Running through the streets of Nyanga…

Hey everyone!

This past week has been SO great! Tutoring with the boys at Emasithandane Children’s Home has just been incredible, first of all. We’ve been continuing with the heroes theme, and last Thursday we talked about Miriam Makeba and constrasted her anti-apartheid songs about empowering Africa with some of the more pro-violence songs used in the struggle that still continue to be sung today. Our discussion question was whether songs like “Umshini wami,” a song that literally means “bring me my machine gun” and that is sung at ANC rallies, should still be sung today. As usual, the kids were DEEP! Lusindiso talked about how it’s important to remember the struggle and to continue to sing the songs as a reminder, but Prince felt that singing the songs could stir up anger and hatred in people and take away from efforts for unity. After that, we talked about music today that talks about issues in society, especially “conscious” hip-hop. They named a bunch of South African rapper that talk about societal ills, and then they started writing their own rap lyrics about the issues in their community. So this Thursday is rap battle part 2 – get ready!!

Today a really interesting and disturbing issue came up, though. Our kids seem to think that the n-word is just a synonym for Black Americans or, even worse, a word that is supposed to mean a stereotypical black male thug. So we were developing questions that they would want to ask American students, and one of them asked “Are most people in America n****rs?” Another asked “Why do most people in USA want to be a n****r like 50 Cent & Lil Wayne?” We tried to explain to them that it’s a derogatory word that’s no longer supposed to be used, but then I felt terrible because they were so embarassed and thought they’d done something wrong, when it’s all our fault. Watch any music video or movie and realize that that’s ALL they know about Black Americans. Why do we allow this kind of stereotypical representation?? I don’t think people realize its far-reaching effects, and if they do, they are helpless to stop it. I’m not sure what can be done besides just changing one mind at a time. People have to realize that words hold SO much power.

On Saturday we had a really incredible day with the Emasi boys! They had told us that they were having an awards ceremony for their soccer team, so of course the other tutors and I wanted to attend. So we hopped on a minibus to Nyanga in the rain and got there 45 minutes late but it hadn’t even started yet – thank goodness!! It was hilarious – another tutor and I were the only white people there and they started out speaking in Xhosa and tell me why out of the whole crowd the MC called us out SPECIFICALLY like, “sorry ladies, we’ll translate later.” I was like WOW… I’m a little embarassed. LOL! So anyways, tell me why our boys were trying to act all humble when we asked them how their team was doing, but at the ceremony they won FIRST PRIZE!! They all got gold medals and this huge trophy! It was so amazing!! We met them back at the children’s home, where they were singing and dancing, hoisting the trophy in the air, and then before we knew it they were parading down the streets of the township with it!! We ran around in the rain trying to find them, but then when they got back to the home we heard them before we saw them! They busted in and all the girls were jumping up and down cheering and even the ladies who were cooking lunch got into it! It was just an incredible celebration. Then they grabbed my camera and had a photoshoot with their trophy and their medals- it was SO cute! (I’ll post the pictures soon.) It was just incredible to see the joy and the pride they experienced. And it was crazy because only 4 of the boys from the team are the ones we actually tutor, but the rest of the team all live at Emasi as well. So today (as a DIRECT result of us coming to the ceremony, I think) we had nine boys come to tutoring! Attendance doubled! There was a conflict before between the practices and our tutoring so only 3-4 would show up at a time but now that we met the coach and everything we have his support so things are going to go a lot more smoothly. So all in all it was a great experience! Oh, and we even met the councilor of Nyanga (like the community government representative.) He asked us to go back to the states and ask Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson (either one lol!) to donate a million dollars to Nyanga. We were like, um, ok, we’ll try to make that happen! But actually we do want to meet with him because I’m sure we can do some fundraising on campus to help them out. It may not be a million dollars but hey, we’ll see what we can do!

This weekend has been so blessed, too. Friday night was really deep because we went to church for HP Live (the Friday night service) and this guy gave this testimony and WOW… I won’t get all into it now but he was “singing my life with his words” like Lauryn would say… so it was an emotional night but I just really began to FULLY appreciate the sisterhood I have here! Me, Yassi, Babs and Billine all prayed together afterwards and decided to meet every week until we leave to talk about things and pray together. So this Sunday we had brunch and it was really a great time!! I love these ladies!! Oh, and Saturday night we had this movie night, me and Billine wanted to rent a “classic” movie that you always hear about but have never seen so we rented “Sleepless in Seattle”… but then Yassi had never even heard of it! She was like “Sleepless nights… what?” But it ended up being lots of fun, even though we were falling asleep cuz it was 3 am!! So yeah, just lots of bonding time this weekend… it was beautiful! Even Monday, woke up, had brunch with William, a meeting with Taf and Chenai and a few other people from church to plan this talent show (oh side note… me and Chenai had the idea for a CIEE talent show… can’t WAIT!), then went to the mall with Billine and ended up just chillin ALL day… went to Ken’s for dinner… just lots of fun with friends… good times! Didn’t get ANY work done but that’s ok, my next assignment’s not due til Monday so I got time! It’s more important to make the most of my time with people, I think.

So that leads me up to today… wow that was a long update! I have a friend coming for dinner so I’m busy frying chicken for a little taste of home. Love you guys lots!!

Family meets family

Wow… sorry for the silence guys! It’s been a month! Let’s see…

#1 MY CAST IS OFF! Got it off April 1… no April foolin, thank goodness!! It feels so good to be able to walk around like a normal person… yeah I have a little limp in my step but it’s all good!

#2 My mom and sister were here for the past two weeks!! It was amazing, we had so much fun, did so much, and they got to meet almost EVERYBODY there was to meet!! One of the highlights was Robben Island, because I was able to bring my host mom from Oceanview, as well as one of the girls I mentor at the LEAP school and her mother. It was such a great experience, especially because both of the mama’s had lived in South Africa their whole lives, but had never been to Robben Island. So they reminisced about what it was like to live under apartheid, and it seemed like the two of them really connected, which was cool because my host mom is Coloured from Oceanview and my mentee’s mom is Black from Khayelitsha. They would normally never meet, so it was just a really nice experience. And then afterwards it was really funny because they take pictures when you first get on the ferry, and you can buy them on your way out. So we were looking for the picture and we couldn’t find ours, and when we asked the guy selling them my mentee’s mom goes, “You can’t miss it- we’re the Rainbow Nation! Black, Coloured, and White all together!” It was the cutest thing!

Another highlight was the aquarium because two of best friends, William and Taf, took us (along with their friend Rob). So we were just goofing around the whole time… oh and the sharks were CRAZY!!! And the sting rays… they were just HUGE and SCARY but it was sooo cool, I’ve never seen anything like that!

We also spent a WONDERFUL day with Quinton and his family at the Cape of Good Hope. It was so nice! I was just so happy that my mom got to meet them because they have been such an important part of my experience here and it’s just nice for family to meet family, you know? So that was really beautiful.

I also had this HUGE dinner for my mom and sis so they could meet everyone! Literally 20 people were up in my room. And they came HUNGRY too so I had to coooook! But it was really fun. And two of my very good friends, Babs and Nyoko, each hosted the fam & me for dinner, which was just lovely!! Babs prepared an entire three-course meal all fancy, and Nyoko’s was so fun because Chenai and Yassi came to so we were just foolin!! So we had some great great times.

We also did tons of other stuff… the cablecar up Table Mountain, the District 6 Museum (which was awesome because the “mayor” of District 6 in its heyday gave us an exclusive tour!), the Castle of Good Hope… let’s see, what else… I took them to volunteering with me, which was SO nice!! Oh, and of course, we went to Knysna, to the beach where Terrance passed. It was a really deep experience and I’m glad I could share it with them, to feel a little bit more of a connection between that whole experience and my family at home.

So it was a WONDERFUL trip, and they just left Saturday, so for the past few days I’ve been trying to catch up with work and stuff, but it’s working out just fine since we have 3 public holidays coming up in the next two weeks!! Election Day, Freedom Day, and Worker’s Day. WHOOP WHOOP! Tomorrow is the election and it’s gonna be so interesting to see how everything goes!! Today I went to a speech by Rev. Dr. Alan Boesack, COPE’s Western Cape candidate and a huge Christian anti-apartheid leader. He’s an amazing speaker; it was really interesting! So we’ll see how well COPE fares and the DA too… most people think the “other” parties are gonna do better than usual because Zuma has so much controversy surrounding him. But of course the ANC is still going to win and Zuma is going to be president cuz that’s how it is here… but seeing the numbers will be interesting!

One more thing to share with you before I go… I got baptized on Sunday! It was an absolutely incredible experience. I just felt so much love and support being surrounded by my His People family. You should have heard them all cheering when I got up there!! =D Chenai and Chenge even did this special little celebration dance in front of me as I walked up there – it was so cool!! And afterwards they threw me a SURPRISE lunch to celebrate at Chenge’s… it was so much fun! I was just so overcome with emotion, for so many reasons. Being baptized in and of itself was just an amazing feeling… I really do feel fresh and new and it feels so great to have made a public commitment to my savior. I could also feel Terrance’s presence so much… looking out into the crowd of people that came, I was wishing he was there, but I could feel him and sense him and I could hear his “WHOOP WHOOP!” And then just seeing how many people came – my ENTIRE Liesbeeck cell (a church family/bible study group) came, and sooo many of my friends. Even Ronel, who lives an hour away and who I only told about the baptism the night before, came all the way out to support me! It was so beautiful. I was just so overwhelmed with LOVE! Everyone’s presence meant so much to me. It just gives me undescribable joy to be surrounded by such a tight-knit, loving, Christian family. I don’t know what I’m going to do without them 2 months from now, but I know that I will see them again, because family is family for life!