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
Monday, March 1, 2010
Week 6: Singing Angels, Ziplining and Fellowship
First, I have a question for all of you. Where the heck did February go? It blows my mind that more than 5 weeks have passed since I stepped off of American soil. And if the first 5 weeks have gone so quickly, the next couple months are going to fly even faster.
Highlights of my last week:
Dead bat in the toilet (highlight? Maybe not. But definitely interesting.)
Drakensburg Boys Choir
Karkloof Canopy Tours
Church Picnic
Our chalet woke up one morning to a sign on the toilet’s door reading, “BE CAREFUL! There is a bat in the toilet!” Naturally, I was curious, so I slowly opened the door, fully expecting a bat to fly in my face. Inching the door forward, nothing was jumping but my nerves, so I held my breath and swung it all the way open. I peeked in the toilet bowl, and there was a poor baby bat in there! I guess he drowned overnight, but it was definitely something to spice up the morning!
On Wednesday, we got the afternoon off of classes to drive back to the Drakensburg Mountains (where we saw the Bushmen paintings last weekend) to see the world famous Drakensburg Boys Choir. We took two buses and two cars, and I got to ride in Reg’s car! Reg is the head of the South Africa semester. He's also my Life and Teachings of Jesus teacher and such a wise man who is adored by everyone here. It was good to talk with him on the way back about all things South Africa, African Enterprise, hear about how he ended up at APU and just chat in general.
The performance itself was astounding! I was so impressed by the boys, who sang in English, German, Latin(?), Zulu and Xhosa. They sang a lot of traditional songs in the first half, but got really energetic and colorful for the second half…wearing colorful clothing, dancing, playing instruments and even including a Michael Jackson song. During the intermission, I talked with a few of them. They come from all over Southern Africa to live at the school (Drakensburg Boys Choir School) and be trained to sing.
I got up bright and early on Saturday to zipline through the canopy of South Africa’s second largest indigenous forest. We got on our very flattering and attractive gear (complete with a helmet and giant leather gloves) and rode up to the high point where the first platform was. We ziplined from platform to platform…check out all of the photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049383&id=1037910026&l=64e8b1437e
After church on Sunday, the whole church family headed to Midmar Dam for a braai (barbecue). We loaded up in the bakkie (the pickup with the shell) and headed over. I was a little nervous that I’d be too shy to meet many people, but a family invited a few of us onto their blanket straight away. We met Elwin, Abigail, Sheila and baby Noah, who will be 2 years old next Saturday and pretty much melted my heart.
It was so good to talk with them and hear about things from the South African Christian’s point of view. I also spent some time down at the water just laying in the grass and talking with some of the APU ladies. There were a couple of us in the water playing with all of the kids, so I sat on the bank and watched them.
On Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll have a final exam on the Life and Teachings of Jesus and biology. After that, I won’t have those classes anymore! Instead, I’ll be spending my weekdays at Project Gateway, my service site for the next four weeks. I’ll tell you more about it once I’ve started.
For those who would care to pray, pray that God would keep building my relationships. Pray that He would make His thoughts given to me clear and that He would help me to recognize what is not from Him. Pray that I would have confidence to initiate relationships in my service sites and that I would see the people how He does.
I’m sending love to you all, and I’ll catch you up some more next week!
Highlights of my last week:
Dead bat in the toilet (highlight? Maybe not. But definitely interesting.)
Drakensburg Boys Choir
Karkloof Canopy Tours
Church Picnic
Our chalet woke up one morning to a sign on the toilet’s door reading, “BE CAREFUL! There is a bat in the toilet!” Naturally, I was curious, so I slowly opened the door, fully expecting a bat to fly in my face. Inching the door forward, nothing was jumping but my nerves, so I held my breath and swung it all the way open. I peeked in the toilet bowl, and there was a poor baby bat in there! I guess he drowned overnight, but it was definitely something to spice up the morning!
On Wednesday, we got the afternoon off of classes to drive back to the Drakensburg Mountains (where we saw the Bushmen paintings last weekend) to see the world famous Drakensburg Boys Choir. We took two buses and two cars, and I got to ride in Reg’s car! Reg is the head of the South Africa semester. He's also my Life and Teachings of Jesus teacher and such a wise man who is adored by everyone here. It was good to talk with him on the way back about all things South Africa, African Enterprise, hear about how he ended up at APU and just chat in general.
The performance itself was astounding! I was so impressed by the boys, who sang in English, German, Latin(?), Zulu and Xhosa. They sang a lot of traditional songs in the first half, but got really energetic and colorful for the second half…wearing colorful clothing, dancing, playing instruments and even including a Michael Jackson song. During the intermission, I talked with a few of them. They come from all over Southern Africa to live at the school (Drakensburg Boys Choir School) and be trained to sing.
I got up bright and early on Saturday to zipline through the canopy of South Africa’s second largest indigenous forest. We got on our very flattering and attractive gear (complete with a helmet and giant leather gloves) and rode up to the high point where the first platform was. We ziplined from platform to platform…check out all of the photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049383&id=1037910026&l=64e8b1437e
After church on Sunday, the whole church family headed to Midmar Dam for a braai (barbecue). We loaded up in the bakkie (the pickup with the shell) and headed over. I was a little nervous that I’d be too shy to meet many people, but a family invited a few of us onto their blanket straight away. We met Elwin, Abigail, Sheila and baby Noah, who will be 2 years old next Saturday and pretty much melted my heart.
It was so good to talk with them and hear about things from the South African Christian’s point of view. I also spent some time down at the water just laying in the grass and talking with some of the APU ladies. There were a couple of us in the water playing with all of the kids, so I sat on the bank and watched them.
On Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll have a final exam on the Life and Teachings of Jesus and biology. After that, I won’t have those classes anymore! Instead, I’ll be spending my weekdays at Project Gateway, my service site for the next four weeks. I’ll tell you more about it once I’ve started.
For those who would care to pray, pray that God would keep building my relationships. Pray that He would make His thoughts given to me clear and that He would help me to recognize what is not from Him. Pray that I would have confidence to initiate relationships in my service sites and that I would see the people how He does.
I’m sending love to you all, and I’ll catch you up some more next week!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Week 5: Witch Doctor, Relationships & Cave Paintings
One more week, and I’m still going strong. While I do miss people, I still haven’t been homesick yet. There are so many more things I’d be missing if I hadn’t come to South Africa, and here are some of them (and just from this week!):
Counting grass (kidding. Kind of.)
Learning Zulu
The constant thought that I am in National Geographic
Carrying pepper spray to fight monkeys instead of muggers
Waterfall constantly in my ears
Witch doctors
Spiritual recommitment
52 amazing men and women
My favorite homework spot
The week started off with an incredible chapel. Last weekend, I felt like I had a lot of confirmation from God in decisions that I made and I continued to be assured during student led worship and prayer. Leslie, one of our student life coordinators got real with us, and I think it really stirred a lot of us. I know that I thought a lot more deeply about things going on in my heart, and I know that God is moving in my life.
Kristen and I had such a wonderful conversation this weekend. We’ve been friends for a while before coming here, and this environment is so perfect for helping us to grow even closer. We talked about where we are with God and agreed to help each other by keeping each other accountable to having God time every day.
The cherry on top of that was a similar situation that arose a few days later. Angie lives next to me in Mojalefa, and asked me one night if I wanted to have some quiet time with her and then talk afterwards. We pulled our comforters, Bibles and journals out into the hallway, put on some quiet music and just slowed life down for a while. As we started talking, a few more people came home, so we invited them into the conversation. It got a little loud, so 5 of us went into my room to continue.
As the evening grew later, we kept talking…and we ended up hearing a lot about Angie’s life. She was so open and willing to share and I was so grateful that she let me into that part of her life. I think we all felt the same, so that group of 5 decided to do it again. We’ve heard from Kristen and Rob since that night, and I’m excited to hear Carisa’s and share my own.
Carisa Hoogenboom is one of my favorites!
I realized as all this was happening how much I miss one on one time. I get a lot with Kristen, which is so good, but I’d been feeling like I wasn’t going to a deeper level with anyone else. I hang out with people pretty much 24/7, but you can only get so raw with each other in groups all of the time. I’m going to be intentional about spending time individually with some of the people here, and I’m excited to strengthen bonds that have begun to form.
I dove a bit further into culture this week. My Life and Teachings of Jesus class visited a Sangoma, or witch doctor last week. It was so, so interesting to see how modern day has transformed the image I had of a witch doctor. Instead of bone or sticks to call the spirits, he had soda can tops strung around each ankle. Instead of animal skin, he had a leopard print cotton robe with a white cowboy fringe and he wore a knitted black hat with long strings of neon beads hanging to his mid-back.
We went into his “hut,” which was a small, shabby room standing next to his house. The room was maybe 8 by 8 feet and there was only room for 6 people at a time. The Sangoma explained different medicines to our Zulu translator so we could learn about his trade. We saw candles that he burns so call ancestors and other living dead.
One medicine which stood out to me most was the love powder. It’s made of ground, dried animals hearts and some herbs, but the mixture is not complete without the patient. The patient must scrape the gunk from the tongue upon waking up in the morning.
tongue gunk must then be mixed with a drop of blood from the chest and the powder. Then, while the couple is out to dinner, it must be dropped in the partner’s food. Once it is eaten, the patient’s partner will be fully in love. Hmm.
We hiked the next day into the Drachenburg Mountains to see the San Bushmen cave paintings. It was so cool to see paint on those rocks that had lasted 40,000 plus years! Not to mention the picture-perfect backdrop to the hike.
I kid you not, I have seen more beauty concentrated in this place than in any other place I’ve been (with the possible exception of good old Humboldt County itself). The company was pretty good, too. I love this group.
We’re into another pretty rough week here on campus. There are more papers and presentations this week, but spirits are a bit higher because we only have a few more sessions of each class before our finals week. I found my new favorite homework spot yesterday! I brought a towel over to the prayer chapel and lay on the lawn next to it. I was facing the chapel and the koi pond, the reeds, surrounded by bright green grass and the sounds of animals ringing in my ears. How are we supposed to study in this paradise??
We’re almost there, though, and then we really get to dive into our service sites! More on that next week, when I know which site I’m assigned to. Until then, love to all!
Latest photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048478&id=1037910026&l=b72b98fa60
Counting grass (kidding. Kind of.)
Learning Zulu
The constant thought that I am in National Geographic
Carrying pepper spray to fight monkeys instead of muggers
Waterfall constantly in my ears
Witch doctors
Spiritual recommitment
52 amazing men and women
My favorite homework spot
The week started off with an incredible chapel. Last weekend, I felt like I had a lot of confirmation from God in decisions that I made and I continued to be assured during student led worship and prayer. Leslie, one of our student life coordinators got real with us, and I think it really stirred a lot of us. I know that I thought a lot more deeply about things going on in my heart, and I know that God is moving in my life.
Kristen and I had such a wonderful conversation this weekend. We’ve been friends for a while before coming here, and this environment is so perfect for helping us to grow even closer. We talked about where we are with God and agreed to help each other by keeping each other accountable to having God time every day.
The cherry on top of that was a similar situation that arose a few days later. Angie lives next to me in Mojalefa, and asked me one night if I wanted to have some quiet time with her and then talk afterwards. We pulled our comforters, Bibles and journals out into the hallway, put on some quiet music and just slowed life down for a while. As we started talking, a few more people came home, so we invited them into the conversation. It got a little loud, so 5 of us went into my room to continue.
As the evening grew later, we kept talking…and we ended up hearing a lot about Angie’s life. She was so open and willing to share and I was so grateful that she let me into that part of her life. I think we all felt the same, so that group of 5 decided to do it again. We’ve heard from Kristen and Rob since that night, and I’m excited to hear Carisa’s and share my own.
Carisa Hoogenboom is one of my favorites!
I realized as all this was happening how much I miss one on one time. I get a lot with Kristen, which is so good, but I’d been feeling like I wasn’t going to a deeper level with anyone else. I hang out with people pretty much 24/7, but you can only get so raw with each other in groups all of the time. I’m going to be intentional about spending time individually with some of the people here, and I’m excited to strengthen bonds that have begun to form.
I dove a bit further into culture this week. My Life and Teachings of Jesus class visited a Sangoma, or witch doctor last week. It was so, so interesting to see how modern day has transformed the image I had of a witch doctor. Instead of bone or sticks to call the spirits, he had soda can tops strung around each ankle. Instead of animal skin, he had a leopard print cotton robe with a white cowboy fringe and he wore a knitted black hat with long strings of neon beads hanging to his mid-back.
We went into his “hut,” which was a small, shabby room standing next to his house. The room was maybe 8 by 8 feet and there was only room for 6 people at a time. The Sangoma explained different medicines to our Zulu translator so we could learn about his trade. We saw candles that he burns so call ancestors and other living dead.
One medicine which stood out to me most was the love powder. It’s made of ground, dried animals hearts and some herbs, but the mixture is not complete without the patient. The patient must scrape the gunk from the tongue upon waking up in the morning.
tongue gunk must then be mixed with a drop of blood from the chest and the powder. Then, while the couple is out to dinner, it must be dropped in the partner’s food. Once it is eaten, the patient’s partner will be fully in love. Hmm.We hiked the next day into the Drachenburg Mountains to see the San Bushmen cave paintings. It was so cool to see paint on those rocks that had lasted 40,000 plus years! Not to mention the picture-perfect backdrop to the hike.
I kid you not, I have seen more beauty concentrated in this place than in any other place I’ve been (with the possible exception of good old Humboldt County itself). The company was pretty good, too. I love this group.
We’re into another pretty rough week here on campus. There are more papers and presentations this week, but spirits are a bit higher because we only have a few more sessions of each class before our finals week. I found my new favorite homework spot yesterday! I brought a towel over to the prayer chapel and lay on the lawn next to it. I was facing the chapel and the koi pond, the reeds, surrounded by bright green grass and the sounds of animals ringing in my ears. How are we supposed to study in this paradise??
We’re almost there, though, and then we really get to dive into our service sites! More on that next week, when I know which site I’m assigned to. Until then, love to all!
Latest photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048478&id=1037910026&l=b72b98fa60
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 4: Papers, Trailblazing and Valentines
Hello [mostly] Americans!
It’s been another week here in South Africa, and a busy one at that. Because we spent all of last weekend learning about the Indian Culture in Pennington, we had a lot of homework to catch up on. The stress level was pretty high among everyone and it was definitely noticeable. There was a lot less game playing, jumping, laughing and general adventuring. One picker-upper for me was my first mail! Thanks, Kayla! Your letter honestly made my week and a card went out in the mail today to get to you. Everyone else, if you write to me, I promise I’ll write back! I’ll post the address at the end of this blog.
We had another field trip for biology on Thursday. It definitely was not as exciting as last week. We went to a bunch of streams and had to measure the pollution and think about the industrial effect on them. I know, really exciting stuff. It is interesting in theory, but when you have to make a scale to measure how badly a polluted stream smells, it’s not so much fun. Then we headed to a nature reserve. We saw a bunch of giraffes and got really close, but that was by far the highlight of the day. The rest of the afternoon was spent measuring species along a quadrat and literally bushwhacking our way through vegetation higher than our heads. With thorns. And mud. And ticks. Again, not so much fun. To really put the cherry on top, the temperature was somewhere between 90 and 100 degrees with a heck of a lot of humidity. We were not happy campers, that’s for sure.
On Friday though, the spirits were back up. I turned in 2 seven page papers and a 5 pager after that, so there was a lot of weight off of my shoulders. Friday started off with our Kwase Afrika (About Africa) chapel. We heard from Clementine, a woman who lived through the Rwandan genocide and now lives in Pietermaritzburg. It was so incredible to hear her story.
I was thinking a lot about the genocides in the recent years and what we’ve been learning in History and Culture of South Africa. Did you know that the first concentrations camps were not from World War II? The first modern(ish) concentration camps were in South Africa in the 1600s (I think. Don’t quote me on any dates here). The people in the camps were not native Africans—they were the Dutch colonists, under control of the British. Of course there’s a lot more to it, but I wonder why everyone knows about the Holocaust, but most don’t know about the camps in South Africa and many don’t even know what Apartheid was. I wonder why our priorities lie where they do.
Feet dipped in the Indian Ocean at sunrise!
We spent Saturday in Durban. It was quite an experience roaming the market. I was very much reminded of the markets I’ve seen in China, the Bahamas, Venezuela and Hungary. The crafts and artwork was beautiful and I bought a few souvenirs there. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach…I still haven’t gotten badly burnt here!
Sunday was the best day of the week by far. It was Valentine’s Day of course, and we couldn’t resist a celebration. We had the option at the beginning of the semester to join a leadership committee, and I joined the activities committee. We decided to go big this weekend.
We found a recipe for chicken alfredo have the kitchen staff make, along with garlic bread and Caesar salad. We decorated Jabulani Lapa, a giant thatch-roofed tent by the waterfall with tablecloths, roses candles and dimmed lamps. We played Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr. and Nat King Cole all night. Everyone dressed up nicely, took lots of pictures, enjoyed dinner together and we even danced some swing and salsa after dinner! Another favorite of the evening was the gift exchange. We all had drawn names earlier in the week, made valentines and bought a small gift in Durban. The evening wouldn’t have been complete had we not also converted our training wing into a movie theater by dragging in couches and topping it off with warm buttered popcorn and the movie 50 First Dates.
Kristen (roommate) and I before heading up to dinner.
Now we’re back into another weeks. Enjoy the pictures that I couldn’t post last week, and expect to hear from me again next Monday!
Mailing address:
African Enterprise
Hilary Hall
PO Box 13870, Cascades 3202
Pietermaritzburg, KZN
South Africa
Photo album that I’ve added on to (South Africa Beginnings): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046002&id=1037910026&l=89c4a544dc
Biology Field Trips: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046258&id=1037910026&l=e1013496fc
New photos! Indian Ocean: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047551&id=1037910026&l=19dadeee39
Monday, February 8, 2010
Week 3: little safari and weekend away
You better grab your reading glasses for this one, because if you read all the way through, I'll be impressed. Also, the internet is being awful right now, so my pictures aren't uploading fast enough for me to make it to bed at a decent hour, so you'll have to wait for pictures--sorry, friends. For now, enjoy and I'll add in the pictures later!
What a week it has been! I can’t believe all the things I’ve seen since I’ve updated you all. I’ve adventured a little more around the AE campus as well as Pietermaritzburg area and out to the coast!
I saw zebra last week! I went for a 6am run with some of the ladies of my chalet (called Mojalefa—Mojo for short) in the game reserve last week. We followed the same path that we normally do, but I went a little higher than I had before. We got to a little grassy area at the top, and saw 4 zebra! There were two big ones, a medium sized one and a baby. We just stood there for a while watching them in awe. When we finally tore ourselves away from the scene, we began to head back down the path. Within 2 or 3 minutes, we ran into 2 more. We shared the path with these ones, going opposite directions, so we were probably just 4-5 feet away from them.
But after last Thursday, those zebra are actually the less exciting part of this blog. My biology class took our second weekly field trip to the Tala Game Reserve. When the bus arrived and we saw the open-air (safari-style) jeeps that we’d be taking, nobody was left without a smile on their face.
We climbed up into our jeeps and took off down the dirt roads. It felt very much like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but with real animals and more thrill. Our list of animals for the day got pretty big, including more zebra, ostriches, wildebeest, nyala, hippo, giraffe and white rhino! As we sat there looking at all of these animals and learned about the different natural tools that equip them to live in this area, I couldn’t help but sit there in wonder about how perfectly God created those creatures.
This weekend was an exciting one, too. I’m having quite a bit of difficulty accepting the polychromic nature of South Africans. I’m a pretty time-oriented person, and though I’m not always on time, it does stress me out a little bit to be late. The weekend was full of changed departure and arrival times, lots of (unnecessary?) stops in the buses on the side of the road and a lot of miscommunication. BUT, I had a few new experiences that made it worth it.
South Africa is the home of more Indians than any other place in the world outside of India. Our intercultural communication professor is of Indian descent, so he knows a lot of Indians in Pennington, which is not too far from Durban. We went to a camp there with little chalets to stay in and got to experience a little bit of life there. We ate some Indian food, invited a bunch of Indians from his friend’s church for dinner and games, went to Indian charismatic churches on Sunday.
There was a group of us who got up early for the sunrise on Saturday. We rolled out of bed and climbed in our bus and were in for a treat. It was getting light by the time we got to the beach (just a 5ish minute drive), and we all ran to the edge of the water to stick our feet in. There were crabs all over the shore and flashes of cameras everywhere. As the sun rose over the ocean (many of the group had never seen an ocean sunrise—only sunset!), I just stood there, snapping as many pictures as I could. My pictures can’t show the full beauty of it, but I hope you can get an idea of it from them!
We headed back to a different beach (with shark nets) for a couple hours that afternoon. As soon as we got there, our whole group was in the Indian Ocean, jumping and body surfing in the waves. I could not believe the temperature of the water! We heard it was 77 degrees. The waves varied in temperature, but I kid you not—many of them were WARMER than many baths that I’ve taken in my life! I talked with an older South African couple from Joburg out in the waves, and they laughed at my amazement and enthusiasm. As I got closer back to the shore, the water was too warm for comfort. I was out there in the waves for about an hour or an hour and a half, and wasn’t any less excited about the last wave than the first.
During the dinner/game time together with the youth group members that night, I spoke a lot with a girl named Leona. She’s 24, Indian, and has just finished her studies. It was so interesting to talk with her about her balance of traditional Indian culture and Christian life. We talked about different holidays and churches and compared each other’s. We talked about free time, freedom given by parents, slang and accents (one of the first things she said to us was, “cool accents!” I keep forgetting that we’re the ones with the accents here).
The church experience was very different than anything I’ve seen before. First, the building was 80-something degrees and we were moving around with the music quite a bit. We sang mostly in English, but they did a Zulu medley as well (one song of which we had learned, so we could sing!). The service was just over 2 hours, and we ate lunch with some of the leadership in the church afterwards. It was delicious curry, but it definitely heated us up even more than the service—and we ate in the same hot room!
We headed back to Maritzburg Sunday afternoon. I slept on the bus and woke up as we were bumping along Nonsuch Road..I could tell we were home even before I opened my eyes, just from the smell and sounds that I realized I’d taken for granted. I still am overwhelmed at the beauty by which I am surrounded at AE. I think I have more appreciation for it all now. Maybe except for the monkeys, who kept popping their heads in during biology today and stole a bunch of our mints from the classroom.
There’s a lot of homework to do this week, since we didn’t do any this weekend. I’m not looking forward to writing the papers due at the end of this week and early next, but I think I can handle it—after all, how many people write their papers on a lawn by waterfalls with zebras next year and monkeys to throw water bottles at when they get too close? Yes, for now, I’m happy. It’s my “for now” home and I’m going to soak it up while I can.
What a week it has been! I can’t believe all the things I’ve seen since I’ve updated you all. I’ve adventured a little more around the AE campus as well as Pietermaritzburg area and out to the coast!
I saw zebra last week! I went for a 6am run with some of the ladies of my chalet (called Mojalefa—Mojo for short) in the game reserve last week. We followed the same path that we normally do, but I went a little higher than I had before. We got to a little grassy area at the top, and saw 4 zebra! There were two big ones, a medium sized one and a baby. We just stood there for a while watching them in awe. When we finally tore ourselves away from the scene, we began to head back down the path. Within 2 or 3 minutes, we ran into 2 more. We shared the path with these ones, going opposite directions, so we were probably just 4-5 feet away from them.
But after last Thursday, those zebra are actually the less exciting part of this blog. My biology class took our second weekly field trip to the Tala Game Reserve. When the bus arrived and we saw the open-air (safari-style) jeeps that we’d be taking, nobody was left without a smile on their face.
We climbed up into our jeeps and took off down the dirt roads. It felt very much like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but with real animals and more thrill. Our list of animals for the day got pretty big, including more zebra, ostriches, wildebeest, nyala, hippo, giraffe and white rhino! As we sat there looking at all of these animals and learned about the different natural tools that equip them to live in this area, I couldn’t help but sit there in wonder about how perfectly God created those creatures.
This weekend was an exciting one, too. I’m having quite a bit of difficulty accepting the polychromic nature of South Africans. I’m a pretty time-oriented person, and though I’m not always on time, it does stress me out a little bit to be late. The weekend was full of changed departure and arrival times, lots of (unnecessary?) stops in the buses on the side of the road and a lot of miscommunication. BUT, I had a few new experiences that made it worth it.
South Africa is the home of more Indians than any other place in the world outside of India. Our intercultural communication professor is of Indian descent, so he knows a lot of Indians in Pennington, which is not too far from Durban. We went to a camp there with little chalets to stay in and got to experience a little bit of life there. We ate some Indian food, invited a bunch of Indians from his friend’s church for dinner and games, went to Indian charismatic churches on Sunday.
There was a group of us who got up early for the sunrise on Saturday. We rolled out of bed and climbed in our bus and were in for a treat. It was getting light by the time we got to the beach (just a 5ish minute drive), and we all ran to the edge of the water to stick our feet in. There were crabs all over the shore and flashes of cameras everywhere. As the sun rose over the ocean (many of the group had never seen an ocean sunrise—only sunset!), I just stood there, snapping as many pictures as I could. My pictures can’t show the full beauty of it, but I hope you can get an idea of it from them!
We headed back to a different beach (with shark nets) for a couple hours that afternoon. As soon as we got there, our whole group was in the Indian Ocean, jumping and body surfing in the waves. I could not believe the temperature of the water! We heard it was 77 degrees. The waves varied in temperature, but I kid you not—many of them were WARMER than many baths that I’ve taken in my life! I talked with an older South African couple from Joburg out in the waves, and they laughed at my amazement and enthusiasm. As I got closer back to the shore, the water was too warm for comfort. I was out there in the waves for about an hour or an hour and a half, and wasn’t any less excited about the last wave than the first.
During the dinner/game time together with the youth group members that night, I spoke a lot with a girl named Leona. She’s 24, Indian, and has just finished her studies. It was so interesting to talk with her about her balance of traditional Indian culture and Christian life. We talked about different holidays and churches and compared each other’s. We talked about free time, freedom given by parents, slang and accents (one of the first things she said to us was, “cool accents!” I keep forgetting that we’re the ones with the accents here).
The church experience was very different than anything I’ve seen before. First, the building was 80-something degrees and we were moving around with the music quite a bit. We sang mostly in English, but they did a Zulu medley as well (one song of which we had learned, so we could sing!). The service was just over 2 hours, and we ate lunch with some of the leadership in the church afterwards. It was delicious curry, but it definitely heated us up even more than the service—and we ate in the same hot room!
We headed back to Maritzburg Sunday afternoon. I slept on the bus and woke up as we were bumping along Nonsuch Road..I could tell we were home even before I opened my eyes, just from the smell and sounds that I realized I’d taken for granted. I still am overwhelmed at the beauty by which I am surrounded at AE. I think I have more appreciation for it all now. Maybe except for the monkeys, who kept popping their heads in during biology today and stole a bunch of our mints from the classroom.
There’s a lot of homework to do this week, since we didn’t do any this weekend. I’m not looking forward to writing the papers due at the end of this week and early next, but I think I can handle it—after all, how many people write their papers on a lawn by waterfalls with zebras next year and monkeys to throw water bottles at when they get too close? Yes, for now, I’m happy. It’s my “for now” home and I’m going to soak it up while I can.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Pictures for YOU!
We had the luck this semester to be traveling with a few pretty nice cameras, so when Jon posted these pictures today, I had to share them.
At the end of last week, there was a ton of rain, so we decided to have fun with it. There is some sports equipment laying around this place, so we grabbed a rugby ball, ran up to the soccer field and went nuts. We ran around tackling each other, getting soaked and muddy and enjoying each other’s company and a newish game to us. It was enough fun that I’m pretty confident it’ll be happening again.
That's ME making that catch!
That would be my roommate trying to tackle me.
The ladies of the afternoon.
On Sunday night, there was a big lightning and thunder storm—no rain, just the noise and flashes. It was getting dark, and each flash would light the entire sky. We even saw a lightning bolt every few minutes. We got out of The Truth Project screening and there was a group 10 or 15 of us standing outside for literally about 15 or 20 minutes staring at the sky.
Some of the patient spectators.
At the end of last week, there was a ton of rain, so we decided to have fun with it. There is some sports equipment laying around this place, so we grabbed a rugby ball, ran up to the soccer field and went nuts. We ran around tackling each other, getting soaked and muddy and enjoying each other’s company and a newish game to us. It was enough fun that I’m pretty confident it’ll be happening again.
That's ME making that catch!
That would be my roommate trying to tackle me.
The ladies of the afternoon.
On Sunday night, there was a big lightning and thunder storm—no rain, just the noise and flashes. It was getting dark, and each flash would light the entire sky. We even saw a lightning bolt every few minutes. We got out of The Truth Project screening and there was a group 10 or 15 of us standing outside for literally about 15 or 20 minutes staring at the sky.
Some of the patient spectators.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Week 2: Getting Comfortable
Just over a week in this treasure trove of a country, and we’ve seen so much already. I feel at home at AE (African Enterprise). I feel like this is my place, I belong. I eat here, I sleep here, I have friends here.
I’m at the point where I’m going past surface-level conversation with some of the group. As I spend more time with each of these peers, I get more comfortable with them and so excited to learn more about their lives! 
There are people from all over the states, from Alaska to our Community Life Coordinator from Cuba. Each person has such a different story, and it thrills me to be let in on those stories.
We’ve done a bit of exploration since my last post. I’ve had a full week of classes and I can tell that I’ll be visually, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually challenged over the next few months. I think my favorite class will be Life and Teachings of Jesus. My professor is Reg, who is the director of the APU SA Semester program. He’s a tall, sixty-something, very intelligent, passionate South African who loves his country, his god and his job. We’ve just had one day of his class and I’ve already learned a lot about the context of the gospels.
So Life and Teachings is my favorite lecture, for sure, but biology field trips will be something else. We’re in lecture all day on Mondays, but our Thursdays are spent going out into the field and putting a practical spin on what we’re learning in class. Last Thursday we went to Krantzkloof Nature Reserve and it was awe-inspiring.
I cannot describe to you the beauty that I experienced, but I can tell you that my jaw was pretty much hanging the entire time we were out of the bus. We were on the edge of a gorge, we hiked down to a better view of a waterfall, we hiked to the top of the waterfall and down to the bottom. As we wandered through the tropical forest, I couldn’t help but imagine I was on the set of Indiana Jones or Avatar. We saw brightly colored birds, big spiders and giant millipedesHave a look at my album for an idea of what we saw: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046258&id=1037910026&l=e1013496fc
On Saturday, the whole group went to a Birds of Prey reserve and a Lion Reserve. We saw owls, eagles, hawks and vultures, bunnies and guinea pigs and dogs. Best of all, we saw lions. There was a really high but pretty flimsy fence, and they came within inches of us! If I had worked up the guts (or the idiocy) to stick my fingers through the wires, I could have touched a lion. I couldn’t believe the size of them! The alpha male’s back was as high as my ribcage. I’ve added the pictures from there to my first album. Here’s the link repeated from last week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046002&id=1037910026&l=89c4a544dc
I experienced my first South African church yesterday morning! It was in a hot little building on a school campus and we were so enthusiastically received there. I loved being there in the midst of South African families—I think that interacting with families is one of the best ways to involve myself in a new culture. More on church next week, promise.
Last night, several of us opted to see a screening of the first lecture of The Truth Project, a series of lectures on Truth in the bible. I hope I can keep the motivation to go each Sunday night, because I think that it would be really thought provoking, challenging and beneficial for me.
This place is a unique one in which I can grow and learn so much. I’m praying that I’ll really take advantage of that to the full extent. I’m already over a week closer to my return flight home, and there are so many more adventures to be had before I’ll be willing to step on that plane.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Week One
I’m writing this blog from the top bunk of my bed in my new South African home. I live in a chalet called Mojalefa just outside of Pietermaritzburg, and I think I’m in paradise.
The group arrived to Johannesburg on Friday after 29 long hours of traveling from Azusa. We wasted no time and spent all of Saturday diving into South African culture. We piled in a bus and met Alina, our Zulu tour guide for the day.
The first part of the day was spent in Soweto, the former black township (during Apartheid) in the middle of Joburg. It was such a strange feeling to see these shacks with corrugated iron roofs, men carrying live chickens down the street or women with boxes and bags balanced on their heads when I live in a place where we live in big houses with double paned windows, where our chickens are plucked for us 99% of the time and we can put our groceries in our shiny cars to get them home.
We went to a Zulu restaurant for lunch…and when I say restaurant, you probably aren’t imagining quite right. It was an outdoorish place with a roof and a very small building (for lack of a better description) for the kitchen and buffet. Our group filled every seat. The people there were so joyful! Some children came in and performed dances for us, and even grabbed me and a few others to dance out of the eating area!
We spent part of the afternoon in the Apartheid museum—it was surreal. I’ve always paid attention to the segregation history in the US, but that’s always been history to me…as in several years before I was even born. Apartheid didn’t end until I was 6 years old. It was the strangest feeling to realize that the “White Only” signs displayed in the museum were only taken down 16 years ago. Most of the people that I’ve met and will be meeting lived during Apartheid.
On Sunday, we flew to Durban and drove to African Enterprise just outside of Pietermaritzburg, where we’ll be living for a while. The campus is so lush and green and incredibly beautiful in a way that’s so different than home.
There are tall trees, big bushes, a watering hole and a waterfall right behind my chalet! I listen to the waterfall as I go to sleep and I can hear it in my classes, too. We’re right by a game reserve, so my roommate (Kristen Capodanno), my Joburg hotel roommate (Katie Hahn) and I got up at 6 this morning and took a path through part of the reserve. A couple girls took the same path and saw zebra later this morning. We didn’t get that lucky, but we saw an impala and her baby! I plan on running there lots, so hopefully we’ll spot some excitement.
We started classes yesterday, and since I’m taking History and Culture of South Africa, Intro to Zulu, Intercultural Communication, Humans and the Environment (Bio) and Life and Teachings of Jesus in an intensive 6 weeks, I’ve got a ton of reading and homework to do—I’ve even already turned in a paper this afternoon!
Miss you all! I’m sending hugs to California, Virginia, Washington, Great Britain, Hungary or wherever else you may be reading this from!
To see all of my pictures, check out:
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