Hey there...if anyone's still coming here. Maybe you're out of the loop, but I'm back in the motherland. I suppose I kind of fell off the radar once we took off for Cape Town.
I won't go into details. My last month in South Africa was absolutely incredible. I left off in East London. To cram several days' worth of traveling into a minimal number of words, here's what we did:
From East London, we went to Port Elizabeth, where we got to stop in the township that Reagen grew up in and even meet a bunch of his family. We stayed in a beautiful hotel right on the ocean, danced in the sand, put our toes in the water and saw a ridiculously large thing like a waaaaay too big comet move through the air and disappear behind the mountains.
From Port Elizabeth, we headed to George, but first we stopped at the Bloukrans Bridge. This is the location of the world's highest bungee (or bungy if you're South African) bridge. Most of us did the 216 meter jump, including yours truly. Defintely an exilherating experience that I'm sure I'll never forget, but let me tell you, I'm about 399% sure that I'll not be repeating that experience anytime soon (read: before I croak).
We arrived to George and stayed at an incredibly gorgeous Christian conference center called Carmel. Seriously, the location was beautiful...our 2 days there were really nice, as we got to settle down a bit. It was the first time we'd stayed more than one night somewhere since the safari/Zulu experience.
While in George, we adventured to the Cango Caves...jaw-dropping. As if God didn't create enough cool sights on land and under the sea, he decided to take it a step further and carve under what He'd already given us. The caves were huge, the caves were tiny. One chamber we went into was big enough to fit a couple buildings inside...then towards the end we went through the letter box and the devil's chimney. That last one was so small that i couldn't even bend my knees as I pulled myself straight up the tube.
On that same day, we went to an ostrich farm. Yes. Ostrich farm. Who knew such a thing existed? While we were there, we learned all about ostriches, their life cycle, ostrich products. And a few lucky ones (ME, ME, ME!) learned how to ride an ostrich. It was so much fun and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
Once our time in George was finished, we headed out to Cape Town. We finished our last course there and got a lot of culture in those few weeks. For half of the time, we stayed at Bible Institute in a suberb called Kalk Bay. We made some friends there and wandered the harbor town in our free time. For the other half of our time, we lived with homestay families in a township called Oceanview.
My family was absolutely amazing! I won't do them any justice if I try to tell you about them here, but I have so many stories that I'd love to share in person! They were such a blessing to me and there were many, many tears upon our goodbye.
And then that was it. We were down to our last 3 days in South Africa, to be spent all together in the city center of Cape Town. We debriefed together, explored together and nervously talked about home together. It was a fun few days, but a sad few days at the same time.
Our last night in Cape Town, though, we got to have a nice dinner together. Luke and Katleho, some of our friends from Bible Institute even came! They stayed after dinner, too, and we got to spend out last night in South Africa with South Africans.
Now as I've been sitting in my living room, watching the World Cup coverage, I've found that memories are flooding back to me with each shot of Cape Town or Durban. Hiking Table Mountain, seeing the Cape of Good Hope, penguins on the beach, watching our backs for baboons, the beautiful Indidan Ocean, the Rainbow Nation of South Africa. I wonder if I'll be back someday.
How do I end a blog like this? I guess there's no good ending, because though that leg of my adventure is completed, my life goes on. To keep up on what's happening now in life, follow me at www.hilaryhall.blogspot.com
Salani kahle!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Week 12: Safari, Zulu Village and a lot of health issues
What a week, what a week. It was a long one with a lot of unexpected ups and downs, but such an eye opening experience nonetheless. It was the long-awaited week of safari and we were all really excited to leave, despite the 5:30am departure time.
We took off on Monday morning and said our goodbyes as half of us got on the safari-bound bus and the other got on the Zulu experience bus. Since my safari group was running ahead of schedule, we went to an extra reserve before heading to the main one. We saw some elephants, lots of (very ugly) baboons, nyala, impala, kudu, warthogs and buffalo. After eating some lunch together, we took off for mKuzi game reserve.
We rode in our open air jeeps for about an hour or so, and after we got into the park, we did a short game drive on our way to our camp. It was so beautiful! Our camp consisted of 4 tent cabins, an open air kitchen/dining area, a campfire area and a bathroom with 2 toilets and 2 showers on each side. The most thrilling part was the lack of fence.
The first night was so much fun! We played signs together before dinner and enjoyed an exciting game of mafia afterwards. It was refreshing to be in a smaller-sized group. It was much more manageable to talk with everyone, but we really missed the others…we really felt incomplete.
On our second day of safari, we saw much of the same animals, plus some tortoise, big spiders, dung beetles, lots of birds and a hippo fight! Hippos were the hoped-for animal of the day, so after lunch, all 3 jeeps took off on separate paths in hopes of spotting some. My jeep, with our guide Israel, found 4 hippo pretty close to shore…just a few car lengths from us. We radioed the other jeeps to let them know we’d found some and sat quietly to watch. Out of nowhere, we heard a huge snuff and one of them jumped out of the water onto another! The first one was obviously upset, and ran up onto the shore—made me so nervous, but I was so excited to see a hippo out of the water in the wild!
We barbecued our dinner next to the campfire that evening and had a chat with Reg before heading to bed. We slept really well that night after 2 really early mornings, but had another early morning on Wednesday. We left our camp at 5:30 to head to another reserve where we saw cheetah! They were so majestic…and close! There is no report of a cheetah EVER attacking a human, so we got pretty close. My guess was about 2 truck-lengths from them. There were 2 brothers and their sister, which was unusual, because usually the females are solitary.
Upon our return to camp was when we heard about the other group. Reg told us that he’d gotten a call informing him of some sick students. 6 of the group had gotten sick with vomiting and the other sort, and had been hospitalized for dehydration. We didn’t realize the severity of it until we met up with them to switch up. We saw the bus pull up and the solemn, almost lifeless faces looking out the window (with a few IV patched arms hanging out, too). As soon as they got out, a few of them just laid on the ground and couldn’t do anything but close their eyes. More had gotten sick since the call that morning. Though no more had gone to the hospital, about half of them were sick.
My group was really nervous to go to the Zulu village, but we prayed for our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves and took off. We drove for a few hours into the middle of nowhere and arrived to 6 mud huts, a grass and cement community hut, 2 outhouses and 2 outdoor bucket showers.
The toilets and showers were quite the experience. Some of us didn’t realize until the second time that we had to climb up on the board and use the hole as a squatty potty, and the flap that blew open with the wind left our privacy up to mother nature. It was the same case in the showers. After filling a basin with warm water from the fire, I had to dump it into a bucket with a tap on the bottom and hoist it up with the rope pulley before soaping up.
Other experiences at the village included a long (but not as long as the first group’s) hike, Zulu dancing, Zulu beer (I think I’ll pass on that next time—unless I develop a taste for thick, milky beer), jump rope, a spear throwing contest, slingshot contest, stick fights and stargazing. Our final experience there was to help finish one of the huts. We mixed up mud with our feet, threw it on the sides of the hut and smeared it in.
We were tired and very happy to arrive back to AE with no illness. Once our friends arrived, though, we were shocked to hear that 20 of their 27 had come down with the sickness. It wasn’t much longer until some of our group got it, too. 2 of my group got hospitalized and a couple others went to the clinic.
We took off this morning on the garden route and arrived to East London tonight. Nobody new has gotten sick, but there are still a lot who are unwell, to say the least. My only serious problem at the moment is carsickness, but my group’s not quite in the clear for the Safari Plague of 2010. I think in another day or so it’ll be safe to say that nobody new will catch it…I’d say that only about 25% haven’t gotten it, and we’re praying to keep it that way.
I’m going to stop for now, but I’ll try to post again soon. Please pray for our health and safety on this road trip! Bungee jumping is on Tuesday, ostrich riding and cave exploring is on Wednesday and we’ll arrive to Cape Town on Thursday. We’re almost there!
Pictures to come later…we only had one day to pack between safari and leaving this morning!
We took off on Monday morning and said our goodbyes as half of us got on the safari-bound bus and the other got on the Zulu experience bus. Since my safari group was running ahead of schedule, we went to an extra reserve before heading to the main one. We saw some elephants, lots of (very ugly) baboons, nyala, impala, kudu, warthogs and buffalo. After eating some lunch together, we took off for mKuzi game reserve.
We rode in our open air jeeps for about an hour or so, and after we got into the park, we did a short game drive on our way to our camp. It was so beautiful! Our camp consisted of 4 tent cabins, an open air kitchen/dining area, a campfire area and a bathroom with 2 toilets and 2 showers on each side. The most thrilling part was the lack of fence.
The first night was so much fun! We played signs together before dinner and enjoyed an exciting game of mafia afterwards. It was refreshing to be in a smaller-sized group. It was much more manageable to talk with everyone, but we really missed the others…we really felt incomplete.
On our second day of safari, we saw much of the same animals, plus some tortoise, big spiders, dung beetles, lots of birds and a hippo fight! Hippos were the hoped-for animal of the day, so after lunch, all 3 jeeps took off on separate paths in hopes of spotting some. My jeep, with our guide Israel, found 4 hippo pretty close to shore…just a few car lengths from us. We radioed the other jeeps to let them know we’d found some and sat quietly to watch. Out of nowhere, we heard a huge snuff and one of them jumped out of the water onto another! The first one was obviously upset, and ran up onto the shore—made me so nervous, but I was so excited to see a hippo out of the water in the wild!
We barbecued our dinner next to the campfire that evening and had a chat with Reg before heading to bed. We slept really well that night after 2 really early mornings, but had another early morning on Wednesday. We left our camp at 5:30 to head to another reserve where we saw cheetah! They were so majestic…and close! There is no report of a cheetah EVER attacking a human, so we got pretty close. My guess was about 2 truck-lengths from them. There were 2 brothers and their sister, which was unusual, because usually the females are solitary.
Upon our return to camp was when we heard about the other group. Reg told us that he’d gotten a call informing him of some sick students. 6 of the group had gotten sick with vomiting and the other sort, and had been hospitalized for dehydration. We didn’t realize the severity of it until we met up with them to switch up. We saw the bus pull up and the solemn, almost lifeless faces looking out the window (with a few IV patched arms hanging out, too). As soon as they got out, a few of them just laid on the ground and couldn’t do anything but close their eyes. More had gotten sick since the call that morning. Though no more had gone to the hospital, about half of them were sick.
My group was really nervous to go to the Zulu village, but we prayed for our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves and took off. We drove for a few hours into the middle of nowhere and arrived to 6 mud huts, a grass and cement community hut, 2 outhouses and 2 outdoor bucket showers.
The toilets and showers were quite the experience. Some of us didn’t realize until the second time that we had to climb up on the board and use the hole as a squatty potty, and the flap that blew open with the wind left our privacy up to mother nature. It was the same case in the showers. After filling a basin with warm water from the fire, I had to dump it into a bucket with a tap on the bottom and hoist it up with the rope pulley before soaping up.
Other experiences at the village included a long (but not as long as the first group’s) hike, Zulu dancing, Zulu beer (I think I’ll pass on that next time—unless I develop a taste for thick, milky beer), jump rope, a spear throwing contest, slingshot contest, stick fights and stargazing. Our final experience there was to help finish one of the huts. We mixed up mud with our feet, threw it on the sides of the hut and smeared it in.
We were tired and very happy to arrive back to AE with no illness. Once our friends arrived, though, we were shocked to hear that 20 of their 27 had come down with the sickness. It wasn’t much longer until some of our group got it, too. 2 of my group got hospitalized and a couple others went to the clinic.
We took off this morning on the garden route and arrived to East London tonight. Nobody new has gotten sick, but there are still a lot who are unwell, to say the least. My only serious problem at the moment is carsickness, but my group’s not quite in the clear for the Safari Plague of 2010. I think in another day or so it’ll be safe to say that nobody new will catch it…I’d say that only about 25% haven’t gotten it, and we’re praying to keep it that way.
I’m going to stop for now, but I’ll try to post again soon. Please pray for our health and safety on this road trip! Bungee jumping is on Tuesday, ostrich riding and cave exploring is on Wednesday and we’ll arrive to Cape Town on Thursday. We’re almost there!
Pictures to come later…we only had one day to pack between safari and leaving this morning!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Week 11: Last week at AE and some lingo
Well, I know I'm a day early for my weekly blog, but I'm leaving at 5:30am tomorrow for SAFARI, so I won't be getting up any earlier than I have to in order to write for you all. =)
Firstly, HAPPY EASTER! We had an amazing Good Friday chapel--we had communion, worship and a very thought-provoking message given by Reg. I spent this morning at church, came back for some fellowship with my APU group and relaxed. We did an egg hunt, an egg toss and I watched The Little Mermaid with a few friends.
I'll have so much to say when I can blog again on Saturday, so I'll just share some South African lingo with you:
When a South African says...
"just now," they actually mean sometime in the next 20 minutes to few hours
"now now," they actually mean now or this moment
"braai," they actually mean bbq (this is actually the Afrikaans word)
"torch," they actually mean flashlight
"circle," they actually mean roundabout
"bakkie" (sounds like bucky), they actually mean small pick-up truck
"robot," they actually mean traffic light
"sharp sharp" (sounds like shop shop), they actually mean a-ok.
And now you speak South African English. Enjoy!
Firstly, HAPPY EASTER! We had an amazing Good Friday chapel--we had communion, worship and a very thought-provoking message given by Reg. I spent this morning at church, came back for some fellowship with my APU group and relaxed. We did an egg hunt, an egg toss and I watched The Little Mermaid with a few friends.
I'll have so much to say when I can blog again on Saturday, so I'll just share some South African lingo with you:
When a South African says...
"just now," they actually mean sometime in the next 20 minutes to few hours
"now now," they actually mean now or this moment
"braai," they actually mean bbq (this is actually the Afrikaans word)
"torch," they actually mean flashlight
"circle," they actually mean roundabout
"bakkie" (sounds like bucky), they actually mean small pick-up truck
"robot," they actually mean traffic light
"sharp sharp" (sounds like shop shop), they actually mean a-ok.
And now you speak South African English. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Week 10: Some VERY difficult goodbyes
I’ve been in a pretty funky mood for the last 48 hours or so. I’m not sure how I feel or how I’m supposed to feel. My team spent our last day at Esther House yesterday and saying goodbye put a big weight on my emotions that will take a lot of processing with my team to lift.
The women and children of Esther House have really wiggled their way deep into my heart—I don’t have any clue how they managed to become as impactful as they have in just the last 4 weeks. I went in with the purpose of making a difference in their lives, but the joke was on me. They will never be forgotten by me.
Our community engagement professor came to talk to the workers there earlier this week, and he told me how amazed they were by our team. He said that there are APU teams that come and go and it’s no big deal, but that this team will always be remembered. They said that we came in humble, and because of that, the women were willing to connect with us. They said that you couldn’t even tell from the way we were interacting who was American and who was South African.
The day before our last, we brought the women and children to AE for a celebration. We had pizza and cake, hung out at the waterfall, took lots of pictures and took the women to the movies. The best part of the day for me was presenting the women with gifts. Many of these women have never received a gift in their lives, and their reactions made me so happy that we could do this for them.
We bought each woman a Zulu Bible and made journals for them. I had the privilege of decorating a journal for Thulile (or Thuli), the mother of Sbu, the 3-year-old boy who has captured my heart. There was a picture of the women and our group on a day where we literally sang and danced up the driveway to leave on the front. I wrote Thuli’s name, 1 John 3:16 and drew some decorations on the front before laminating it. On the inside were several more pictures, a note from the team and a note from me. When I gave her the Bible and journal, she literally didn’t have the words to express her thanks, but her face and her hug told me how much it meant to her.
She wrote a note for me which brought me to tears after Sbu delivered it for her. Here's a piece of what it said:
"Sbu loved you a lot and enjoyed to be stayed with you. So yesterday he was cried cried for go back to you. We really love you so please don't forget us. Hilary you know, sometimes it feel like I'm lonely and I always cry and feel guilty and I ask myself why god creating me for all things bad lucks and there's one question about my baby who can take care of them without me. So I trust God whatever happen now in my life I will pray and praise God because you told us about God."
Like I said, it is so hard to leave, but we have planted seeds that God will nourish.
Since I’m still trying to figure out what the experience has meant to me, I’ll share some pictures from Esther House with you. For more pictures, see http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051552&id=1037910026&l=7d0eae625d
The women and children of Esther House have really wiggled their way deep into my heart—I don’t have any clue how they managed to become as impactful as they have in just the last 4 weeks. I went in with the purpose of making a difference in their lives, but the joke was on me. They will never be forgotten by me.
Our community engagement professor came to talk to the workers there earlier this week, and he told me how amazed they were by our team. He said that there are APU teams that come and go and it’s no big deal, but that this team will always be remembered. They said that we came in humble, and because of that, the women were willing to connect with us. They said that you couldn’t even tell from the way we were interacting who was American and who was South African.
The day before our last, we brought the women and children to AE for a celebration. We had pizza and cake, hung out at the waterfall, took lots of pictures and took the women to the movies. The best part of the day for me was presenting the women with gifts. Many of these women have never received a gift in their lives, and their reactions made me so happy that we could do this for them.
We bought each woman a Zulu Bible and made journals for them. I had the privilege of decorating a journal for Thulile (or Thuli), the mother of Sbu, the 3-year-old boy who has captured my heart. There was a picture of the women and our group on a day where we literally sang and danced up the driveway to leave on the front. I wrote Thuli’s name, 1 John 3:16 and drew some decorations on the front before laminating it. On the inside were several more pictures, a note from the team and a note from me. When I gave her the Bible and journal, she literally didn’t have the words to express her thanks, but her face and her hug told me how much it meant to her.
She wrote a note for me which brought me to tears after Sbu delivered it for her. Here's a piece of what it said:
"Sbu loved you a lot and enjoyed to be stayed with you. So yesterday he was cried cried for go back to you. We really love you so please don't forget us. Hilary you know, sometimes it feel like I'm lonely and I always cry and feel guilty and I ask myself why god creating me for all things bad lucks and there's one question about my baby who can take care of them without me. So I trust God whatever happen now in my life I will pray and praise God because you told us about God."
Like I said, it is so hard to leave, but we have planted seeds that God will nourish.
Since I’m still trying to figure out what the experience has meant to me, I’ll share some pictures from Esther House with you. For more pictures, see http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051552&id=1037910026&l=7d0eae625d
Monday, March 22, 2010
Week 9: Little of home and Life in SA
Since I blogged so late in the week last week, I'll make this a short one. You've gotten most of what's going on here, but things at home are still happening!
I found out a couple weeks ago that I've been hired once again by Residence Life at school. Next year, I get to be a Resident Advisor in the freshmen dorm that I lived in a couple years ago! I guess I'm still an Adams girl at heart. One of the best parts about this appointment is that Katie Hahn is going to be on my staff--she's here in SA with me and was even my Joburg roommate!
So my time at home this summer is short for the 3rd time in a row. I'm home from mid-May until early August. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with Hope, Hannah, Carson and Lisa. I'll be doing a lot of babysitting, so if you're in Humboldt, you know who to call! Hopefully I'll get together a job outside of that, even though it's only for 2 1/2 months.
I got a package yesterday, which made my day! It was full of Easter chocolate from Mom, and best of all, drawings from Hope. What a little artist! AND she wrote one of the full sentences that she's mastered for me, all by herself. I'm such a proud sister.
I'll just leave you with this blog from Hilary Green, who's studying here with me. I thought it was too funny (and true!) not to share.
"These are some of our new South African norms. We find humor in all the discomfort. Enjoy!
-If you love surprises, you love South Africa. There's mystery meat Monday...mystery meat Tuesday...mystery meat Wednesday...mystery meat Thursday...mystery meat Friday...mystery meat Saturday...and the occasional pizza and fry Sunday.
-Peanut butter can be eaten with every meal. If one gets tired of peanut butter, having butter and jam sandwiches seems perfectly normal.
-The South African's stereotype of hungry Americans is affirmed twice a day as we crowd/swarm/fight over the plates of warm cookies and muffins at tea time.
-Drinking pina colada mix as juice becomes something that...well, you just never get used to.
-We are the traveling circus as 22 people unload out of each van. If we are pulled over, at least 15 people will get out of the bus, only to have to reload the bus less than 2 minutes later.
-It's not dinner until Ryno rings the bell.
-Getting a package is like winning the lotto. Also, the package becomes everyone's as the crowd watching it get opened expects to reap some of the benefits of the American goods.
-Eating chocolate everyday seems normal.
-Carrying pepper spray is a necessity to fight off the monkeys. Having a monkey steal chocolate out of your room is somewhat expected. Putting pepper spray on hot cheetos and watching the monkeys burn their hands, mouths, and vomit is considered a very entertaining and productive afternoon.
-Hanging out at the mall is no longer a Junior High activity.
-Running with a family of zebras is no big deal.
-"Jillian" is a household name. Our worst nightmare and best friend. Everybody does her.
-Temperatures lower than 85 degrees deserve pants, slippers, and possibly sweatshirts.
-African thunder and lightening storms can make a 21-year-old male scream like a baby during class.
-Coffee shop runs are sacred. Hot chocolate and instacoffee from campus are consumed on a 3-4 cup basis. It is not uncommon to find chunks in your cream. Don't worry, the milk's only been sitting out for 7 hours in the 90 degree heat.
I found out a couple weeks ago that I've been hired once again by Residence Life at school. Next year, I get to be a Resident Advisor in the freshmen dorm that I lived in a couple years ago! I guess I'm still an Adams girl at heart. One of the best parts about this appointment is that Katie Hahn is going to be on my staff--she's here in SA with me and was even my Joburg roommate!
So my time at home this summer is short for the 3rd time in a row. I'm home from mid-May until early August. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with Hope, Hannah, Carson and Lisa. I'll be doing a lot of babysitting, so if you're in Humboldt, you know who to call! Hopefully I'll get together a job outside of that, even though it's only for 2 1/2 months.
I got a package yesterday, which made my day! It was full of Easter chocolate from Mom, and best of all, drawings from Hope. What a little artist! AND she wrote one of the full sentences that she's mastered for me, all by herself. I'm such a proud sister.
I'll just leave you with this blog from Hilary Green, who's studying here with me. I thought it was too funny (and true!) not to share.
"These are some of our new South African norms. We find humor in all the discomfort. Enjoy!
-If you love surprises, you love South Africa. There's mystery meat Monday...mystery meat Tuesday...mystery meat Wednesday...mystery meat Thursday...mystery meat Friday...mystery meat Saturday...and the occasional pizza and fry Sunday.
-Peanut butter can be eaten with every meal. If one gets tired of peanut butter, having butter and jam sandwiches seems perfectly normal.
-The South African's stereotype of hungry Americans is affirmed twice a day as we crowd/swarm/fight over the plates of warm cookies and muffins at tea time.
-Drinking pina colada mix as juice becomes something that...well, you just never get used to.
-We are the traveling circus as 22 people unload out of each van. If we are pulled over, at least 15 people will get out of the bus, only to have to reload the bus less than 2 minutes later.
-It's not dinner until Ryno rings the bell.
-Getting a package is like winning the lotto. Also, the package becomes everyone's as the crowd watching it get opened expects to reap some of the benefits of the American goods.
-Eating chocolate everyday seems normal.
-Carrying pepper spray is a necessity to fight off the monkeys. Having a monkey steal chocolate out of your room is somewhat expected. Putting pepper spray on hot cheetos and watching the monkeys burn their hands, mouths, and vomit is considered a very entertaining and productive afternoon.
-Hanging out at the mall is no longer a Junior High activity.
-Running with a family of zebras is no big deal.
-"Jillian" is a household name. Our worst nightmare and best friend. Everybody does her.
-Temperatures lower than 85 degrees deserve pants, slippers, and possibly sweatshirts.
-African thunder and lightening storms can make a 21-year-old male scream like a baby during class.
-Coffee shop runs are sacred. Hot chocolate and instacoffee from campus are consumed on a 3-4 cup basis. It is not uncommon to find chunks in your cream. Don't worry, the milk's only been sitting out for 7 hours in the 90 degree heat.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Week 8: Project Gateway
As I have gotten into the flow of service sites, our days and nights have gotten busier instead of the free time we’d expected. We have only 2 classes going on, so those take up our entire Mondays until 8pm. We’re at our service sites on Tuesday-Friday until 4:30pm, and by the time we’re back, we’re usually pretty wiped out.
Though there’s been so much going on, I think I’ll just report on what’s been going on with my team at Project Gateway. We are 7, and it’s such a different atmosphere to be in such a small group.
Project Gateway’s campus is the Old Pietermaritzburg Prison. There were horrible things that happened in those buildings, but now it’s being used for God. Public hangings, gang fights and oppression happened there. Apartheid penetrated even prisoners. We saw isolation chambers and gallows, walls that were scaled for attempted escape and the cell that Ghandi was allegedly held in after his first act of passive resistance at the Pietermaritzburg train station.
Now, it fosters several programs which are trying to take off for themselves. Project Gateway is all about empowering so that programs will become self-sustaining. There is a fashion school which teaches fashion design and sewing, a homeless shelter where people have to pay 1 rand (about 15 cents) to stay the night, Esther House (which I’ll write more about) and Gateway Christian School. Even the Project Gateway itself is working towards self-sustainability by giving tours of the Old Prison.
Gateway Christian School is where we spend our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. I spend my mornings in Mrs. Reddy’s 4th grade class. If I’m not in class helping her out, I’m teaching a P.E. lesson, covering new library books in plastic or playing with the kids at recess. Let it be known that “playing” is a very subjective word. The playground has a giant grassy hill, and the majority of the school (somewhere around 300 children) climbs up, waits for everyone and then runs down screaming. I feel like I’m in a battle…and the feeling is even more authentic when I’m weighted down by 5 children on each arm and 3 or 4 more figuring out a way to hug me with everyone else in the crowd. Seriously, they adore us.
We then have a short lunch and head down the road to Esther House. There are 8 or so women who temporarily live there. They have been beaten and take refuge in the house with their children.
On our first day, all we heard the entire morning from Gateway people was not to be discouraged if they don’t talk to us…that in the past, the teams have just had to play with the kids the first day, and then on the second day, when the women see that we’re coming back, then they’ll talk to us. Our team broke the mold though. The first few minutes were a bit awkward, but we went outside together, and by the time we had to leave, we were laughing and running and playing games with the women and the children. They hugged us as we left and waved enthusiastically. Once we were back in our car, our Zulu language helper was raving about how that NEVER happens on the first day! She was absolutely amazed at how the women responded to us.
Yesterday, our afternoon was full of incredible stories from the women about their lives and tears on my part. It is so inspiring to hear the intense suffering that they’ve endured but they still have hope. I wrote about it yesterday in my journal: “’But,’ she said as my tears began to flow, ‘my position with God never changed. He is with me and He will never leave me.’” We prayed like I’ve never prayed at home and sang praise songs in Zulu that we’ve learned in the last week. As we climbed into the bus, we were all silent and just staring. All afternoon and evening we were trying to process it and I think we still were today.
Today was equally as good, but today and yesterday were like night and day. One of the women literally ran towards us to hug us as we walked down the driveway. We prayed together today and sang a bit more, but we left so lightheartedly. We spent a lot of the afternoon outside playing duck, duck, goose (one of their favorites), big booty and jump rope. We were running, jumping and laughing with each other and sang more Zulu songs on the bus ride home instead of the heavy stares that we had yesterday.
I’ll leave it at that for now. There are so many beautiful things happening here. Maybe I’ll have them straight enough in my head when I’m home to really talk about them more in depth with you all.
I’m sending my love to you! Hopefully I’ll have some new pictures from Gateway by the next time I blog…for now, I’ll leave you with a picture of my team:
Though there’s been so much going on, I think I’ll just report on what’s been going on with my team at Project Gateway. We are 7, and it’s such a different atmosphere to be in such a small group.
Project Gateway’s campus is the Old Pietermaritzburg Prison. There were horrible things that happened in those buildings, but now it’s being used for God. Public hangings, gang fights and oppression happened there. Apartheid penetrated even prisoners. We saw isolation chambers and gallows, walls that were scaled for attempted escape and the cell that Ghandi was allegedly held in after his first act of passive resistance at the Pietermaritzburg train station.
Now, it fosters several programs which are trying to take off for themselves. Project Gateway is all about empowering so that programs will become self-sustaining. There is a fashion school which teaches fashion design and sewing, a homeless shelter where people have to pay 1 rand (about 15 cents) to stay the night, Esther House (which I’ll write more about) and Gateway Christian School. Even the Project Gateway itself is working towards self-sustainability by giving tours of the Old Prison.
Gateway Christian School is where we spend our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. I spend my mornings in Mrs. Reddy’s 4th grade class. If I’m not in class helping her out, I’m teaching a P.E. lesson, covering new library books in plastic or playing with the kids at recess. Let it be known that “playing” is a very subjective word. The playground has a giant grassy hill, and the majority of the school (somewhere around 300 children) climbs up, waits for everyone and then runs down screaming. I feel like I’m in a battle…and the feeling is even more authentic when I’m weighted down by 5 children on each arm and 3 or 4 more figuring out a way to hug me with everyone else in the crowd. Seriously, they adore us.
We then have a short lunch and head down the road to Esther House. There are 8 or so women who temporarily live there. They have been beaten and take refuge in the house with their children.
On our first day, all we heard the entire morning from Gateway people was not to be discouraged if they don’t talk to us…that in the past, the teams have just had to play with the kids the first day, and then on the second day, when the women see that we’re coming back, then they’ll talk to us. Our team broke the mold though. The first few minutes were a bit awkward, but we went outside together, and by the time we had to leave, we were laughing and running and playing games with the women and the children. They hugged us as we left and waved enthusiastically. Once we were back in our car, our Zulu language helper was raving about how that NEVER happens on the first day! She was absolutely amazed at how the women responded to us.
Yesterday, our afternoon was full of incredible stories from the women about their lives and tears on my part. It is so inspiring to hear the intense suffering that they’ve endured but they still have hope. I wrote about it yesterday in my journal: “’But,’ she said as my tears began to flow, ‘my position with God never changed. He is with me and He will never leave me.’” We prayed like I’ve never prayed at home and sang praise songs in Zulu that we’ve learned in the last week. As we climbed into the bus, we were all silent and just staring. All afternoon and evening we were trying to process it and I think we still were today.
Today was equally as good, but today and yesterday were like night and day. One of the women literally ran towards us to hug us as we walked down the driveway. We prayed together today and sang a bit more, but we left so lightheartedly. We spent a lot of the afternoon outside playing duck, duck, goose (one of their favorites), big booty and jump rope. We were running, jumping and laughing with each other and sang more Zulu songs on the bus ride home instead of the heavy stares that we had yesterday.
I’ll leave it at that for now. There are so many beautiful things happening here. Maybe I’ll have them straight enough in my head when I’m home to really talk about them more in depth with you all.
I’m sending my love to you! Hopefully I’ll have some new pictures from Gateway by the next time I blog…for now, I’ll leave you with a picture of my team:
Monday, March 8, 2010
Week 7: Finals, Battlefields and Sunday FUNDAY
Another week and another weekend have passed, and I'm still so joyful to be in this place. It was a jam-packed week, but we all survived and are ready for this new one.
We had our final exams for our electives on Wednesday and Thursday, so there was much studying to be done. We had our last class sessions on Monday and Tuesday. After that, we studied hard until the last exam on Thursday afternoon. I can now say that I have successfully completed Life and Teachings of Jesus and Humans and the Environment!
Now, we all continue our Intercultural Communication course and we have just started Principles of Community Engagement today. Our history and culture course has been put on hold and will resume when we move to Cape Town the second week of April.
Thursday, though a dreary, cool(-ish…this is summer after all), wet day, was full of relief from everyone! Second tea time marked the end of finals, and everyone was just so lighthearted and ready to relax and play games. It was so nice to just be able to enjoy each other without worrying about schoolwork!
We took off to tour the battlefields of South Africa early Friday morning. I rode on the luxury coach, and let me tell you, we felt like kings and queens. There were 30-something of us on there, and when we weren't sleeping, we were talking, laughing, joking, playing games and telling stories.
I must report honestly: the battlefield part was really hard to keep my interest in. We had a very enthusiastic guide, but it was so information dense (and the sun was beating down hard) that it was hard to pay attention.
On Friday afternoon, we had some time to relax before an amazing dinner in the country hotel (that we completely filled). We enjoyed each other in the form of playing nerts, a fast paced group solitaire-like game that I was introduced to last school year. It got pretty heated and loud and definitely worked up our appetite.
After the 3 course feast, some of us headed out to the lobby and sat on the couches and chairs for a chat with Reg, the executive director of the program. We talked mostly about the Bible and South Africa, and it was so interesting to hear from him in a casual setting. He is such a wise person for whom I have a LOT of respect. Students from past semesters have raved about him, and I had some pretty high expectations. He has exceeded them all.
Sunday was such a wonderful day of fellowship! The church that I've been going to and plan to continue for the rest of my stay here is called God's Family Life Center. It is a church full of joy and unashamedness, so friendly and loving and welcoming. I get more hugs on Sunday mornings than I do the entire week…and I'm a pretty big hugger.
So I took of for the 8am service and enjoyed the time during the service itself. But church didn't end after the sermon was over. The pastor and his wife invited us and a few others over for a braai (bbq) and swimming. Not only was it a beautiful house with a cool pool and green grass for lounging and cricket-playing, but the late morning and afternoon were full of cultural conversations. I got to know several members of the church better, so we had some great conversations about living in South Africa. The youth director is actually from Canada, so it was cool to talk to him, too, since he moved here 3 years ago and is closer to our age than the others.
When we came back to African Enterprise mid-afternoon, Sunday FUNDAY was in full swing! The activities committee decided to get some friendly rivalry going to encourage chalet pride. We're having some kind of event every Sunday where we can earn points towards the grand prize at the end of the semester.
Other APU-ers had already done the slip 'n' slide and everyone was getting ready for the relay race. Mojalefa, my chalet, was dressed in purple, and we got pumped for the race! Dubie swallowed a spoonful of salt, ran across the lawn, chugged a bottle of water and ran back. Then Jamie pushed me wheelbarrow style to the other side and we switched for the way back. It wouldn't have been a real relay without Dee and Alyssa's 3 legged race, Kristen's egg-on-the-spoon and Carisa's search for mentos in whipped cream…with only her face, of course. We finished it off by passing an apple by our chins and chests, ending with me. I had to eat the apple, sprint to the other side of the lawn to throw the core away and sprint back.
I am VERY proud to say that Mojo got 3rd place! Only the 2 boys' chalets beat us! We're getting excited about this Sunday Funday thing and we're going to get really competitive next week. =)
For all of my latest pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050137&id=1037910026&l=65b6d995ab
We had our final exams for our electives on Wednesday and Thursday, so there was much studying to be done. We had our last class sessions on Monday and Tuesday. After that, we studied hard until the last exam on Thursday afternoon. I can now say that I have successfully completed Life and Teachings of Jesus and Humans and the Environment!
Now, we all continue our Intercultural Communication course and we have just started Principles of Community Engagement today. Our history and culture course has been put on hold and will resume when we move to Cape Town the second week of April.
Thursday, though a dreary, cool(-ish…this is summer after all), wet day, was full of relief from everyone! Second tea time marked the end of finals, and everyone was just so lighthearted and ready to relax and play games. It was so nice to just be able to enjoy each other without worrying about schoolwork!
We took off to tour the battlefields of South Africa early Friday morning. I rode on the luxury coach, and let me tell you, we felt like kings and queens. There were 30-something of us on there, and when we weren't sleeping, we were talking, laughing, joking, playing games and telling stories.
I must report honestly: the battlefield part was really hard to keep my interest in. We had a very enthusiastic guide, but it was so information dense (and the sun was beating down hard) that it was hard to pay attention.
On Friday afternoon, we had some time to relax before an amazing dinner in the country hotel (that we completely filled). We enjoyed each other in the form of playing nerts, a fast paced group solitaire-like game that I was introduced to last school year. It got pretty heated and loud and definitely worked up our appetite.
After the 3 course feast, some of us headed out to the lobby and sat on the couches and chairs for a chat with Reg, the executive director of the program. We talked mostly about the Bible and South Africa, and it was so interesting to hear from him in a casual setting. He is such a wise person for whom I have a LOT of respect. Students from past semesters have raved about him, and I had some pretty high expectations. He has exceeded them all.
Sunday was such a wonderful day of fellowship! The church that I've been going to and plan to continue for the rest of my stay here is called God's Family Life Center. It is a church full of joy and unashamedness, so friendly and loving and welcoming. I get more hugs on Sunday mornings than I do the entire week…and I'm a pretty big hugger.
So I took of for the 8am service and enjoyed the time during the service itself. But church didn't end after the sermon was over. The pastor and his wife invited us and a few others over for a braai (bbq) and swimming. Not only was it a beautiful house with a cool pool and green grass for lounging and cricket-playing, but the late morning and afternoon were full of cultural conversations. I got to know several members of the church better, so we had some great conversations about living in South Africa. The youth director is actually from Canada, so it was cool to talk to him, too, since he moved here 3 years ago and is closer to our age than the others.
When we came back to African Enterprise mid-afternoon, Sunday FUNDAY was in full swing! The activities committee decided to get some friendly rivalry going to encourage chalet pride. We're having some kind of event every Sunday where we can earn points towards the grand prize at the end of the semester.
Other APU-ers had already done the slip 'n' slide and everyone was getting ready for the relay race. Mojalefa, my chalet, was dressed in purple, and we got pumped for the race! Dubie swallowed a spoonful of salt, ran across the lawn, chugged a bottle of water and ran back. Then Jamie pushed me wheelbarrow style to the other side and we switched for the way back. It wouldn't have been a real relay without Dee and Alyssa's 3 legged race, Kristen's egg-on-the-spoon and Carisa's search for mentos in whipped cream…with only her face, of course. We finished it off by passing an apple by our chins and chests, ending with me. I had to eat the apple, sprint to the other side of the lawn to throw the core away and sprint back.
I am VERY proud to say that Mojo got 3rd place! Only the 2 boys' chalets beat us! We're getting excited about this Sunday Funday thing and we're going to get really competitive next week. =)
For all of my latest pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050137&id=1037910026&l=65b6d995ab
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