Africa, Whatever You Thought, Think Again.

I walked into the Marriott hotel in Washington DC, hand in hand with my dad. A pang of nervousness swept through me as I neared the hotel room where my future classmates awaited me. I prepared to step further out of my comfort zone than ever before. The next day, I would board a plane to Southern Africa with 17 strangers. Together, we formed The Traveling School. I separated from my dad, took a deep breath and stepped through the open hotel room door. The other students packed their bags anxiously, ensuring they had not forgotten anything that would be essential to our semester abroad. They paused for a moment to smile at me. I smiled back and introduced myself; my journey begun.

As days in Africa flew by, I grew closer with the girls than I ever thought possible. We began to tell each other everything, and to trust the group with our deepest emotions. I experienced an Africa I didn’t picture before my arrival. We traveled through Southern Africa, where we saw people from various areas, some lived in wealthy areas, while others lived in townships. Townships are areas originally established during Apartheid to separate races. During our first experience in a township, we didn’t know what to expect. We drove down the dusty road with tin houses flying by on either side of us. They were multi-colored with doors made of scrap metal. that looked as if they would fly away at any second. Most of these homes lacked running water and electricity, but the smiles that radiated off of the faces we passed suggested they were happy. 

Our van skidded to a halt outside of a small food stand where roasted cows heads dangled, waiting to be sol. Our guide, Toni, told us to step out of the van to walk down the townships crowded roads .The looks on the other girls faces mirrored my thoughts. doubting the safety of the township, but once our teachers began exiting, we concluded it was acceptable. We walked down the dirt path with caution, observing the world surrounding us while stray dogs ran at our heels. The residents of the township stared at our group as we walked by, as if to ask “why are you here?”. As we neared the end of the road a young boy approached us, his black hood drawn over his eyes. His wide smile revealed glowing white teeth as he shouted “Toni, I’ve lost your number!”. When he reached our group, Toni pulled his hood from his face, “what are you hiding from?” he asked. The boy giggled and waved to me and my classmates. “Hello, how are you?” he asked. Toni continued to talk to him for a dew minutes before bidding him farewell. They boy smiled at us one last time and skipped into the distance, swallowed by a cloud of dust. “Great kid, isn’t he? Toni beamed. We smiled in agreement, the boys smile seemed to be contagious. A few moments later Toni stopped again. “He is HIV positive. He also has fetal alcohol syndrome.” The smiles that once radiated off of our faced disappeared. We had all heard of HIV, but had yet to knowingly encounter someone effected. Our guide explained the boys passion for music, and his natural talent. Colleges, however, refuse to grant him any scholarship money due to his health, and without financial aid, he can’t afford to attend. 

The experience of meeting someone someone with HIV impacted me significantly. The disease I’ve learned so much about for years now had a face. HIV took away the physical health of the boy, along with his ability to peruse his dreams of college. His smile and positive energy replayed in my head. I envied his optimistic attitude, and wished I could find a way to help him go to school. Unfortunately, he does not stand alone. South Africa has the highest rated of HIV/AIDS in the world, and I met other children that fight the same battle the boy does everyday. 

As our trip went on, we continued to become closer to each other. We learned by doing, unlike any school at home. We did service work, including teaching classes, and the manual labor of building. I learned about various education systems in different parts of Africa by talking to local teachers and getting to know students. I witnessed the struggles students face to receive an education. By listening to the stories of people i met, I gained knowledge textbooks can not provide. They told me stories of hardships they have faced personally, and have me their perspective on the politics of their country. I no longer needed  to read facts online or in a book about the South African government, I heard various perspectives of people effected by it on a daily basis instead. 

Africa left me with cultural experiences and lessons I will carry with me for a lifetime. My peers and teachers challenged my thought process, and provided new perspectives that advances my thinking. i learned what it means to work in a group, and to live in a community. Our motto for our trip proved to be true; Africa, whatever you thought, think again. 

Beauty Lies In the Eyes of the Beholder.

What image pops into your head when you hear Africa? Before coming to Africa, I pictured a big, open, sandy desert, packed with elephants, zebras, and cheetahs. For you, it may be different but if you’ve never been here, you probably can’t picture everything that lies within this complex continent. If you asked me that same question now after being in africa my answer would be townships. Townships are areas originally created in times of Apartheid. Their original purpose was to separate races, blacks, coloreds, and whites, not only from living in the same home, but also the same area. Today, different ethnic groups aren’t forced to continue to live in townships based on race, but many people choose to continue this lifestyle, or can’t afford to break the pattern.

Our first experience in a township was in Cape Town, South Africa. My group of 18 women piled into a van to “tour” a township. As we turned a corner, I got my first glimpse of township. I felt shocked that people lived in these tiny, mulit-colored shacks made of a slab of wood, and a sheet of aluminum. The majority of these homes have no running water, electricity, or a roof that would be reliable in any sort of rain or wind. As we continued to drive through the area, I saw little kids running around barefoot staring at our van shouting “Lungu,” white people. Some of the children looked sick, with runny noses and glossy eyes, but most looked hungry, their ribs visible underneath their torn shirts. Near the end of the tour, I saw cows heads roasting outside, being skinned to be served as a “delicacy of the area.” We toured on a Wednesday, yet adults sat outside almost every home, staring blankly into the distance. “The people here are so lazy,” our tour guide remarked, “They don’t try to make a better life for themselves.” 

After we finished our tour and returned to our hostel, the feeling of sadness and anger overtook me. There wasn’t a glimpse of hope that I saw that day, and I felt terribly for the children that are forced to follow on their parents footsteps. I wondered how these people felt who lived in the township. Do they feel as badly for themselves as I felt for them or are they happy with their lifestyle?

Recently, we toured a smaller township in Knysna, South Africa, and my pervious perceptions of townships changed completely. We turned a corner, and at the first glance, everything was the same. The same shacks made of unreliable material, the same barefoot children gawking at our truck, but as we stepped into the village, everything changed for me. We were greeted with open arm. The children smiled and hugged us as we approached them. We walked into a church service and the priest stopped his service momentarily to greet our group, and welcome us to their community. The people in the church sang loudly with soul and passion. They sang of their faithfulness to the Lord, and how thankful they were that God continues to watch over their families.

After church, we went to a children’s center where we served lunched to the children of the township. Their hopeful eyes looked up at us, smiling, eager for their meal. They ate with us, laughed with us, and welcomed us. It was an eye opening experience to interact with the happiest children we had met thus far on our journey. Their faces are ones I will never forget. Looking around the room I saw smooth coco skin, bright eyes,and smiles, but mostly I saw hope. Something I wasn’t able to experience on our last township tour through Cape Town.

Our group also went to our tour guide Ella’s home after serving lunch. She welcomed us with juice and warm bread, and began to tell us her story. She explained that she has been running the soup kitchen for two years. The kitchen provides lunch for up to 40 children daily, off of 100% donated food. I was so relieved to hear that people care. They care enough about the children who don’t have the resources to eat on a daily basis to donate food to the soup kitchen, and Ella cares to take time out of her day to make sure the food is cooked and the children are fed. After Ella finished her story, the room filled with silence. I processed everything I had seen and heard, and happiness swept over me. I no longer felt angry or upset.

It is hard to say if the township in Cape Town would have had the same amount of hope under the surface, had we been able to experience it ore. Regardless, both experiences changed me. I am inspired by the hope and happiness shown in the eyes of the children surrounded by poverty and sickness. The people of Knysna were accepting, I couldn’t help but wonder what we would have experienced in Cape Town. There are many aspects of Africa, mnay different kinds of people, and many different beliefs. It’s impossible to generalize “Africa” into one or two sentences. I’ve learned that generalizations are completely misleading and incorrect. I have only experienced two townships to far, I can’t even begin to imagine what my thoughts witll be after our four month trip comes to a close. People who have nothing in our eyes can have everything in their own. There is hope and happiness in places we would never expect to find it, and there is strength and dedication among people we would never think of. Are the people of Africa “lazy?” Do they have “no motivation to make a better life for themselves?” Or, beneath the surface of poverty, is there happiness and faith?

haven't written in ages...

wow, this is the first time i have found myself with access to internet, and time to write. with finals over i can finally sit back and enjoy my last few days in africa. since i last wrote we experienced more than i can put in words. we did another service project in mozambique which was amazing, we worked with african impact at a local preschool, and taught classes, organized crafts, and most of all, spent time with the children attending the school. The main language in mozambique is portuguese, so communication was much harder than in south africa and mozambique where most people could speak english pretty fluently. At our serivce project, i met a young girl named Meida. Her dad had just passed away days before i met her and she was devistated by his loss. She cried most days, and wouldn't leave my side. Her mother had also oassed away a few months before. An orphan now, Miedia was desperate for love and attention and i did my best to provide her with all the comfort possible. Whenever i talked to her and managed to get her to smile or laugh, it made my day. By the end of our 5 day servcie project, i managed to teach Media how to say i love you in english, and it was the most adorable thing to say "Meida, I love you" and have her look up at me and say "i love you too." Her smile stays with me and i think about her every day. Its devistating to think about children that lose their parents on a daily basis to HIV/AIDS or other causes. After our service project we visiited an orphanage. That experience is one i will never forget. The children sang to us, danced and laughed as we tried to join them. We had the opportunity to set up stations and teach them how to do math, read, and for the little ones, how to make kites. After, we all danced and sang together in a big circle, feednig off of eachothers positive energy. The children at both the orphanage and the preschool were desperate for our love. as soon as we stepped off of the truck they grabbed onto your hand and begged to be lifted up. After the orphanage, we were able to teach an english class to the adults in the city. Myself, and four other classmates taught the advaced group. we formed a lesson plan and worked witth adults 18-30 on their reading and writing skills. I met a boy named Benni, who was 20 years old and spoke beautiful english. I connected with him immediately (no, not in that way) and had a long conversation about how the us culture compares to mozambique. he made me a bracelt before we left as a sign of his appreciation which was amazing. After we went to barra lodge in mozambique where we spent 9 days in paradise scuba diving and doing science lessons underwater! we learned abour underwater ecosystems and oceanography! I hated scuba diving...but hey, i tried. After leaving barra we went to swaziland breifly and then back to south africa. We had thanksgiving in rocktail with some of the girls parents which was a great way to have a temporary substitute for our own parents. Since then, we have been travelling through south africa overcoming a few bumps in the road. now, we are in a climbing town in south africa finishing school and soaking in our last week together as a group. i have grown incredibly close to some of the girls here and going home is going to be really hard. i can't wait to see my family, and when i get home i willl type and post a few essays i've written in my time here that reflect on my experiences. i continue to thank god everyday for blessing me with the opportunity to go on such an life changing journey. <3