Dumelang!

Dumelang! (Hello!)

This is my last week in South Africa. I can’t believe time flew by so quickly! Let me tell you a little about what we did last week. :)

Day 15-17 Tuesday-Thursday

This week, Dan, Faith, and I taught the students a ton of cool things. We wrote letters to God, talked about our friends, learned about states of matter, fractions, and sentence structures.  We also had a talent show, Mamelodi’s Got Talent, in which all the teams performed. Not to brag but the piggies definitely got some major swag!

The kids are as interested and as involved as ever.  I met these two adorable kids (siblings of a student in the program). Here’s a cool picture!

They are 5 and 9 years old respectively. Due to malnutrition, most kids here are smaller than the average American children.

Karabo, one of our newer students, has even decided to lead a Bible study at her school! Praise God for her passion and courage!

Day 18: Friday 7/8/11 Date Night

After class on Friday, the boys in our team had planned a date night for the girls. I was so impressed with everything they had planned for us! We watched the sunset, were serenaded, received beautiful letters, ate a delicious home-cooked dinner, enjoyed desert in a cool hut, listened to karaoke, and danced the night away! They really made us feel like appreciated women of God. Yay boys!

Here’s a picture of the ladies before our festivities began!

Day 19: Saturday 7/09/11 Rhino and Lion Reserve

Today we went to a rhino and lion reserve and it was SO COOL! The reserve is very similar to the game park that we went to last week, but there were more opportunities to see African animals. We saw lions devouring a cow, a majestic tiger, wild dogs, wildebeest, huge rhinos, baby rhinos, cheetahs mating, snakes, and we even got to cuddle with some baby lions and tigers!!!! Check out a picture of me getting kisses from a tiger! (Ironically I introduced myself to everyone on the trip as Tati the Tiger haha).

In Rhino and Lion Reserve is also the 3^rd largest cave in South Africa, the Wonder Cave. We saw beautiful structures formed by the minerals in the earth. I can’t believe that each structure, stalagmites and stalactites, grow only 1 centimeter every 100 years! Here’s a picture of me and my friend Hilary in the cave. (Hi Hilary’s parents!)

Day 20: Sunday 07/10/11 Township church and walk through Mamelodi

Today we went to a church in one of the poorest areas of Mamelodi. The church service was held in a tent that the members of the congregation help put up and take down before and after the service. What struck me the most about the church was how filled with joy everyone is! All the African music is so happy and joyful. Here’s a picture of me with some kids outside the church.

The pastor ended the service 1 hour early to show us where they live. They said they wanted us to see the depths of poverty so that we can know exactly what to be praying for. It was really amazing that the pastor and other members of the congregation invited us into their neighborhood. We saw the poorest of the poor today, and it was really heart-breaking.  Here’s a picture of me with some friends in their neighborhood.

Day 21: Monday 07/11/11

After a busy day in class today, some of our South African friends wanted to take us around Mamelodi again. They took us to a different part than we had been to the previous day. We walked around a significantly more wealthy neighborhood, closer to the University that we work at, and close to many of the high schools. There is such a big difference in wealth in Mamelodi because the Apartheid forced all blacks, regardless of social status or wealth, into the townships. Our students come from both the more wealthy and the very poor parts of Mamelodi. Most of them did not know each other before the program began, but they make friends so quickly-- it’s incredible!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned to see how my trip ends!!