and jumped in after them. The monkeys got our chocolate, snacks, ripped the package of my UNO cards, and spread the medications and tampons across our floor. Silly monkeys!

            Friday was Heritage day for South Africa-sort of like an independence day in the states. A bunch of places are closed and people don’t have work. We celebrated by playing volleyball, having a bry (BBQ) and watching Invictus. I especially enjoyed being able to play volleyball although I may have been a little too competitive. J

This Saturday our excursion was to the Giants Castle. When we originally left Pietermaritzburg, it was rainy and a fogged in mess, not a pretty day for a hike. However, once we drove two hours we broke out of the fog and into a sunny valley!

            I was in the first group that was able to do the hike up and then go straight up into the caves. I really enjoyed the hike, I felt like I finally saw the “Africa” I had envisioned. There were beautiful valleys, animals, rocks that looked similar to “pride rock” and amazing views. I walked with a group of girls that had a particularly good time climbing up the rocks.

View on the hike!

            Once we got up to the caves I realized I had no idea what to be prepared for. I was expecting us to walk into caves with headlamps on, but it was quite different. A guide walked us up to the caves and there were two specific spots where we were able to view the paintings. The first spot showed an example of what the people would have looked like working and living in the caves. It was fascinating to see the black on the walls from fires hundreds of years earlier. I enjoyed seeing the paintings as well. It was hard to understand our tour guide and he said very little to us, but what I could read off of the plaques helped greatly. The second room the paintings were even clearer and we could get even closer to them. As I understood, the room was the “holier” room and it showed a medicine man with warriors or hunters around it. The pictures were made out of animal blood mixed with fat so that we still are able to see the paintings in the year 2010. Overall I thought it was a very interesting trip. I enjoyed being able to finally witness areas of land that we have read about.

Climbing Pride Rock

            The rocks and area surrounding it looked very similar to the red rocks found in Sedona. After we explored the caves we were able to go down to the creek and hop rocks while the other group went to see the caves. This was a very comforting experience because it made me feel like I was back at Oak Creek in Arizona hopping rocks with Beth and the cousins. This creek was very clear without fish (SCORE!) and the only animal I saw was a frog that leaped over my foot and went swimming. We had fun standing in the little rapids and trying to stay standing up.

Monkey on the loose!

            We enter into midterms next week, crazy to think that it’s possible we are half way through our academic semester. I really look forward to the community engagement sites. I have been involved in a chapel committee that gets to plan our Monday student chapels. It’s been really fun to continue leadership in a church after this summer.  My hip has been hurting this week more from my running, I have taken a rest on it so that it can heal. Next week I am looking forward to going on a safari!

Meeting Prince Buthelezi

Head Pastor of organization at mic, Michael Cassidy behind, Prince on far right

Today we had an incredible opportunity to be able to meet Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi who is President of the Inkatha Freedom Party and just under the Zulu King. Let me explain some background information on African Enterprise. Azusa Pacific University’s campus is partnered with the African Enterprise campus and therefore daily there are new groups going in and out of the area. If you google Africa Enterprise, you can begin to understand how important of a place this was during the Apartheid and how important Christian leaders from that time period were from African Enterprise. I could write a paper on the importance of African Enterprises so in short I will leave it at that this is still a well known place where conferences go in and out of and it is famously known as a place of reconciliation. One of the “big names” of AE is Michael Cassidy who if you ALSO google will begin to realize how important of a Christian man he has been. He is most famously known for putting together a prayer conference around the time of the 1994 election which should have been very violent and very eventful, but through a miracle (which many connect to Michael Cassidy’s prayer conference) it was a peaceful turn of power. Michael Cassidy is a completely humble man who is the retired CEO of AE and last week came and spoke with us. All of this background information leads up to that today there was a large conference held on campus with the “Christians for Peace in Africa”. This organization was bringing delegates and journalists from all over the country of Africa. Unfortunately, due to government tensions, about 40 delegates could not get a visa to get into South Africa. Yesterday Gloria one of the staff informed us that the Zulu prince would be coming today to make a guest appearance for a speech. At the time we were told we would be unable to see him so I joked with my parents last night of hiding in the bushes. However, today, a few of us went up to Michael Cassidy who we had met last week and asked if we would be able to fill the seats of the delegates who were unable to attend to be able to listen to his speech. He agreed, helped us work with our professors to get us out of class from 4:30-6:30 and I was able (alongside of many classmates) to go hear, meet, and see the Prince Buthelezi. 

Prince at mic, Michael Cassidy sitting on right

            This experience was far more important then I could have imagined. When we entered the women began chanting a song in Zulu which was a call and response song. Everyone rose and we waited as he was greeted. I was in the third row away from him, he was a short man with gray hair who barely peered over the microphone, someone said he is 81 years old. We were each given a copy of his speech, which I hope to share with anyone in the future, but the important part was understanding how important his role in the Apartheid was, he worked closely with Mandela however with a Christian stance. His Christian stance is very against violence, being that he has direct Zulu descent (which are famously known as warriors) and his stand to not use violence has created him as a politician who has been pushed to the side. Much of his story has been turned around by media, and he his hated by many in South Africa. At the end of his speech, they gave time for an open mic specifically where people could make comments and ask questions (this was specifically geared towards us college students). Many people from Africa talked about the lies that they knew of this man and how changed they felt after his talk. I wish I could write what his speech was like but it is hard to articulate. It was heart felt, he obviously has experienced many hardships, he has suffered with his people through the apartheid and he has been brought out of that time by being hated by his own people for trying to make peaceful decisions. Looking into his eyes, you see pain. He is a humble man, one that takes no credit for the amazing things he has done. He was gracious, kind and took time to talk to us and shake our hands afterwards. He was a man of VERY high stature, guards and the whole deal, however, his guards were not pushy, in the room but not even next to him. 

APU group with Prince in middle

            Two things to send home was a question asked by one of our students. She asked how as Americans can we assist South Africa. His response was in two ways. His first was in prayer for leaders. He went onto explain that there is still a lot of problems in South Africa, but more specifically violence all over the world. He told us how important prayer is to the South Africans after the prayer conference. The prince also went on to explain how tragic AIDS and HIV is in South Africa and Africa as a whole. He personally has lost two children to it, but he explained that compared to other families that is barely any. He ended with saying his favorite verse in Zulu and English, “Be still, know that I am God.” I don’t know if I could still find God in situations he has been through, and got a taste of what forgiveness, reconciliation and grace means.

If I were a Zebra....

 

Sawubona!

This week has been a very overwhelming yet exciting week. I can’t believe how quick yet slow days move here.

Monday we started classes and we haven’t stopped running sense! The problem is we are fitting 14 weeks of school into 6 weeks. Therefore, we are reading what seems like the whole continent of Africa! I have NEVER experienced this intense and overwhelming amount of continous class and reading. We don’t have a ton of class, but the days we do have it are long periods.

For you academic types (my parents and the Monsons) I will go into details about class. I am taking Intercultural Communications from a colored professor, Clive Lawler. (Colored means he has one Indian and one white parent). This class is actually pretty interesting and very useful for being in a country I know very little about! I also find it applicable in my time in Mexico and so although reading 200 pages by Thursday was NOT my idea of fun, at least it is something that I will be able to apply in my futures. My second class is Life and Teachings of Jesus which is from Reg (White professor-dutch mom british dad). Reg is the “head” figure of this whole program. I have only ever had one other professor in college at this point that I respect and love to the point as Reg. Thank goodness that Reg is my bible professor and in fact for once not making me angry about bold statements that APU can make at times about the bible! Reg is extremely intelligent and I just pray that I can soak up some of his knowledge about the Bible. We also have a seminar time which meets later in the week which splits us up into groups of 5, someone has to do this large paper over things they have researched (which is the downside) but Reg is there helping answer questions. This week we discussed Jesus’ resurrection and I saw that story in a totally new light. When we talked about the persecution Christians would have felt at the time it meant something new to me after talking about the Apartheid since the day we stepped food on South Africa’s soil. Our History and Culture Class is being lectured by Reg but our actual professor is Quinton (Who met us in Joburg) and will finish the course with us in Capetown. Until then we have a common string of a lot of reading and some reflection papers!One night a week we are able to go to Zulu class which is IMPOSSIBLE. Goodness, I thought Spanish was hard until I walked into this class. I have trained my tongue to role r’s and in Zulu you make different click sounds for c,q and one other letter. The only thing that is saving me is that vowels are said similar to Spanish. Moral of story, anyone who can speak zulu I have tremendous respect for. I want to be able to do simple sayings for our work site but that’s all I am interested in. My final class is Theology online which could not be any harder. I have never read so much and realize now why I have never taken an online class, you need to go to class! Thankfully a lot of us are doing this together in efforts of passing the class and helping to understand. I am a people person and therefore need a professor and discussion. I am trying to remind myself that school is not EVERYTHING and I need to enjoy Africa. I will enjoy it a lot more once this class is done and I get to do service projects. We will continue with Community Engagement and History class through the semester but most of these classes are completed in 5 weeks! This week we signed up for committees to be apart of. I signed up for activity committee to plan events and also chapel committee to help plan our monday student chapel.

            Monday we were able to visit one of our service site options. For four weeks we will be able to volunteer in one of four sites. Monday we saw Gateway, which is a school and women rehab who have been beaten or need to be treated because of HIV aids infection. I loved the site because I love kids and a school naturally drew me in, I don’t know what I will end up doing though, it’s way too early to decide. Put me at any work site in Africa and I will be happy so whatever ends up happening for me is fine.

            Most mornings this week we have been running at 6am in the game reserve which has been such a treat. We have yet to see the zeh-bra (yes, pronounce that the African way) but we are on the hunt! We have ran super early, gone at walks near dusk, they are tricky animals which everyone but kat and I have managed to see!

            This week the boys in the chalet next door caught a HUGE HUGE spider that they named “Crackin”. This spider was put in someone’s lunch box which I saw as no problem until yesterday when Kat and I were minding our own business doing a yoga work out tape and suddenly we heard our door open. The boys were plotting to release Crackin into our chalet. After a massive chase sequence we thought we had gotten rid of the boys forever. However, if you look on facebook you will see a video of them releasing Crackin into our desk drawer during dinner and our chalet mates (We also call them our RA, they are seniors and kinda like our older sisters) Christina and Emily are screaming. Let me just say, revenge is in the working.

            Tonight was "girls night"-34 of us piled into a room. We drank hot chocolate, painted nails, and watched a movie. So fun! We head to Durbin tomorrow for Intercultural Communication to SWIM IN THE INDIAN OCEAN and to go through an Indian Village.

Struggles:

I am convinced that the cars are driving on the wrong side of the road

Showers-they go hot and cold

Weather here! One day it is 100 degrees, the next is freezing and rainy!

Theology. Ugh.

Being focused when I want to go sit by a waterfall, go run on a hill!

Finding a Zehbra

Not snuggling with the cat's here, they are very cute kittens

I am exhausted all the time-I literally go to bed at 10 and think it's late

Esto es Africa!

 

Yebo! (“Hello” in Zulu)

I have safely arrived in Pietzmaritzburg South Africa at our African Enterprise Campus and it has been a whirlwind of a trip thus far. We left at 1:45am September 7^th and proceeded to go to LAX. From LAX we flew to Washington DC, DC to Dakar Senegal to fill up our tank, and Senegal to Johannesburg. By the time we arrived in Jburg I had no idea what day or time it was. I slept well on the airplane so the travel time was not as terrible as I thought it would be for a restless 20 year old.

Freedom Charter Memorial-10 Pillers 1955

Once we got to JBurg we were greeted by Quinton who would be our professor in Capetown but had met us in JBurg to begin our History and Culture Class. Quinton happens to have been one of my dear friends from Oregon Allie Low’s professor last fall when she was in Capetown and thus it felt SO nice to have someone who knew someone important to me while in my first few days in Africa. Our group loved Quinton and I can’t wait to see him again in Capetown. Quinton helped us get situated, got us on a bus to our hotel, got us dinner and to bed promptly. Our CLC’s (community life coordinator) Reagan and Janet also met us. Reagan and Janet live with us throughout the trip and are like our RD’s or someone that is always around for us to ask questions too and to help us organize things. Janet is 22 and Reagan is recently married.

The next day we headed to Apartheid Museum in JBurg. It was amazing! Allie had told me that it would be interesting, but I didn’t realize how good it would be. Sadly, Kathryn, Janelle and I somehow missed the MAIN exhibit and spent two hours in the side Mandela exhibit. However, I still learned a ton about him and I found it so interesting. I had always understood that Mandela was an incredible leader, I had not understood however, how incredibly educated he was.

Apartheid Museum-Johannesburg South Africa

From there, we took a tour of Soweto with our tour guides Cindy and Alaina who are from Soweto (black township). We learned SO much information about the area and we were able to see Mandela’s house that he stayed at before he was put into jail and for eleven days once he was out of jail. I was intrigued by how simple of a house he had in the middle of a street/township.

After our tour of Soweto we were able to run by the soccer stadium from the 2010 world cup. It was huge!

September 9^th was a travel day for us. We flew from Johannesburg to Durbin and then took a bus to Pietmaritzburg. Let me just say, I would be fine with never traveling that much again! I still feel a little confused on meals, what day it is, when to sleep but that may also be because they run us hard! Once at our campus in Pietmaritzburg, we were assigned to a chalet. The chalet has four rooms, two bedrooms, and a little sitting area. Once on campus we jumped into orientations and moving in. We jumped in so quickly that we have hardly had time for anything else.

Prayer Chapel on Campus

This morning we woke up and went straight to class to begin our history and culture lectures. The difference about our lectures here and normal lectures is that the history of South Africa is FASCINATING. South Africa truly has had so many changes even in the last 16 years and our professor Reg is so educated and has literally lived through the changes. Reg is a professor that is more like our Dad, and is called “Papa Reg”. He is so kind and makes learning not seem like a chore. Perhaps the best part though is that we learn about things and then go and see them. Today for example we learned about where Gandhi was first kicked off the train because he was Indian and riding in first class which sparked his want for equality in both India and South Africa. Something that would after his original dream would continue as a problem in SA for 100 years.

Current Struggles

-Tea time at 10 and 4 is fantastic, however Kat and I cannot resist the Chocolate muffins and cookies-they literally melt in your mouth (We plan to implement this back at APU, everyone needs a social break!)

-Opening our Chalet’s door-the key is impossible and we have to lock and un lock so that monkeys do not invade

-Remembering that I am in minority!

-Knowing that I am going to have schoolwork and homework

-Monkeys that surround you and make Kat and I scream as we are trying unlock our chalet door

-Not having showers that work in our chalet, they are fixing that!

Kathryn and I's Room

-Remembering that in fact WE have the funny accents and weird names

-Exhaustion and Altitude

This has been a fantastic experience so far and I am so thankful to be here although it was tough to leave APU. I feel thankful for all the encouraging notes friends gave me as I left and have sent me so far.

3 1/2 Weeks to go!

I leave for an APU semester in South Africa September 7th which is about three and a half weeks away. It seems a little bit unreal for a drastic decision that happened last winter (which at that time felt so far away) to be here so quickly.  I wanted this blog to be a place where family and friends could keep track of my adventures and happenings while abroad! I am excited, nervous, and unsure what to expect of the future. Thanks for going along on the journey with me!