Updates

Hey all I just wanted to send out a flurry of updates. I am sorry I haven't been able to respond to emails/facebook pics up/ blog etc for a while, but I promise it was for good cause!

I had an excellent time at the TLC Christmas party and met some great people. The smiles on some of these kids faces can't be removed from my mind. You must see pictures of this, though it says far too little! Oh man what a great time that was. Thank you again to Dwight Wyse for his family's generous donation.

I have also started the soccer program and connected with several kids of various ages in the neighborhood. I'm really enjoying that and have talked to some about drug use. There is someone else in the neighborhood that used to do it and Ursula would like to look at starting some sort of rehab in the area. We'll see what happens with this.

This week a young man named Themagosa (tim-ah-goose) that comes by Ursula's house and washes her car or does random projects with came to church with us. He only speaks Afrikaans, understands some English, I've been working on teaching him to read English, but it is an uphill battle. We also feed him when he comes.

We had started to get to know him better and invited him to church. He accepted the Lord on Sunday at church and we spend the day with him. We went from church to visit a sick man and pray for him, he may be in his last days. Themagosa broke down in tears and shared later that his mother passed away in Sept. He doesn't know his father and his brother left him alone to go live with his girlfriend. So this 16 year old is left at the house to take care of himself. We came to visit his place with him and it was spotless. Doubtless he tried to keep it as his mother had. We went home and Byron, my friend wanted to watch Passion of the Christ with Themagosa.

The Church's Pastor pulled me aside this week after service and wanted to talk to me. He wants to talk to the church board and get me more involved officially in the church. He had heard about the soccer program and the connections within the youth that I had made and wanted to see both of those grow next year. He said community outreach and youth are his two main focuses for 2009, I just grinned :)....we'll see what happens

Fishing, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations

It was quite a special week for me. I got to fish in the sea in quite an old school way. It was quite an experience right from the start. We met at 3:15am and drove down the coast. We got on the boat in darkness and headed out to sea. With dolphins, seals and a whale swimming right next to the boat almost with in reach at times it was quite an eye opening start to the day. I don't think I've ever seen such beauty. The sea with the first sparks of sunlight coming on it, if I didn't see it and photograph it myself I wouldn't believe it was real. As the sun rose we picked a few spots to start fishing.

There were about 15 of us in the boat. We cut our own bait even caught some of my own bait; we fished with just a line and a hook. I caught 12 fish which I thought was rather funny, I used two for bait so I ended up taking 10 home.

I celebrated thanksgiving on accident. We were going out to dinner and happened to come to a place that was only serving American style Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, ham veges and even pumpkin pie! It was great. I am so grateful to be here and experience so many new things and be involved in so many great projects.

Ursula, Byron and I had a Bible study this week which was nice and hopefully we'll keep up with it. Byron is excited to get involved with helping other youth recover from drug addiction and wants to get moving on that soon. Perhaps our soccer project can coincide with this. I want to get that moving soon.

The youth leader, 20 years old, has decided to study to become a pastor. He'll be studying at the University for the next two years, so he's not sure how much he'll be able to be involved with the youth. While it is sad to see him leave the group, we're excited for what the future has for him.

I watched the movie The Second Chance this week, twice. It is quite powerful and I strongly suggest any and all to watch it and the special features as well!

I got some excellent gifts from my sister Ann's friend that was in Cape Town this week for a wedding. Thank you for the early Christmas, I love it!

Tonight I'm heading to celebrate TLC's Christmas party which was sponsored by Dwight Wyse (thanks again!). It should be fun, Colleen is quite excited about it. I went to her earlier this week and saw her new office. It is located on a police stations campus. This has been tremendous for her because she's been able to minister to the youth, the police and also restore youth trust and comfort with the policemen that come and play with this kids. All of this has been great and the added security doesn't hurt either. I may help her with her project if I end up staying in CT next year.

Happy belated Thanksgiving and happy early Christmas!

Youth

Tonight at youth was a powerful experience. I tell you I was confident we would be delivered, but I was edgy because I felt so unprepared. When Byron told me two weeks ago he was teaching a program and wanted me to work with him on it I was excited again. Byron said he wanted his program to be on “Our Purpose” and I was immediately deflated. I had so many ideas and things I had lined up in my mind of what I wanted to talk about and none of them had to do with our purpose. I didn’t even know what that meant really and he tried to explain but I couldn’t seem to connect with it.

A week passed and I’ll be honest I had been busy and hadn’t put a ton of thought into it. We met and discussed and while we stuck to the topic we couldn’t come up with anything to surround it. I went home and ravaged the Word and couldn’t come up with anything that connected. I thought about the body and how we all work together and have different roles but it wasn’t right. I couldn’t come up with anything after another week had passed and it was the day before we taught. No Scripture, no activity, no music to connect anything.

That night before I came across one Scripture Romans 9:17, Byron also recalled a Pastor that had some stuff that might help us so he got that earlier today for tonight. He had also gone on a youth leadership camp over the weekend and it had reaffirmed the topic of our purpose. That was a focal point of the camp and while Byron tried to think of other topics he couldn’t get away from this one. I had given him a CD the week before (for two weeks I forgot but I happened to remember before he left for camp). The music from that CD was used all weekend as part of the camp and it was perfect for our program as well.

For our last presentation I had the whole discussion, questions and possible scenarios ready (if this happened then A if this then B), activities, purchased the props, etc. all together two weeks ahead of time. I had a typed up step by step of how it would run.

This time we reviewed about an hour before we taught and shared the one page he brought for his lesson. He said he wanted to just read from the paper and ask questions and see where it led. I tell you the truth - up until the moment we started I had no doubt it was going to go well even though I felt SO under prepared. Once it started though Byron read a few things and asked some questions. It was not going very well – we got one answer per question and honestly very generic and flat answers and no one seemed interested. We were moving through the paper quickly and it seemed we’d be done before 10 minutes had passed.

Then suddenly the mood changed, I can’t say why but we asked a question. What gets in your way between you and God? Some very “they” “we” “many youth” responses came back. We said again no, no, not what gets in some person’s or some youths - what gets in your way. And suddenly it was a very different night. Tears flowed and hearts were broken down. Occasionally there are prayer requests, tonight they didn’t stop. We went as a group to the chapel and prayed on our own but together in the room. We went over the time by an hour and not a single person left or complained or even looked at the clock.

Powerful stuff!

I came home still on fire and when Ursula poured her heart out about her hurt I finally had the words I’ve been waiting patiently (at times) for. I hope it helped. I know her words helped me with a lot of situations that are going through my family and friends lives right now.

And then...

This week's been a busy one. The meeting with UWC (University of Western Cape) went well. We have a plan to start in January with getting students together with a local multi-faith leadership group that Reverend Patrick is a part of. The students will help the faith groups attain national funding that is available, but difficult to apply for (or even figure out how to apply for).

Thank you Dwight Wyse for you and your family's generosity. Dwight told me that him and his family can sponsor TLC's Christmas party for the 50 children. That will on December 4th and they are elated to have sponsorship from America for it. Dwight also donated a website for the regional Nazarene church.

Today I helped setup and run a meal for about 70 seniors from the neighborhood. It was just a way for the Aloe Community Nutrition Center to say thank you to the community for support. We had a nice meal and gave away a few prizes. It was a fun time!

This week I also helped work on Mendiza's house in Mufalani. Mendiza is Ursula's cleaning lady (she treats her as a daughter) We were putting up curtains for her and we're getting some flooring for her as well. I also got to hang out at Masi again with the kids. Once Mendiza's house is finished I may stay there a night or two per week to help at Masi. I'd like to help get them some regular funding.

Reverend Patrick wants to talk to Thuli and not let me leave Cape Town :). There was a flood that displaced 1000+ families last week in Durban so I'll keep an eye on that situation and we'll see if it closes the door. We'll see what happens.

Updates

Hey just some quick updates -

I have been traveling around a bit and working on a number of things. People have been very generous here and from the US and I'm very grateful!

I visited Ursula's education center and we purchased 4 tables and 16 chairs so that the students could get off the floor of their pod. They have only some cheap plastic flooring and we'll hopefully be able to purchase a mat (rug) for them as well. Thank you Mike O'Malley (aka "Dad") for the contribution to purchase all of the above. Pictures on facebook soon!

I also visited a project I call Massy because I haven't quite conquered the X-cosa language enough to say the full name (that X is a click sound). This is an orphanage and the director there said I can come and work there any time. I might do that on Tuesday. Ursula's friends lives nearby and we're helping her finish her house that the Irish donated. BTW the Irish built some of the first few houses in SA which embarrassed the government at the time into doing some building of them own for those in need. Go Irish!

I got some scrap wood from a nieghbor and I'm going to build some goals and hopefully start a Sunday afternoon game for the youth in the neighborhood. There are regular drug busts and I'd like to get some of the kids that just wonder the streets doing something and have someone to talk with. Hopefully some of the youth at the church can help.

I got an excellent treat yesterday as I was invited to a wedding by one of Ursula's friends and then her brother for a gathering. Yesterday was the first day of Crayfish (Lobster) season so we had some excellent fresh lobster. The guys all had a good laugh asking about Obama and teaching me Afrikans. One of the fellas was very intrigued to meet an "American-American" and as he put it someone that brought the Bible to life. He was really moved that I was here without any personal tie to SA.

Byronand I'll be teaching again next Monday so please keep us in prayer!

Love and miss you guys!

Doubts?

Today's message at church was on doubt. We went to Genesis and talked about Eve's doubt and how it opened the door to failure. He talked about how often people try to put just the slightest doubt in our mind and how wide that opening swings into all sorts of things. Try this drug, try this drink, try this X - what is it for you?

I've been weighing the coversation about why bad things happen for a few days and I appreciate all the comments and the discussion I've been having with friends and family over email. The only thing that hasn't come up in my mind is doubt that there is a solution. Whether everyone accepts it or not I can't say, but for me I am content with "trusting God" as the answer. I have enjoyed having that peace while I worked through thoughts with different people.

Thank you all for praying for my sister and her child. Ronan Christopher Ames was born today!

It is looking more like I'll be staying in Cape Town until January. I'm going to a few projects this week and I think using the bus (about $2 round trip) I can go out 3 days per week to work at one of the orphanages.

Love and miss you guys.

Of whom shall I fear?

I went shark cage diving on Saturday and it was a powerful experience. We were only anchored for a few minutes when one swam past. Some are lucky to see one on a trip, some boats 100m from us didn't see any, we saw 16! 9 while I was in the cage. Most were 2-3m, not the huge guys, but big enough. The white sharks are really a beautiful creature up close and I was one of the first in the cage. It really was much scarier thinking about then doing. One swam up and nearly bumped the cage in front of my face. His fin was actually inside as if he were reaching out to touch me. Another went up over the cage and hit his chin on the top of the cage on his way down rocking us forward. It was incredible and I learned a lot. While I still respect them, I no longer feel afraid.

Monday night Byron and I led the youth. Once again I was a bit intimidated to speak to 30 kids on a difficult topic anywhere, but a little more in a country with high poverty. I spoke about sharing our possessions and the program went great. We had the kids split by world population (thank you elev8 for the idea) and the ones in first class had a number of drinks and snacks to choose from. The second were given descent things and the last, the largest group, got only water and a few crackers for the whole group. It was great because last Thursday one of the ladies had mentioned that she thought in the colored areas that people shared less and looked out for each other less. Ursula mentioned that many people from overseas did more for SA then the middle class in SA. The program went exactly as such.

Immediately when it started a girl in the third group went down and began breaking the crackers up for the group. After being served drinks and some time passed the first class decided to share their snacks with the third. After watching the first go the second followed. It was really amazing to watch it go that way I couldn't have planned it better. We had a wonderful discussion to follow and Byron shared about how moved he was to see the kids at Bap and how it changed him. Many kids raelly enjoyed the program and want to help be part of the change. I'm working with Ursula and some of the youth leaders to get a cultural tour for the youth. Many of them drive past the poverty often and don't know it or see it up close. Hopefully visiting will change their hearts.

I also went on a cultural tour again Monday where I went to a new project. A women named Beauty, who has AIDS and should have died some time ago according to doctors, started a B&B and a sewing project in Khayletcha. She is a Christian and said that God has gotten her through. Her roof is full of holes and the place is quite in bad shape, but she is making it, loving life and trying to teach others in the area to sew so they can create work for themselves. She has two sons that live under a tin roof full of holes. I gave her some money myself and will design business cards for her and try to help her how I can.

Yesterday I went to the soup kitchen and the school again. There were 80 students in the class because they don't have substitutes (think about that teachers in the US that want to complain about class size :) ) firing questions at me again. It's been a great personal experience and my comfort in front of a crowd, not normally a strong one for me in front of any age, is starting to improve. I also brought one of the Aviva volunteers to the school. He's going to try and get his middle school in the USA to adopt the school and help the kids pay their fees and maybe get some improved things for the school itself.

Today I visited another orphanage. This one may be able to use me on a regular basis. One of the ladies rides the bus from our area to there. I might be able to do that so this might be finally the project that I can work with on a regular basis besides the soup kitchen. I'm excited for the opportunity!

This weekend I'm hoping to purchase (thanks to Mike O'Malley aka Dad) chairs and tables for the education center that Ursula supports. He told me would donate some money and then Ursula mentioned she wanted to buy chairs and tables for her ec and then she would move on to helping Beauty's B&B get a new roof. If anyone wants to contribute or help with any of these projects let me know!

Africa

Sometimes it doesn't really feel like I'm in "Africa" because it is so western, the food, the stores, the cars and as some Americans have thought there are no lions in the back yard.

This week a few of the volunteers witnessed or were the victims of pick pocketing or muggings. Watching the news; the violence and killings - some in our part of Cape Town because of other Africans defecting to find jobs because of starvation. Africa got a lot more Africa to me, it seems. The other night as we drove home the event that kept me up all night was a young girl that ran across the street. It was late at night and very dark out. She was bare naked and running in what I can only describe as terror without looking across a four lane, busy divided highway. I'm not sure that I've ever witnessed someone running in terror before.

I wanted to go back, but the girl had disappeared through the woods and into a township where she would have been impossible to find. Ursula said that we wouldn't be able to find her and that we shouldn't stop in this area.

She looked very young and while we can't know what happened it is very likely based on the time, the area we were driving through and how she was running that she was rapped. That had a very sobering effect on me.

It was one of those things that you hate to see maybe don't ever want to, but you know it exists and when it's in front of you...you know I guess in some way that it is something I needed to see.

I lay awake just hurting for that girl and her family.

Ursula's neighbor asked me why does God allow these things to happen? I told Him that I didn't really fully understand and maybe I never will, but I that I do believe in free will and that we all make choices that aren't necessarily God's choice. I have made many bad choices that have hurt people and many have made some that have hurt me. I know I've grown far more from hurtful or potentially dangerous decisions sometimes in ways that I didn't really probably want to grow than I have from the easier ones. Things that I appreciated long after the fact, ways I can connect with hurting people and much more. I grew anyway as a result of situations regardless of the tangibles involved.

I definitely open the forum for discussion...

Buy a Donkey

No I'm not telling you to purchase an animal, that's the phonic spelling for thank you very much in Afrikaans (I don't know how to spell it). I just wanted to write about the last day. I've been really grateful for it.

I told some friends back home that sometimes I can only pray the words Thank you, because I don't know what else to tell God for all the good things that happens in my life. Yesterday it was funny because everyone prayed in Afrikaans for the whole service and I could only understand the words Thank you very much.

Yesterday was tough because the night before I couldn't sleep well. I'll tell later about what happened, but anyway it was tough to deal with, but yesterday I spent the day with Byron one of the youth from church. He shared about how he's cleaned up from drugs and drinking and really gotten on the straight path which has been good for his family and everyone around him.

We went by a lady's house who's son has gotten mixed into tuk (meth). Ursula took us by the house to talk with him, but he wouldn't come home. She cried to us and shared how she's trying and really appreciated us coming by and she might have done something really bad if we hadn't.

We took Byron to Bap with us when we were doing a pick up and he was so moved by the way the children ran to him he said that it completely changed his entire perspective of black Africans. He always thought before that they chose the life they lived and now he had a different outlook. I got to hold Gift, my buddy at Bap. I would guess he's about 4 or 5 years old and he always runs to me and won't let go of me. If someone else gets in my lap first he hangs on my arm and waits to pounce as soon as they get up.

It was a day of ups and downs, but I'm just grateful all that I'm getting to do and see and that I can be a part of so many people's lives.

Few Updates

I am not sure what I'll be doing or if I'll make it to Durban yet. I am waiting the two weeks Thuli requested and then we'll see what happens. I have a few projects here including a soup kitchen that I visited today. Thank you Kathleen (my sister) and Howie for your contribution to Nutritional Center (sorry not a soup kitchen). They do it every Tues and Thurs on their own money. They will have the government come in December to review for three months. Once that's complete they can get gov't money.

Meetings

I wanted to share about a few discussions/meetings I've visited last week. Oone was on Israel / Palestine situation. It was a group of local Muslim South Africans that are very involved in Israel and some young people from Israel that created a documentary about the Palestine situation. It was very intense and the discussion after was quite vivid. There were many Jews and some Muslims in attendance. Some were from Israel. It was quite interesting to be a Christian American in the midst of the discussion. I was dissapointed by the approach the movie crew took in calling in a discussion and wanting people to be open minded, but creating a one-sided video and starting out the gate by saying that Israel's treat Muslims like less than people. The responses however were not justified either and it was quite an enraged discussion.

I also attended a pastors meeting of various Christian organizations in the area. They are trying to create a unified discussion and sharing of ideas to further the efforts in Cape Town and try to not work together. I had seen a similar issue among Harrisonburg's non-profits and enjoyed the discussion. This meeting was about accountability. The leader told a story:
"A man got a call from his son's school and the teacher said that the boy had stolen a pencil. When the boy got home the man was furious, why did you take the pencil? I could have gotten it at work"
He challenged the Pastors to not be like the politicians and quick to spend the money unwisely that people trust them with. He also encouraged the Pastors to talk with their local political leaders and tell them what people's needs are. To be actively involved in politics. It was interesting to hear - definitely a different world here!

I also attended the youth leadership meeting. This was great because they are planning for next years activities so I did my best to stay as quiet as possible and let them run it themselves. I made it about half way through and then Leighton asked me what I thought and if I had some ideas. I shared a few but worked really hard not to give too much direction. They have some great ideas and are doing a good job. It is entirely youth run, a 20 year old in the groups leader, there is no youth pastor for the 50 or so people from age 13-31.

St Joseph's Kids

I want to share more, but I wanted to mention that Claire, Patrick's wife, was sharing a few stories with me about some of the kids at St Joseph's. She said that many of them have no future after school and her and the teachers started a fund to raise money to help them with school fees if they want to go to college.

They also collect a little food and money to send home care packages with kids especially at Christmas time, but also at other times. She said that two kids were in such bad shape because of lack of care that they had head lice and it was obvious they hadn't bathed in some time. She washed them and said she had never seen such gratitude over something so simple as a bath. As she washed them the one child looked up into her eyes and just kept saying thank you.

They sent someone by the house and found there was no food in the house and it was in pretty bad shape. There was a bath though and it seems that there just isn't much care for the child. It was really sad and she's putting together a care package for them to go home with. I gave some money that Teri and Brennan Trick gave me to help this family out (and if it was too much it could go to other children in need from St Jo's).

If anyone wants to help with these kids or others like them from St. Jo's let me know and I'll pass it along. Right now the Rand is very week $1 = R10 which is a great exchange rate so very little money can go a long way.

Thank you in advance for your generocity!

Professor O'Malley

I have more to say about all of the things I've been doing this week, but will try to do this again soon. I wanted to post a funny story though. Leighton is the 22 year old son ofPatrick and enjoys his jokes.

I was dressed nicer with a button down shirt when I came home from a meeting. Leighton was heading over to the University so I said I'd go with because I wanted to meet with someone in the writing department to talk about an idea of using writing students to help churches/non-profits go after government funding. Patrick said that many churches didn't know how to go after and didn't have the skills to go after millions of dollars in the government that was available.

So Leighton says good you're dressed nice they might think you're a professor (a nickname he's been calling me since I got here - not sure the exact origin probably because I have something to say about everything?). So I laugh and go on. Next thing I know we're in the office of the Writing Department and he introduces to the secretary as me as a professor from America with a project proposal. I blush and flinch, but stay quiet. The secretary didn't notice and makes a quick call to the Head of Department says there is a professor from Australia here to speak with ehr and not before she hung up the phone I'm on my way down the hall to meet the HOD. Leighton introduces me once again and then heads off to take care of his needs. I've recovered enough to just smile and shake her hand and she takes me to a conference room.

I shared my idea, about Immerge and how we've used interns and she asked me to email her the idea. I did so just now and we'll see how it goes. It was SO funny though. Leighton said later that he never could have gotten a meeting with an HOD.

Cape Town for longer - woo hoo!

Thuli and I spoke yesterday and unfortunately she is still having difficulty finding a place for me to stay. She has a trip to Jo'burg planned for two weeks, but she'll be continuing to work on housing arrangements. In the mean time Ursula has offered to put me up for as long as I need and continue to work with her business and projects.

That'll give me more time to work with the youth here. I have some ideas on projects that could incorporate some of the things I worked with the Nazarene youth, the United Way and the lacrosse game my friend Miguel Pires and I started at our high school in Northern VA.


Reverend Patrick and I spend the day together yesterday. We went and got a personal tour of one of the World Cup stadiums that's being built for 2010 (reconstructing an old stadium). Patrick shared how he used to play and many of his teammates went on to pro sports while he went in a different direction. Certainly no regrets though, he's done some great things for the community!

We also visited Father Patrick's Salesian Institute youth project (Irish priest from my mom's home town). He works with an excellent project involving street children. The teens come there off the streets age 17-24 and get cleaned up if they have drug problems or other issues. They then sign an 18 month contract where they work 8 hour days for room and board to learn life skills. Then they get help finding a job. The project has had a 100% success rate in finding work for the youth because they come out with such great skills.

We got a nice birds eye view of the beautiful city from a top one of the many hills in the area. Had some excellent fish and callamari on the Water Front. There Patrick and I shared a few ideas and I have projects in the US and with the University that hopefully he and I can see to fruition over the next few years to help churches and the community here.

Last night's discussion was our final stop, it was on reforming the electoral system. It was quite interesting to hear the ideas presented and hear the different struggles going on here.

There was discussion of should the major political party be divided and a one created, should there be a parliament with equal representation for accountability, how do they merge race and political direction and other ideas. It was really interesting to be there! I can imagine many countries including the US went through these exact town hall type discussions, but it was interesting to be in one in a country so early in its democracy.

I haven't been able to spend the day at St Joseph's because of various meetings going on this week, but hopefully some time I can go. I'd also like to see more of the Salesian Institute.

Change of Plans

I may be in Cape Town longer than expected. Thuli phoned yesterday to let me know she is still having difficulty finding a place for me to stay. Due to a large number of Zimbabwe refugees coming to the area and people giving up their homes to displace them it is a challenge to find safe housing for me. I'll know more later this week.

Ursula has been generous and offered to house me for as long as I like and I believe she wants me to stay here :). The District Superintendent (Patrick) of the area for Nazarenes has also opened his home to me (where I am now) for a few days and would be willing to keep me longer if I needed.

I am excited for the opportunity to stay longer in CT as I have gotten plugged in here and also have a number of young people that I can connect with and some projects to work on.

Saturday I went on the Cape of Good Hope tour all the way down to the Southern most tip of Africa. It was a great tour and we saw great views, seals, whales, monkeys, ostriches, penguins and more. We stopped at a number of places to view animals and the area. I saw where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean at the bottom of SA.

My favorite stop though was the baboons. We turned around in the bus to see a rather large baboon sitting in a car looking at a man outside the car. As best we can figure he opened the passenger seat and the man got out. Twice he got out and the man tried to come around to close the door, but both times the monkey ran back into the car. Finally it decided to see what the man was hiding and ran around the car and grabbed his backpack. That failed so the monkey showed his teeth then ran away. It was pretty funny though it could have been ugly!

I switched homes on Sunday while Ursula is on her week long tour. I'm staying with Patrick's family. I went to church on Sunday also and enjoyed it once again. Monday night I went to the youth service. They have asked me to speak next week (if I'm here) as they are interested in doing community outreach and want to hear more about what I've done in the US. I also played Fifa with one of Patrick's sons into the night.

Tomorrow I'm going with Patrick's wife to her place of work at St. Joseph's for the whole day (8-3). It is a Catholic church, hospital and school in one. She is a Sped teacher there and I'll spend the day with kids. So many sad stories there of desertion, AIDS and lack of finances. Many very bright students from there can go no where after finishing high school because they can't afford to go to college. Patrick's wife started a scholarship funded by teachers to help some of the students. She's hoping to do more and I hope that maybe JMU could help take some bright students in.

Also tomorrow evening Patrick and I are going to visit the priest from my mom's home town in Ireland (he's doing work in CT) and then to see a speaker at the University talking about economics. Should be interesting!

If I want to come back in 2010 for the WC I have been assured a place and a ticket to a game.

Love and miss you!

Still no pics

Hey these computers don't like me. I can't get my thumb drive to be accepted here. Will try soon - google everything good about Cape Town and you'll see all I've seen.

I went and spent time with the youth of the church last night. It was fun sharing with them and seeing how they teach and how passionate their youth are. It was quite exciting to see. They talked about self-control and the values of it in daily life. Some of the kids shared about recovering from drug usage since coming to church.

I went to the district 6 museum and learned all about the history of Cape Town and the horrible racism that went on here only 50 years ago. They kicked an entire town out (anyone not pure European) and demolished their town and forced them out of the area. They did not use the land for anything even to today, they just didn't want other races near their precious city. There was a guy that lived in the area at the museum and shared his story. It was moving. I also went and saw the musical / play regarding it last evening. It was quite funny, tough and well done. It was interesting to see the different dynamic of the people watching. What I found somber (someone getting shot) the crowd laughed because they knew it so well.

I've been on the Winelands tour all day today with some of the volunteers who were doing wine tastings. I am seeing a number of areas, I pet an adult cheetah today while he purred away and I went to butterfly world where among other things I had monkeys and iguanas on my shoulder.

I returned to Bap for a while and hung out with the kids. They climb all over you and are desperate for love and attention. It is so sad, but I'm glad there are so many volunteers to love on them.

TLC was my favorite visit so far though. We went to visit a lady named Collin who sold her mansion and left a high paying job to start an organization called TLC. She has collected kids from off the street, prostitutes and more. I have awesome pictures and videos from my visit. The kids were so sweet and kind. They sang and had a good time though they had so little. She has started 5 farms for people to live on and share food and land. About 200 kids come from these farms to meet with her where she teaches them sex ed, Christian ed, provides what food she can and loves on them. They adore her. If you want to give to anything please give to this great org! Don and Linda from HFCN gave me some money when I left and I passed it on to TLC. She has no formal funding, but always seems to come up with what she needs for her projects when she needs them. She showed us the church where some kids played a tune for us on their recorders. Then she took us to one of the houses which was certainly tough to see. They have cobble floors and cracks in the walls and roofs, but seem grateful that they have what they have.

If you would like to support any projects that I share about please let me know via email or on the blog and we'll figure out how to support them!

Love and miss you guys!

More Adventures

Hey all -

These computers don't have thumb drive access at the cafes. So no pics for now. Trips been good, but gotten more challenging. We visited Baphumalele and the townships. For as far as you can see are tin roofed houses and many people trying to sell anything on the road side they can. Bap as it is referred too is a great project, but so sad to visit all the orphans and know that it is one of the better funded projects in SA. I only got to visit for a few, but it was tough. I'll spend a half day there this week.

I rested some yesterday, the jetlag still kind of hitting me though I tried to ignore it.

Today I went to church, we marched for 30 minutes as part of the world wide celebration of 100 years of the Nazarene church. It was cool to be celebrating on the other side of the world, but knowing many back home were also. They had some great music and dancers as part of the service. The service was English instead of Afrikans just because i was there! Can you imagine? Such a generous and warm people.

We had a great lunch after. Then my tour guide host took me and a Bap American volunteer to the Water Front. We had a great time walking around checking the sites, seeing all the gorgeous African art and crafts work and hearing some awesome street side musicians.

Busy week ahead. I'll try to figure out the picture thing soon.

Be well,

MO

First Blog

Hey all -

Made it to Cape Town safe and sound. Had a nice long flight, a long layover in Qatar and a long flight again, but it wasn't too bad. The service was excellent and it felt more like I was flying in a limo than a plane!

When I landed I was quickly found by Reverend Patrick of the Nazarene church here. He brought me to Ursula who has adopted me as her child. She took me on a quick evening tour and then we picked up her son, an intern at a sports clinic (training to be a PT), had a steak for dinner and then I slept for a few hours last night.

Today I suffered through an amazing breakfast with eggs, sausage, weetabix and more. Ursola connected me with some 20-some volunteers that she works with. Many of them are working with the project I had originally looked into call Baphumele. Funny how those things work out.

I tried to cure my jet lag with a 2 hour hike up Table Mountain. I'll tell you on the next blog if it was a good idea or not. I then visited world of birds where I got to see VERY up close many animals including monkeys (sat on my shoulder), all sorts of birds, kangaroos, ostrich (ate out of my hand) and more.

Great first day in CT. All safe and so far so good. This weekend I'll be visiting an orphanage and do some other visits. Ahead in Ursula's plans for me are a boat ride to Seal Island (maybe see some great white's breaching?), Robben Island, perhaps a safari, the Nazarene church on Sunday with the youth and more.

Love you all lots!

Off I Go

I have a contact in Cape Town through the Nazarene Church there who has set me up with a place to stay. I will be staying with a tour guide for the two week visit to Cape Town, so I'm excited to have such a perfect host.

I'm leaving Harrisonburg this morning and will spend the day with my family. Then leave around 11pm for South Africa. I'll land Thursday afternoon at my final destination after two layovers.

I hope you have a great day!

Set to go 9/30!

Hey all,

I have received my Visa this morning and I am all set to head to South Africa for one year. I leave September 30. I'll land in Cape Town and spend two weeks visiting there before heading on to Durban where I'll be working with Thuli Dumakude, Founder and President of Thembalethu for the year.

Thuli will have me assisting with Thembalethu, as well as adding technology aspects to her business and teaching at the school she supports.

I'm not sure what kind of communication access I'll have available so this blog will be my primary way of keeping people in the loop until I figure out the best way to stay in touch.