[Tribe of Hope]

{Malibongwe}

I have been so terrible at keeping up with this blog. But when you get the chance to hang out with people or catch up on sleep over writing a blog, you choose one of the first two. 

My last couple weeks have consisted of working at my service site, ending my community engagement course along with that came time to leave service sites, travel week, and now I'm here in the Western Cape of South Africa in a small rich white town called Fish Hoek.

What I will be talking about in this blog is my service site experience working at Ethembeni.

I worked at Ethembeni for 15 days. It was spread out over a months’ time including class on Monday and our trips and excursions that happened on the weekends. As I shared in a previous blog, I was unsure about which site I wanted to spend my time at. I had a dream that I was working at Ethembeni and really felt it was put on my heart the morning we had to make a decision because I had my mind set on another place. I’m not a person for cliché sayings, but it was the best decision I've in a long time and I wouldn't trade my time there for the world. 

God has His ways of working me. He did this by testing my patience at the very free flowing schedule Ethembeni follows. I sat during my lunch breaks angry and disappointed that I had choose to work there instead of going to RivLife. I felt uncomfortable and useless. I was good at working with children and only children. I did not feel like I was serving the staff and long term volunteers at all. On top of that, there were only three of us that had chosen to serve there, three girls (Which they usually had guy volunteers that came as well). When you start allowing these negative ideas and lies to come into your thoughts they spread rapidly. There I was feeling like I wasn't serving because I wasn't clearing a field, planting stuff in the garden, helping to care for a ton of kids, [insert other manual/medical labor], etc. Little did I know God, was redefining the meaning of service and what it looks like to be a servant.

[Some of you may already know this, so bear with me…I’m still getting there]

Serving others meant making tea every morning with the guys and Aunties on staff before the day got busy. It meant our morning walks with Ulwethu to the famliy center when he picked us up from Aunty Dudu’s home. It meant dancing with Thabile and Church in the kitchen in the afternoons. It mean sharing our lunch everyday with all the guys on staff. It meant my laughs and jokes shared with Ntokozo. It meant encouraging dreams that Ayanda has. It meant having conversations with each of the guys on staff asking them about their lives, their dreams, and their beliefs. It meant collecting the water bottles for the rain gauge project. It meant singing the only Zulu worship I know, Jehova Thelumoya. It meant laughing with Alex in the car on the way to homevisits. It meant a hug or handshake. It meant greeting people, Sawubona! Unjani? And answering Ngiyaphila. It meant walking around in the township learning about its history and the culture of the Zulu people. The best way to be a servant is to build relationships. I never knew I could love people I've known for a short amount of time. God honestly knew I needed those friendships and I’m glad He showed up in those relationships and my time there.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about my time there and wish I could do it again. I am currently still trying to process my time there…I miss Pietermaritzburg a lot. I can only hope that it is in my future to come back again and for an even longer extended period of time. 

I wanted to add this because I'm proud of it, but it's tradition that their volunteers get Zulu names. My name is Nomandla, which means one with energy.

Pictures of my time there:

 Presentation day at A.E. with some of the family

 I killed that chicken. Sawed it's head right off. 

 The squaaaaaad, the crew, tribe of hope. 

Ary, Myself, Ayanda, and Sarah. I will miss our conversations with him.

Mpophomeni

Craft day

Typical lunchtime setting

Painting project

Before the Braii, Emmanuel and his chicken feet. 

Shout out to Ntokozo for taking this and being artsy :)

Alex and I. I met this guy doing home visits. He literally always has a smile on his face. He's one of the sweetest guys I've met. 

Out finished project :)

Lizzie!!!!! One of our favorites, she's from Kansas and is a long term volunteer at Ethembeni

Church and Thabile. The best dancers at Ethembeni. 

Nhlaka! This bad boy and I shared some good laughs and good times.

Ntokozo! I miss messing around with him. He's always had some smart remark to make that always could make me laugh. 

Ulwethu! I miss him. He was always so willing to answer our questions and take us the community so we could learn more about Mpophomeni. I appreciated his willingness and patience. 

[Time]

{...processing}

I just really suck at keeping up with a blog. TIME is the most precious we have here and it's going by so fast. 

This is a picture of Mpophomeni, at least a view from the house I stayed during this last week. I had an amazing opportunity, because of choosing to serve at Ethembeni, to be able to do a home stay. A home stay is where you go and live in the township with a member of the community of Mpophomeni. I am so very thankful I got to have this experience. It's one thing to go and work in a community and then retreat back to the campus or your home, it is an entirely different experience to be able to work and serve a community that you also are living in. It was eye opening and extremely different to the way Americans live. I believe that God met me in that experience because I had such a want to have an authentic experience while being in South Africa, instead of living inside our American AE bubble. People in the township (for the most part) live off what they NEED not what they want. Sarah and I stayed with Aunty Dudu and Gogo. It was so touching, after seeing what little they had in comparison to how I live back in the States, to know that they were so willing to share their food, time, and home with us. (If you have any further questions about my home stay time, I will be happy to go into more details)
(I will share this) My two favorite memories of the home stay were the morning walks to the family center with Ulwethu. He picked us up every morning to walk us through the community and he shared stories of his life and gave us a tour of the township. My other favorite memory was the last night at home stay where at least 11 kids from that neighborhood had came over to play with Sarah and I. They were so awesome. Words can't even describe how blessed I was by all their different personalities. They taught me hand games, isiZulu words, played with my hair, taught me dances, and I even got to teach them swing dancing. I wish I could relive that night a couple more times.

NOW down to business. It's my last week in PMB. It's my last week at Ethembeni. I have no idea how I'm even suppose to process and deal with those facts. I have fallen in love with this place and am not ready to say goodbye. It's even harder knowing I may have an opportunity to come back. I fear that I will lose relationships that I've made. It is a very real fear, that I'm sure a majority of us are feeling this as well.

I'll post something before I leave for Cape Town this Saturday until then:

Peace be the journey

Zano is at the bottom, Aunty Dudu is the in the top left, Neliswa pink shirt, Zam green jacket, and Minenhle white jacket. 

My favorite girls Neliswa and Minenhle. 

[Knowing His Voice]

{Call me out}

As I shared a few weeks ago, once classes ended we start working at service sites. Last Wednesday was when we had finally finished visiting all of them so we had to make our choices by that Friday. Now I'm a very indecisive person and I really hate making decisions that can possibly be life altering. I was stuck in between two service sites that I wanted to work at, RivLife and Walk in the Light. (Check out my other blog post for their description) I was honestly leaning more toward RivLife, but I didn't quite have the mind to sign up for it just yet. Walk in the Light, I knew was a rather selfish choice because I mainly wanted to go because of the other students that had signed up. I thought it would have been an awesome experience getting the opportunity to be able to work along side all of them and share the struggles and joys that would come with serving. Walk in the Light was definitely going to be my second choice if I didn't get RivLife. 

Last Thursday night, during D-group, I shared my frustration over making this decision and explained where my heart was and how nervous I was because I had to have my decision by the next day and I was no where close to choosing. So I boldly said, without expectation, watch God give me a dream about it tonight. We all laughed. 

That night I had a dream. My dream was that I was working at Ethembeni. I was standing outside their bright blue building waiting on something, it was unclear. Then my dream retracted. I was standing in line to sign up for my service site in the dining room. I remember distinctly seeing some of the nurses from my D-group signing up for Ethembeni. I thought to myself, while watching them, why isn't there an option for RivLife? Then I woke up.

The next morning at breakfast I sat a table with some girls and they all discussed their choices. They asked me what I was going to choose, I told them about my dream and how weird it was. I brushed it off and told them I think I'm going to choose RivLife. But instead of signing up for it after breakfast I went to straight to Biology. We had a guest speaker that day in class for the last half portion of the class. It was about 9:15 when I felt the caffeine begin to kick in from the Ceylon tea I was drinking. Except this time it was more intense, almost like a panic attack quite honestly. Then I felt the word Ethembeni come over me. The words "You're going to work at Ethembeni" kept repeating themselves over and over in my head. I started freaking out. I was looking around to see if anyone else was feeling as jumpy as I was. I sat there and thought, this is probably my subconscious playing some shit games on me. But in the moment I was trying to reject whatever it was that was coming over me telling me not follow my original plans, I instead said, if this is of you God, let it stay. Anything that is of me and my wants I rebuked.  Ethembeni did not leave my mind. 

So at teatime, I went a signed up for my service site. I walked to the dining room thinking what the hell am I doing. This isn't what I wanted. Are you sure God? Are you absolutely positive? The moment I wrote "Mpophomeni" (which is the township I'll be working at) on the paper by my name, the biggest weight was lifted from my shoulders.

Even though my relationship with God is not the strongest and I literally still fight with Him about it. It's a strange feeling knowing He's still showing up even when I'm resistant. 

If you are at all interested here is the link to the organization if you would like to know more. If you keep updated with my blog you will soon be able to read the work I am doing first hand. I am really excited to start working there next Thursday. 

 http://www.ethembeni.co.za/about-us/

Peace be the journey

[African Love It]

Yebo Yahweh

I can't believe I'm starting my sixth week. We are heading into finals this week and next week we start our Community Development course and service sites. It's so hard to soak it all in when I'm losing track of the days, hours, and minutes. All the memories I've been making, laughs I've been sharing, tears that come out of nowhere, and talks that have allowed me and others to share their hearts have made it all worth it. But, I know my time here won't be slowing down. So, allow me to recap my life, since I am such a terrible blogger and don't really get around to replying to most people. #sorrynotsorry

Two weekends ago, was my first SAFARI! It was so awesome. I miss those three days driving around for hours with Nigel not having a worry about anything except for finding all the mammals we wanted to see. Elephants, Giraffes, White Rhinos, Inyalas, Kudu, Lions, Cheetah, Monitor Lizards, Alligators, Hyenas, and much more. It was so worth the freeing cold wind that blasted our faces as we sat onto of the open vehicle, screaming out "gun squad" at every bird watcher that was in our way, doing the shmurda dance every time someone said "about a week agoooo", and being cornered by elephants. I wish we could have shared the experience holistically, since the groups were divided up. But overall, the food was EXCELLENT, the people were RAD, and the animals were DOPE. I wish that anyone reading this will get an opportunity to experience animals in their natural habitats and not at the man-made zoos in the States.   

This last weekend we had a Durban day. Durban is an city about an hour away from PMB. It reminds me a lot of Los Angeles or Pomona, honestly. We went to an indoor market. That was just overwhelming. People constantly telling you to go inside to their shops, the small spaces, the smell of Indian curries, men staring you up and down, especially when they hear your American accent...it was just too many people in one place. So I don't particularly fancy that kind of setting. After that we went to the Beach. It was overcast, on the verge of raining and then it did rain, and it was so unbelievably windy the sand we literally blasting our legs and faces. On top of the less than desirable weather, our bus broke down. So we were stranded for a little over three hours. A test of patience, for sure. But we did find a cute beach front restaurant that had some good burgers, fries, and pina coladas. Despite the unfortunate circumstances I, at least, had a good time.

But I'm so excited to start service sites next week. Be looking for my next blog, as I will be sharing a radical story as to how I ended up choosing my service site. Literally, nothing goes as planned.

Peace be the journey.

And as always, here are some photos:

This is the squad.

This is one of the Elephants that charged us

 My faves

Durban // During the storm // If i had a picture for the end of the world it would look like this 

[Faint Whispers]

{Spoken too // Even when not listening}

I almost feel like I am coming out in a sense because not too many "Christians" seem to talk this topic or verbally confirm that they have doubt. They also seem to not have much to say when I try and bring it up quite honestly.  

For those of you who truly know me, you would know the major struggle and many doubts I have been having with my faith for the last two years.
It's a strange concept. Because I was immersed in a religion my entire life. I got to learn about, know, serve, love, and give my life to Jesus. Now, I find myself in a state of feeling disconnected from the Creator. Truthfully, it is difficult for me to attend a private Christian university where I am forced in a Christ-centered community, but my doubt has not kept me from practicing my usual prayer like routines. I still talk and ask God for things, but it merely is because I have been conditioned to do that. With that being said, before I left to come to South Africa I did ask God to "break my heart for what broke his" since I knew I would not be coming abroad to just study and have a good time, but to serve in the developing communities at whichever service site I choose. So for the last few weeks, every Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. we have been visiting the different service site. We get an opportunity to meet the staff, walk around the building in which their program is held at, and even meet some of the regular people that are enrolled (involved, registered, attend) in the programs.
The first site we visited was called iThemba. We visited one of the creches they have in the town called Sweet Water, which is a very poor town. This was the first time I have actually ever experienced a culture shock. I thought I honestly had mentally prepared myself enough for what I would be seeing, but when I was walking down the dirt road passing by the people and seeing their small one room tin house (literally there are thousands of them) I realized, this was their culture and this was normal. No matter how much I'd like to criticize or pity them, they have joy. And that's something I can't say every American has no matter their house size, how many apple products they have, or how many cars are in their driveway. For those of you that don't know, a creche is something similar to like a kindergarten/dare care program that we have in the States. All the little kids saw our group approaching and were standing by the fence waving at us. I immediately was hit with a strong urge to cry. I watched as my fellow classmates bent down to greet the kids. Speaking what little Zulu we knew to get a feel for the place. I stood in the background biting my knuckle so I wouldn't lose it. As much as I love kids, it was hard seeing them dressed in dirty clothes running around barefoot because they probably didn't own shoes. That is their culture.
The second site we visited was called Ethembeni. It is located in a rural area called, Mpophomeni. It is primarily an AIDS/HIV ministry. There I did not have a strong emotional reaction but I felt like that was the place I wanted to serve. They do a little bit of everything. From community development projects (like teaching to cook or garden), an after school program, teaching young women about pregnancy/labor/birth which many of them know absolutely nothing about, and lastly they even have a small health center to help take care of patients with AIDS/HIV when they get sick. I thought surely, this is where I was supposed to be.
Then, today we visited RivLife. I had heard a little about this place before coming and liked what I had heard. We arrived and were greeted by to graduated APU students who were now back serving again in the program helping to run it. This program focuses on inter-city community outreach. They focus on children of all ages in giving them an after school program, feeding them, counseling them, teaching prevention against AIDS/HIVS and pregnancy (etc). They also do home visits and AIDS/HIV outreach as well. After they went over their program description and answered our questions they told us we would be meeting some of the younger kids who were their doing morning lessons.  The program manager said, "Be prepared, they love hugs". When he said that my heart literally dropped into my stomach and I felt the need to cry again. I backed up as all the kids came running out to meet us. I didn't want to interact with the kids if I wasn't sure I would be coming back. Before coming to South Africa I was so dead set on not doing ministry with kids, because I didn't want to be the typical 'Christian' person coming to Africa and doing service work with children so I could get a new profile picture. So I sat on a chair next to Baba and watched as the little boys ran around and the all the girls play with the hair of some of my female classmates. I sat there pondering, what was it like to have my heart broken. Was it the all the emotions I was feelings that was urging me to cry? I said to God nonchalantly, "break my heart for what breaks yours".
He replied with a faint whisper-like voice, This is My heart. 

I was caught off guard. I wasn't expecting a reply, nor was I even trying to listen for an answer. Now, I have a new place in mind as to were I would like to be spending a month of serving.

This week we experienced our first thunder and lightening storms. It's pretty flipping awesome.
Peace be the journey. 

[Life Round Here]

{Settling In}

So I've been in South Africa for two weeks now but, it feels like I've been here way longer. I definitely feel at home here. My fellow students are now becoming more comfortable with each other so personalities have been coming out. It has been such a joy getting to know my classmates and I'm sure it will only get better. The people here are extremely friendly, all I want to do is be in town and get to know all the different people. It's literally the best thing to be able to learn the language of the people here and then go out and use it with them. So I'm not this typical American in their country, I actually can communicate with them and find commonality. When I greet them "Sawubona! Unjani?" their faces lighten up with the biggest smile and it makes all the frustration of learning a new language so much more worth it. 

So if you're wondering what we do exactly, allow me to explain. We are ending our second week of classes. We have four more weeks to go for the main classes we are taking. I am taking three courses. My classes are Biology: Humans and the Environment, History and Culture of South Africa, and isiZulu (I have to take this class for eight more weeks because I'm learning a completely new language so it requires more time.) My biology class, if I can just brag for a minute, literally takes a field trip every week. It is the most amazing experience seeing what we've learned in the classroom and applying it in real life. Like we went on a safari this week. NO BIG DEAL...but really it was the coolest thing. During the week, when we are not "doing homework" or in class, we spend our days going to the mall, trying new restaurants, or exploring/hiking around the many acres our campus has. Our weekends are spent traveling into the cities and seeing historical sights or going to cool places. We also visit our service sites on Wednesday. There are four different service sites, we get to visit each of them once and in four weeks (once we've finished classes), we choose one to work at. They each have different focuses, but a lot of them do work with people with AIDS or focus of community development. Teaching the people how to be self sufficient. And yes, because we are in Africa they do have a lot of focus on the youth/children. So you guys will surely be finding out which one I choose and then get to follow my experience there, meeting my fellow classmates that work there with me, and meet people that live in that township. Through the good times and the hard times. Visiting the different towns and service sites definitely brings about a huge culture shock. It's been something that has been difficult for me to see. But I will get more into that when I start working at mine in a month.

I will say one thing...it's a rant kind of. But I honestly miss American food more than anything. Like...I just want Mexican food sooooo bad! Or spicy food. They spicy food here is not spicy at all. I literally have to get "extra spicy straight from satans butt crack" and it does nothing to me. If package shipping wasn't so expensive I'd be begging for some snacks. (Okay, I'm done)

   Alright, I don't really know what else to add. If you have questions I'm more than willing to answer shoot me one in the comment section below. :) 

But here are some pictures from the week:

My professor (left) and Dan the safari driver (right)

Our ride through the game reserve

We took a lunch break at the side of this beautiful waterfall and pond area. The water was questionable, but it was incredible. 

View from the side of the vehicle. It was literally the highlight of my week.

 I thought I share this one, because if you know me, literally high tops are my life. So these babies go everywhere with me in Africa. Only death can separate. 

Boer vs. Zulu battle at Blood River, a historical view of how the wagons were places strategically so the Boers could stay protected and fight. 

Battle field site

This times a thousand.

Salani kahle!

Peace be the journey.

[Arrival]

Sanibona! (Hello in Zulu)

{Soweto}

After a day and a half of traveling we finally arrived [safely] to Johannesburg. We got off the plane in a zombie-like stupor from lack of sleep and jet lag, Our Friday morning continued with a tour of Soweto, an area located inside of Johannesburg. We took a bus and the tour guide pointed out everything in the city. From famous buildings, the biggest hospital in the world, the slums and very impoverished areas, and one of Nelson Mandela's homes. This was the first time I had ever been a minority. It was composed mainly of black people and colored people (mixed with black and white). If that wasn't weird enough, we were driving on the other side of the road and every directional sign has been converted into the metric system, Even though I have only been here for four days (give or take) I have not experienced the culture shock everyone warns you about. I don’t know if it is because I already was expecting to see a lot of poverty or because I truly hate American materialism that seeing people literally have nothing while still being joyful, was not surprising. These are textbook outcomes. The people were friendly, everyone waved us. Both with a mixture of excitement because we were Americans, and also because we are Americans so we’re automatically rich. 

{Pietermaritzburg}

We got to the campus on Friday night. Had a relaxing weekend filled with exploring, mall runs, and visiting a local church. Monday we started classes. My class schedule is pretty intense. I have classes all day, and they each last AT LEAST 3 hours each. The reason is because we have 6 weeks to cram our credit hours to match a normal 14 week semester. I am taking the language class, so I am learning Zulu and I will be taking that class for 10 weeks. I'm super excited to be taking the courses I am because it's very hands on. We get to discuss it in the classroom then go on a hike or go visit a historical place so we can experience and get a better understanding of the country we're living in. 

Salani kahle!

(Stay well)

Also, here are some photos.

This is the product of jet lag and insomnia. My first African sunrise from my top bunk. 

This is a bridge that is right above one of the many waterfalls located all around my campus

This is the view looking at the valley from the bridge, this my "backyard". This picture doesn't even do it justice.

Here is the waterfall. It currently is my favorite place to sit. I find an incredible amount of peace sitting at the top or bottom of it. The water is so clear and the sand is red. I'm here a lot.

This is the water, it's completely clear. 

Until next time friends!

Peace be the journey.