As of now...its all still so surreal...in a place where I used to be so comfortable with my surroundings I now find myself questioning things and missing everything about South Africa. It blows my mind to think that I just spent 3 weeks in Cape Town and it has already came and gone. Through my time there I can honestly say I have met some of the most amazing people of my life and some of the biggest leaders of our lifetime! I can not say thanks enough to the rest of the group for being amazing people and really making my experience a lot of what it was. My biggest struggle now has been what to do next. I know we have a few plans in motion but its an everyday struggle to wake up and realize that now its my turn...
Before we left Aaron told us that it will be tough to explain what we did...because frankly there are no words to explain it all. I am really struggling with that right now. How do you explain this trip when someone asks "So how was South Africa?" As of now the response is simple....dumb question! With time it will become easier to articulate what specifically has impacted me the most but I have no patience right now for simple minded, courtesy conversation.
I plan on keeping this blog up and updating ya'll on different things that we will be doing to continue this trip. I also have a feeling that a round 2 may be in the horizon for a bunch of us and that is one of the most exciting things ever!
So for now....thank you again. Thank you to everyone that helped me get there. Thank you to everyone that accompanied me there. Thank you to everyone who made my time there better than I could have ever dreamed of. Thank you to everyone that opened my eyes/my mind/my heart while I was there. Thank you to everyone who will actually listen to my story. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
One Love Always,
TJ
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
What an amazing experience with the most amazing people
Just over an hour from now we will be heading to the airport to fly back home...I cant even explain how fast these past 3 weeks have gone. Yet again I am left speechless by everything here...the people, our experience, and just the warmth and love we have all felt...it really is home away from home and this will NOT be my last trip to South Africa. I guess I am really having a hard time expressing how im feeling because it is all so bitter sweet and words cant describe it. Last night was my birthday and our braai so we had a lot of people over that have really made this experience everything and then some. I struggled to express my thanks and im sure it will come within the next few weeks so I will be sure to send some emails out but now im afraid. Afraid that when I go home people wont understand that this was more than a trip....a vacation as some would say. The things we did and the things we saw cant be explained with blogs or pictures or even talking about them...the only way to understand is to be here and experience it yourself. So as a far well blog I just want to say thanks to everyone...everyone I have met here in SA that has made this all more than I could have ever dreamed....everyone that supported me into getting here in the first place...everyone that will listen unconditionally at home and understand that I may not be able to explain it...and thats okay! So thanks again and see ya in Minneapolis in about 36 hours....
One Love Always,
TJ
One Love Always,
TJ
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wine, Sharks, Bartering, Crows….final week…time of my life
So since I have really been struggling with coming up with words to explain last week this week is going to get put into one big blog…sorry!
So Saturday was our day to the wine lands to become wine connoisseurs! I think we were all excited for free wine and a big history lesson about South Africa! I have always wanted to know more about wine in general and hey why not in South Africa! Per usual…the scenery was amazing (pictures will come later) and it was an amazing time! We all learned a lot about wines and more importantly about wines of South Africa. We went to 2 places for wine tasting and history. The first place was my favorite…mainly because of Victor our wine man! He was just a jolly man who knew his wine and was always cracking jokes. It was really fun and interesting but I had other things on my mind as well. WE WERE GOING SHARK DIVING THE NEXT DAY!
I couldn’t have been more excited for shark diving and really no matter how much I talk this up you all HAVE to see our video because words really don’t do this justice! There were 7 of us that went and got picked up bright and early at 530am Sunday morning. I was upset at first that we had to miss church but it was so worth it! We had a 2 hour ride to the coast before some breakfast and the boat ride out to shark alley! This is the place that all the shark documentaries are filmed for any big nature show/channel! My nerves were strung by the time we finally got there after a 45 minute boat ride. We ended up about 80km away from the most southern tip of Africa and in the general vicinity where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet! Our set up included: 1 wet suit, 1 weight belt, 1 pair of goggles, and 1 3-meter shark proof-esc cage! All I can really say is the wet suits were extremely tight but wow did they keep you warm in the water! Instead of trying to explain how big these sharks were ill try and put up some pictures either now or when I get back to the states and maybe even some videos I took while in the cage under the water! The basic set up was 5-6 people in the cage and then you have like a foot of the cake above the water for your head and you would grab some air and then duck down and watch the sharks. All I can really say is that I could have EASILY grabbed one a few times! Also, one of the sharks definitely grabbed a hold of a corner of our cage and shook and wow….3 feet away from a shark with a mouth wide open full of jagged teeth….crazy!...really though just ask and say “It’s da big one, its da big one!”
Another big part of this week was dropping Rand grand at green market square which is a big flea market kind of. I was really excited to work on my bartering skills but after a little bit I started to feel bad. I was dropping the price and therefore these people are making less, especially when it was a difference of like 40 rand…or 5 bucks. I ended up getting a bunch of really cool things at the market but I can’t really say yet because some are gifts but all in all it was a good time. Even more than buying things I really just enjoyed the small talk with the sellers. I kept introducing myself as HHP’s cousin. HHP aka Hip Hop Pantsula is a big rapper in South Africa. So far I’ve been told by about 10-15 people that I could be his cousin or something…only thing is…he’s black and I’m white…no biggie though! But we would really have like 10-15 minute conversations with these people and they were always hilarious to me because they would try and sell you literally anything. I am a college student….do I REALLY need a table cloth with the big 5 from Africa on it!? I really don’t think so! Oh and I almost forgot! I went to a Counting Crows concert on Tuesday! Random huh? Well some of the people on the trip are huge fans and I am a fan of live music so hey…why not! It ended up being at the largest casino in the western cape of South Africa and wow this place was like going to vegas….complete with a ice skating rink in it! We ended up getting there pretty early so we got front row right on the rail! Again, everybody in South Africa has been really welcoming! We met a bunch of people around us and they were all really fun minus making fun of us for being American…in a nice joking way. The one thing I have not liked about here is that NO ONE DANCES! Literally it doesn’t matter what type of music it is, but nobody dances so we all kind of stood out even more but hey…its South Africa right? Well…the concert was amazing and just another thing I can cross off the to do in life list…concert in another country. After the concert we were waiting for our ride back home so I decided to throw some rand on some table games. All the black jack tables were all 50 rand minimum and weren’t really open so I played roulette for the first time in my life. I was pretty pumped because it was a real wheel and ball! I ended up winning 200 rand betting quads with either 10 or 20 rand! I realize I won like 30 USD but still…it was really fun!
All in all I have had a hard time with this week because always in the back of my mind I’m thinking about Guguletu and everything I saw there. It really has been a struggle to enjoy the experience, yet to never forget the people that taught me the most on this trip!
I will most likely make another entry either tonight after the braai or tomorrow before we leave for the airport….we’ll see!
Oh also…its my 21st birthday….and im in South Africa…what more can you ask for…so again…thank you to everyone that has helped me get to this point I really cant thank you all enough!
One Love Always,
TJ
So Saturday was our day to the wine lands to become wine connoisseurs! I think we were all excited for free wine and a big history lesson about South Africa! I have always wanted to know more about wine in general and hey why not in South Africa! Per usual…the scenery was amazing (pictures will come later) and it was an amazing time! We all learned a lot about wines and more importantly about wines of South Africa. We went to 2 places for wine tasting and history. The first place was my favorite…mainly because of Victor our wine man! He was just a jolly man who knew his wine and was always cracking jokes. It was really fun and interesting but I had other things on my mind as well. WE WERE GOING SHARK DIVING THE NEXT DAY!
I couldn’t have been more excited for shark diving and really no matter how much I talk this up you all HAVE to see our video because words really don’t do this justice! There were 7 of us that went and got picked up bright and early at 530am Sunday morning. I was upset at first that we had to miss church but it was so worth it! We had a 2 hour ride to the coast before some breakfast and the boat ride out to shark alley! This is the place that all the shark documentaries are filmed for any big nature show/channel! My nerves were strung by the time we finally got there after a 45 minute boat ride. We ended up about 80km away from the most southern tip of Africa and in the general vicinity where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet! Our set up included: 1 wet suit, 1 weight belt, 1 pair of goggles, and 1 3-meter shark proof-esc cage! All I can really say is the wet suits were extremely tight but wow did they keep you warm in the water! Instead of trying to explain how big these sharks were ill try and put up some pictures either now or when I get back to the states and maybe even some videos I took while in the cage under the water! The basic set up was 5-6 people in the cage and then you have like a foot of the cake above the water for your head and you would grab some air and then duck down and watch the sharks. All I can really say is that I could have EASILY grabbed one a few times! Also, one of the sharks definitely grabbed a hold of a corner of our cage and shook and wow….3 feet away from a shark with a mouth wide open full of jagged teeth….crazy!...really though just ask and say “It’s da big one, its da big one!”
Another big part of this week was dropping Rand grand at green market square which is a big flea market kind of. I was really excited to work on my bartering skills but after a little bit I started to feel bad. I was dropping the price and therefore these people are making less, especially when it was a difference of like 40 rand…or 5 bucks. I ended up getting a bunch of really cool things at the market but I can’t really say yet because some are gifts but all in all it was a good time. Even more than buying things I really just enjoyed the small talk with the sellers. I kept introducing myself as HHP’s cousin. HHP aka Hip Hop Pantsula is a big rapper in South Africa. So far I’ve been told by about 10-15 people that I could be his cousin or something…only thing is…he’s black and I’m white…no biggie though! But we would really have like 10-15 minute conversations with these people and they were always hilarious to me because they would try and sell you literally anything. I am a college student….do I REALLY need a table cloth with the big 5 from Africa on it!? I really don’t think so! Oh and I almost forgot! I went to a Counting Crows concert on Tuesday! Random huh? Well some of the people on the trip are huge fans and I am a fan of live music so hey…why not! It ended up being at the largest casino in the western cape of South Africa and wow this place was like going to vegas….complete with a ice skating rink in it! We ended up getting there pretty early so we got front row right on the rail! Again, everybody in South Africa has been really welcoming! We met a bunch of people around us and they were all really fun minus making fun of us for being American…in a nice joking way. The one thing I have not liked about here is that NO ONE DANCES! Literally it doesn’t matter what type of music it is, but nobody dances so we all kind of stood out even more but hey…its South Africa right? Well…the concert was amazing and just another thing I can cross off the to do in life list…concert in another country. After the concert we were waiting for our ride back home so I decided to throw some rand on some table games. All the black jack tables were all 50 rand minimum and weren’t really open so I played roulette for the first time in my life. I was pretty pumped because it was a real wheel and ball! I ended up winning 200 rand betting quads with either 10 or 20 rand! I realize I won like 30 USD but still…it was really fun!
All in all I have had a hard time with this week because always in the back of my mind I’m thinking about Guguletu and everything I saw there. It really has been a struggle to enjoy the experience, yet to never forget the people that taught me the most on this trip!
I will most likely make another entry either tonight after the braai or tomorrow before we leave for the airport….we’ll see!
Oh also…its my 21st birthday….and im in South Africa…what more can you ask for…so again…thank you to everyone that has helped me get to this point I really cant thank you all enough!
One Love Always,
TJ
Words don’t explain it…welcome to where I was, where I am, and where I will forever be Part 4
Oh the Rainbow After School Program…what can really be said. This is such an amazing program to help the kids in the community and I absolutely love everything it does. I really had a great time with all of the kids and it really solidified my passion for kids. I could tell story after countless story of my experiences but a few come to mind right away. First…fractions! Who would have thought I would have to be doing those again!? One day I was working with the 4th graders on math and they were working with fractions and obviously the pie analogy came up. I also have a greater appreciation for teachers after this day because wow I don’t think I have repeated myself so much in my life! For the most part I was working with 3 kids. One was a really quick learner, one tried really hard, and one just tried to copy and not learn. This was super frustrating for me because the kids were just okay with it.
One of the funniest experiences on this trip has been playing heads up 7 up once some of the kids were done with their homework. They were all so anxious to learn a new game even though I don’t think they really followed what was going on. So as we started playing it started good….3 people picking and then only 3 people would stand up…perfect. However, soon followed 3 people picking and 5 people standing up, or 7 or 9! At one point I was getting picked every time yet nobody was saying the picked me. Here to find out one of the other kids sitting next to me was picking me after I put my head down! They were absolutely hilarious!
I really loved to hang out with all of the kids in Gugs because there were all so welcoming and loved to see us. I felt like some of the older people had speculation because I’m sure they have seen people come in before and do nothing, yet the kids were always smiles. I’ll try and put up some pictures to show all the love because again…theme of this experience…words don’t do it justice.
One of the funniest experiences on this trip has been playing heads up 7 up once some of the kids were done with their homework. They were all so anxious to learn a new game even though I don’t think they really followed what was going on. So as we started playing it started good….3 people picking and then only 3 people would stand up…perfect. However, soon followed 3 people picking and 5 people standing up, or 7 or 9! At one point I was getting picked every time yet nobody was saying the picked me. Here to find out one of the other kids sitting next to me was picking me after I put my head down! They were absolutely hilarious!
I really loved to hang out with all of the kids in Gugs because there were all so welcoming and loved to see us. I felt like some of the older people had speculation because I’m sure they have seen people come in before and do nothing, yet the kids were always smiles. I’ll try and put up some pictures to show all the love because again…theme of this experience…words don’t do it justice.
Words don’t explain it…welcome to where I was, where I am, and where I will forever be Part 3
While we were in Guguletu we did a good amount of serving the community. For every bit of serving we did I feel like we could have spent an entire day if not an entire week on it. The two big service projects we did were helping a woman named Pricilla with lunch and bringing toys for the kids and helping to clean up at a school for disabled kids (which is one of its kind in Guguletu and serves all of the other townships as well). Pricilla has a truly amazing story. When we met her my first impression was an older woman who has seen many things and she was simply tired. She was heading up a house hold of 11 children with only 4 being her own. She had taken in the other 7 who were impacted by AIDS and no longer had parents. Again, until you meet this woman I really can’t do her story justice. This service project really came out of no where. Edwin confronted Aaron about doing something and they came up with going over there and bringing some of the supplies we all brought and to make lunch for her and all of the children. After we were done I could really tell that it at least made their day. The ability for us to come in for a few hours and help out for one day really made me want to do that everyday.
Then we also did some things around Tembelthu (spelling?) such as cleaning up the basketball court, doing arts and crafts with some of the kids, cleaning up the preschool area and such. Through our entire time in Cape Town I have never seen people so happy to see us. When we first got there all of the kids were all over the place and just ecstatic. They had a little assembly to introduce us all and then their choir sang some songs. They were AMAZING! There was one girl in the front that really grabbed my attention because she had the most amazing smile and was a great singer. At this point I really had to try and hold it together. It was hard for me to see people with the biggest smiles on their faces even through all the struggle they’ve gone through to get where they are today. They amaze me. Nate, Brian, and I all went out side to clean up their basketball court. It amazed me that people could even play on it before. There wasn’t a single square foot of court that didn’t have glass or debris on it. We swept all the glass up off the court and bagged it to throw away. It was kind of a weird feeling as we were doing this because I was talking to Seiphemo as we were cleaning and really....I didn’t need to come 8000 miles around the world to do this. I could do this in Minneapolis, in Rochester, pretty much anywhere but I think it took a situation like that to really open my eyes and make me have that realization.
Another random thing we did which was not a service project by any means was to go visit some refugees who have been struggling with the xenophobic attacks in South Africa. We went and met with a handful that have been staying in a church just out side of Cape Town. These people also amazed me, much like everyone else I’ve met here. They were so happy just to see us and to see that we cared. As the group talked to some of the older people I met a new little friend. I don’t know her name, but I do know that she was amazing. She couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 but she was one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen.
One Love Always
Then we also did some things around Tembelthu (spelling?) such as cleaning up the basketball court, doing arts and crafts with some of the kids, cleaning up the preschool area and such. Through our entire time in Cape Town I have never seen people so happy to see us. When we first got there all of the kids were all over the place and just ecstatic. They had a little assembly to introduce us all and then their choir sang some songs. They were AMAZING! There was one girl in the front that really grabbed my attention because she had the most amazing smile and was a great singer. At this point I really had to try and hold it together. It was hard for me to see people with the biggest smiles on their faces even through all the struggle they’ve gone through to get where they are today. They amaze me. Nate, Brian, and I all went out side to clean up their basketball court. It amazed me that people could even play on it before. There wasn’t a single square foot of court that didn’t have glass or debris on it. We swept all the glass up off the court and bagged it to throw away. It was kind of a weird feeling as we were doing this because I was talking to Seiphemo as we were cleaning and really....I didn’t need to come 8000 miles around the world to do this. I could do this in Minneapolis, in Rochester, pretty much anywhere but I think it took a situation like that to really open my eyes and make me have that realization.
Another random thing we did which was not a service project by any means was to go visit some refugees who have been struggling with the xenophobic attacks in South Africa. We went and met with a handful that have been staying in a church just out side of Cape Town. These people also amazed me, much like everyone else I’ve met here. They were so happy just to see us and to see that we cared. As the group talked to some of the older people I met a new little friend. I don’t know her name, but I do know that she was amazing. She couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 but she was one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen.
One Love Always
Monday, June 9, 2008
Words don’t explain it…welcome to where I was, where I am, and where I will forever be Part 2
Going into having our host family situation I was pretty excited yet nervous of not knowing how it would go! After Jesse and I found out we had 2 host moms I was quite excited! What’s better than 1 mom…2! On our way over to Bomvu’s house I really tried to keep an open mind. As we past shack after shack I mentally prepared myself for the most different situation, however we then crossed the bridge over the highway…welcome to Montana. As we pulled up to her house I was kicking myself for even thinking it may be bad. Her house was beautiful. We had everything any home would have plus we even had a TV in our room. Although we all had different housing experiences I really think ours was the best. I really wish I had more time to just sit and talk with my host moms but everybody was usually really tired by the end of the day. She had a very unique perspective on education because she had been teaching for 30 years! Although I had 2 host moms I feel like I had a huge extended host family. All three nights of home stays we would all get together, host parents and our entire group for a big dinner and dancing! The food was always amazing but I’ll talk about that in a bit. Everybody was so warm and welcoming all of the time. I felt like I had a giant host family that was more than just my host moms. I was really appreciative of their ability to be open with all of us and to deal with all of our horrible dancing! They also had to deal with our horrible clicking in Xhosa and all of us trying to learn the chicken dance. All in all I really learned a lot from my home stay experience. There are so many more things I would love to say but they aren’t really things I can explain in words. I have never met such warm people in my life and truly do miss them. If I had my choice I would stay in the townships for our entire trip simply for the sense of community and the genuine love I felt.
One Love Always
One Love Always
Words don’t explain it…welcome to where I was, where I am, and where I will forever be Part 1
So now that you have a VERY general outlook on how I’ve been feeling since we got back I should probably tell you what we did while we were in Guguletu and all around the community! Instead of breaking the week down day by day I think ill break it down into sections…lectures, host families, service projects, Rainbow after school program, the kids, and food…and then hopefully tie it all back together talking about passion, ubuntu, and the genuine love I felt in Gugs.
As a part of this week we had a wide array of lectures that came to speak to us about a variety of different issues within the community and South Africa. Although there were a handful of lecturer’s there were two that really grabbed my personal attention. First, we met Nombeko. She was a woman with hands down the best outlook on life. This woman was fierce, she was open, and most of all she was passionate. We soon found out that she became HIV positive after she was raped. There are no words in this world that can truly describe this woman. After listening to her story and how she looks at life one can only hope to be as strong as she is. Throughout all of our lectures many things came up about HIV/AIDS and the stigma and ideas behind it in the community and I thought Nombeko brought out an interesting idea that really didn’t cross my mind before. I had assumed that HIV was an everyday issue within the townships. However, she explained even thought HIV/AIDS is associated with only black South African’s there is still a disconnect in that it could be you. She said there is the idea that it should be someone else and not you. I guess I understand where this could come from, yet in a place where HIV is so prevalent I thought there would be more concern. One of the biggest things I got from listening to her speak was that people need to have the ability to look past HIV and move on. They need to realize it is not instant death!
That idea leads into our lecture from Zethu Xapile. I had no idea about the health care structure in South Africa prior to talking with her and it was a very eye opening lecture. The biggest thing that I did not know was that people can get ARV’s (anti retroviral medication) free of charge from the government supported health care facilities. Thus, HIV is not instant death! However, we soon found out that this is only the case for level 4 HIV patients…ie they have progressed as far as possible. The ideology behind this is really out of line for me. Why dump medications on people that are so far down when others could take them at earlier stages and live much longer. Zethu explained that there is a problem with people taking them and they really want to have people wait as long as possible to take them. She explained how people would take them, feel better, and then get off them and get sick again; thus building resistance. This becomes a problem in South Africa because there are only two lines of ARV’s and people can become resistant to both and at that point are in big trouble. Whereas in the states there are more lines of ARV’s so the chance of resistance to all of the drugs is quite rare. I don’t remember who was telling us about Tik but this kind of falls into the whole ARV talk. So in the townships drugs are a big problem and lately kids have been doing Tik. Tik is a concoction of ARV’s and any other drugs the users can get together. It is then put in a light bulb and smoked. This really infuriated me. It blows my mind that people steal ARV’s from people who need them to use them for drugs. Some people wait 9 months to get their ARV’s and now they are getting stolen. This really blew my mind. All in all I really enjoyed hearing from all of our speakers. They all brought really unique points of view about South Africa and AIDS/HIV and I really loved all the passion they brought. I have really learned a lot from all of them and really appreciate their ability to open up to us.
Originally I really didn’t know how I would like the speakers, yet this really wouldn’t have been the same experience with out them. They really helped tie a lot of loose ends on this trip together for me.
One Love Always
As a part of this week we had a wide array of lectures that came to speak to us about a variety of different issues within the community and South Africa. Although there were a handful of lecturer’s there were two that really grabbed my personal attention. First, we met Nombeko. She was a woman with hands down the best outlook on life. This woman was fierce, she was open, and most of all she was passionate. We soon found out that she became HIV positive after she was raped. There are no words in this world that can truly describe this woman. After listening to her story and how she looks at life one can only hope to be as strong as she is. Throughout all of our lectures many things came up about HIV/AIDS and the stigma and ideas behind it in the community and I thought Nombeko brought out an interesting idea that really didn’t cross my mind before. I had assumed that HIV was an everyday issue within the townships. However, she explained even thought HIV/AIDS is associated with only black South African’s there is still a disconnect in that it could be you. She said there is the idea that it should be someone else and not you. I guess I understand where this could come from, yet in a place where HIV is so prevalent I thought there would be more concern. One of the biggest things I got from listening to her speak was that people need to have the ability to look past HIV and move on. They need to realize it is not instant death!
That idea leads into our lecture from Zethu Xapile. I had no idea about the health care structure in South Africa prior to talking with her and it was a very eye opening lecture. The biggest thing that I did not know was that people can get ARV’s (anti retroviral medication) free of charge from the government supported health care facilities. Thus, HIV is not instant death! However, we soon found out that this is only the case for level 4 HIV patients…ie they have progressed as far as possible. The ideology behind this is really out of line for me. Why dump medications on people that are so far down when others could take them at earlier stages and live much longer. Zethu explained that there is a problem with people taking them and they really want to have people wait as long as possible to take them. She explained how people would take them, feel better, and then get off them and get sick again; thus building resistance. This becomes a problem in South Africa because there are only two lines of ARV’s and people can become resistant to both and at that point are in big trouble. Whereas in the states there are more lines of ARV’s so the chance of resistance to all of the drugs is quite rare. I don’t remember who was telling us about Tik but this kind of falls into the whole ARV talk. So in the townships drugs are a big problem and lately kids have been doing Tik. Tik is a concoction of ARV’s and any other drugs the users can get together. It is then put in a light bulb and smoked. This really infuriated me. It blows my mind that people steal ARV’s from people who need them to use them for drugs. Some people wait 9 months to get their ARV’s and now they are getting stolen. This really blew my mind. All in all I really enjoyed hearing from all of our speakers. They all brought really unique points of view about South Africa and AIDS/HIV and I really loved all the passion they brought. I have really learned a lot from all of them and really appreciate their ability to open up to us.
Originally I really didn’t know how I would like the speakers, yet this really wouldn’t have been the same experience with out them. They really helped tie a lot of loose ends on this trip together for me.
One Love Always
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
