Sawubona South Africa: Week 1

After many hours of travel, including a full day layover in Paris, where I got a hold of delicious nutella crepes and croissants, went around the city, (oo la la!) 20 American college students stepped off the plane in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sawubona! (Hello in Zulu). After a short drive, we finally arrived in Pretoria, which, by the way, is a huge city of over 2,000,000. No wild lions and zebra walking the streets here. I’ll talk about that later. Pretoria is actually 1 of the 3 capitals of South Africa. We all stayed at the Kinerton Centre just outside of Pretoria. Our host Dana and his wife Sibongile graciously housed us and fed us there. Aside from the lack of heating in our rooms, our lodgings were very nice. Oh yeah, since South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere, it was winter down there...65-70 degrees during the day and chilly at night.                                                               


Before beginning the tutoring program on Monday, we took a few days to tour around Pretoria, prepare more lesson plans, and get to know everyone on the mission team better. I really enjoyed being in a Christian community for a month. We grew so much together both spiritually and relationally. I don’t think that I’ve ever cried and laughed as much as I did in this first week. Our first weekend we all went to a drum circle, which was amazing! We rented drums and went with the rhythm for hours. I guess it was just one of those things you “have to do” in Africa. 

Drum circle craziness!

Before our first day of tutoring, we went around Mamelodi, the township where the tutoring program of about 170 kids would take place.  Here’s some of my journal: “When we drove through the township, the harsh reminder of the absolute poverty that much of the world endures stared me right in the face. Children run about in the red dirt in front of shacks made of scrap metal and cloth. Despite these circumstances, every person waved and smiled toothy grins. Before driving through here, I thought that I would feel complete sorrow and pity. However, I had an overwhelming sense of joy when I looked into people’s faces.  Sorrow transformed into joy, and pity into understanding. Monday came pretty quick. Here’s a journal entry after the first few days of tutoring: “Day one of tutoring. Wow. Even though it was a bit hectic, it was so cool! Yet, I had no idea how limited we are on materials. We don’t even have classrooms until the second week! Yet, I see all of this as a blessing because the experience with these kids becomes more real. I have 10 adorable girls and 1 boy; they are all in grade 8, and they’re either 12 or 13. I had my students write about themselves and while some of them lacked serious writing skills, others clearly shined. It was so neat seeing all of their different ambitions to be doctors, lawyers, and teachers. I just want them to realize that they can do whatever they set their minds to I doubt that anyone has ever really told them that they believe in them. Encouragement is so powerful, especially in respect to education…my co-teacher Tshepiso (the-pi-so) or “Tshepi” is honestly the most gentle and kind woman I have ever met. She is so strong in her faith and lives in a way that shows that she follows Jesus.”

Our mission on this trip was essentially Philippians 2:2-3, which states, "then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves." At the heart of a unified people is a cause and a purpose. Jesus Christ is our cause and our purpose was to bring the gospel to our students. In addition to teaching academic subjects, I was assigned to help lead a singing workshop. We taught the girls a really gospel version of “This Little Light of Mine” and in turn, they taught us a worship song called “Ha Hona”, complete with hand motions and everything. Interestingly, knowing that song enabled me to make connections with people that we met on the street. One day, when we were walking around Mamelodi, I was softly singing that song, and a couple little girls ran up to me and noticed that I was singing “Ha Hona”. Eyes wide, they smiled and began singing it with me and we skipped down the street hand in hand. Just like that. There were no reservations, no questions of 

My new friend Muman :)

etiquette or “don’t talk to strangers”—their culture is just so much more friendly and joyful. That was one of my favorite moments of the trip…in addition to the little boy that accompanied them. Probably the cutest kid I’ve ever seen.


Our second weekend we went on a safari in the Pilanesberg game park. It was awesome! We saw a lot of impala, gazelles, baboons, giraffes, and hippos! Ironically we didn’t see any lions or zebras, but I’ll talk about the second safari soon J On Sunday, we had our first experience in a South African Pentacostal church and it was amazing. The energy in the room was inspiring and for the first time, I danced in church.
 

Zebras!!






I <3 Safaris!