We Have Arrived
So we made it to South Africa after about 33 hours of pretty smooth traveling.
We arrived late on Saturday night and we were greeted by Mike and Heather of 2 way travel with a few snacks and instructions about where we were sleeping, and it was off to bed for a few hours of sleep before the start of the real adventures.
On day one we met Joann the housekeeper and her 10 year old son Ashley (Who has permanently attached himself to our group) and had breakfast. Then we went through orientation learning a lot about South Africa, the history of it, the state of it now, the dos and the dont's and the problems that the country is still facing, especially unemployment which is at a sky high rate of 40%! After orientation we took a small but rather steep hike up to a restaraunt where we looked onto some of Capetown while discussing more and racking Mike's brain with every question we could think of. Following lunch we went to the beach for a few hours and then we headed to church. Since it is summer in South Africa all of the priests are on holiday so they were not in attendance at church and it turned into more of a singing session but a great one. It was a variation from the normal songs, most of them were actually written by members of the community. We then returned back and had a barbeque to bring in the new year. We played some catch phrase and at midnight we watched the fireworks and hugged and then proceeded to play a little bit more and talk some before going to bed (The jetlag was still getting to us and we had a big day ahead).
On the first day of the year we started off with a bang. We climbed from the bottom to the top of table mountain. We stopped for a few breaks, snack, lunch, and a dip at the beach (in the middle of the mountain) on the way up to the top. There were steep parts, there were strolls in the park, and then there was rock-climbing, yes rock-climbing!!!! When we reached the top we could see everything about cape-town, the rich areas, the business areas, the residential areas, the endless ocean, and the expansive mountain ranges. We were all exhausted so we slept well before our first day of service.
Our first day of service was rather intense as we drove from the beautiful part of Capetown where we are staying to the rather poor communities full of shack after shack after shack. We were all silent and taking it in as we pulled into one of these communities, but rather than shacks there are nice small houses that make up the orphanage as well as soup kitchen, and posters of the founder of it on the top. We cleaned several of the yards, making assembly lines for brick and then we played and organized several craft games. We have all become somewhat attached to these kids! We have played with the kids numerous times now and we have mini-olympics tomorrow.
More to come...
We arrived late on Saturday night and we were greeted by Mike and Heather of 2 way travel with a few snacks and instructions about where we were sleeping, and it was off to bed for a few hours of sleep before the start of the real adventures.
On day one we met Joann the housekeeper and her 10 year old son Ashley (Who has permanently attached himself to our group) and had breakfast. Then we went through orientation learning a lot about South Africa, the history of it, the state of it now, the dos and the dont's and the problems that the country is still facing, especially unemployment which is at a sky high rate of 40%! After orientation we took a small but rather steep hike up to a restaraunt where we looked onto some of Capetown while discussing more and racking Mike's brain with every question we could think of. Following lunch we went to the beach for a few hours and then we headed to church. Since it is summer in South Africa all of the priests are on holiday so they were not in attendance at church and it turned into more of a singing session but a great one. It was a variation from the normal songs, most of them were actually written by members of the community. We then returned back and had a barbeque to bring in the new year. We played some catch phrase and at midnight we watched the fireworks and hugged and then proceeded to play a little bit more and talk some before going to bed (The jetlag was still getting to us and we had a big day ahead).
On the first day of the year we started off with a bang. We climbed from the bottom to the top of table mountain. We stopped for a few breaks, snack, lunch, and a dip at the beach (in the middle of the mountain) on the way up to the top. There were steep parts, there were strolls in the park, and then there was rock-climbing, yes rock-climbing!!!! When we reached the top we could see everything about cape-town, the rich areas, the business areas, the residential areas, the endless ocean, and the expansive mountain ranges. We were all exhausted so we slept well before our first day of service.
Our first day of service was rather intense as we drove from the beautiful part of Capetown where we are staying to the rather poor communities full of shack after shack after shack. We were all silent and taking it in as we pulled into one of these communities, but rather than shacks there are nice small houses that make up the orphanage as well as soup kitchen, and posters of the founder of it on the top. We cleaned several of the yards, making assembly lines for brick and then we played and organized several craft games. We have all become somewhat attached to these kids! We have played with the kids numerous times now and we have mini-olympics tomorrow.
More to come...
posted by VillanovaInSouthAfrica @ 10:35 AM
4 Comments:
At 9:45 PM,
Anonymous said…
Yo Annie - from KC family
At 9:56 PM,
Anonymous said…
I miss you Annie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Julie Rose
At 9:42 PM,
Anonymous said…
We miss you Becky!
Love you, Mom, Dad, Matt, Sarah, and Danny
At 12:34 AM,
Anonymous said…
I'm sorry that I didn't get to talk to the team earlier and I regret that I don't even know when you are returning, but I trust that you are having a moving experience in South Africa. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Johannesburg in the Spring where I worked on a short documentary on social entrepreneurs in the country which I am in the process of editing. I worked with some in the Cape Town area but unfortunately did not get as much footage there. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in sharing your stories (and possibly footage and/or stills which would be credited if used of course) when you return. I am particularly looking for shots of the waterfront (to accompany the woman who started the South African Fisherwoman's Association) and the environment in Cape Town but anything is helpful of course. If you think this is possible and you could please contact me at william.kristin@gmail.com I would greatly appreciate it! Also, if it's not too late or you haven't had the chance, try to visit Vicky's B+B in Khayelitcha and ask around about the local band Abavuki. Best of luck and happy new year!
-Wil Kristin
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