Another part of my week was going to the support group for women who are HIV positive. We went on both Tuesday and Friday mornings.
On Tuesday, we got to hear a couple of women’s stories. I cannot imagine some of the things they go through because they are HIV positive and the way people in the community treat them. I cannot explain how much I admire the strength of these women. Also on this day, while she was teaching me to crochet, Nelly (one of the women) told me about a friend she was worried about and also about some struggles with her family is facing. I was thankful that she opened up to me and that I had the opportunity to pray with her.
I was reminded how laughter is universal when we went to the support group on Friday without a translator. We didn’t really need to talk with the women, we gave them hugs when we got there and said our hellos and then they taught us to crochet while speaking very little English. Just being there and sitting with the women was enough. I am the worst crochet-er ever. It took me forever to get the hang of it. The most patient woman sat with me and showed me over and over again how to crochet. Surprisingly, the green beanie I started on doesn’t look too bad. There is a chance it might turn out looking good enough for me to actually wear. Laughter brought us all together because everyone in the room, South Africans and Americans laughed when we would mess up and the women could take what we were working on and pull half of what we had crocheted out because we had been doing it wrong. I feel like we really bonded with the women and this day helped us to really feel a part of this group.
This is the amazing group of girls I get to work with every day at RivLife! There are so wonderful and this past week I have appreciated the their encouragement, flexibility and honesty. We laugh about everything and we are convinced that our service site is the better than the rest! Nicole, Bianca, Staci, Carisa, Daniele, Sarah, and Emma, I love them all!
This little girl is one of my favorites! All the kids call us "Auntie"! It's so cute!
This is why we laugh all the time...
On the first couple of days we would sit under the play ground in the shade in the afternoons with the kids. Well, we found out that the kids like to pee there. So we now call this area the pee pit and
we don’t sit there anymore.
We laugh when they wipe their snot in our hair, pee on us, eat styrofoam, and cry over
their turn for the swing...
Sometimes it seems like the only word we yell at them is
“yima” which means “no”.
I have found that entertainment for preschoolers comes easily. Four or five of them will stand around and braid, knot, and play with my hair. Our hair is so soft and shinny compared to theirs and so this is why they sometimes even just like to “pet” our hair. As crazy as they are, its fun just getting to love on the kids. We have seen a change in a couple of the shy and timid children who now seem to be more comfortable with us and they seem to be a little more outgoing with the other children too. I love when we get to RivLife in the mornings and they all start yelling and run up to us and give us hugs!
I think every college student secretly wishes to spend his or her birthday in 8 hours of class. On Monday, I lived out this dream.
Despite being in class for the same amount of hours I generally sleep at night, I managed to have a pretty good birthday in South Africa! I woke up nice and early to skype my wonderful family! I loved seeing and talking to them on my birthday!
This year I had a birthday twin and my friend Josh and I got to celebrate our 20th birthdays in South Africa together. One thing we do here for birthdays is that at tea time or meal time everyone goes into the dinning room and makes a tunnel, after an elementary school soccer game style, you know what I mean. Then everyone waits for the birthday person to enter and we all pretend to surprise that person and pretend to get all excited when they are about to walk through the door. It’s pretty funny. And then when the birthday boy or girl walks through the door everyone cheers as he or she runs through the tunnel and we all start singing Happy Birthday and there is cake and a special present from the birthday committee. All this to say that at lunchtime on Monday, this happened to me.
When our last class got out at 8pm it was finally time to go out and celebrate! A bunch of us went to a restaurant called Spurs for dessert and after being in the same class room all day with the same people, we were a little crazy and fit the stereotype of loud, obnoxious Americans. But it was a great night and it was fun going out with so many friends. I am so thankful to everyone in S.A. who made my birthday a special day and to everyone who sent me birthday cards! I have gotten SO many and I have loved getting so much mail!
Thursday and Friday of this past week were our first two days at service sites. We go to our sites from about 9am to 3:30pm Tuesday through Friday and will be going for the next three weeks. My service site is called RivLife and there are 8 of us girls who are working there.
On day one Reg dropped us off at RivLife, which is about 20 min from AE. Reg is the guy in charge of our APU group and our semester. He is a sweet and wise older man, and we all like him a lot. When Reg dropped us off it was like our mom (or in this case, grandpa) was dropping us off at the mall for the first time. There was a sense of being independent and we were all excited for the day ahead!
One of the first things we did was some planning and we found out basically what the next three weeks will look like at RivLife. On Tuesdays and Fridays we will get to meet with a support group of women who are HIV positive. On Wednesdays we get to hang out with a group of gogo’s (granny’s) and we were told they like to exercise and that they like to run up hills and stuff. Oh yeah, they are like 70 years old, so this should be pretty fun. Then on Thursdays we will go into the community and do home visits with people who are terminally ill. Then I believe in the afternoons everyday we will play with the kids that come to RivLife.
We were told that basically we would be playing with the kids all day on our first day. So we led a group of 30ish preschoolers outside to this tent, which is incredibly hot inside. All the preschoolers (who do not know English) sat down and did not say a word, they stared at us and we stared at them. All 8 of us girls just looked at each other thinking, “what are we supposed to do?!” So, we started singing Ageko Ofuna No Jesu (one of two songs we know in Zulu) and we all got totally into it and these kids just looked at us. We then sang it 3 more times...this was the first funny thing of many funny moments of the day.
The rest of the day went like this... we played with the little kids outside in the baking sun and attempted to possibly say a few words to them. Unfortunately, in our Zulu class we have not yet learned how to say such important words like “stop” and “don’t climb” and “don’t bite” (We did ask out teacher so now we know). During the whole day there was probably 3 to 5 kids hanging on each of us. I pushed kids on the tire swings for probably a total of an hour and a half and I got my hair played with. The kids were a little snotty but super cute. Also, after school in the afternoon some older children came
and many of them could speak English so we got to talk and hang out with them too. We found out that some of the older children have to walk three to five miles to get to RivLife in the afternoon where they eat their only meal of the day.
My new team slash family, as we like to call ourselves, is wonderful. We have had many laughs together, and I cannot wait for all the things we will experience together. On the first day one of the only pictures taken was of me napping during our lunch break. It’s really an attractive photo. Thanks, new family, thanks.
During our second day at RivLife we got to attend the AIDS support group.
There are about 10 women who come to this and together they work on crafts they sell as a business and are just there for each other. When we first met the women, we all told each other our names. It was so difficult to remember their names because they are in Zulu but we are working on it! Everyone in the room laughed because one of the women’s name is Patricia and as Americans we had no problem remembering her name! There were a couple of women who translated for us during the 2 hours we were there.
We told the group that we were there just to get to know them and be with them each week. Then one of the women told us that they all are HIV positive and asked us if that was okay with us, if we would want to be there knowing this. It
was heart breaking. On the verge of tears, we told her that, yes, we wanted to be there because we loved them all. Then she asked us if we were okay with the fact that they are mothers who have this disease. We then told her how incredible we think it is that they all have the strength to be mothers and to run businesses and just to be out and doing things while having HIV.
After this, they told us that they loved us and we all went around giving each other hugs. We noticed how the women held on to us for a long time. Some people still think that HIV can be spread through physical contact. It is due to ignorance that many times people will not associate themselves with those who have HIV. The women then got out some of their crafts and we watched them and they even taught some of us how to do it. At the end of our time with the group, we said our goodbyes and told them we would be back Tuesday.
This experience was a lot to take in. I don’t think I have ever been so encouraged by a group of people. This is the first time I have really seen how HIV affects people and it is difficult to understand how people who already live in poverty have to deal with such a disease as this.
I think everything I experience for these next few weeks will really change my perspective on a lot of things. Already after the second day, we found it difficult to say goodbye to the kids we played with and just from being with the women for a little while really made me think about how they live everyday. My group is just beginning to see the realities of life of both the women and children we have begun to build relationships with and it's a lot to process.
Please keep us all in your prayers as we continue to go to service sites. Especially pray that our bodies would be protected from any diseases the children or people we come into contact with have and that my RivLife “family” would be able to encourage each other and really work as a team.
This past week has been very eventful. It was finals week for everyone here except for the isiZulu students (our class keeps going for four more weeks). So, the 10 of us went on an overnight trip to Durban. We ended up staying at the Fairmont, and it was absolutely beautiful! On Wednesday we went shipping at the Indian market in Durban and went out to Mamma G’s for some great I-talian food! That night we took this crazy and creepy jungle path and found a salt water infinite pool that overlooked the ocean. The trek to find this in the dark was a little scary since we could not see anything and kept hearing things in the trees and grass, and we felt like we were in a horror movie and that some crazy African animal was going to eat us alive. But we made it and the night time swim was worth it :) Then that night I got the worst sleep I have gotten here in South Africa, but looking back its almost funny... The next day after some coffee we relaxed in the South African sun! The weather was perfect. It was sunny (yep, we all got a little sunburnt) and at times there was actually a breeze. The trip was really fun and I enjoyed spending time with a small group of people. We definitely all bonded and I think class will be even more fun now that we spent this time together.
Battlefield Tour: 4 Battlefields, 2 Days, 1 Night, 52 friends... what could be better?
Friday morning, I woke up too early with a newly packed overnight
bag and we began our oh- so- exciting battlefield tour. The good thing about this part of the weekend was that they got us a luxury bus! When the Brazil soccer team comes here they ride around in this exact bus! How cool is that?! The battlefield tour can be summed up like this.... we drove for a few hours to the middle of no where, climbed a crazy steep hill, took pictures, listened to a lecture in the beating sun, walked around, saw some cows, got back on the bus and to begin nap number two of the day as we drove for a couple more hours, listened to yet another lecture at the next battlefield, bought ice cream, took some more pictures, and drove and slept some more. I know it sounds so exciting that anyone reading can probably hardly contain him or herself. I did learn from this trip that I am not especially passionate about battlefields,
but then again, I probably could have told you this a month ago. All sarcasm aside, we did stay at this really cool hotel in Dundee that was kind of old and cute. Every room had a different layout and the halls had old hard wood floors and I felt like I should have
walked around in a night gown holding a candle for light. For dinner we ate at the hotel and it was one of the best meals I have had here! The butternut squash soup and the dessert was especially delicious! I really enjoyed sitting and talking with the girls at my table. Recently, I have so blessed through conversation!
Day two of the battlefield tour included two more battlefields and many hours of driving. I think my favorite part of day two was breakfast. Let’s just say that Saturday night, it was nice to be home.
Sunday= FunDay
This Sunday was officially declared FunDay. Sunday FunDay included a giant slip and slide, a slip and slide competition (the winning chalet got McFlurry’s, yes the stakes were high!), watermelon for snack and then an intense relay amongst the chalets. My chalet is named Mojolefa, so naturally our team name is the MOJO’S. Mom, I’m sure you would be happy to know our team color is purple, which means I get to wear purple every week on our competition day. Team Mojo got third place in the relay! Only the two boys chalets beat us! We were pretty excited about this! Sunday FunDay was a great way to end the weekend!
Although I am loving all these experiences in South Africa, recently the distance has become more apparent for me and of course I miss many people and things from home. At the same time, it is difficult being not being in control of basically anything here and the limited amount of independence we have can be a struggle. However, God is good and through these things I know He will continue to teach me many things as I am abroad.
Top five things I have done in the past 5 days...
5. Watched the Lion King
4. Found a bat in our toilet
3. Went two hours away to attend a boys choir concert
2. Attended a church picnic
1. Ziplined on a canopy tour in South Africa’s 2nd largest indigenous forest
On Wednesday instead of going to my favorite class ever, a.k.a. intercultural communications, for 5 hours straight, I got to go on a field trip! We traveled a total of 4 to see the Drakensburg Boys Choir perform. The boys were about 7-16 years old and they were incredible! They sang some classical songs, a couple of American songs including Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen. They then sang and danced to some traditional Zulu and Xhosa songs. It was especially exciting when we could pick out a couple of the Zulu words and understand what they meant. It was really fun seeing the Zulu dancing too!
On Thursday night my friend and I came back to our chalet to find a bat in our toilet. Since this is not a common occurrence in America, we weren’t exactly sure what to do. So being the considerate girls we are, we closed the door and left a note for the other girls we live with (who all were sleeping) informing them that there was a bat in the toilet and to proceed with caution.
Saturday morning I woke up at the lovely hour of 6am to go on a canopy tour! I had no idea what to expect, but I can assure you that it is one of the coolest things I have had the opportunity to do yet. Once we drove to the site of the canopy tour, we put on our harnesses, helmets, and gloves and then took pictures in our harnesses, helmets, and gloves. Then, we got in the back of a pick-up truck and drove up the mountain. What a bumpy and fun ride it was, especially for
those of us who stood up! There was a total of 8 slides we got to zip line down. We were in charge of our own breaking, which was slightly scary at first but it was easy to get the hang of it and in no time we were dodging trees and zip lining like pros! It was so much fun and I had a great time with our group of ten! Halfway through we even got a piece of chocolate and juice as a snack. Of course, it was absolutely beautiful zip lining through all these trees and we all laughed at our great and sometimes not so great zip lining skills. All this had happened before 10am. How’s that for a start to a great day?
When I think about Saturday night, it’s kind of a funny picture... twenty-ish 19-21 year olds sitting around watching the Lion King. We might have sung along with all the songs and some of us might have gotten excited when we saw the zebra in the movie (since we have now seen them in real life).
On Sunday I went to church at God’s Family Life Church and after the service there was a church picnic. Everybody loves a church picnic! It was by this dam and there was swimming and soccer playing and all kinds of fun to be had. When we got there this family invited us to sit on their blanket with them. This was really nice of them and nice for us because it greatly reduced our amount of bug bites. It was great to talk with this family and with others from the church. Everyone was so friendly and even though we had already eaten our McDonald’s at the picnic, we were offered food and soda and muffins. One of the ladies I rode to the picnic with told us that “South Africans are always thinking of others besides themselves and their families.” I have found this to be very true. The church picnic was like a big family gathering full of fellowship and laughter. I definitely enjoyed it.
You Know You're In SOUTH AFRICA When...
you have some version of rice and beef once a day.
you see someone wearing something cute and ask, “is that from Mr. Price?” (as said by Josh).
you wake up in the morning unsure if it is raining or just the waterfall behind your room.
you attempt to put peanut butter on anything and everything and when there isn’t a jar on the table, you get nearly have a panic attack.
you hike a mountain, see the sun rise over the ocean, or go zip lining through the rain forest on an average saturday.
you become addicted to monopoly deal.
every bus ride is a dance party and you look back to find everyone singing to the most random songs.
you look around an hour and a half later to find three- fourths of the bus asleep.
you eat chocolate often, unshamefully a bar at a time.
you get on facebook hoping your friend in the chalet next to you is on so you can find out what he or she is up to.
its not a big deal if there is a spider or some other nasty bug in the shower and you just keep an eye on it while proceeding to shower.
going to bed at 11pm is late and you swear you will never go to bed that “late” again.
you wonder how you ever survived without having tea time twice a day... an excellent excuse to have more instant coffee or hot chocolate (its not like you haven’t already had four cups already that day) and a muffin, cookie, or on a really good day, a cinnamon roll.
the question “are you doing Jillian?” is asked every night and actually means are you going to the Jillian Michael's workout video.
you hear screams and wonder what the monkeys did this time.
you are walking along the road, see a car approaching, and have to think really hard about which side of the road you should run to.
an appropriate response to every question or comment is “Yebo!”
you feel encouraged by the people around you who have come to be your family :)
