Birthday Girl!!

July 14^th- July 20^th

It’s my Birthday!! And I am all smiles! All the girls and I went out to dinner and out to party a little bit and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was also nice being able to connect with the girls in a setting outside of class. Everyone was relaxed and fun and laughing and I love the new relationships that we were building. I was kind of sad to not be able to be with my family and friends on my birthday, but I had to think… who gets to spend their twenty first birthday in a different country and be surrounded with great people to share new experiences? Not many! So I am thankful for this, I loved how everyone go involved in making my day very special and they bought me a cake and sang for me. It was just a great day.

We started something else new this week that I really enjoy. We alternate cooking dinner each night and we sit at the table together as a family and eat. We talk, laugh, share stories, make jokes, and it just brings us all a little closer. Not to mention it has helped us save money. It’s funny because we all were so critical about our food and just thought it was so bad and wasn’t going to turn out right but so far I haven’t had a bad dish yet. It all has been so delicious!

During this week we also went to a market and I learned about my love for bargaining with the vendors! It was a fun and great new experience. In America the prices are just set and either you pay it or you don’t, so this was a nice change.

Even though it did not seem this way in the beginning, there was another great thing that happened this week. We were supposed to go to an orphanage in Langa to do some work but the lady over it was so mean to us and yelled and said she did not want us to be there, so we left ended up in the township of Gugulethu to a daycare that was in desperate need of help. Shout out to Godfrey for thinking on his toes for a plan B! I was so grateful to end up in Gugulethu, for one because it was nice to get into a new township and look at the differences in those, but most of all because there was a lot of work and help needed at that day care and our help was thankfully embraced in comparison to that last lady.

The daycare was in so much need of simple things and Mama Lulama had a number of things she stated were priority needs. So instead of doing an actual project, we felt that it would be more helpful for us to just provide her with some of the things she needed. But we also did a book shelf and education corner for them because they had nothing in there to aid in the children’s education. Going back to that house with all the supplies we had gathered had to be one of the best days of my life! Mama Lulama hugged and embraced everyone as they walked in and told us she loved us and how thankful she was because she never thought she would get help from anyone. Later in the day she told us why she started the daycare and the reason was because in her town when the parents would go to work, they would lock the children in their homes and while they were gone the thugs would break in and rape the children and abuse them and she knew that she had to do something. That story was so touching to me, she started crying and all of us started crying but we were fine soon after that. After a while she began to sing and dance and praise God and you could really feel the spirit moving in that little kitchen and I was so thankful that I was there in that moment doing a little something to make her life a little bit better.

Thurdsay July, 18^th was Nelson Mandela day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We went to the Prestwich Primary School and went in the classrooms and just talked and had discussion with the children. They were very nice children. When I walked into the classroom they started cheering and clapping and telling me how beautiful I was. They had so many questions for me regarding the United States and it was just great to see how interested they were in the country. I was in there to help with work but they were not thinking about that work or their teacher while I was in that classroom. They taught me how to speak a little bit of their Xhosa language and I just loved the atmosphere in that room and I was so sad to leave.

Going to the Nonceba house was another one of those extremely heartfelt moments that I experienced while being here. The house is a counseling and housing center in the township of Kyliesha for children who have been raped, they also do counseling for the mothers of the children. So many times while I was at that place I had to fight so hard to keep back my tears. We were told that years back, when HIV was becoming prevalent around the township, there was a terrible myth going around that the virus could be cured by having sex with a virgin. So in turn, the number of rapes of young children sky rocketed; they were even raping babies and toddlers. And sadly to hear, most of these rapes were done by someone who was really close to the child or who they may even lived in the same house with. While we were there we got to meet some of the children. They were on the playground having a great time and laughing and hanging out and it was really sad to even try to think about what some of these children have gone through, that’s when it became too hard to fight back the tears and they just came flowing down.

While we were at the center, we also learned about a young lady named Ashley. She was sixteen when she had gone to Kyliesha and from the time she left there she knew she had to do something to help these children, she decided to make a documentary. The documentary was about the rapes that were going on in that township and a lady who was providing a safety home for some of the victims. Ashley died when she was 19 in a car accident and that counseling center was made in honor of her and what all she stood for and wanted to do. I have a cd of the documentary and it was given to me to pass on and spread the word and that is exactly what I plan to do.

Later that afternoon, we went to Robben Island. This is where Nelson Mandela spent most of his time in prison. Out of 27 years, he was there for 18. It was a really great experience, and the fact that they had ex prisoners doing the tour of the prison made me want to listen and pay attention that much more. Being on the island was made me feel some kind of way thinking that they kept people there and called them terrorists just because they wanted and fought for equality for their country and their people.  This prison itself didn’t really have a large affect on me because it was clean and looked nicely kept so I really couldn’t get the full effect, but just being there and getting to see it first hand was an honor. The island itself was beautiful! The scenery was to die for and since they were in prison, at least they had something to smile about being in such a beautiful place.

  

Mandela's cell