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
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
More about Soweto!
Dumelang, lelapa oa ka le metswoalle oa ka!
I have really enjoyed reading your comments on this blog even if they are brief, they make me smile and think of you =) We have been in Soweto for a week now. Eva and I have Sotho names that we go by here, mine is Bophelo (it means Life) and hers is Warona (Ours). Our family is very large. We live with our great grandparents, Nkhono, and Ntate-Moholo, our mother Mamokete, her two daughters, Naledi (7) and Thuto (almost 2), and about 6-7 other random cousin/sibling figures who come and go. Our days consist of meeting in the mornings as an entire group to do day trips, and then generally free afternoons. Somtimes we meet as a group in the evening as well. This week we visited the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pietersen Museum, the Pecata Mundi church (where the students hid from the police during a shooting: you can still see the bullet holes in the ceiling). We went to a soccer game at the World Cup Stadium, Keizer Cheifs vs. Orlando Pirates. We are going to another game this Saturday. That experience was incredible, the fans were absolutely insane. We have made a lot f visits to schools. I really enjoy those because I often get to be in a classroom and once I even taught part of a math lesson. There were 56 students in one room. On Sunday we went to an African Independent church. There were a lot of things that made me uncomfortable, but many things I could appreciate. Today we went to a church service at the local hospice where they prayed over gallons of water for the Holy Spirit to enter it, and then we all drank a glass. There are many things like this that seem strange to us but I am learning to appreciate the sincerity of the church member here in how they understand Christ even if it is different than how I would think of it. There are so many more things that I have seen and it's frustrating because I feel like I am always writing such a shallow overview of the events here. Sometime hopefully I will be able to spent a bit of time talking about what I am learning and not so much about what I am doing. I am learning to appreciate my family here more each day, even though living with kids is extremely exhausting! Please continue to lift up our group in prayer. Love, Laura
I have really enjoyed reading your comments on this blog even if they are brief, they make me smile and think of you =) We have been in Soweto for a week now. Eva and I have Sotho names that we go by here, mine is Bophelo (it means Life) and hers is Warona (Ours). Our family is very large. We live with our great grandparents, Nkhono, and Ntate-Moholo, our mother Mamokete, her two daughters, Naledi (7) and Thuto (almost 2), and about 6-7 other random cousin/sibling figures who come and go. Our days consist of meeting in the mornings as an entire group to do day trips, and then generally free afternoons. Somtimes we meet as a group in the evening as well. This week we visited the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pietersen Museum, the Pecata Mundi church (where the students hid from the police during a shooting: you can still see the bullet holes in the ceiling). We went to a soccer game at the World Cup Stadium, Keizer Cheifs vs. Orlando Pirates. We are going to another game this Saturday. That experience was incredible, the fans were absolutely insane. We have made a lot f visits to schools. I really enjoy those because I often get to be in a classroom and once I even taught part of a math lesson. There were 56 students in one room. On Sunday we went to an African Independent church. There were a lot of things that made me uncomfortable, but many things I could appreciate. Today we went to a church service at the local hospice where they prayed over gallons of water for the Holy Spirit to enter it, and then we all drank a glass. There are many things like this that seem strange to us but I am learning to appreciate the sincerity of the church member here in how they understand Christ even if it is different than how I would think of it. There are so many more things that I have seen and it's frustrating because I feel like I am always writing such a shallow overview of the events here. Sometime hopefully I will be able to spent a bit of time talking about what I am learning and not so much about what I am doing. I am learning to appreciate my family here more each day, even though living with kids is extremely exhausting! Please continue to lift up our group in prayer. Love, Laura
Thursday, September 8, 2011
At the Mall...
Dumelang, this will be a really short post because I have 5 minutes...
Yesterday we finally arrived in Soweto. I slept great last night because I was so exhausted from playing with my three little siblings/cousins. Eva and I are still adjusting to living in our house.There are a lot of challenges and things we don't understand about the dynamics of our family. We don't even know all of the people that are living in our house yet.. I will tell you more about that once Ifigure it out. Today we went to the local hospice as well as the Aparthied museum. It is strange to be at such a huge modern mall right now in contrast to the poverty in Soweto.
Also, I havent been able to read my nTelos mail here, so please use facebook until further notice.
Khosto,
Laura
Yesterday we finally arrived in Soweto. I slept great last night because I was so exhausted from playing with my three little siblings/cousins. Eva and I are still adjusting to living in our house.There are a lot of challenges and things we don't understand about the dynamics of our family. We don't even know all of the people that are living in our house yet.. I will tell you more about that once Ifigure it out. Today we went to the local hospice as well as the Aparthied museum. It is strange to be at such a huge modern mall right now in contrast to the poverty in Soweto.
Also, I havent been able to read my nTelos mail here, so please use facebook until further notice.
Khosto,
Laura
Monday, September 5, 2011
Dumelang!
I am sitting in an internet café in the suburbs of Johannesburg. The internet is painfully slow and I am paying for a half hour… so I will have to be brief. It took me 13 minutes just to log into my blog...
Everything is well. We are living the good life in South Africa. We are staying at some sort of old meditation center. The girls each have their own room with a sink. It is not luxurious by American standards but it is very cozy. The gardens are lovely and we spend a lot of time lounging around in the sun doing yoga, reading, and such.The air is dry so it makes your nose, eyes, and throat dry. The mornings and the breeze is very chilly but the sun is HOT (I already have a sunburn on my face). The flight wiped us out. It was SO LONG. When we got to the airport we happened to witness the Springbok rugby team coming through the airport, which was an exciting welcome to South Africa.
Meeting our host families was nerve-wrecking but endearing experience. My host Mom's name is Mamokete, and she and her cousin Dimokatso come every morning to practice Sesotho with us. It is exhausting but we also pass the time singing and having cultural discussions with all the other mothers. Their Sotho is so fast and with all the clicks you can hardly understand what they are saying but I think I'm getting better. On Wednesday we will actually go to live in their homes and meet the rest of their families. When we are having group discussions it takes forever because they all talk at once until the nkhono (grandmother) speaks and tells them all how it's going to be. There are many other cultural differences that I can't even begin to describe here. There have already beem many challenges to overcome.
The food at St. Benedicts is pretty good. It's also pretty fatty. We also have tea about four times a day, thanks to British influence we have tea at 10:30 and then an afternoon tea, which both also include more food. We're getting a little bit restless in the garden, but soon we will be in Soweto with our families. I am litterally out of time. I will hopefully write again sooner than later!
Khotso, I love you all,
Laura (Bophelo)
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