Hello again. I don’t know how many people will actually end up reading this, but I’ve been meaning to do a final blog on my Africa trip but apparently it took moving on to my next stage of life to do…
In short, Africa was awesome. I’m sure you’ve all gotten that impression from my blogs, but I just wanted to mention that this trip was definitely the best 2 months of my life so far. So thank you SOOOO much everyone that supported me on this trip! I’ve said it so much already, but I’ve been positively OVERWHELMED with how much all around support I’ve gotten. It’s been very humbling knowing how many people I represented because of how much support ya’ll have given me. I honestly can’t say thank you enough, so THANK YOU!
Furthermore, people always ask about transitioning back to life here and all that… and honestly, it’s not been too hard, it’s just different. I certainly see things from a different perspective, but I’d like to think that just allows me to pick up the good things and leave behind the bad of BOTH cultures.
Yup. I dunno how much more there really is to say, but once again THANK YOU!
P.s. I may continue a blog of some sort on my experience here as a Christian college student trying to stay strong in a very secular college… It’s been interesting, but I LOVE Spearfish. It’s GORGEOUS!
P.p.s. THANK YOU
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Wrap It Up
Now that I’m comin to the close of the trip I’m gonna just go ahead and wrap things up a bit.
To start with, t’would be a shame to ignore this past weekend. On Saturday we went to Harrismith to buy some stuff for the chilluns of Leratong and Limakatso. At one point, someone noticed while at Leratong Children’s Home that many of the kids have terrible shoes and a couple without. So later, we all talked together and decided that the 24 of us were going to buy them shoes. So we basically each donated some money and went from there. Luckily, our wonderful supporters must’ve all been quite generous people because we ended up with enough money to not only buy shoes for the children at Leratong, but also for the children at Limakatso totaling around 60 kids AND we STILL had leftover money and it was even enough to buy blankets and some toys for all of em. It was a crazy amount of money for a bunch of poor missionaries to give, though it’s truly all thanks to wonderful people back home.
So on Saturday, we went to Harrismith and purchased all that stuff. It was a crazy time trying to even find only 3 specific pairs of shoes each then toys in that little town. Honestly, it was a really frustrating day, but it was worth it knowing the cause.
Sunday I spent hiking in the cold wetness. It was amazing. We hit up the “Bushmen Caves,” did some bouldering, then, on impulse, climbed a mountain. It was a fabulous day. Great break from all the frustrations of the day before– also, good compensation for days to come.
Yesterday (Monday) was spent jumping from school to school to children’s home to food. Essentially, we stopped at both Limakatso and Leratong and handed them the shoes and blankets and such, hung out a bit, then moved on. It was pretty cool to be able to go back to see kids you connected with a week or two or three ago, then not so cool to have to say good bye for good this time. But at least we left them with their shoes.
The rest of the day was spent going to some schools to watch the 24/7 interns do a presentation about an after school program they do during their school year. It was kinda cool, but having to go back today (Tuesday) and watch them do it all over again was rather boring.
Moving on… We start debriefing tomorrow. We’ll have a day of it on base then leave for safari/more debriefing Thursday morning. The main reason I’m writing this blog now is that once we leave for safari, I won’t have internet access till getting home, so I’m trying to wrap up as much as possible now. When I get home, I’ll certainly upload more photos. It’s INCREDIBLY difficult to here with African “high speed internet.” Plus, it’s hard to find the time to just sit around uploading photos. Plus, who would want to just do that when you’re in Africa? Anyways… What else… Ah. Wrap It Up. I actually stole that from a wonderful Muslim restaurant we went to Saturday. It’s called “Wrap It Up.” Pretty fabulous. They gave us a free Sparksport, aka, the most intense/ultimate fries ever. Made me wanna have a heart attack after the first fry. Pretty fabulous though. But yes…
I KNOW I had more I wanted to tell ya’ll before leaving, but now it’s not comin to me.
While I’m at it, I just thought I should mention that on August 16th I’ll be doin a presentation dealy at my church (Sunnycrest UMC) if ya’ll are interested. It’s possible there’ll be some African food there to try. At the very least there will be some candy. Not much, but some. Plus I’m planning on teaching people as much about Basotho culture as I can cram into the time I’ll allot for that because I’ve found a new, deep appreciation for culture. It’s interesting stuff. Plus of course I’ll talk about what exactly I’ve been doing here and what EXACTLY has happened, though most people that’ve been reading this might hear some stuff again… In that case, thank you. I really do appreciate people reading this and especially commenting, though I’ve heard people have had issues with that. I’m in Africa though, I honestly haven’t taken the time to try and figure out what might be wrong, but I hopefully will when I get back.
One last note: I fly out Saturday around 6pm I believe– that’s 11am Central time– so start prayin around then and don’t stop till at least 1:40pm (Central) Sunday for safe travel.
Thank you!
One last time:
With love from Africa,
Ben
To start with, t’would be a shame to ignore this past weekend. On Saturday we went to Harrismith to buy some stuff for the chilluns of Leratong and Limakatso. At one point, someone noticed while at Leratong Children’s Home that many of the kids have terrible shoes and a couple without. So later, we all talked together and decided that the 24 of us were going to buy them shoes. So we basically each donated some money and went from there. Luckily, our wonderful supporters must’ve all been quite generous people because we ended up with enough money to not only buy shoes for the children at Leratong, but also for the children at Limakatso totaling around 60 kids AND we STILL had leftover money and it was even enough to buy blankets and some toys for all of em. It was a crazy amount of money for a bunch of poor missionaries to give, though it’s truly all thanks to wonderful people back home.
So on Saturday, we went to Harrismith and purchased all that stuff. It was a crazy time trying to even find only 3 specific pairs of shoes each then toys in that little town. Honestly, it was a really frustrating day, but it was worth it knowing the cause.
Sunday I spent hiking in the cold wetness. It was amazing. We hit up the “Bushmen Caves,” did some bouldering, then, on impulse, climbed a mountain. It was a fabulous day. Great break from all the frustrations of the day before– also, good compensation for days to come.
Yesterday (Monday) was spent jumping from school to school to children’s home to food. Essentially, we stopped at both Limakatso and Leratong and handed them the shoes and blankets and such, hung out a bit, then moved on. It was pretty cool to be able to go back to see kids you connected with a week or two or three ago, then not so cool to have to say good bye for good this time. But at least we left them with their shoes.
The rest of the day was spent going to some schools to watch the 24/7 interns do a presentation about an after school program they do during their school year. It was kinda cool, but having to go back today (Tuesday) and watch them do it all over again was rather boring.
Moving on… We start debriefing tomorrow. We’ll have a day of it on base then leave for safari/more debriefing Thursday morning. The main reason I’m writing this blog now is that once we leave for safari, I won’t have internet access till getting home, so I’m trying to wrap up as much as possible now. When I get home, I’ll certainly upload more photos. It’s INCREDIBLY difficult to here with African “high speed internet.” Plus, it’s hard to find the time to just sit around uploading photos. Plus, who would want to just do that when you’re in Africa? Anyways… What else… Ah. Wrap It Up. I actually stole that from a wonderful Muslim restaurant we went to Saturday. It’s called “Wrap It Up.” Pretty fabulous. They gave us a free Sparksport, aka, the most intense/ultimate fries ever. Made me wanna have a heart attack after the first fry. Pretty fabulous though. But yes…
I KNOW I had more I wanted to tell ya’ll before leaving, but now it’s not comin to me.
While I’m at it, I just thought I should mention that on August 16th I’ll be doin a presentation dealy at my church (Sunnycrest UMC) if ya’ll are interested. It’s possible there’ll be some African food there to try. At the very least there will be some candy. Not much, but some. Plus I’m planning on teaching people as much about Basotho culture as I can cram into the time I’ll allot for that because I’ve found a new, deep appreciation for culture. It’s interesting stuff. Plus of course I’ll talk about what exactly I’ve been doing here and what EXACTLY has happened, though most people that’ve been reading this might hear some stuff again… In that case, thank you. I really do appreciate people reading this and especially commenting, though I’ve heard people have had issues with that. I’m in Africa though, I honestly haven’t taken the time to try and figure out what might be wrong, but I hopefully will when I get back.
One last note: I fly out Saturday around 6pm I believe– that’s 11am Central time– so start prayin around then and don’t stop till at least 1:40pm (Central) Sunday for safe travel.
Thank you!
One last time:
With love from Africa,
Ben
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Pictures
So, by request of a certain lady back home (cough, mother, cough), I'm going to attempt uploading some photos on here. I haven't gotten the chance to lately because, just until a few days ago there were approximately 50-60 people that might want access to the internet here to slow it down. So it was extra hard just to load any random page on the internet for about 2 weeks. Hence, no uploaded pictures. So here goes my attempt.
Dumela from South Africa
Outside World Fellowship- the church we partnered with for Relationship Evangelism
Kelelo!
Lady in Qwa Qwa
Eagle Mountain at Night
I have a new favorite sport: chasing ostriches.
Leratong Children's home
80's Dance party. Aka HILARIOUS.
Mooihoek
Lion park. I learned here how scary nature can actually be...
June drinkin the beer at the Basotho Cultural Center with the chief and his attendant
TEBOHO! The kid I was with last week at Limakatso: School for the disabled
Just below Mt. Everest
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Sunday, July 26, 2009
Starting to See the Last of Africa
It’s weird to think that I’m nearing the close of my time here. Sure I have almost 2 weeks left, but today was actually my group’s last day of true ministry. My half of the group taught at Limakatso this week and the other half will next week. The half on base has just been oiling cabins all week. My group will finish that and start on the fences next week– which just leaves less than a week in Africa yet, and the last couple days we won’t even be on the base because we’re goin north for warmer weather for debriefing.
So, to recap, this last week, my group taught in Limakatso. If you don’t recall or haven’t read it previously, Limakatso is a disabled children’s school in Intabazwe. And you probably don’t know this, but Intabazwe is the closest town to us– it’s a nice short 20 minutes away. Anyways. As with everything in Africa, even the disabled children’s schools are different than in the states. Currently, this school of 11 students doesn’t even have a teacher, because the one from this last year quit, but I think finished out the year. P.s. the schools have a short break in the winter and a longer one in the summer (THEIR summer and winter that is). So this last week was their first week back in school and since they still don’t have an actual teacher, just an amazing woman named Topsy who takes care of them, we hung out and taught them for about three hours each day. The crazy thing about disabled children’s schools though, is how mentally disabled people are regarded in this culture. They’re so neglected, that their disabilities are far worse than they should be because no one’s truly worked with them closely enough to help them along.
Each of us was partnered with one “kid” to work with them this whole week, though the kids ranged in ages from about 11 years old to… around 25-30 (I’m guessing that’s how old Fetsi is, but he looks much older so I don’t rightly know). Teboho, who was my friend this week, is 17 years old and, I admittedly don’t know what disability he has, I just know what it looks like. Teboho’s disability is mostly physical, but yet, because of his limitations and because of how poorly the society helps disabled children, he’s on the level of all the rest of the disabled children at the school. Teboho has very limited motor skills: he can move his arms for the most part, he can grip things when you put it in his hand correctly, he can speak, though it’s labored (and in Sesotho, that didn’t help me at all), but besides that, he doesn’t have much control over his body. The great thing about Teboho though is his mind. Since he speaks Sesotho and I do not I didn’t really get to talk to him, but when his mom, Topsy, spoke to him and he responded, I could see there’s likely not too much hindering his mind besides his virtual total lack of education.
He even can speak a slight bit of English. Every day when we got there, part of my greeting was to ask him how he was doing, and every day he responded with “I’m fine.” Besides that, when I asked him questions, since he always answered “yes” I’m not really sure what he did and didn’t understand of my English. I have to be honest though, working with Teboho was just as tiring as it was a blessing. It’s emotionally tiring working with disabled children, and doubly if not triply so when you can’t even talk to them. I might’ve been perfectly fine working with him if I could at least hold a simple conversation with him.
Despite the difficulties and exhaustion, it’s always joyous working with people that smile so easily. I guess, in their simplicity, it’s easier to find joy. At one point, Tome laughed so hard, she cried. When’s the last time you just walked into a place, made a friend, then had them laugh so hard they cried within just a couple days? It’s always a joyous sight.
While I may be emotionally drained after this week with the kids, I’m still quite sad that I’m done with the organized ministry here in Africa. Although I’ve never been one for organization. Every day I break down barriers when we drive somewhere by smiling and waving at people who’d thought a white person would never do that for them or, after buying something at a gas station, by standing around talking to the four nice ladies behind the counter about anything about ourselves because they find it all so interesting. Truly, ministry never ends because you constantly interact with people no matter where you are, but it’s still sad that the organized portion is done here in Africa. It’s especially sad that I may never see Qwa Qwa again… talk about a beautiful mountain town. Or even that I’ll never see Limakatso again. After rebuilding then teaching there, it makes me sad to have the possibility of never seeing it again. Oh well, such is life.
A quick note on the future.
Since I’m so bad at being regular with my blogs, I should just tell ya a bit about what’s to come.
Let’s start soon: this Sunday, we’re repelling down the back of Everest. Very exciting. I’ve seen the rock we’re goin down, and it’s QUITE tall, so hopefully I’m feeling 100% by then (yesterday and today my stomach’s been kinda funky).
Next week my group will be on base oiling cabins and fences, as I said before. Here, they oil instead of put finish on: it’s just their form of preserving the wood. I’m not really looking forward to oiling because it’s some REALLY nasty stuff, but oh well. I should mention that that and Limakatso just take place before lunch (1:00): after lunch we have some classes.
I think that next weekend we’re going someplace with other mountains we can climb, but I don’t remember for certain…
For our last week, I know we have some base work to do such as oiling fences and such and perhaps some other stuff, but then we start debriefing. I believe we have a day or two of debriefing here on base, but then for the last two days, we head north for warmer weather and a REAL AFRICAN SAFARI! Woot. We’ll do some debriefing up there, but I think it’ll probably end up being mostly unofficial and involving some late-night cabin talks aka, the best kind. Oh. I should also mention, for debriefing, we get to stay some place with shalays (like many African words, I’m just guessing on the spelling). Shalays are basically larger huts with beds and such. This place has shalays that fit like 6 people, so we’re gettin 4 of em. And if you’re really paying attention, now’s when you go, “6 people? But I thought there were 7 guys?” (I doubt anyone really knew/remembered that though) And yes, that’s correct. We’re all friendly though.
Sometime in there, I know we’ll be hitting up an African market as well, so that should be fun. I just don’t have a clue where or what or when or ANYTHING, just that we will, so the end.
After all that, we’ll be heading directly to Jo-berg and be off to the states again– except for Elder Chu, of course: he’s Canadian.
Hope ya’ll have a wonderful two weeks!
-Love from Africa!
So, to recap, this last week, my group taught in Limakatso. If you don’t recall or haven’t read it previously, Limakatso is a disabled children’s school in Intabazwe. And you probably don’t know this, but Intabazwe is the closest town to us– it’s a nice short 20 minutes away. Anyways. As with everything in Africa, even the disabled children’s schools are different than in the states. Currently, this school of 11 students doesn’t even have a teacher, because the one from this last year quit, but I think finished out the year. P.s. the schools have a short break in the winter and a longer one in the summer (THEIR summer and winter that is). So this last week was their first week back in school and since they still don’t have an actual teacher, just an amazing woman named Topsy who takes care of them, we hung out and taught them for about three hours each day. The crazy thing about disabled children’s schools though, is how mentally disabled people are regarded in this culture. They’re so neglected, that their disabilities are far worse than they should be because no one’s truly worked with them closely enough to help them along.
Each of us was partnered with one “kid” to work with them this whole week, though the kids ranged in ages from about 11 years old to… around 25-30 (I’m guessing that’s how old Fetsi is, but he looks much older so I don’t rightly know). Teboho, who was my friend this week, is 17 years old and, I admittedly don’t know what disability he has, I just know what it looks like. Teboho’s disability is mostly physical, but yet, because of his limitations and because of how poorly the society helps disabled children, he’s on the level of all the rest of the disabled children at the school. Teboho has very limited motor skills: he can move his arms for the most part, he can grip things when you put it in his hand correctly, he can speak, though it’s labored (and in Sesotho, that didn’t help me at all), but besides that, he doesn’t have much control over his body. The great thing about Teboho though is his mind. Since he speaks Sesotho and I do not I didn’t really get to talk to him, but when his mom, Topsy, spoke to him and he responded, I could see there’s likely not too much hindering his mind besides his virtual total lack of education.
He even can speak a slight bit of English. Every day when we got there, part of my greeting was to ask him how he was doing, and every day he responded with “I’m fine.” Besides that, when I asked him questions, since he always answered “yes” I’m not really sure what he did and didn’t understand of my English. I have to be honest though, working with Teboho was just as tiring as it was a blessing. It’s emotionally tiring working with disabled children, and doubly if not triply so when you can’t even talk to them. I might’ve been perfectly fine working with him if I could at least hold a simple conversation with him.
Despite the difficulties and exhaustion, it’s always joyous working with people that smile so easily. I guess, in their simplicity, it’s easier to find joy. At one point, Tome laughed so hard, she cried. When’s the last time you just walked into a place, made a friend, then had them laugh so hard they cried within just a couple days? It’s always a joyous sight.
While I may be emotionally drained after this week with the kids, I’m still quite sad that I’m done with the organized ministry here in Africa. Although I’ve never been one for organization. Every day I break down barriers when we drive somewhere by smiling and waving at people who’d thought a white person would never do that for them or, after buying something at a gas station, by standing around talking to the four nice ladies behind the counter about anything about ourselves because they find it all so interesting. Truly, ministry never ends because you constantly interact with people no matter where you are, but it’s still sad that the organized portion is done here in Africa. It’s especially sad that I may never see Qwa Qwa again… talk about a beautiful mountain town. Or even that I’ll never see Limakatso again. After rebuilding then teaching there, it makes me sad to have the possibility of never seeing it again. Oh well, such is life.
A quick note on the future.
Since I’m so bad at being regular with my blogs, I should just tell ya a bit about what’s to come.
Let’s start soon: this Sunday, we’re repelling down the back of Everest. Very exciting. I’ve seen the rock we’re goin down, and it’s QUITE tall, so hopefully I’m feeling 100% by then (yesterday and today my stomach’s been kinda funky).
Next week my group will be on base oiling cabins and fences, as I said before. Here, they oil instead of put finish on: it’s just their form of preserving the wood. I’m not really looking forward to oiling because it’s some REALLY nasty stuff, but oh well. I should mention that that and Limakatso just take place before lunch (1:00): after lunch we have some classes.
I think that next weekend we’re going someplace with other mountains we can climb, but I don’t remember for certain…
For our last week, I know we have some base work to do such as oiling fences and such and perhaps some other stuff, but then we start debriefing. I believe we have a day or two of debriefing here on base, but then for the last two days, we head north for warmer weather and a REAL AFRICAN SAFARI! Woot. We’ll do some debriefing up there, but I think it’ll probably end up being mostly unofficial and involving some late-night cabin talks aka, the best kind. Oh. I should also mention, for debriefing, we get to stay some place with shalays (like many African words, I’m just guessing on the spelling). Shalays are basically larger huts with beds and such. This place has shalays that fit like 6 people, so we’re gettin 4 of em. And if you’re really paying attention, now’s when you go, “6 people? But I thought there were 7 guys?” (I doubt anyone really knew/remembered that though) And yes, that’s correct. We’re all friendly though.
Sometime in there, I know we’ll be hitting up an African market as well, so that should be fun. I just don’t have a clue where or what or when or ANYTHING, just that we will, so the end.
After all that, we’ll be heading directly to Jo-berg and be off to the states again– except for Elder Chu, of course: he’s Canadian.
Hope ya’ll have a wonderful two weeks!
-Love from Africa!
Random Happenings 7/24
Here’s your chance to hear some random stories that I’ll hopefully think of while telling you these two stories I remember now.
A. Last Sunday, Billy and I climbed Mooihoek. It ended up being about the dumbest, yet most fun situation possible. We left around 12:15pm, meaning we skipped lunch, which we’re not technically allowed to do… but it’s the only way we would’ve had time, and with time running out here, I would’ve never forgiven myself if I’d have lived next to three mountains for two months and only climbed two of em. So we skipped lunch. Billy and I are pretty quick people, so what took the other group about 45 minutes to walk took us 20; the mountain only SEEMS close: it’s actually a little ways away. Then, we climbed up the front side, which in and of itself isn’t dumb, climbing the front’s fastest, the dumb part comes later. Just so ya know, Mooihoek is very likely the steepest climb you could do without a rope and still be comfortable. So it was a difficult climb. Once you near the top, the mountain actually flattens out though, so the climb gets easier once you’re nearly to the top. The issue then is “where is the TOP?” The top is flat, but very slightly slanted, so Billy and I walked ALL the way around to try to figure out where the TOP top is. Whether we were right or not, we were on the TOP at some point. In walking around the outside of the top of the mountain we likely added another mile to our trip; it’s a VERY large mountain. In fact, it’s so big, that we decided that we think it’s probably the tallest mountain in the area– at least till you get near Lesotho. So yes, kind of a dumb situation walking around to find the top. Then we had lunch, but naturally, on a mountain, you have to eat near a ledge, so we found one. Despite there being a whole side of the mountain that is 75% cliffs, it’s hard to find from the top, so we ate on top of a small one: much more comfortable this way anyways.
The dumbest part of the trek came when we were going down. We decided that since we came up the front and we had plenty of time, we wanted to see what the backside looked like: so we went down that way. Unfortunately, the mountain is slanted as such that you can only see a max of about 100 feet down at a time (the mountain’s about 800 feet above the base I believe), so we did some hiking around to try and find where we THOUGHT we could climb down and not run into random 300 foot cliffs. Finally, we hit some luck and randomly got yelled at. Not that we were in trouble, but apparently Andrew, Tara, and Amy were climbing up the backside and saw us, so they yelled to us. Our saving grace there was that they obviously knew how to get down that way since they came up that way. The dumb part is that going down that side is super hard because it’s just PACKED with trees and those stupid super thorny bushes. Going up is easier because that’s the direction plants grow, but going down is just awkward and painful. Plus, we were kinda lost. Despite our pains, it turned out much better going down the backside, because we got to see the most MONSTEROUS ostrich I’ve ever seen– and just driving around here, you see many ostriches at the farms. From a distance (halfway down the mountain) I thought it was some person shaking out the biggest blanket I’ve ever seen, but it was just a funny ostrich with its wings out. We got as close as comfortable for a few pictures, then walked on.
I’m still not sure if the next part is dumb or just entertaining. The sun was starting to go down, and we still had time, so I mentioned that if we followed the road that we thought went all the way behind Everest, we’d be able to see the sunset– but the road only went halfway. I don’t know why we thought that, because it’s obvious now that we could’ve seen the road if it continued, but hey, some of these roads are mostly overgrown. Luckily, we followed some antelope trails around to the side of Everest where the trees finally receded and we could walk unimpeded through the grass. We barely got to see the sun almost set before we realized we only had about 20 minutes to get another mile around and down the mountain we were behind before supper. We ended up actually having time to drop off some stuff at our cabin before going to supper though, so it all worked out. It was just uncomfortable almost accidentally missing a second meal that day. So yes. So ends story A. Much longer than I intended: I guess that’s what happens when I’m sick enough to not want to leave the cabin unless I need to.
2. Ostriches. Sometime last week, one of the ostriches on base finally showed up. We were overjoyed to finally see it. So overjoyed we kinda semi-chased it with our cameras cuz it kept walking away as we got closer, so it was not very photogenic. But after it finally broke that streak of hiding, it’s now hanging out near the cabins. It’s slightly disturbing, yet hilarious. A few times I’ve been walking back to the cabins and either chased it a little away from where I was walking, or just stared at it in confusion from its transition from weeks of hiding to apparent friendliness.
Today was one of the best ostrich moments though. Well truly, it started yesterday. Yesterday, one of the ladies walked into her cabin bathroom and after a couple seconds decided to look out the window only to realize she had a peeping tom: the ostrich was standing IMMEDIATELY behind the window. Today, as my cabin-mates and I were walking out of the cabin, we met up with the other guys from the other guy cabin and Derek said “Hey, you guys should look out your bathroom window.” In my head I immediately went, “NO WAY!” and proceeded to run around so I could see behind our cabin and sure enough, there she was, just standing there behind our cabin. Kevin whipped out his camera and Derek raced inside our cabin to look out the window. Kevin then started recording, I approached it from the side, then Derek flew open the window and we both screamed and the ostrich ran awkwardly away, as they do. The best part was that Kevin got it all on video, but it that’s not all: we followed the ostrich because we were actually heading that direction. At this point, we guys ended up in two groups: mine was heading more directly towards the ostrich so we were still screaming and flapping our arms to scare it away, the other group was taking a different path. In doing so, we ended up herding it the direction we were actually walking until finally it ended up between the groups. Suddenly it just ran towards the other group for no real reason– not very far, but enough to make Kevin and Dereck run away. Watching Kevin run away from an ostrich made my day: the funniest thing I’ve seen in a LONG time.
C. I don’t actually remember any major/entertaining stories so I’m going to stop now. Plus, I just wrote two long blogs in a short time.
Have a lovely time.
Love,
Ben
A. Last Sunday, Billy and I climbed Mooihoek. It ended up being about the dumbest, yet most fun situation possible. We left around 12:15pm, meaning we skipped lunch, which we’re not technically allowed to do… but it’s the only way we would’ve had time, and with time running out here, I would’ve never forgiven myself if I’d have lived next to three mountains for two months and only climbed two of em. So we skipped lunch. Billy and I are pretty quick people, so what took the other group about 45 minutes to walk took us 20; the mountain only SEEMS close: it’s actually a little ways away. Then, we climbed up the front side, which in and of itself isn’t dumb, climbing the front’s fastest, the dumb part comes later. Just so ya know, Mooihoek is very likely the steepest climb you could do without a rope and still be comfortable. So it was a difficult climb. Once you near the top, the mountain actually flattens out though, so the climb gets easier once you’re nearly to the top. The issue then is “where is the TOP?” The top is flat, but very slightly slanted, so Billy and I walked ALL the way around to try to figure out where the TOP top is. Whether we were right or not, we were on the TOP at some point. In walking around the outside of the top of the mountain we likely added another mile to our trip; it’s a VERY large mountain. In fact, it’s so big, that we decided that we think it’s probably the tallest mountain in the area– at least till you get near Lesotho. So yes, kind of a dumb situation walking around to find the top. Then we had lunch, but naturally, on a mountain, you have to eat near a ledge, so we found one. Despite there being a whole side of the mountain that is 75% cliffs, it’s hard to find from the top, so we ate on top of a small one: much more comfortable this way anyways.
The dumbest part of the trek came when we were going down. We decided that since we came up the front and we had plenty of time, we wanted to see what the backside looked like: so we went down that way. Unfortunately, the mountain is slanted as such that you can only see a max of about 100 feet down at a time (the mountain’s about 800 feet above the base I believe), so we did some hiking around to try and find where we THOUGHT we could climb down and not run into random 300 foot cliffs. Finally, we hit some luck and randomly got yelled at. Not that we were in trouble, but apparently Andrew, Tara, and Amy were climbing up the backside and saw us, so they yelled to us. Our saving grace there was that they obviously knew how to get down that way since they came up that way. The dumb part is that going down that side is super hard because it’s just PACKED with trees and those stupid super thorny bushes. Going up is easier because that’s the direction plants grow, but going down is just awkward and painful. Plus, we were kinda lost. Despite our pains, it turned out much better going down the backside, because we got to see the most MONSTEROUS ostrich I’ve ever seen– and just driving around here, you see many ostriches at the farms. From a distance (halfway down the mountain) I thought it was some person shaking out the biggest blanket I’ve ever seen, but it was just a funny ostrich with its wings out. We got as close as comfortable for a few pictures, then walked on.
I’m still not sure if the next part is dumb or just entertaining. The sun was starting to go down, and we still had time, so I mentioned that if we followed the road that we thought went all the way behind Everest, we’d be able to see the sunset– but the road only went halfway. I don’t know why we thought that, because it’s obvious now that we could’ve seen the road if it continued, but hey, some of these roads are mostly overgrown. Luckily, we followed some antelope trails around to the side of Everest where the trees finally receded and we could walk unimpeded through the grass. We barely got to see the sun almost set before we realized we only had about 20 minutes to get another mile around and down the mountain we were behind before supper. We ended up actually having time to drop off some stuff at our cabin before going to supper though, so it all worked out. It was just uncomfortable almost accidentally missing a second meal that day. So yes. So ends story A. Much longer than I intended: I guess that’s what happens when I’m sick enough to not want to leave the cabin unless I need to.
2. Ostriches. Sometime last week, one of the ostriches on base finally showed up. We were overjoyed to finally see it. So overjoyed we kinda semi-chased it with our cameras cuz it kept walking away as we got closer, so it was not very photogenic. But after it finally broke that streak of hiding, it’s now hanging out near the cabins. It’s slightly disturbing, yet hilarious. A few times I’ve been walking back to the cabins and either chased it a little away from where I was walking, or just stared at it in confusion from its transition from weeks of hiding to apparent friendliness.
Today was one of the best ostrich moments though. Well truly, it started yesterday. Yesterday, one of the ladies walked into her cabin bathroom and after a couple seconds decided to look out the window only to realize she had a peeping tom: the ostrich was standing IMMEDIATELY behind the window. Today, as my cabin-mates and I were walking out of the cabin, we met up with the other guys from the other guy cabin and Derek said “Hey, you guys should look out your bathroom window.” In my head I immediately went, “NO WAY!” and proceeded to run around so I could see behind our cabin and sure enough, there she was, just standing there behind our cabin. Kevin whipped out his camera and Derek raced inside our cabin to look out the window. Kevin then started recording, I approached it from the side, then Derek flew open the window and we both screamed and the ostrich ran awkwardly away, as they do. The best part was that Kevin got it all on video, but it that’s not all: we followed the ostrich because we were actually heading that direction. At this point, we guys ended up in two groups: mine was heading more directly towards the ostrich so we were still screaming and flapping our arms to scare it away, the other group was taking a different path. In doing so, we ended up herding it the direction we were actually walking until finally it ended up between the groups. Suddenly it just ran towards the other group for no real reason– not very far, but enough to make Kevin and Dereck run away. Watching Kevin run away from an ostrich made my day: the funniest thing I’ve seen in a LONG time.
C. I don’t actually remember any major/entertaining stories so I’m going to stop now. Plus, I just wrote two long blogs in a short time.
Have a lovely time.
Love,
Ben
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Children's Home- Africa style
Alrighty. So. Updates. I feel like I’ve failed ya’ll. Haven’t blogged in forever.
Despite the name of this blog I’m going to start with tellin ya’ll bout Limakatso. Truly, this SHOULD be another blog entitled “EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER- African school version”
The week before last, we started reconstruction on a disabled children’s school called Limakatso. All was well until we started encountering problems (as is usually the case, yes) i.e. bad materials, bad tools aka, reconstruction in Africa. We did well though considering the circumstances; we redid some of the playground, tore down the ceiling inside the building, put up a new one, sanded nearly everything, painted, rebuilt desks, fixed random things, etc. Long story short though, we didn’t make it in the designated time slot. It’s the floor that truly did it. Apparently, when they tried to lay down the laminate flooring, at one point they had to move it again or something, and pick it up, and the concrete beneath it came up. Woops. So they had to remove and redo half the concrete in the room, and (TIA) apparently they put a layer of thin concrete on top of the foundation… I dunno. African construction can be funky.
So after last week’s disaster and the previous African delays in construction, we had to add a couple days of construction.
Luckily, I finally got to work outside (Thank God! I was so tired of crown molding. Thank your lucky stars if you don’t know what that is). So again, we redid the playground–but this time, since our whole group was there all day, instead of half of us for half a day, we redid the WHOLE playground.
“Playground” is truly an interesting word for it. When I first saw it, it didn’t really strike me as “playground,” more like “glorified dump.” There’s one set of free-standing monkey bars, and then about 40 tires semi-strategically buried in the ground to best be used as a “playground.” What’s more, everything was painted (10 years ago, when Amy, the founder of Thrive, and some others put them in) weird pinks and yellows and such. So Monday, it was our job to remove EVERY LAST TIRE from the ground, pile em up, then come up with a new game plan by way of where and how to re-bury the tires.
Strangely enough, working in the dirt and with those old tires renewed my spirit. I’d been SOOOO frustrated with construction inside that building that I didn’t want anything to do with it. So I put my hand to pick-axing the crap outa that hard ground. A few of us started with the hardest part: making a tire-tunnel out of the 2 largest tires, then 2 slightly smaller ones (one on either side), then two slightly smaller ones as the entrances. Despite my blisters and still sore hands, I LOVED it. I finally felt like I was doing something productive AND I got to take out my remaining frustrations on the hard ground. It rocked. Monday and Tuesday we successfully reburied/buried somethin' like 40-50 tires AND someone else painted bout 2/3 of them (which made our tunnel look like a giNORMOUS caterpillar: just added to the cool factor though)(I didn’t paint it though, I strategically avoided ALL painting at Limakatso).
On another note, yes, the rest of Limakatso is more-or-less done being reconstructed. There are only some quick things that need to be done to make sure it’s ready for the chilluns by next Monday. That’s what Sunday’s for. But all-in-all, working at Limakatso has been amazing, especially the time I spent wielding a pick-ax.
Back to the original topic for this soon-to-be long blog…
Today was our first day at the children’s home in Qwa Qwa. Unfortunately, we that have the smaller kids only have today and tomorrow to play with em, but oh well.
The kids here are amazing. A note: as a general rule, Africans are very “touchy.” They like to hold your hand or something of the like. So naturally, the children just want you to hold them or carry them or whatever else they request of you. I spent about a half hour straight today (sometimes literally) tossing around this cute little girl that’s somewhere around 7 years old. It was amazing. I just can’t get over how friendly people are here. Also, I got to kick around a soccer ball for a good long while as well. Soccer is ALWAYS welcome to me. Good thing I’m in Africa.
It’s slightly off topic but I love waving to people as we’re driving. People around here are SO friendly that EVERY time you wave to someone, they smile and wave back. I love being white in South Africa. Also, the kids do this thing where you both do a thumbs up and kinda… flick each other’s thumbs with your own and say “shop” which means something to the effect of “cool.” So also, when I wave, to be extra friendly, when they realize I’m not an Africaaner and they smile and wave back, I give them a thumbs-up to be extra friendly. The extra cool thing about it is that I’m not just being friendly, but I’m helping pull the threads of the social effects of Apartheid away. White and black South Africans don’t necessarily openly dislike each other, but they don’t exactly associate either. South Africa’s got some interesting civil rights movements going. The interesting part though, is that, it’s not necessarily black Africans not having their rights, but white. In some areas, there IS some tension, and it’s generally because some black South Africans are stealing from the whites or something of that sort. Suddenly the white people are being mistreated in many areas. So there are some interesting social barriers to get through here: both races of South Africans need to realize that the other isn’t so terrible. Both races have bad things happening to them because of it.
So concludes my series of random updates/thoughts.
Love from S. Africa!
-Ben
Despite the name of this blog I’m going to start with tellin ya’ll bout Limakatso. Truly, this SHOULD be another blog entitled “EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER- African school version”
The week before last, we started reconstruction on a disabled children’s school called Limakatso. All was well until we started encountering problems (as is usually the case, yes) i.e. bad materials, bad tools aka, reconstruction in Africa. We did well though considering the circumstances; we redid some of the playground, tore down the ceiling inside the building, put up a new one, sanded nearly everything, painted, rebuilt desks, fixed random things, etc. Long story short though, we didn’t make it in the designated time slot. It’s the floor that truly did it. Apparently, when they tried to lay down the laminate flooring, at one point they had to move it again or something, and pick it up, and the concrete beneath it came up. Woops. So they had to remove and redo half the concrete in the room, and (TIA) apparently they put a layer of thin concrete on top of the foundation… I dunno. African construction can be funky.
So after last week’s disaster and the previous African delays in construction, we had to add a couple days of construction.
Luckily, I finally got to work outside (Thank God! I was so tired of crown molding. Thank your lucky stars if you don’t know what that is). So again, we redid the playground–but this time, since our whole group was there all day, instead of half of us for half a day, we redid the WHOLE playground.
“Playground” is truly an interesting word for it. When I first saw it, it didn’t really strike me as “playground,” more like “glorified dump.” There’s one set of free-standing monkey bars, and then about 40 tires semi-strategically buried in the ground to best be used as a “playground.” What’s more, everything was painted (10 years ago, when Amy, the founder of Thrive, and some others put them in) weird pinks and yellows and such. So Monday, it was our job to remove EVERY LAST TIRE from the ground, pile em up, then come up with a new game plan by way of where and how to re-bury the tires.
Strangely enough, working in the dirt and with those old tires renewed my spirit. I’d been SOOOO frustrated with construction inside that building that I didn’t want anything to do with it. So I put my hand to pick-axing the crap outa that hard ground. A few of us started with the hardest part: making a tire-tunnel out of the 2 largest tires, then 2 slightly smaller ones (one on either side), then two slightly smaller ones as the entrances. Despite my blisters and still sore hands, I LOVED it. I finally felt like I was doing something productive AND I got to take out my remaining frustrations on the hard ground. It rocked. Monday and Tuesday we successfully reburied/buried somethin' like 40-50 tires AND someone else painted bout 2/3 of them (which made our tunnel look like a giNORMOUS caterpillar: just added to the cool factor though)(I didn’t paint it though, I strategically avoided ALL painting at Limakatso).
On another note, yes, the rest of Limakatso is more-or-less done being reconstructed. There are only some quick things that need to be done to make sure it’s ready for the chilluns by next Monday. That’s what Sunday’s for. But all-in-all, working at Limakatso has been amazing, especially the time I spent wielding a pick-ax.
Back to the original topic for this soon-to-be long blog…
Today was our first day at the children’s home in Qwa Qwa. Unfortunately, we that have the smaller kids only have today and tomorrow to play with em, but oh well.
The kids here are amazing. A note: as a general rule, Africans are very “touchy.” They like to hold your hand or something of the like. So naturally, the children just want you to hold them or carry them or whatever else they request of you. I spent about a half hour straight today (sometimes literally) tossing around this cute little girl that’s somewhere around 7 years old. It was amazing. I just can’t get over how friendly people are here. Also, I got to kick around a soccer ball for a good long while as well. Soccer is ALWAYS welcome to me. Good thing I’m in Africa.
It’s slightly off topic but I love waving to people as we’re driving. People around here are SO friendly that EVERY time you wave to someone, they smile and wave back. I love being white in South Africa. Also, the kids do this thing where you both do a thumbs up and kinda… flick each other’s thumbs with your own and say “shop” which means something to the effect of “cool.” So also, when I wave, to be extra friendly, when they realize I’m not an Africaaner and they smile and wave back, I give them a thumbs-up to be extra friendly. The extra cool thing about it is that I’m not just being friendly, but I’m helping pull the threads of the social effects of Apartheid away. White and black South Africans don’t necessarily openly dislike each other, but they don’t exactly associate either. South Africa’s got some interesting civil rights movements going. The interesting part though, is that, it’s not necessarily black Africans not having their rights, but white. In some areas, there IS some tension, and it’s generally because some black South Africans are stealing from the whites or something of that sort. Suddenly the white people are being mistreated in many areas. So there are some interesting social barriers to get through here: both races of South Africans need to realize that the other isn’t so terrible. Both races have bad things happening to them because of it.
So concludes my series of random updates/thoughts.
Love from S. Africa!
-Ben
Monday, July 6, 2009
Silly People...
Here’s a little note for ya’ll back home to laugh at.
Just to paint a scene for you, the base here is 2500 acres, we have three mountains that occupy a good chunk of space, but then beyond them, and where the buildings are, there’s a huge open plain that slopes slowly down to the gate and fence at the edge. So all in all a pretty amazing place. And THEN you add in… probably around a thousand African antelope, a hundred wildebeests, 20-30 horses, 8 zebras, and (I think) three ostriches. So naturally, wherever you walk, however far, you see antelope. It’s practically impossible NOT to¬. The only possible way not to would be to either walk in the dark and keep your eyes purely on the ground or be walking from one cabin to your neighboring cabin twenty feet away– although even still, there’re often still animals between. It’s a SUPER amazing place to live– not gonna lie.
So when I heard that there were hunters coming, I laughed. Yes: hunters coming to a place that you can’t swing a stick without hitting some sort of an animal– and more likely than not, the animal you’re hunting.
What’s more, we were told they MIGHT be arriving in a helicopter. Yeah, I know, it gets better and better. Bout half an hour after hearing that, (you guessed it) we heard a helicopter fly over. Oh, and it only gets better: they landed in the small field in front of our cabins. So naturally, I had to take a picture.
When I first saw the helicopter I just started laughing. A helicopter in the field in front of the cabins with an entire field full of antelope in the field in the background. Yup. Good sporty hunters I’m sure…
TIA I guess…
Blessings from Africa
Just to paint a scene for you, the base here is 2500 acres, we have three mountains that occupy a good chunk of space, but then beyond them, and where the buildings are, there’s a huge open plain that slopes slowly down to the gate and fence at the edge. So all in all a pretty amazing place. And THEN you add in… probably around a thousand African antelope, a hundred wildebeests, 20-30 horses, 8 zebras, and (I think) three ostriches. So naturally, wherever you walk, however far, you see antelope. It’s practically impossible NOT to¬. The only possible way not to would be to either walk in the dark and keep your eyes purely on the ground or be walking from one cabin to your neighboring cabin twenty feet away– although even still, there’re often still animals between. It’s a SUPER amazing place to live– not gonna lie.
So when I heard that there were hunters coming, I laughed. Yes: hunters coming to a place that you can’t swing a stick without hitting some sort of an animal– and more likely than not, the animal you’re hunting.
What’s more, we were told they MIGHT be arriving in a helicopter. Yeah, I know, it gets better and better. Bout half an hour after hearing that, (you guessed it) we heard a helicopter fly over. Oh, and it only gets better: they landed in the small field in front of our cabins. So naturally, I had to take a picture.
When I first saw the helicopter I just started laughing. A helicopter in the field in front of the cabins with an entire field full of antelope in the field in the background. Yup. Good sporty hunters I’m sure…
TIA I guess…
Blessings from Africa
Friday, July 3, 2009
God's Oddities
I hope ya’ll have realized by now that I’m an odd blogger. I say I’m gonna blog about S. Africa but I blog about my thoughts about South Africa. And this is probably going to be another like that.
Anyways.
Here’s a thought I’ve been thinking about and loving more and more; God is odd. Simple, yet dripping in truth. Some people here say that God is a god of order, so the issues of fainting in the Spirit are, essentially, unacceptable. I say this because that’s one of the MANY issues brought up because of African church this last Sunday (that was some crazy Church. I love it.). But the fact remains: God is odd.
One time, Jesus spit into the dirt, made mud, then rubbed it on a blind dude’s eyes so he could see. How does that fit into a god of order’s repertoire? Plus there’s the ever popular platypus discussion and also, the African version of that: the wildebeest. God seemed to make a mistake with the wildebeest. For all ya’ll who haven’t seen em, wildebeest look like small buffalo with a few differences. First, the legs: their legs are probably no bigger than the average small deer, yet they’re still long enough to suit an animal that size. Also, the run: they seem to try to fit in with the African antelope around em and do that kind of jumping gallop thing. So imagine a small buffalo with a funny lookin face and super spindly legs trying to jump-gallop like a deer does. It REALLY doesn’t work. I think they’re gonna break a leg every time they run. It’s SOO weird. Stampeding wildebeests are hilarious. Anyways, so that’s the African version of God’s mistake: the platypus.
I highlight this because of an odd experience tonight. Or rather, the culmination of small experiences that came to a virtual conclusion today.
So as you may have picked up from my blog on darkness (woohoo! Just realized the computer’s pickin up internet in the cabin again. Score.), I foolishly came to Africa without a flashlight. Actually I take that back, I accidentally brought one of those shake flashlights with me that I only half remembered was slightly broken before I even left. So anyways, when walking in the darkness back to the cabin at night, alone as I like to do, I’ve been in complete, or nearly complete, darkness. It’s actually been an interesting experience walking in the dark. I’ve come to love, yet deeply fear the darkness. Walking in Africa is, naturally, different than walking in the states: different animals, different sounds, different feeling. It can be amazingly beautiful walking at night: the stars and moon are ALWAYS beautiful, listening to any birds that might be calling is always fun, and even the silhouettes of animals are beautiful. Although, HEARING a wildebeest or lechwe in the dark where you can’t see is NOT fun. You never know when you might come down the hill and to the clearing and accidentally get in the way of a wildebeest: not fun. Or perhaps even you’ll just end up on the wrong side of the wrong horse: it’s very possible. But still. All together, it makes for interesting experiences in the dark. It’s beautiful yet frightening. I love it, yet sometimes want to avoid it as much as possible.
This in mind, I’ve been working on getting past the scary and just focusing on the beautiful, and it’s taken a while, but I think I’m pretty muchly there. At least as close to “there” as I’ll get. I still stumble down the hill occasionally when I trip on a rock or some loose gravel I can’t actually see. Which brings me to the point of this odd blog: God’s oddity in His blessing.
Tonight, a lady from a group that’s here from a church called the River needed to access her email and the general access computer wasn’t working, and I wasn’t using my computer so, of course I gave it to her for a bit. Long story short, she was feeling quite blessed by all of us interns, especially me apparently because of some simple internet access, and we were talking about our shortcut down through the trees and onto a nearby road to get down and how I’ve been traversing that crazy trek in the dark… and she’s suddenly like, “hey, I think I have two flashlights here, and you’ve blessed me so much today, I’d love to bless you too.” So now I have a flashlight. Not only so, but I overcame my fear of African darkness, found extreme beauty in it, and now can combine it all with safe travel. Plus it’s a sweetly awesome flashlight. It’s one of those super tiny, yet super bright LED flashlights with a million LED’s crammed into a tiny flashlight.
So here’s to God’s odd, AMAZING blessings! I love that God’s not a god of order, but God of EVERYTHING in EVERY way.
Anyways.
Here’s a thought I’ve been thinking about and loving more and more; God is odd. Simple, yet dripping in truth. Some people here say that God is a god of order, so the issues of fainting in the Spirit are, essentially, unacceptable. I say this because that’s one of the MANY issues brought up because of African church this last Sunday (that was some crazy Church. I love it.). But the fact remains: God is odd.
One time, Jesus spit into the dirt, made mud, then rubbed it on a blind dude’s eyes so he could see. How does that fit into a god of order’s repertoire? Plus there’s the ever popular platypus discussion and also, the African version of that: the wildebeest. God seemed to make a mistake with the wildebeest. For all ya’ll who haven’t seen em, wildebeest look like small buffalo with a few differences. First, the legs: their legs are probably no bigger than the average small deer, yet they’re still long enough to suit an animal that size. Also, the run: they seem to try to fit in with the African antelope around em and do that kind of jumping gallop thing. So imagine a small buffalo with a funny lookin face and super spindly legs trying to jump-gallop like a deer does. It REALLY doesn’t work. I think they’re gonna break a leg every time they run. It’s SOO weird. Stampeding wildebeests are hilarious. Anyways, so that’s the African version of God’s mistake: the platypus.
I highlight this because of an odd experience tonight. Or rather, the culmination of small experiences that came to a virtual conclusion today.
So as you may have picked up from my blog on darkness (woohoo! Just realized the computer’s pickin up internet in the cabin again. Score.), I foolishly came to Africa without a flashlight. Actually I take that back, I accidentally brought one of those shake flashlights with me that I only half remembered was slightly broken before I even left. So anyways, when walking in the darkness back to the cabin at night, alone as I like to do, I’ve been in complete, or nearly complete, darkness. It’s actually been an interesting experience walking in the dark. I’ve come to love, yet deeply fear the darkness. Walking in Africa is, naturally, different than walking in the states: different animals, different sounds, different feeling. It can be amazingly beautiful walking at night: the stars and moon are ALWAYS beautiful, listening to any birds that might be calling is always fun, and even the silhouettes of animals are beautiful. Although, HEARING a wildebeest or lechwe in the dark where you can’t see is NOT fun. You never know when you might come down the hill and to the clearing and accidentally get in the way of a wildebeest: not fun. Or perhaps even you’ll just end up on the wrong side of the wrong horse: it’s very possible. But still. All together, it makes for interesting experiences in the dark. It’s beautiful yet frightening. I love it, yet sometimes want to avoid it as much as possible.
This in mind, I’ve been working on getting past the scary and just focusing on the beautiful, and it’s taken a while, but I think I’m pretty muchly there. At least as close to “there” as I’ll get. I still stumble down the hill occasionally when I trip on a rock or some loose gravel I can’t actually see. Which brings me to the point of this odd blog: God’s oddity in His blessing.
Tonight, a lady from a group that’s here from a church called the River needed to access her email and the general access computer wasn’t working, and I wasn’t using my computer so, of course I gave it to her for a bit. Long story short, she was feeling quite blessed by all of us interns, especially me apparently because of some simple internet access, and we were talking about our shortcut down through the trees and onto a nearby road to get down and how I’ve been traversing that crazy trek in the dark… and she’s suddenly like, “hey, I think I have two flashlights here, and you’ve blessed me so much today, I’d love to bless you too.” So now I have a flashlight. Not only so, but I overcame my fear of African darkness, found extreme beauty in it, and now can combine it all with safe travel. Plus it’s a sweetly awesome flashlight. It’s one of those super tiny, yet super bright LED flashlights with a million LED’s crammed into a tiny flashlight.
So here’s to God’s odd, AMAZING blessings! I love that God’s not a god of order, but God of EVERYTHING in EVERY way.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Work
Alright, so I haven’t exactly done a good job of telling you guys about WHAT I’m actually doing here, so since I have a few minutes, I’ll start to try to catch up. And maybe eventually I’ll actually finish one or two other blogs I started and forgot about.
So, let’s start at the beginning of the work we’ve done. Last week on Monday was our first day of ministry. They call it relationship evangelism because, while it IS evangelism, it’s not based on us walking around the village smackin’ people with a bible (metaphorically of course), but rather just talking to people and getting to know them. And beings how much emphasis Basotho (Basotho not THE Basotho because “the” is actually included in the word just so ya know) people place on spiritual issues, naturally, as newfound friends, we talk about Jesus at some point- but even still, we talk only about what they are interested in and certainly don’t force any issues or topics: as evangelism should be in my opinion.
This past week we did relationship evangelism in Qwa Qwa Monday through Friday somewhere between breakfast and supper and we ate lunch at the church we partnered with. Overall, it was pretty fabulous. Got to meet some amazing people, learn a lot about their culture, get forced to sing and dance for a couple of them… Fun stuff like that. Granted, there certainly were awkward moments when we would walk up to a house, be like, “hey, we’re Americans learning about the culture in the area…” and then get invited in and sit in awkward silence. The reason being that Basotho people are very, VERY quiet people. We’d generally have to sit there and drill em with question after question till they warm up to us more. As a general rule, when we thought we were having an awkward moment of silence, they didn’t find it awkward at all. We were often told that Basotho people sometimes just sit near each other and don’t talk for several minutes and only break it for a few words then go back to silence. They’re generally content to just sit in your presence. However, I found that after they warm up to you, they’re far more talkative- just human nature I suppose. Anyways. So yes. I’ve learned even more-so to be generally content with silences and not feel so compelled to blurt out whatever comes to mind. Which reminds me, I should mention that Basotho people generally speak Sesotho. Although, the younger kids/teenagers can usually speak at least SOME english since they’re taught it in school now, but the older the people, the less english they speak. So naturally each team has a translator- and of course, ours was the best. Dimakatso rocks. She was an awesome translator/person. We loved her.
Now’s when I finally tell you directly about some peoples we talked to… Well, at first, we just we directed down a “street” (aka really rough, wide dirt path/two rough dirt paths that are about the same distance apart as tires on a car) and we kinda just were like, “hey look, a house. Let’s go knock on the door and see what happens.” So we did. Or rather Dimakatso did since we didn’t know what the proper etiquette was here… And apparently it’s to knock quietly, yet insistently until you either decide no one’s home, decide to open the door and announce yourself before just walking in, or get actually get a person at the door. The first time, we were all QUITE surprised when Dimakatso knocked a couple times, then just opened the door and led us in. That was one of those “We’re DEFINITELY not in the states anymore” moments. It’s normal to just walk into someone’s house like that in Qwa Qwa. So yes, that first house we awkwardly (for us, not her) talked to the daughter of a pastor who was probably bout 16… then I think she had to go to school or something so we left. And so started our awkward ministry in Qwa Qwa. After that, we went to a few other houses briefly before getting brushed off due to chores or some other engagement for that day aka washing clothes (by hand in a large plastic tub thing) or cleaning chickens or work or something of the sort. Eventually though, we came to Kelello’s house. She rocks. We talked to her for a good long while that first day and just, generally, got to know her. She likes to dance and sing, so that first day she made ALL of us sing for her. Individually. Awkward. But we got through it with a lot of laughing and a new, odd sense of connectivity amongst all of us. Amazing that God was like, “Hey, just for the fun of it, let’s make them all grow closer through awkward, bad singing.” Good times.
And so ends the first day.
After that day, we went back to Kelello’s a couple times and actually had some amazing discussions: though the best part was that all the topics were brought up as questions posed by Kelello; she WANTED to know. God really worked that day. We actually ended up talking only about the topics we were each knowledgeable/passionate about or were perhaps supernaturally wise on. Fabulous day. The great part was that after basically talking about everything she had questions about, her friend walked in. Her friend (who I can’t remember her name unfortunately… African names are difficult just to say ONCE, let alone be able to repeat later) was very adamant that we come to her house… so we conferred at lunch and were basically like, well we’re basically satisfied here, and we’ve spent a LOT of time here, so why not take the opportunity and move on for a little while? Naturally, it wasn’t really our idea, but God posing the next step to us. This friend of Kelello’s, as it turns out, went to one of Thrive Africa’s programs for teens so naturally we were all like WHOA, crazy. That’s the point where we KNEW we made the right decision. But then the lady basically told us that she was born again but she was having teenage issues, essentially. Well look at that, 5 teenagers come to talk to her and encourage her. So there you have it: the perfect day that couldn’t have gone any better because it was obviously set up by a higher power than our own.
Days after were essentially balanced by us finding new families to talk to and talking to Kelello and eventually her cousin Agnes. The fun part was actually renaming everyone. Each of us Americans got Sesotho names and we gave our Basotho friends American/English names. I don’t recall how to pronounce the Sesotho names, but mine meant “laughter,” Craig’s “talkative,” Abby’s “quiet,” Micaela’s “smiley,” and Arielle’s “tall.” The names we gave our Basotho friends were Dancer, Peace, and Joy to Kelello, Agnes, and Dimakatso respectively. Sadly, since Kelello left Friday for her parent’s(she lives at her grandparents’ there in Qwa Qwa for school) we had to say goodbye, but left her with a Polaroid picture of us all so hopefully she’s reminded of everything we talked about and the love we tried to show her that week.
Also, one afternoon that week, each group did a session of children’s ministry at the church. Basically it consisted of games, a skit, bible verse, bible teaching, singing, and more games. Yup, the details of it aren’t very exciting, but I got to play a bunch of soccer stuffs with some kids so I was PERFECTLY content.
I suppose it wouldn’t do justice to mention the kids but not their enthusiasm and some other quirks. When kids first see Americans, they’re sometimes a little frightened because of the issues of white vs. black because of the Apartheid period which ended in ’94, but when they realize you’re not an Africaaner, they immediately want to play with you or have you take a picture or SOMETHING. Also, they FLOCK as soon as you take out a camera. They’re SO photogenic though, so it’s fabulous. And ALSO, they do this thing where you basically both do a thumbs up, put em together, and snap both your thumbs and say “shop” aka “cool.” So sometimes when I see a kid staring at me, I just smile and do a thumbs up and they immediately go from staring and frowning to smiling and returning it. It’s fabulous because by doing so, they realize that not all whites are angry oppressors and the like. So by smiling and encouraging kids, I slowly break down the barriers of race. Good stuff.
Finally, our last afternoon in Qwa Qwa, we all went to the hospital. That was an interesting experience. I’m not sure I’m such a fan of walking up to someone in a hospital and asking them a few general questions then asking if I can pray for em… However, I DO enjoy when Charlene brings me balloons for balloon animals when I’m in the children’s ward and also passing a soccer ball around with sick and injured kids. Besides the awkwardness of the praying, also, it’s difficult to just walk around amongst such sickness and not be overwhelmed by it. So yes. In general though, a good experience.
There. That’s what I’ve been doing for those of you that wanted to know. At least what I did last week… Maybe I should catch up further, but currently I’m lying awkwardly in bed typing in the dark and it’s hurting my back and keeping up a person or two. So that’ll have to happen some other night.
May God bless you annoyingly.
So, let’s start at the beginning of the work we’ve done. Last week on Monday was our first day of ministry. They call it relationship evangelism because, while it IS evangelism, it’s not based on us walking around the village smackin’ people with a bible (metaphorically of course), but rather just talking to people and getting to know them. And beings how much emphasis Basotho (Basotho not THE Basotho because “the” is actually included in the word just so ya know) people place on spiritual issues, naturally, as newfound friends, we talk about Jesus at some point- but even still, we talk only about what they are interested in and certainly don’t force any issues or topics: as evangelism should be in my opinion.
This past week we did relationship evangelism in Qwa Qwa Monday through Friday somewhere between breakfast and supper and we ate lunch at the church we partnered with. Overall, it was pretty fabulous. Got to meet some amazing people, learn a lot about their culture, get forced to sing and dance for a couple of them… Fun stuff like that. Granted, there certainly were awkward moments when we would walk up to a house, be like, “hey, we’re Americans learning about the culture in the area…” and then get invited in and sit in awkward silence. The reason being that Basotho people are very, VERY quiet people. We’d generally have to sit there and drill em with question after question till they warm up to us more. As a general rule, when we thought we were having an awkward moment of silence, they didn’t find it awkward at all. We were often told that Basotho people sometimes just sit near each other and don’t talk for several minutes and only break it for a few words then go back to silence. They’re generally content to just sit in your presence. However, I found that after they warm up to you, they’re far more talkative- just human nature I suppose. Anyways. So yes. I’ve learned even more-so to be generally content with silences and not feel so compelled to blurt out whatever comes to mind. Which reminds me, I should mention that Basotho people generally speak Sesotho. Although, the younger kids/teenagers can usually speak at least SOME english since they’re taught it in school now, but the older the people, the less english they speak. So naturally each team has a translator- and of course, ours was the best. Dimakatso rocks. She was an awesome translator/person. We loved her.
Now’s when I finally tell you directly about some peoples we talked to… Well, at first, we just we directed down a “street” (aka really rough, wide dirt path/two rough dirt paths that are about the same distance apart as tires on a car) and we kinda just were like, “hey look, a house. Let’s go knock on the door and see what happens.” So we did. Or rather Dimakatso did since we didn’t know what the proper etiquette was here… And apparently it’s to knock quietly, yet insistently until you either decide no one’s home, decide to open the door and announce yourself before just walking in, or get actually get a person at the door. The first time, we were all QUITE surprised when Dimakatso knocked a couple times, then just opened the door and led us in. That was one of those “We’re DEFINITELY not in the states anymore” moments. It’s normal to just walk into someone’s house like that in Qwa Qwa. So yes, that first house we awkwardly (for us, not her) talked to the daughter of a pastor who was probably bout 16… then I think she had to go to school or something so we left. And so started our awkward ministry in Qwa Qwa. After that, we went to a few other houses briefly before getting brushed off due to chores or some other engagement for that day aka washing clothes (by hand in a large plastic tub thing) or cleaning chickens or work or something of the sort. Eventually though, we came to Kelello’s house. She rocks. We talked to her for a good long while that first day and just, generally, got to know her. She likes to dance and sing, so that first day she made ALL of us sing for her. Individually. Awkward. But we got through it with a lot of laughing and a new, odd sense of connectivity amongst all of us. Amazing that God was like, “Hey, just for the fun of it, let’s make them all grow closer through awkward, bad singing.” Good times.
And so ends the first day.
After that day, we went back to Kelello’s a couple times and actually had some amazing discussions: though the best part was that all the topics were brought up as questions posed by Kelello; she WANTED to know. God really worked that day. We actually ended up talking only about the topics we were each knowledgeable/passionate about or were perhaps supernaturally wise on. Fabulous day. The great part was that after basically talking about everything she had questions about, her friend walked in. Her friend (who I can’t remember her name unfortunately… African names are difficult just to say ONCE, let alone be able to repeat later) was very adamant that we come to her house… so we conferred at lunch and were basically like, well we’re basically satisfied here, and we’ve spent a LOT of time here, so why not take the opportunity and move on for a little while? Naturally, it wasn’t really our idea, but God posing the next step to us. This friend of Kelello’s, as it turns out, went to one of Thrive Africa’s programs for teens so naturally we were all like WHOA, crazy. That’s the point where we KNEW we made the right decision. But then the lady basically told us that she was born again but she was having teenage issues, essentially. Well look at that, 5 teenagers come to talk to her and encourage her. So there you have it: the perfect day that couldn’t have gone any better because it was obviously set up by a higher power than our own.
Days after were essentially balanced by us finding new families to talk to and talking to Kelello and eventually her cousin Agnes. The fun part was actually renaming everyone. Each of us Americans got Sesotho names and we gave our Basotho friends American/English names. I don’t recall how to pronounce the Sesotho names, but mine meant “laughter,” Craig’s “talkative,” Abby’s “quiet,” Micaela’s “smiley,” and Arielle’s “tall.” The names we gave our Basotho friends were Dancer, Peace, and Joy to Kelello, Agnes, and Dimakatso respectively. Sadly, since Kelello left Friday for her parent’s(she lives at her grandparents’ there in Qwa Qwa for school) we had to say goodbye, but left her with a Polaroid picture of us all so hopefully she’s reminded of everything we talked about and the love we tried to show her that week.
Also, one afternoon that week, each group did a session of children’s ministry at the church. Basically it consisted of games, a skit, bible verse, bible teaching, singing, and more games. Yup, the details of it aren’t very exciting, but I got to play a bunch of soccer stuffs with some kids so I was PERFECTLY content.
I suppose it wouldn’t do justice to mention the kids but not their enthusiasm and some other quirks. When kids first see Americans, they’re sometimes a little frightened because of the issues of white vs. black because of the Apartheid period which ended in ’94, but when they realize you’re not an Africaaner, they immediately want to play with you or have you take a picture or SOMETHING. Also, they FLOCK as soon as you take out a camera. They’re SO photogenic though, so it’s fabulous. And ALSO, they do this thing where you basically both do a thumbs up, put em together, and snap both your thumbs and say “shop” aka “cool.” So sometimes when I see a kid staring at me, I just smile and do a thumbs up and they immediately go from staring and frowning to smiling and returning it. It’s fabulous because by doing so, they realize that not all whites are angry oppressors and the like. So by smiling and encouraging kids, I slowly break down the barriers of race. Good stuff.
Finally, our last afternoon in Qwa Qwa, we all went to the hospital. That was an interesting experience. I’m not sure I’m such a fan of walking up to someone in a hospital and asking them a few general questions then asking if I can pray for em… However, I DO enjoy when Charlene brings me balloons for balloon animals when I’m in the children’s ward and also passing a soccer ball around with sick and injured kids. Besides the awkwardness of the praying, also, it’s difficult to just walk around amongst such sickness and not be overwhelmed by it. So yes. In general though, a good experience.
There. That’s what I’ve been doing for those of you that wanted to know. At least what I did last week… Maybe I should catch up further, but currently I’m lying awkwardly in bed typing in the dark and it’s hurting my back and keeping up a person or two. So that’ll have to happen some other night.
May God bless you annoyingly.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Darkness
FYI, when you’re on the wrong side of the world, it gets dark early, longer, and more. Here, the sun goes down at 5:30 and gets dark really soon after. Not only that though, but the first full week here, there was no moon. Walking in the pure darkness is rather interesting here… It’s one thing to walk somewhere where you can’t see the ground beneath your feet, but it’s another thing altogether to not even be able to see your feet. Furthermore, you get that added joy of knowing that there’s ALWAYS some animal of some sort QUITE nearby, but never know if it’s just a rabbit on steroids (South African rabbits are weird) or a wildebeest, which are never pleasant to find yourself too close to.
Anyways. The great thing about all of this though, is that about two days ago, we caught a sliver of the moon for a few hours. Kevin and I were so excited we yelled and howled at the moon. It was fabulous. And now the moon’s been out for even longer. I look forward to if and when we get a full moon all night. Perhaps then I can see enough to walk safely in the dark.
Anyways. The great thing about all of this though, is that about two days ago, we caught a sliver of the moon for a few hours. Kevin and I were so excited we yelled and howled at the moon. It was fabulous. And now the moon’s been out for even longer. I look forward to if and when we get a full moon all night. Perhaps then I can see enough to walk safely in the dark.
Random Thoughts
So I thought today I’d tell you some random things about my time so far in South Africa. Mainly, I must tell you about the food. The food here is mainly good, and naturally, slightly odd. When we went to the shop to buy food this week for lunch, I would always try a new drink and snack. The best drink I found was called Iron Brew and it was similar to coke or pepsi, but was quite possibly better. However, my favorite drink so far is called Twist, and it’s basically a mango flavored fanta. It’s fabulous. I suppose it’s vaguely similar to the mango juice we drink in the morning (instead of orange juice like in the states). Also, I tried a pop called ginger beer, and it was… interesting let’s say- quite heavy on the ginger.
Also, one absolutely must take note of the chips. Most are Lays or Doritos brand, but the kinds are very interesting. There are some more normal ones such as cheese and onion or things of that sort, but what I also found was quite good was the fried chicken flavored chips. They actually did taste faintly of fried chicken- believe it or not. Let’s see… Oh yes. Before I get too far off drinks, here red tea is the norm. Any time people in the villages offered us tea this week, it was red. Apparently red tea is basically solely grown in South Africa and is very expensive back home, but here it’s super cheap. Good stuff (Best served with sugar and possibly some milk).
Furthermore, the food on base is interesting. If you don’t remember or haven’t heard, there are around 700 antelope on base (they actually said at LEAST 700, because that was their last count several years ago), along with a few hundred wildebeests, I think three ostriches, 6 zebras, and a million horses. The interesting part, however, is that, when the cooks need meat, let’s just say, it’s easily found. However, we DO also eat a lot of beef; I know they get it locally as well, but I know we’ve eaten some blessbuck and some wildebeest, but that’s all I’ve heard specifically. The great part is that when we walked up to drop off our laundry, I discovered some disturbing looking hooks hanging outside and realized that the laundry building is also part slaughter house. Good times.
Besides that though, I haven’t eaten a whole lot of weird things… Well, today I had some ostrich jerky but that’s about it.
TIA
Also, one absolutely must take note of the chips. Most are Lays or Doritos brand, but the kinds are very interesting. There are some more normal ones such as cheese and onion or things of that sort, but what I also found was quite good was the fried chicken flavored chips. They actually did taste faintly of fried chicken- believe it or not. Let’s see… Oh yes. Before I get too far off drinks, here red tea is the norm. Any time people in the villages offered us tea this week, it was red. Apparently red tea is basically solely grown in South Africa and is very expensive back home, but here it’s super cheap. Good stuff (Best served with sugar and possibly some milk).
Furthermore, the food on base is interesting. If you don’t remember or haven’t heard, there are around 700 antelope on base (they actually said at LEAST 700, because that was their last count several years ago), along with a few hundred wildebeests, I think three ostriches, 6 zebras, and a million horses. The interesting part, however, is that, when the cooks need meat, let’s just say, it’s easily found. However, we DO also eat a lot of beef; I know they get it locally as well, but I know we’ve eaten some blessbuck and some wildebeest, but that’s all I’ve heard specifically. The great part is that when we walked up to drop off our laundry, I discovered some disturbing looking hooks hanging outside and realized that the laundry building is also part slaughter house. Good times.
Besides that though, I haven’t eaten a whole lot of weird things… Well, today I had some ostrich jerky but that’s about it.
TIA
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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In case you're wondering, this is a panoramic view of (the South African) Mount Everest from in front of all our cabins. It's really silly that it's named Mount Everest because there are actually mountains to the left and right of it that are both taller.The day this was taken was actually the very first morning. We woke up, looked out the front window and were totally overwhelmed by the amazing sunrise. Plus, right then, you can't really tell, but there was a full rainbow over the whole Mount Everest.
Also, in case you're wondering, my cabin is in that first set of cabins closest to the camera and it's the second one from the right.
GOOD MORNING FROM AFRICA!
Friday, June 19, 2009
An African Entry (6-17)
Waking up in the dark can be quite the frustrating thing. But when you wake up 15 minutes before the sun starts coming up, it can change your world. Going from darkness to light is fabulous in itself, but going from dark unfamiliarity to the most beautiful scene you’ve ever seen is another.
I’d been listening to odd sounds outside for the longest time before I could even see anything. But such odd sounds are just confusing when you aren’t sure what they are. Turns out, they made a beautiful scene to look at equally beautiful to listen to once you figure out that the odd sounds are being made by all manner of birds and antelope in a rainbow of colors.
About 15 minutes after I woke up in the dark I started to see some light in the tiny crack between the window frame and the shade. Five minutes later I realized it was the sun rising up in golden yellows and oranges from behind a mountain. Yes, even in the three inch crack I was looking out at the world through I could see a mountain.
Eventually the other three got up one after another because I had such a desire to get outside and take pictures that when one woke up, I made sure to mention the amazingness of the tiny bit I could see. Needless to say, I got everyone up quickly.
Opening the door to such a scene is incredible. A sunrise in the mountains is indescribably beautiful. You’d have to see it to understand. Pictures certainly can’t capture it despite how hard I tried. Especially a sunrise in African mountains.
This mission base is probably in THE best place it could possibly be. Right behind our cabins is a mountain. This mountain (called Mount Everest actually) made for the best part of the sunrise to me. At one point the sun hit it just right so that it lit the mountain up a gorgeous golden brown color RIGHT as a FULL rainbow appeared that just so happened to completely shroud the mountain: it started just to the left of the mountain, went right over the top, and ended to the right side.
A perfect scene.
Essentially, we woke up this morning to God saying
Welcome to Africa!
I’d been listening to odd sounds outside for the longest time before I could even see anything. But such odd sounds are just confusing when you aren’t sure what they are. Turns out, they made a beautiful scene to look at equally beautiful to listen to once you figure out that the odd sounds are being made by all manner of birds and antelope in a rainbow of colors.
About 15 minutes after I woke up in the dark I started to see some light in the tiny crack between the window frame and the shade. Five minutes later I realized it was the sun rising up in golden yellows and oranges from behind a mountain. Yes, even in the three inch crack I was looking out at the world through I could see a mountain.
Eventually the other three got up one after another because I had such a desire to get outside and take pictures that when one woke up, I made sure to mention the amazingness of the tiny bit I could see. Needless to say, I got everyone up quickly.
Opening the door to such a scene is incredible. A sunrise in the mountains is indescribably beautiful. You’d have to see it to understand. Pictures certainly can’t capture it despite how hard I tried. Especially a sunrise in African mountains.
This mission base is probably in THE best place it could possibly be. Right behind our cabins is a mountain. This mountain (called Mount Everest actually) made for the best part of the sunrise to me. At one point the sun hit it just right so that it lit the mountain up a gorgeous golden brown color RIGHT as a FULL rainbow appeared that just so happened to completely shroud the mountain: it started just to the left of the mountain, went right over the top, and ended to the right side.
A perfect scene.
Essentially, we woke up this morning to God saying
Welcome to Africa!
A Boring Entry as Suits a Plane Ride (6-15)
I woke up around 3:30 am June 15. I couldn’t sleep any more. I’d only been asleep about two hours before waking up and knowing I couldn’t get another wink; I was about to leave for Africa.
I got up, showered, ate breakfast, and we left for the airport.
After luggin’ my luggage into the car and into the airport I awkwardly got my plane tickets; I was clueless since I’m new to this, but luckily Janette helped me out.
After just a few minutes I said goodbye to my family and made my way towards my gate.
Unfortunately the sitting area was rather full when I got there, so I just made my way back down the hallway back the way I came. However, about halfway down the hallway, I stopped; the sun was rising.
I’m a sucker for sunrises and sunsets¬- especially when I’m in the midst of saying goodbye to the town I grew up in. It’s odd to think that after leaving this airport, I’ll only be back to this place for a short time before going off to college and only coming back to visit occasionally. I never would’ve thought I’d have such a dramatic exit from my home town: most people just go a few hundred miles away to begin with, I’m going halfway around the world.
I’d hate to bore you with the details of the flights since they went so well they left me nothing to talk about. Essentially though, I flew from Sioux Falls to Denver, then Denver to D.C. It took around 4 hours flying time to get there so several hours more than that in total, but I don’t rightly know how much exactly.
Sadly the most exciting thing that happened on the way to D.C. was just that I sat by a lady about my age that I got to talk to a while; I was rather starved for conversation. It was a relief to finally have someone to talk to after several hours more or less alone- especially someone relatively interesting. It’s not often I get to talk to a Russian American who’s going home to visit family.
Once departing from the plane and my new Russian friend’s company I had a few minutes of “Oh crap, where am I and what am I doing here?” I’d never been to the Washington Dulles airport, heck the farthest I’d flown alone was right where I was right then. After about 15 seconds of mild panic, I heard a voice: “Ben?”
Some of my fellow intern friends who I hadn’t met yet were meeting the people at their gates to make sure they found the group. Again, it was such a relief to have some people to talk to. Even more so, it was a relief to have someone to ask where to go.
From there on, I was part of the group, so things went even easier. Whenever I had a question, all I had to do was ask. Plus I had some people to sit by for the next 17 hours on a plane.
The flight from D.C. went to Dakar, Senegal for a refueling stop then on to Johannesburg, South Africa. Again, things were pretty boring: nothing went wrong and nothing was too exciting. The most exciting part was the turbulence. Weird as it is, I enjoy turbulence. However, there always seemed to be turbulence RIGHT as we were starting to eat, so it rather ruined my enjoyment. After a few meals and movies and about two hours of sleep we arrived in Jo-burg.
After making our way through customs we met up with Charlene, our director for the summer interns. By then, we were all kind of in a daze from a serious lack of sleep so we pretty muchly just concentrated on getting into the cars and to get on our way once again. Also, we got our first intro to South African money called rand (which greatly confused me when Charlene mentioned something like 20 rand in passing since I thought she’d said grand).
The ride to Eagle Mountain, as the base is called, was rather boring but got more interesting the closer we got: the last about 10 kilometers is a gravel road. The interesting part, however, isn’t that it’s a gravel road so much as that it appears to be entirely unkempt what with the monstrous potholes that occupied more of the road than the “flat” parts. Yet we still drove at a good clip all those 10 kilometers.
At last, we were home. Charlene kept pointing and telling us where the mountains supposedly were and what their names are despite how we couldn’t see a thing and hardly knew where to put one foot in front of the other in the darkness.
Luckily the cabins, while simple, are still plenty cozy. Of all the buildings, being the smallest, they heat up the best. PLUS the water can be unbearably hot or cold depending on how precisely you fail to turn the knobs. Honestly, we feel rather pampered what with the HOT water and warm beds, yet we know that this is just the beginning of the winter here so it has yet to get as cold as it shall.
Altogether, it was an odd experience flying alone for the first time as well as meeting 23 people I’ll be spending the summer with and just immediately having long conversations and spending a lot of time with immediately after stepping off the plane to D.C.
And so concludes the insane travel to AFRICA!
I got up, showered, ate breakfast, and we left for the airport.
After luggin’ my luggage into the car and into the airport I awkwardly got my plane tickets; I was clueless since I’m new to this, but luckily Janette helped me out.
After just a few minutes I said goodbye to my family and made my way towards my gate.
Unfortunately the sitting area was rather full when I got there, so I just made my way back down the hallway back the way I came. However, about halfway down the hallway, I stopped; the sun was rising.
I’m a sucker for sunrises and sunsets¬- especially when I’m in the midst of saying goodbye to the town I grew up in. It’s odd to think that after leaving this airport, I’ll only be back to this place for a short time before going off to college and only coming back to visit occasionally. I never would’ve thought I’d have such a dramatic exit from my home town: most people just go a few hundred miles away to begin with, I’m going halfway around the world.
I’d hate to bore you with the details of the flights since they went so well they left me nothing to talk about. Essentially though, I flew from Sioux Falls to Denver, then Denver to D.C. It took around 4 hours flying time to get there so several hours more than that in total, but I don’t rightly know how much exactly.
Sadly the most exciting thing that happened on the way to D.C. was just that I sat by a lady about my age that I got to talk to a while; I was rather starved for conversation. It was a relief to finally have someone to talk to after several hours more or less alone- especially someone relatively interesting. It’s not often I get to talk to a Russian American who’s going home to visit family.
Once departing from the plane and my new Russian friend’s company I had a few minutes of “Oh crap, where am I and what am I doing here?” I’d never been to the Washington Dulles airport, heck the farthest I’d flown alone was right where I was right then. After about 15 seconds of mild panic, I heard a voice: “Ben?”
Some of my fellow intern friends who I hadn’t met yet were meeting the people at their gates to make sure they found the group. Again, it was such a relief to have some people to talk to. Even more so, it was a relief to have someone to ask where to go.
From there on, I was part of the group, so things went even easier. Whenever I had a question, all I had to do was ask. Plus I had some people to sit by for the next 17 hours on a plane.
The flight from D.C. went to Dakar, Senegal for a refueling stop then on to Johannesburg, South Africa. Again, things were pretty boring: nothing went wrong and nothing was too exciting. The most exciting part was the turbulence. Weird as it is, I enjoy turbulence. However, there always seemed to be turbulence RIGHT as we were starting to eat, so it rather ruined my enjoyment. After a few meals and movies and about two hours of sleep we arrived in Jo-burg.
After making our way through customs we met up with Charlene, our director for the summer interns. By then, we were all kind of in a daze from a serious lack of sleep so we pretty muchly just concentrated on getting into the cars and to get on our way once again. Also, we got our first intro to South African money called rand (which greatly confused me when Charlene mentioned something like 20 rand in passing since I thought she’d said grand).
The ride to Eagle Mountain, as the base is called, was rather boring but got more interesting the closer we got: the last about 10 kilometers is a gravel road. The interesting part, however, isn’t that it’s a gravel road so much as that it appears to be entirely unkempt what with the monstrous potholes that occupied more of the road than the “flat” parts. Yet we still drove at a good clip all those 10 kilometers.
At last, we were home. Charlene kept pointing and telling us where the mountains supposedly were and what their names are despite how we couldn’t see a thing and hardly knew where to put one foot in front of the other in the darkness.
Luckily the cabins, while simple, are still plenty cozy. Of all the buildings, being the smallest, they heat up the best. PLUS the water can be unbearably hot or cold depending on how precisely you fail to turn the knobs. Honestly, we feel rather pampered what with the HOT water and warm beds, yet we know that this is just the beginning of the winter here so it has yet to get as cold as it shall.
Altogether, it was an odd experience flying alone for the first time as well as meeting 23 people I’ll be spending the summer with and just immediately having long conversations and spending a lot of time with immediately after stepping off the plane to D.C.
And so concludes the insane travel to AFRICA!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Forward to the Future
Looking into what's to come is frightening. When people do things like going off to Africa for a couple month mission trip, they never seem to mention the scary side of it. I mean, of COURSE it's the absolute most exciting thing EVER. I'm about to embark on an adventure I can't even imagine. But it's still pretty scary leaping into the unknown. Heck, I've only ever even flown ONCE. Down to New Orleans and back with my church's mission team of 25 people: hardly even counts as flying. I mean really. Someone basically handed me my ticket and told me where to go and what to do when I needed. Now I'm flying internationally?! Crazy. On the bright side I get to meet up with 24 people I don't yet know in D.C. who can help me. But jees.
Not that just the flight issues are the only scary part. Nothing about this trip has been exactly comfortable. First, the biggest hurdle: applying. Doesn't seem like much, but I had to totally break from the norm just to apply. It's one thing dreaming for years about going on a mission trip to Africa, but it's a totally different thing to get up the courage to go through with it. But by God I did it! Or rather, we did it. God really took care of most of it for me. I just had to do my small part when qued. Which brings me to the second hurdle: fundraising. Now, fundraising always seems to be people's largest burden, but I actually found it to be rather...encouraging. After that first Sunday that I REALLY started truly fundraising yet hardly actually did anything and I still got the $2000 I needed by the following Monday, I realized that hey, if you're gonna get the money, God's gonna get it to ya. It's all His anyways. I figure He can probably direct it as necessary. Yeah, so after $2000 in one day, I learned to really trust God. Although the REALLY funny part to me was when I started to get a little worried about money again just that following Saturday, then without a word, He gave me $1000. I think it was just so He could have a good laugh at me when I got overwhelmed by it all.
So fundraising hasn't been such an issue for me. I've actually rather enjoyed it. The t-shirts were mainly so that I could finally get an Africa shirt, and I ended up getting somethin like $800 from it, which was WAAYYY more than expected. God just rocks like that.
Anyways, so yes. diving into the unknown is frightening, but it'll most certainly be amazing, so I plan to just trust God, and it'll all be fine. Worked for me so far.
Talk to ya on the other side (of the world)!
Not that just the flight issues are the only scary part. Nothing about this trip has been exactly comfortable. First, the biggest hurdle: applying. Doesn't seem like much, but I had to totally break from the norm just to apply. It's one thing dreaming for years about going on a mission trip to Africa, but it's a totally different thing to get up the courage to go through with it. But by God I did it! Or rather, we did it. God really took care of most of it for me. I just had to do my small part when qued. Which brings me to the second hurdle: fundraising. Now, fundraising always seems to be people's largest burden, but I actually found it to be rather...encouraging. After that first Sunday that I REALLY started truly fundraising yet hardly actually did anything and I still got the $2000 I needed by the following Monday, I realized that hey, if you're gonna get the money, God's gonna get it to ya. It's all His anyways. I figure He can probably direct it as necessary. Yeah, so after $2000 in one day, I learned to really trust God. Although the REALLY funny part to me was when I started to get a little worried about money again just that following Saturday, then without a word, He gave me $1000. I think it was just so He could have a good laugh at me when I got overwhelmed by it all.
So fundraising hasn't been such an issue for me. I've actually rather enjoyed it. The t-shirts were mainly so that I could finally get an Africa shirt, and I ended up getting somethin like $800 from it, which was WAAYYY more than expected. God just rocks like that.
Anyways, so yes. diving into the unknown is frightening, but it'll most certainly be amazing, so I plan to just trust God, and it'll all be fine. Worked for me so far.
Talk to ya on the other side (of the world)!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Blog.
Well here it is. My first blog. Very exciting.
Ok so perhaps there was a little sarcasm there. But on the other hand, it IS a little cool that I'll finally have a method of communicating my... unique thoughts on life, the universe, and everything.
At the very least, it should be fairly interesting. I intend to do something I've never successfully consistently done: journal trips. First- South Africa. Who knows what'll happen there, so it's bound to be interesting.
Ok so perhaps there was a little sarcasm there. But on the other hand, it IS a little cool that I'll finally have a method of communicating my... unique thoughts on life, the universe, and everything.
At the very least, it should be fairly interesting. I intend to do something I've never successfully consistently done: journal trips. First- South Africa. Who knows what'll happen there, so it's bound to be interesting.
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