1st week of service sites

My team and I spent this Thursday and Friday at the Mpophomeni Family Center. The center is an after school house for kids who are affected by AIDS. Many of them have lost a parent to the disease ad many of them have a parent with AIDS currently, and some of them have lost both parents and are in charge of their households. There is also a preschool that goes on all day which is fun because there are always babies to play with! Yesterday we had orientation and then started planning for our time at the center. We only have 3 more weeks and we have a lot of things we want to do, so we started getting things in order for our major projects, like painting murals and building a shed. We discussed our vision/goals for our time, specifically focusing on the high school group and the staff. The majority of the activities currently offered at the center are for elementary and middle school aged kids so the older high schoolers often get overlooked. And they're such a vulnerable group that needs as much support as they can get so we've been planning activities with them to try and build them up and encourage them while we are here. Next week we are facilitating a dream workshop for the high schoolers to talk about their futures and life after they graduate. We are also going to trying to focus on building up the staff. A number of the childcare workers have been doing this for a long time and are just burned out. There is also not a lot stress on group spiritual development among the staff so we're going to try and encourage them and build them up spiritually so they are ready and able to glorify God through teaching the kids.
So I am really excited to see what will happen will our time at Mpophomeni and I feel so blessed to be part of such a great team that is so willing to serve and learn. Keep us in your prayers please!
Tomorrow we are going zip-lining which should be super fun!

homecoming!

This past week was homecoming! It was really just for fun- we didn't have a game or any real reason to put on a homecoming week and dance, but we did it anyway and had a great time. We had dress up days during the week and this weekend we had events in the evenings. Friday we had a soccer game and watched Beauty and the Beast. Saturday we took our final for Intercultural Communication and had a game night. And last night we had a homecoming banquet/dance! By far one of the best dances i've ever been to- we played some fun games and of course, danced. Zach and i got to play a few songs as people were coming in and did a cover of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" which was really fun and everyone sang along.
This week we are starting our community engagement course which has been fantastic so far. Our teacher, Francis Njoroge is a world renowned leader in community development pedagogy and is a community development facilitator himself. He just got back from a stay with a community in Sierra Leone. He's also the nicest man in the whole world and it's an incredible joy and privilege to get to study under him for this next month. So we've had all day lectures for these past few days which has been exhausting, but we've received a ton of information for this month in service sites and i'm sure i will be using these principles later in my life/career. We've also had an opportunity to learn a lot more about the Mpophomeni Family Center this week because the girl who is in charge of coordinating our group has been here on site and sitting in on the lectures with us. So yesterday we got to talk to her about the Mpophomeni Family Center community itself and discuss what was working and what needs help, which was really eye opening. We will certainly be working with the kids and the community in home visits, but another part of our job will be working with the staff at the center which was an area of ministry that i had not even considered before our conversation. From my initial impressions and conversations with Claire it seems like the staff is tired and lacking vision which she said has had a negative impact on both the work environment and the kids. And while i haven't seen or experienced any of this myself, i am very hopeful for our team and this situation because i can see strengths in our team that meet the weaknesses we have talked about in Mpophomeni. So i am so excited to see how God will take the strengths of the staff and teach us and how He will use our strengths to build up and encourage them. Please be in prayer for open hearts and minds. The Zulu people are reserved in nature which can make it hard to approach problems openly and talk about solutions, so if you would pray that we would be able to be open and respectful with one another that would be greatly appreciated.
Our team is Katie, Tyler, Kristina, Adam, Leanne, Caitlin, and I, if you'd like to pray for us by name.

Zulu name

Our teacher gave us Zulu names in class today! All Zulu names have meaning, some of them more pleasant than others- we met a woman a week ago whose name meant rainfall because it was raining when she was born. But our teacher told us that for families with a lot of girls they will often name the last one "too many girls".
Anyways, mine is complimentary. It's Qhalipha which means sharp or clever one. And yes, it has a click.

Service sites!

I just found out my service site for this next month!
I will be working at a community center in Mpophomeni, a very poor township in Pietermartizburg. The center runs a preschool for little kids in the morning and then an after school care program for kids who are affected by AIDs- either their parents have the disease or they have died from it. So i'll be hanging out with the babies and then helping kids with homework and teaching english and computer skills. We will also be cooking and cleaning and helping where they need us, and making school and home visits with the social workers, so it will be a lot of different things. We already got to meet the staff and they are fabulous so i'm so excited to get going!

Durban and a rugby game

This friday night we had a night off (for the first time in a long time) so the activities committee scheduled a game night with a dress and act like your roommate theme which was really funny. Everyone got really into it and we have some very distinctive personalities in this group so it was funny to see those imitated, especially by people that are normally not as animated or outgoing.
On saturday we went to the Victoria market in Durban which is an indoor market- kind of a really ghetto mall, and bought a ton of souvenirs. Every thing's much cheaper here than in Cape Town so we tried to get most of our shopping done here. It was around lunch time so we got to try bunny chow- the ultimate Durban food, which was a great. I got done shopping a little early so Adam and I walked around the corner and checked out the Emmanuel Cathedral which was such a strange experience. It is a beautiful cathedral and is so similar to so many of the cathedrals i'd been to in Europe, just a little younger- but it was surrounded by market stalls and trash and meat market and other distinctly African things. A strange mix of wealth and poverty and very different cultures.
After Durban we went to a semi-final rugby game that we found out afterward was a really big deal. We cheered for the sharks because that's what Janet told us to do and we had a great time. I don't know anything about rugby but it moves much faster than football which keeps it more interesting. About half way through the game it started pouring but we were in the cheap seats so we were covered by the overhang and safe from the rain. So the sharks won and we went home.
Sunday we went to church which was great- the pastor spoke on spiritual gifts and the physical manifestation of the holy spirit which is not something we talk about often but was really good and really encouraged a spirit of freedom. After church we had a group come with 50 djembes and lead us in a drum circle which was SO much fun! They split us into groups and beat out different rhythms for each group and had us playing some crazy stuff that sounded really good. A couple of people were clueless but for the most part everyone kept up and we had a really good time. After drums we went out and got thai for dinner which was some great variety and was surprisingly good considering the total lack of Asians in Pietermaritzburg.
This is finals week so everyone is really busy but once this week is over we get to start service sites!

SAFARI!

This past weekend we went on Safari! We got up early saturday morning and drove the 4 hours to the Umfolozi/Hluhluwe game reserves (originally 2 reserves- now they've been combined) to do some serious game viewing. We got there early afternoon and jumped into our safari vehicles and were on our way! Being on safari feels like being on the Indian Jones ride at Disneyland- the cars are the same and you're riding trails most of the time and communicating with the other cars via radio so we sang the Indiana Jones theme song pretty frequently this weekend. So we headed out in our game drive vehicle as soon as we got there with Reg, our program director at the wheel. And we started looking at animals! We saw giraffe, impala, a ton of white rhino, buffalo, warthogs (there was also a lot of quoting and singing the lion king) and we even found a breeding herd of elephant with a baby. Mamas and babies were the theme of our safari experience- we saw so many babies which was really fun. So in our first day we'd knocked out 3 of the big 5 in just a few hours! The big 5 are the buffalo, lion, leopard, elephant, and rhino. They were nicknamed the big five because they are the 5 most difficult animals to hunt on foot. If you didn't kill one of the big 5 first shot then they would most likely kill you. So we'd already seen 3 of them and Reg was on a mission to find us some lion, so the second day the lion hunt began. In searching for the lions we saw a breeding herd of elephant cross an open field and a ton more rhino, including a black rhino. In the afternoon the rangers/guides that were driving the other vehicles tracked down one lioness that was on the riverbed (there's been a drought going on for about 3 years now and all the rivers and streams are dry) so we all quickly gathered and she was very difficult to see because she was so far away, but standing near her was a breeding herd of elephant, a couple of buffalo, and a rhino. We got to see 4 of the big 5 all at one time, which was awesome!
And further down the riverbed was a pack of wild dogs which we chased over a hill and we got to see about 12 wild dog puppies which was incredible. Wild dogs are small and very illusive so not many people get to see them, and we got to see a whole pack!
The next morning we got up early to find the lions and found the lioness again, but she was by herself and we wanted to see them closer so we started the search again. The guides knew where a pride was supposed to be so we tried to encircle them with our vehicles and the Regmoblie was waiting around when we got the radio from Andy, "Reg, We got 'em." at which we all jumped into the car as fast as we could and arrived at Andy's vehicle just in time to see a pride of 5 lions cross the road in front of us. They were mostly young- there was one adolescent male lion whose mane was coming in and the rest were female and there was one cub. It was awesome to see them doing their own thing just crossing the road while we were freaking out- quietly of course. So after the lions were out of view we decided to move on to breakfast and maybe try to intercept them again on the loop. I didn't think we would find them again and was just excited about eating when all of a sudden we came around a turn and there they were! They were just as surprised as us and some of the lionesses were only about 8 ft from our car. After they realized we weren't going to do anything they crossed the road in front of us again- this time only about 10, 15 ft in front of the vehicle, and we got to see them really up close which was probably my favorite sighting of the trip because it was so unexpected and exciting. After we ate breakfast we moved into cheetah country to try for a cheetah sighting before we went home and unfortunately we didn't find any, but we did get to see two Kudu fighting with their horns and two Giraffe doing something that could have either been fighting or cuddling with their necks which was interesting. Safari definitely ended on a high note.
The game reserve itself was incredibly beautiful and we actually stayed in it. The girls stayed in tent/cabins with attached bathrooms and a billion bugs which was unpleasant but manageable and the biggest inconvenience was that we couldn't leave our tents at all at night because the animals were able to wander through our camp (a man had been scalped by a leopard about a year ago where we were staying), but this is africa- not a big deal. So altogether it was a great experience and we got to see some fabulous animals. This week we have our Zulu mid-term and then saturday we are going to uShaka Marine World which is a theme park/aquarium and to a rugby game.

Ecabazini and Durban

This weekend was BUSY. On friday afternoon we made our way to Ecabazini, a traditional Zulu homestead (umuzi in zulu). Realistically, it's more of a recreated homestead that's open to visitors, but it is set up the same as a "real" homestead and is run by Zulus that live in the almost identical homestead right down the hill. So it was pretty authentic as zulu homesteads go. So we were greeted at the gate by men in traditional dress and were escorted to our respective huts- the men were in the hut on the top of the hill and the rest of us women stayed in the huts beneath the central one that would have housed the first and second wives. Our leaders got to sleep in the huts beneath ours that would have housed the children. After being shown the huts and bathrooms the tour began. The zulus were very intentional about every aspect of what they did and everything had a reason behind it so there was a lot to explain. The homestead is centered around the cattle kraal which gives you an illustration of the centrality of cattle in the zulu culture, and the kraal is surrounded by the huts for the men, wives, children, and the cooking hut. After the explanation of the buildings we were staying in, the people that were working there, and the traditional garb they were wearing, we walked down to the homestead where all of the zulus lived. It was remarkably similar to our set up. The houses were older looking and certainly a little more worn but there were all the same structures made from all the same materials, and this is where these people lived, which really put the whole experience into perspective. We walked into the cooking hut which was not open like ours so i was expecting a fair amount of smoke and soot, but the hut was quite clean. Zulu huts are made from thatch laid over a stick frame which lets the hut breathe and keeps them cool and dark, so the hut was only covered in soot from about 2 feet off the ground and up. The bottom portion of the hut was still the golden brown of the thatch which was really interesting. Then we went into the isangoma's hut. The isangoma in zulu culture is the mediator between the zulus and the ancestors who control their lives, so the isangoma is the spiritual leader of the community and has a lot of influence. And the spiritual presence in his hut was overwhelming- i know a lot of the group felt oppressed by the presence in the room and many of us were praying through the thickness of the space, which was our first real encounter with spiritual warfare on this trip. So after we left that hut we moved into the home of the isangoma which was decked out with lots of modern conveniences. The "real" zulu homestead has a methane producing system that gives them all gas to cook and heat water. They harvest- for lack of a better word, the cow manure that builds up in the kraal and then mix it with water and put it in an underground reservoir which channels the methane from the holding tank into these people's homes and provides them with free clean gas. After our tour of the other homestead we walked down to the lake that may or may not have had crocodiles and some of us went swimming. After we got back we ate dinner which was steak grilled over the fire and zulu bread as an appetizer, and then chicken, beans, maize, and vegetables cooked in curry which was all incredibly delicious. After dinner they let us try zulu beer which is made out of fermented sorghum- the indigenous grain that is used in a ton of the traditional dishes, and they performed traditional zulu dancing for us which was incredible. The dancing was more feats of strength then it was dancing like we would think- it was a lot of kicking as high as you possibly can and then jumping around but it was great to watch and my favorite part was the singing. God gifted the africans with beautiful voices and all of it was so incredibly effortless. The were harmonizing like nobody's business, and it was no big deal. No one was ever out of step and the drum was never off beat, and we were in a round hut so the sound surrounded you and it felt like the drum beat was coming from the floor. It was perfect. It made me very excited to go to zulu church and hear the zulu choir and get to experience these people singing again cause they are so naturally talented and it's fun to watch. After zulu dancing we went to bed and the next morning we got up and had sorghum porridge and a few more normal breakfast items and then we moved to a different part of the camp and they showed us how to do traditional zulu pottery. Zulu pots were not fired which makes them all porous which means the clay absorbs the moisture of whatever is in it. Normally this is not what you want happening to your pottery, but when your clay is wet it sweats and becomes cool which in turn makes the liquid inside cool, so the zulus put their liquids in clay pots to keep them cool which is super interesting and works remarkably well. After making pinch pots we had tea and then got to hold the baby goats. We then moved into a hut where we talked about daily life for the zulu people and our guide showed us weapons and talked about zulu history for a while. And then we got to the cow dung. The floors of zulu huts are made of hard packed termite mound which you can't clean with water, so to get off mud stains the zulus rub the floors with cow dung which they told us they do about once a week. One of the zulu women then proceeded to do this and show us how and a few members of our party got to try. Then they showed us how they grind the sorghum to make pretty much everything in a huge mortar and pestle which we also got to try. Then we had beadwork time which is a traditional zulu craft and is something that i'd seen zulu women do before so we all made bracelets to take home. And after that our trip was done and we got back in the bus and headed home. We got back just after lunch so we decided to set up our new slip n slide which is a grand total of 30 ft long and was a lot of fun although a number of injuries were sustained. Sunday we got up and went to church at a new place that meets in a circus tent and it was a congregation of mostly zulus and indians so in the african custom they prayed out loud all at the same time which i always enjoy. Then we headed to durban to visit the markets because they are the best place to buy souvenirs so we got some stuff for real cheep and then made our way to the beach. This beach was very different from the one we had been to before because this was in the middle of durban and was very comparable to any beach in LA. It started raining about an hour after we got there and people had homework so we called it a day and made our way home but everyone had a lot of fun swimming, the indian ocean is really warm especially to the californians, and we all made some good purchases so it was a successful day for sure.
This week is midterms so it is busybusybusy for everyone but we'll get through it and then this coming weekend is safari which should be great!!!