So close yet so far

I loved the experiences I have had here in South Africa. I learned a lot about myself that I didn’t realize coming in to this trip. Aaron had us do the same evals we did the first class we had here. It just allowed me to see the growth I’ve had and how much I thought I knew.

I realized something again and that that is with every experience and every person you meet you grow a little bit more as a person. Now, how you use that is what determines your character.

I loved meeting everyone here and will miss a lot of them. Alan and Jane were awesome! I can’t thank them enough, I have one child and they had to deal with 15 young adults and schedule adventures deal with delays and mix ups, and while we were a great group It was still a hard task and I commend them for that.

With all that said I miss my child so much and every hour we get closer to going home I miss him more and more. When I arrive I know I will be balling my eyes out in joy to see him. I will use things I learned here to help him grow as well.

Near the water and in the water

Well we went to the shopping mall on water front it was pretty big. Me and Shane walked everywhere. The thing we kept thinking as we were going in the store looking at overpriced items was how much cheaper the things are on the street at the markets.  Majority of the stores were run by whites.  I also noticed who was walking throughout the mall, most were white or tourist.

We had gone upstairs and encountered the holy grail of stores. It was all the expensive labels like Gucci, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton. I so wanted to go into the Jimmy Choo store, but felt uncomfortable because I wouldn’t be able to afford anything.

On Wednesday we went to Kayalisha to see who the food bank we visited serves. We went a daycare. It cares for 200 children. This township is considered one of the poorest and largest of the seven.

When we were driving in and out of the township it amazed me of how quickly the seen had changed. It had gone from shacks stacked on shacks to a full golf course and mansion. It saddened me to think that people live so close to an area with beyond poverty and seemed to turn a blind eye.

I wondered how many shoppers at waterfront actually took the time to go and see what life is like in the township; my guess is close to none of them.

In class we talked about resilience and those who live in places like that and find the strength to continue and be happy and try their best to overcome the odds show resilience. The teacher at the daycare showed resilience to me. She was so happy and upbeat, and proud of the school and the children while they still had little food and right outside was a scene of devastating hardship.

Robben Island

Well on Tuesday we went to Robben Island.  It was cool to go I slept on the boat the way there. The island was the place where the prison was where all the political leaders were kept during apartheid. I found it interesting that they kept those leaders separate from all other prisoners in fear that they would plan things. I loved how they being smart made the best of the situation and learned from each other and came together to get freedom.

We got a chance to go into cells and read accounts of experiences of former prisoners. The one that stood out to me was one about how they would be starved. It was to the point where certain foods were bargained in exchange for sexual acts.

I didn’t like how touristy it was though. Maybe it was because we spent so much time doing tourist things. Then we had a week in the real world in Gugs. I loved that we were toured by a former prisoner, but it may have been easier to get questions if we weren’t with a huge group of others.

The main thing I got from that trip was that you can make the most of the situation. Like Mandela and the other leaders did they use the fact that all of them were I the same place for a period of time to accomplish a goal and to learn from one another and not argue and fight one another?

Gift of presence

Well, all week we did so much and met so many people, it a lot to process. So I will tell you of a few stories I encountered.

We helped to pass out food Parcels on Tuesday at  JL zwane and I met a couple of people reciving them.

Sonoria: she lives whith her son and grandson her brothers live in shacks behind hers. She has bounced from family members home to another after her mother died.

This women was so jolly and cheerful and helped us hand out the heavy food parcels the entire day and to me that felt great to know that those in need still can hold a since of happiness and also help the others  who are in need as well.

Lindile Fikizolo 32yrs: lives in a one room shack with only enough room for a bed. He has AIDS and and has been bed ridden since 2007. We had traveled there with the St.Lukes  Hospice the only one in the entire township of 300,000.

When we arrived he hadn’t had his brief hadn’t been changed since the day before when the nurse had come and we got there at 11ish in the morning. His  cousin helps to care for him and because they only have a few of them and try not to use them all because they can’t afford to by more.

He has extremely bad bed sores. Some of which could have probably been prevented by proper care, but the families aren’t educated enough about how to care for their love ones and there are many who have no one to care for them.

His mother had just arrived there from another town to care for him and had no idea he was in such bad condition. I noticed her crying to the side and could only imagine her pain of seeing her child suffer so much.

You could smell the rotting and infected flesh as we stood outside the room while the nurse dressed his sores.

Me and others decided to give them a personal donation because the head nurse was discussing about seeing if there were any food parcels left to give and we knew they were all claimed they had nothing to eat in the home.

I felt pain at that moment. 

The lesson of the week when going to different homes was presence. The people while some others don’t really just appreciate someone listening to their story like Lydia she has aids and birth a child who was given only a few months to live because he was born with aids but he is now seven although he plays like normal child he is sick and has to stay home from school because he has quiet seizers where it appears like he is sleeping.  She tells her story to inform people she forgot she had aids and when she first found out she had it was after a bus accident.  She speaks to help, she was extremely ill after having her son Neo. She and him have overcome more than what anyone predicted.

The past week was filled with many things we helped many visited many places and met many people. I am not gonna blog about it all because I’m not good at expressing things I blogs and bc there was some much that took place. For those I know I will tell all when I treturn Ifeel like some explinations are better in person.

I will just say there were lots of ups and downs.

Homestay in Guguletu

Homestay

Well I am back from staying in Gugelethu  a township in South Africa. Now let me say that I didn’t expect to be staying in the type of home I was in. I stayed with Thotho and Sunazo her 14 year old granddaughter. They were extremely welcoming.

When I say unexpected, I mean that I wasn’t planning on being in a nice house. It was cute and had an indoor bathroom with a functioning toilet and bath tub. Some houses don’t have that.  It was great to see that there were levels to the township, and that some people don’t live in the depths of what comes out of extreme poverty and misfortune.

Thotho works for the same domestic company for the past 16yrs her current boss and American doctor. It takes her a taxi and a train to get to work and she leaves at 6:15am to get to work by 8. She is so sweet and very open to talking and answering any question s I had.

Sunazo loves to dance and she dances at church on Sundays she also wants to be a fashion designer and she showed us some of her drawings. They were extremely good. 

When we asked why Sunazo stays with Thotho, I was expecting there to be some tragic story, but the truth was here parents live in Port Elizabeth and she didn’t want to move away from all her friends. I was happy to hear that not all the stories were tragic and involved death.

I felt very familiar at the homestay it felt as if I were back in the south with my grandma.

Click and Climb

This is a short post, but today we learned the language Xhosa which was very interesting. Alot of the words have various clicks in them and hearing the class try to pronounce them was hilarious. And not to toot my own horn, but I did really well.

We also went to the top of Table Mountain, which was awesome. I am excited for the Safari tomorrow and church on Sunday was told its like going to a Baptist church in the south. SOOOOO Excited.

Oh yea we went to Camps Bay which was a beach. We ate Cafe Sophia where I got a calamari and a loaded jalapeño appetizer for only like 5 bucks total. WE then walked the beach and ate again at some pizza place it was delicious as well. I felt as though I was living the high life like people who live in Beverley Hills or something.

Baboons and peguins

Well today we enjoyed great breath taking scenery which we had to work for. first we saw penguins AKA pig wings lol as my little sister would say. I named one Shane because it so loved getting its pic taken. next while driving to cape point we say baboons in the road!!!! by the way not as cute in person as on TV and the red butts gross.

Next we had to hike a thousand miles to have this incredible view, I was frighten by some random half rat half gopher thing, but with the help of Cat and Simone I passed it. I told everyone I am terrified of rodents.

Next we drove on a scary cliff road to Hout Bay a beach front area and had Fish and Chips that were Delicious and finished with a "death by chocolate bar"


I was exhausted and had to take a nap after that hike and food more work than I do at the gym that i don't go to.

Day and Night

Well yesterday the Internet went down in our lodge which was great, so couldn't blog. So I will explain the day yesterday and last night.


DAY

Well we started the day getting an interesting history lesson from Professor Alan our guide and "professor" he discussed the history of the people of South Africa as in pertain to the settlement of early European Settlers and them deciding to use cape point as a port between transport to India/Asia. Eventually the Dutch decided to settle here and caused ruckus with the locals the Khoi and  Sans people. whom we also learned about.

Now during the begining of lecture we discussed how we felt being in a different country, now for some reason I didn't feel like everyone else. I didn't have a culture shock. a lot of things around here remind me of local places in my home town as well as places I've been. I also felt a bit more prepared as far has how I grew up I don't pre judge at least I try my best not to and is very naturally excepting of other cultures meaning I don't really have to think about it. So on top of everything that happened personally i.e with my nephew and not speaking to my son for 3 days I felt a bit disconnected from my group.

Now  on to our travels. we went to three museums the

 Castle of Good Hope: where we saw where they tourchered prisoners and kept slaves. It was interesting to stand in a castle and see where the general slept and entertained and then where slaves and prisoners were kept.

The Slave Museum:

I found this very intriguing. They had a small not to scale portion of the bottom of a ship where slaves would be that you could walk in. It was a bit emotional givin the history of blacks in America. Also similar to the south slaves were stripped of there nnative names and named either after the month they arrived or the location in which they were from. for example January or Indonesia.

There also was a walk through history of Mandela which I found very informative there was a lot I didn't know about him and the History.

District 6 museum: This place was awsome it reminded me of the struggles that faced the South in the US during the 40s on up through the civil rights movement. Except it was shocking to me to see how an entire community was moved and destroyed because of race.

Night

Well at night we as a group definitaly bonded. We learned so much of one another. Since what is said in room one stays in room 1 I wont dicuss much. I will say that there was tons of open sharing, laughter, and wine. words of the night.

Squirt
Quaker
girl fight


I so miss my son. I have a skype date with him tonight that I am so excited fro every time I see a little kid or an animal I think of him.

I have Arrived

Well it was hard for me to say good bye Sunday to Giovanni, at the airport. he doesn't fully understand the length of time I'm gonna be gone. I started to tear up because it just hit me the amount of time I will be away from him, but it will be okay.

Well the first flight, which was to Amsterdam was okay. I watch four movies all comedies of course. I loved seeing the sun set and rise on the plane. While at the airport in Amsterdam i ended upo to my suprise paying 17 US dollars for an omelete and a cup of cappuccino. Never again I missed the 99 cent menu for a moment.

The flight to Cape town was hilarious. there was a two year old that kept running up and down the hall, and the mom didn't do much. being a mother my self while i am pretty young, I have some old school deciplinary techniques and that wouldn't of went down with my child. Brittany's face expressions were priceless she was seating right in front of the wild child.

There was also this moody flight attendant that had a few words for Shane before the flight left "get organized" haha. I slept most of that flight but we eight like every hour it seemed like. I think I eight 13 times in a day.

 We pretty mcuh went through most of the last flight. We pretty much killed 31 hours in 22hrs because of the time changes.

When I arrived to cape town it was really late, so I didn't see much, the weather is similar to what we left in Minneapolis, wet, and high 50s low 60s. They drive on the opposite sides in the car and on the road. We did pass some of those sheet metal houses. there is a huge mountain right outside of the Riverview Lodge where we stay at.

Today we got a small tour of western Cape Town, we saw the new soccar stadium. that thing is massive. WE also passed through the rich part of town by the ocean. Which by the way, is beautiful. While passing the richer part of town it made me a bit sad, I started to think about the majority of people that go without, and all of these people are living lavish.

Overall things are good. I did just get bad news after checking the internet. My pre mature week old, nephew died today his heart stopped. He was born on my son's birthday May 16th and passed away on my mother's bithday May 24th so thats a bit taxing on me.

Hopefully the future days bring more comfort. Happy to finally have some type of contact to those back home.

Realizing

I am so excited for my trip to South Africa! I got my first vaccination yesterday. I have to get my final one next week. After the shot yesterday I realized how close I am to leaving the country for 3 plus weeks.

With this tons of people have been warning, congratulating, and questioning me. My dad has been really cautious. I called to ask him if I had the Hep B shots already. Of course like I thought he had no idea, but then he goes on to say get it anyways and to make sure I get several other shots, the doctor already told me I didn't need to get.

A friend of mine ask a question that made me think. She asked how I think my son will feel about me being gone for so long, in all the excitement I had never really truly thought of that. I mean I know he was going to miss me, but I never thought fully how this is going to effect him. I kind of got sad, but then I realized how this will not only be a learning experience that will benefit me, but him as well.


And hey! There's always skype!

I just feel a bit swamped with the semester coming to an end and preparing for this amazing trip. My biggest concern right now is compiling a list of people I need to bring things back for, and deciding on what to get my host family. Oh and of course getting the work assignments done before our next predeparture meeting.