A Day in the Life {Tuesday, March 10}

Today we visited our 25^th school since we’ve been here in SA. We visited 5 in Hazyview and now 20 here in Kosi Bay. It is crazy to think our team has had the opportunity to influence literally thousands of children in such a small period of time. I continue praying some part of our message will stick with each child. Most of our presentations focus on the message: “I am important to God.” We address positive self-worth and communicate how special each child is to God through our dramas and testimonies. The dramas are very effective in capturing the kids’ attention. In the lower primary schools we start out teaching them the “Hello Song.” We teach them how to say hello (with different gestures or dances) in many different countries around the world. They get really into it, it’s adorable. In the upper primary schools we do an illustration using “chappy” (gum) and Rand (SA money). This is probably the best illustration we do. It definitely has the whole classroom- or assembly- laughing by the end. We do another drama after these illustrations called The Walk of Life. As one person from my team “walks through life” he is repeatedly stopped by friends that call him names. After he is called ugly, stupid, worthless, and told that nobody loves him, a Christian shares about their best friend Jesus- someone that thinks you are important and special. It’s so cute when you’re the “walker” because you get to be really interactive with the kids. We’ll say, “Oh!! Did you hear that, he just called me STUPID! Do you think I’m stupid?” All the kids will yell “NO!!!” And when they say it in Zulu it involves a tongue click so it sounds like they’re clucking at you.

Please keep praying that our message would connect with these kids. Their lives are filled with hardship, and I truly believe they need Jesus. Many of these children have heard about Jesus before, but there is so much junk around them that suffocates the truth. Christians we have met here will tell you Christianity in SA is wide but it doesn’t go deep. There is a bunch of ancestral worship and other practices mixed in with Christianity that skew truth. Others have heard about Jesus but don’t know what a personal relationship with Him means. Outside of Christianity there’s also religions like Shembe… and in this particular area in Kosi Bay we have heard there is a high concentration of witchcraft. Please pray that God would speak through us here. Pray that educators will be open to using our curriculum in their classrooms.

Can I Have Your Number {Monday March 9}

Can I have your number. Can I have it. Can I have it please. These kids want our numbers. Some days you come home with random cell numbers written on your hands, arms, etc….

The ATM’s went on strike this past weekend. There were lines wrapping around street corners at every ATM in town. Didn’t know ATM’s could go on strike, but it happened.

A few cultural fun facts. These Afrikaaner men like their shorts…. short. I see a little more leg than I care to at our gas station stops in town. From what we gather, even the local women do not find it attractive. It is a mystery why this situation still remains.

Also, it is not uncommon or socially uncomfortable for guys to hold hands here. This has brought ongoing entertainment for most of our team. Thabani, one of our translators that is our age, has gotten especially friendly with the guys on the team. We’ll be walking to our next school and I’ll see him go in for the move on Gio or Jeff. It cracks me up seeing them all walking hand in hand as we walk through the schoolyard. And, sometimes, he’ll even wrap his arms around their waists. It makes me laugh because every time it happens the guys are totally caught off guard and you pretty much see them reminding themselves this is normal.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned how much I like the goats. They are one of my favorite animals here. I know, call me crazy but they are pretty stinkin’ cute. Like cows, they often stand in the middle of the road…totally oblivious. My favorite are the baby goats. They are so little. A close second is the mullet goat. When it runs, the party in the back shakes. It looks ridiculous. I’m still working on getting better footage of this for you. I doubt American goats are this cool.

Anyway, we had a long day and tonight I don’t feel like blogging about anything serious!

“Youth Group” {Saturday, March 7}

Themba invited us to his youth group this morning. Nothing is close around here, so we had to get a 2 hour head start. We were supposed to meet Themba at the halfway point around 9am. Zulu culture has no emphasis on time, so he showed up around 9:45. Although we were very late, it seemed like no big deal. We arrived to the start of a very typical African church experience. The church, about a ten minute off-road (uncomfortable) drive in the middle of rural South Africa, was jumping with music. Loud singing, lots of dancing, off beat clapping, and the synthesizer keyboard rocking. It’s so funny attending church here because you have NO idea what is going on the majority of the time. Everything is in Zulu. We’ll sing a song, we sit down, someone starts to give a sermon?, someone stands up and starts singing, we stand up, dancing starts, clapping starts, and it all repeats. I swear it seems like there’s no organization to it whatsoever. Occasionally people will hand you a hymnal and point to where we are in the song, as if you can read Zulu. After about 30 minutes of singing and dancing, the message starts. The synthesizer piano continues playing throughout the entirety of the sermon, which I find interesting… and distracting… but not like I can follow the message anyway. Midway through the sermon the baby on the woman’s lap next to me pees on her. So as she went and cleaned up I got to enjoy an hour sermon- in Zulu- in a small hot church with pee baking in the seat next to me. There are many times that I find myself thinking… “wow, that really just happened.” This is definitely one of them. I laugh a lot here.

Anyway, after the message we had a 5 minute intermission (church is now half over) and it pretty much repeats for the second half. Not quite anything like The Chapel. It’s like a 3 hour ordeal. As much as it is entertaining, I do have to stop and realize just how cool it all is. The same God you and I sing to in our American churches is being worshipped-- in an entirely different way--here in South Africa. It’s so easy for me to get wrapped up in my little corner of the world. I’m so thankful to get to see a new culture. To step into a world different from mine back home. It helps me see how big God is. How creative He is in what He has created. How much bigger life is than my little corner of the world. God has created so many different people, with different styles, preferences, and surroundings… And He calls us to live as One Body and to bring glory to His name. What an honor to see another culture loving God in their own way.

So “youth group” turned out to be a church service, three hours long … that started nearly one hour late. What a day.

Just Over the Hill {Friday, March 6}

Some things just get lost in the whole cross-cultural experience. This has been a great source of entertainment for me.

Yesterday we had an AWESOME opportunity to visit the BEACH!! We went to two nearby schools and finished our day earlier than normal. Rev. Louwrens family was going to the beach and they wanted us to come along. Okay, you don’t have to pull my arm for that. It’s funny because as soon as you hear beach you know what you’re getting into. You drive, park, pull out your towel and lay out. I can do that.

I should’ve known better. So it starts out interesting as we have to park in someone’s backyard … the beach is just over the hill the locals tell us. We’ve got all of our towels, cameras, water bottles, the whole I’m an American tourist deal in tow. We run down the first sand dune and climb the top of another. We get to the top, and everyone is cracking up saying “you’ve GOT to be kidding me!!” We see the beach… like 5 miles away through what looks to me like Michigan sand dunes/African bush/Sound of Music. Suddenly beach day has a Survivor twist to it. The best part was the Pit Bull – Rotweiller dog that led us the entire way to the beach.

The beach was gorgeous. We had to swim across several bays, to sand bars, and then swim around into the Indian Ocean. It was crazy. I think I was driving everyone crazy with my broken record of “I cannot believe we are doing this. Did you ever think you would go to the Indian Ocean??? Oh my gosh. This is so cool.” Our group of 15 was, for the most part, the only people there. The Indian Ocean is rough! We went out in the waves and they were crazy. We also got to do some snorkeling in the bays and saw some pretty cool fish and a few polka-dotted eels. Ew!

HIV/AIDS {Thursday, March 5}

Tonight we had a British doctor come to our house to share her insight on HIV/AIDS here in South Africa. The local hospital is very under-staffed and most of the doctors are from other countries- England and Australia seem to be common. Here’s some basic info…

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV becomes AIDS, or Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In short, this disease is a virus that attacks the immune system.

The life expectancy in SA is 37 for women, and 39 for men. Most AIDS patients are 24-34 years old. The doctor approximated that 80% of hospital patients here are suffering with AIDS. She added how embedded the stigma is here. Even in the hospitals, nurses and doctors are still very hush-hush in acknowledging the disease. The most at risk group in this area of SA are married women (so many men are unfaithful to their spouse, or in some cases have multiple wives). I found that very interesting.

Quick stats:
-In Sub-Saharan Africa, 28 million ppl are infected {2 million children} with HIV
-25 million HIV deaths globally since 1981
-2.8 million deaths in 2005 – half million of which were children
-12 million AIDS orphans
-5.7 million people infected in South Africa- world’s highest caseload
-600-1000 deaths per day
-In South Africa, 1 in 3 pregnant women is HIV positive

Schools & Presentations {Wednesday, March 4}

The people here are very welcoming. Last night Rev. Louwrens (pronounced Laurens) invited us to his house for a dinner/Bible study with their small group. Rev. Louwrens has five children... Two high school girls that I like hanging out with. They remind me of my small group girls back home! Dinner was another curry meat and rice combo... they seem to like their curry here. Luckily I'm doing fine with it.

We are having a more typical Book of Hope internship experience here in Kosi Bay. We visit three schools every day, meeting with the teachers and doing presentations for the students. Most schools we visit are primary schools- grades R (kindergarten) thru 7^th. Sometimes we go class to class (probably 40 to 60 kids per room) or split the school into two groups and do assembly presentations. Throughout training we learned different dramas and games geared toward specific age groups. Every presentation is structured with an intro, interactive illustration/game, drama, testimony, and the closing explanation and distribution of the Book of Hope. The kids love it.

We are getting to know our translators pretty well. They are awesome. Thabani is my age. He just graduated metric (high school) in 2007 and his favorite musician is Chris Brown. Tombencane is a 33 year old woman who studied child psychology at a university here. She likes to talk to me about my classes in psych. The c in Zulu actually makes a clicking noise, so to pronounce her name you have to make a click in the middle. I think I can finally say it right after like 5 days. She is getting married in May. In the Zulu culture the man must pay a bolla (pronounced bowl-a) to the bride’s parents for his bride. The most common amount is 11 cows. One cow costs 4000 Rand ($400 US dollars). The engagement process takes a long time because the bolla is so expensive.

Themba is our last translator. He’s a ton of fun. On Sunday he invited us into his home for coffee. We of course said yes, as it is extremely rude to turn coffee/tea down here. He showed us his entire wedding photo album while we waited for our “coffee”… which actually turned out to be a full meal and hot chocolate. It was pretty interesting. He’s loud, funny, and very metro. He has these European looking snakeskin shoes that he likes to wear with tight jeans and sweater vests. Probably not what you would think for a Zulu guy huh. Haha.

Road Trip… Kosi Bay {Tuesday, March 3)

Hello again! We arrived here at Kosi Bay (KwaZulu Natal Province) on Saturday night. We woke up around 4am on Saturday to pack up the car and head out. The drive took…. Ugh, pretty much all day. While the GPS and locals predicted 6 hours of driving time, our road trip took more like 11 hours. Driving in rural Africa is a totally different experience. Entire herds of goats and cows chill in the middle of roads, construction causes roads to close for 20 minutes at a time, many roads are dirt/red clay, and potholes (miles of them) are everywhere. It’s entertaining… for the first few hours. ;)

Kosi Bay is in the northeastern tip of South Africa. We’re probably 20 miles from the Mozambique border and 15 miles from the Indian Ocean. We drove along the Swazi (Swaziland) border on our way here from Hazyview.

Things have been crazy here. We have been pretty much go-go-go since we pulled in on Saturday night. We had a full out Afrikaans meal Saturday night, and I got to try Kudu meat for the first time. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

I’ll be honest, I have had to develop an eating strategy for some of these meals. As soon as I realize things are less than appetizing… slash starting to feel the gag reflex come on… I quickly switch to the mash and mix method. Ie. When you have squash (disgusting, I cannot keep it down) and kudu (texture a little iffy, but do-able) you mix them together for a much easier eating experience. It is also key to eat very fast.

We are staying next door to a missionary family. They are very friendly. Accommodations here are much more of a camping-style (but sleeping indoors) than our vacation home in Hazyview… but still working just fine. And most importantly, we are safe and healthy here!