Last Soweto Post

Dumelang! It is Wednesday morning. We will be leaving Soweto on Sunday for Lesotho, so I wanted to do one last post before I will have no contact for about a month. Here are some things that I have experienced in the past week. I was sick... a cold-ish type sickness which was not fun, but I am thankful that I have been healthy other than that. Some of our group members have been quite sick with a fever/flu type thing for several days at a time. We are all currently heathly though, so hopefully we have passed through that. We went to see a play in Joburg a few days ago. It was exciting because it was starring a local soap opera celebrity. The play had awesome themes in it and was also really funny. We all had a good time. We have been visiting several schools... I usually enjoy those a lot. We talk to the students about a certain topic and it is usually very shocking to hear their opinions. The school we visited most recently was called Thaba- Jabula, which means Happy-Happy. We discussed teen pregnancy. They have very high rates. The boy at our table who was discussing with us had really great ideas about what could be done to solve the problem.He believes teen pregnancy is an issue because parents do not talk to their children about sex, there is no sex education in schools, and poverty. I will elaborate a little on the poverty issue. Apparently, it is VERY common for older men to solicit sex from young girls in exchange for money. The girls agree because they are afraid, but also because they actually want the money- some girls even initiate this kind of thing. They want the money for their families, or just to have some extra spending money to buy some brand name shoes.... this disgusts me, but they say its true. The government also gives a grant to girls who are pregnant during their schooling, R250 a month, which is NOT ENOUGH, but some girls will actually try to get pregnant to receive this money. So sad. We also spent time singing and dancing with the students, which is really fun for everyone. Later today we are going back to the same school for a choir competition, I am really excited for that!
One night this week I had a really terrible night when I was sick, and it was definitely my lowest point in Africa so far. I had a traumatic experience with a traditional healing at my next door neighbors house (I'll tell you about it later, its actually funny now), and then when I came home I just wanted to go to bed, but my family was hanging out in my bedroom... to top it all off when I pulled back my covers there was FOOD (like chicken and pop) in my bed, because apparently my little siblings had eaten their dinner on my bed. So there were definitely some Africa moments there..... :)
I have realized though that my main fear is that I wouldn't bond with my host family. I had really high expectations for how we would all get along, and I have learned to let those go and enjoy what we do have together. It was not easy for me, and has definitely caused me to grow. I will miss being able to read emails and comments from all of you when I am in Lesotho. I love you all and appreciate hearing from you. God Bless,
Laura