Today I read a letter I wrote to my class (in Xhosa) explaining why I had to leave. After I read it a girl, sesethu, got up in front of the kids and said "Joshua we will miss u forever always, u always play with us and make us laugh. We will love u forever even until we leave ukhanyo, even until we are old grannies we will love and remember you we will never forget you Joshua." As she said that I of course started tearing up, and when the kids saw me crying they all started crying as well. I went to the front of the room and asked for a hug and all the kids came up and gave me a 45 person crying hug. That's a moment I will never forget. After school, a girl named Kuhle came up and gave me a big bag of letters from all the kids. When I got home that evening I told myself not to get too emotional as I read them, but that was never gonna happen. I made it through the first 20 without crying...but after that I was broken. Each letter I read turned the crank more and more on the water works. I knew that I made a little difference in these kids lives but I never realized how much I have actually impacted them.
"Joshua why you leave? I'm so sorry what happened to you. I need you Joshua you are best friend. I love you Joshua I never forget you." - Siphelo.
"to Joshua. I want to thank you for teaching us. You make us laugh and you play. When you are here i happy, when you not here I sad. You love kids and we love you. Thanks. The person who wrote this is siyathemba."
You see? There's 42 more of those...and I still get to sneak into their class and see them whenever I want...I can't imagine the goodbye that will happen when I leave them forever in a month. I hereby make a promise to return to Cape Town and Masiphumelele at least one time for at least a little while over the next 5 years. I want to see my kids grow up.
Cheers
Joshua
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
October 7th, 8th, 9th
I enjoyed this specific 3 day weekend at a music festival an hour inland from Cape Town entitled Rockin the Daisies. If you're interested in learning about it, youtube "Rockin the Daisies" and you'll see how awesome it is. I'd rather not go into too much detail, seeing as how some crazy stuff happened and I don't want my family members reading about those things ;) so if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask, and Ill answer over the privacy of email or fb chat. I mostly put this post on here so when I look back at my blog in a couple months, in a year, in 10 years, I will remember that I was a daisy, and a proud one!
Cheers
Cheers
Garden
We started building a garden for the school on October 3rd. It is now the 17th, and although we hve no doubt made some progress, I am at the point of pure boredom. I would rather not go into detail about how difficult it has been to get to the point where we are now at...just thinking about how difficult a process this has been kind of makes me angry. I did not sign up to come to South Africa and work on a big piece of grass that seems to be straight out of hell. One part of the grassy area we are working on is a spot where kids go to the toilet, it literally is just a horrifying location that smells of feces and urine. Another area has trash bags buried a foot underground, that have been there for so long roots have grown through them. Another area has trees that need uprooting, which isnt as easy as the orcs in Lord of the Rings make it look. Another area is scattered with bricks buried a foot underground. The entire plot has enormous 20 ft long planks stuck 3 inches deep that needed removing, 150 lb stones that are also buried and needed removing, is also littered with a decades worth of trash. After working on the area that smells of poop, I didnt eat anything for two days, it smelled so horrific I nearly threw up on 5 different occasions. Literally, I was on hands and knees dry heaving, I was just lucky that my appetite had gone so I didn't have anything to throw up. The only thing that keeps me working on the garden is the hope that after we go, someone will finish it for us, and in the end there will be a nice useable garden (that we helped contribute in building) that will be used by the school. Gotta think about the kids.
I just want to go back to my classroom. I miss it so much.
Cheers
I just want to go back to my classroom. I miss it so much.
Cheers
Sunday, 16 October 2011
October 1st
Today was a pretty damn gloomy day. Will just informed our group that the Western Cape Education Department has asked the principal of Ukhanyo to assess the abilities of the primary schools teachers. Usually I would say fantastic! Since Ukhanyo needs as much help as it can get, it seems like a logical step to assess where in the school they do need help, and where they do not need help! But the Principal has interpreted this request from WDEC as "we need to know how good your teachers are at their job, so take the volunteers out of the classroom." Andrew, Neal, Jenny, and I have been forced out of the classrooms where we have taught for the last month. Why? Not because we are doing a poor job (in fact the teachers freak out whenever we aren't assisting them, they really depend on our assistance), not because our help is needed elsewhere, just because that is how the principal has interpreted the WCED's request. I took it rough when I had to move out of my first class, and I had only been there for 2 days. I've been in Miss Xhabsy's class for a month...I have become so close with my class I can't explain it. I bring kids presents when it is there birthdays, I share my lunch with them, they do me a favor whenever I ask them to, they smile and give me a thumbs up whenever I see them (and vice versa), I know all of their names...I am heart broken that I can no longer teach them. It seems ludicrous that the WCED wants to help the school and as a method of assistance they are removing the help that we as volunteers offer. I guess it just gives us a little insight on how poor the education system is here in South African townships.
A not so happy cheers :(
A not so happy cheers :(
Wrap up of September
Sorry about the lack of blogs once again guys, in all honesty its just a combination of the internet being slow in our house and the fact that Im too lazy to wait for pages to load. I've typed up multiple blogs on my iphone, but I haven't put any on the internet. Ill spend the next half hour doing so....here's the first one, the wrap up of September.
So I initially signed up for PE, but when I arrived at the school we were volunteering at, I immediately recognized that my skills would be put more to use in a classroom. So I moved from the court to a grade 3 class (I later realized that this class was a class of all the worst kids in at that age in the school. Every teacher at the end of the year takes their worst couple of kids in their class, and boots them out. All of these "delinquents" get put into the same class, so we are left with a class of all the worst behaved kids in the grade. That was my class) and helped teaching. After 2 days though I was moved from that class to a grade 4 class. I was sad at first to leave, but after a month I have become so close with Miss Xhabsy's class (the teacher) that I could never have imagined not being moved. Not only do I always get to play with them and get to hear them laugh (which makes me tick, I love it so much), I get to grade their papers and enter marks, so after a couple weeks I could see who the bottom and top students were in terms of grades, and all the ones in between. I know my class so well that I know all 43 kids names (not as easy as it seems when the names arent derek, alex, and tim...they are vuyolwethu, athenkosi, xolile, qhamani, emihle, amahle, lihle, lisakhanya, sibabalo, nomnikelo...you get the point). And its not just my class that I love. The whole school is awesome. I can't walk 2 feet around the school grounds without hearing some little shout "Josh-ew-ah!" and wave me over, only to have him/her punch me and run away so I chase them down and tickle them to death. Every day I play with the kids so much that when I return home at 4 o clock, my shirts and shorts are stretched out, torn, and brown with dirt.
On 4 different days, all of Masi's water connection was just shut off. So, of course, Ukhanyo lost water, so on these days school was let out by 11 o clock. Its insane!! In a geographical area the size of down town Mercer Island, 45,000 people are crammed into back-to-back tin shacks, and they don't even have the gaunruntee of water. Amazing how different some parts of the world can be. And I don't mean half way across the world either...just down the street from Masi are 3 story houses with Nissan 350z's hanging out in the drive way and sprinklers spraying their freshly pruned gardens...its disgusting how people just let Masi go on existing the way it is without even considering helping the Xhosa people at all.
Every Monday and Thursday, the mulungus (white volunteers) play the pe teachers in a 5 aside match. I started out a little rusty, but as the games went on, my play has been improving and improving. The last couple games I've been scoring goals like crazy! Pastor, a 20 something security gaurd for the school, has been watching me play, and as he is an excellent player as well, he wants to bring me with him when he goes to a trial for ajax cape town...we'll see how that works out!!
If you've seen the picture of me standing with a friendly faced lady with my Beastside sweatshirt on, thats moms. She calls me her son, and promises that she wont let anything happen to me. She works in the administration with the other ladies, and is oh so sweet, as are the other ladies (Zakes, Bongz, Linda, and Belinda). I went out to Zakes house one day with Moms and Bongz and a couple Masi guys (who happened to be police officers) and we had a braii and danced to music and joked around...it was great. They taught me the song Loliwe by Zahara (look it up on youtube) which is just beautiful, whenever I listen to it when I'm back home, it will bring back vivid memories of Masi. I sing Loliwe when I walk around Ukhnayo and Masi, and everyone, from students to adults, laugh and laugh because they love hearing me sing it so much. I should record a video of me singing it in front of some people because it really makes any situation brighter and more fun.
My first month in Cape Town makes me never want to leave!!! I've learned so much its crazy...I'll post my next blogs later on today. Thanks for reading!! Once again, ask me whatever questions you want, I love questions!
Cheers
Joshua
So I initially signed up for PE, but when I arrived at the school we were volunteering at, I immediately recognized that my skills would be put more to use in a classroom. So I moved from the court to a grade 3 class (I later realized that this class was a class of all the worst kids in at that age in the school. Every teacher at the end of the year takes their worst couple of kids in their class, and boots them out. All of these "delinquents" get put into the same class, so we are left with a class of all the worst behaved kids in the grade. That was my class) and helped teaching. After 2 days though I was moved from that class to a grade 4 class. I was sad at first to leave, but after a month I have become so close with Miss Xhabsy's class (the teacher) that I could never have imagined not being moved. Not only do I always get to play with them and get to hear them laugh (which makes me tick, I love it so much), I get to grade their papers and enter marks, so after a couple weeks I could see who the bottom and top students were in terms of grades, and all the ones in between. I know my class so well that I know all 43 kids names (not as easy as it seems when the names arent derek, alex, and tim...they are vuyolwethu, athenkosi, xolile, qhamani, emihle, amahle, lihle, lisakhanya, sibabalo, nomnikelo...you get the point). And its not just my class that I love. The whole school is awesome. I can't walk 2 feet around the school grounds without hearing some little shout "Josh-ew-ah!" and wave me over, only to have him/her punch me and run away so I chase them down and tickle them to death. Every day I play with the kids so much that when I return home at 4 o clock, my shirts and shorts are stretched out, torn, and brown with dirt.
On 4 different days, all of Masi's water connection was just shut off. So, of course, Ukhanyo lost water, so on these days school was let out by 11 o clock. Its insane!! In a geographical area the size of down town Mercer Island, 45,000 people are crammed into back-to-back tin shacks, and they don't even have the gaunruntee of water. Amazing how different some parts of the world can be. And I don't mean half way across the world either...just down the street from Masi are 3 story houses with Nissan 350z's hanging out in the drive way and sprinklers spraying their freshly pruned gardens...its disgusting how people just let Masi go on existing the way it is without even considering helping the Xhosa people at all.
Every Monday and Thursday, the mulungus (white volunteers) play the pe teachers in a 5 aside match. I started out a little rusty, but as the games went on, my play has been improving and improving. The last couple games I've been scoring goals like crazy! Pastor, a 20 something security gaurd for the school, has been watching me play, and as he is an excellent player as well, he wants to bring me with him when he goes to a trial for ajax cape town...we'll see how that works out!!
If you've seen the picture of me standing with a friendly faced lady with my Beastside sweatshirt on, thats moms. She calls me her son, and promises that she wont let anything happen to me. She works in the administration with the other ladies, and is oh so sweet, as are the other ladies (Zakes, Bongz, Linda, and Belinda). I went out to Zakes house one day with Moms and Bongz and a couple Masi guys (who happened to be police officers) and we had a braii and danced to music and joked around...it was great. They taught me the song Loliwe by Zahara (look it up on youtube) which is just beautiful, whenever I listen to it when I'm back home, it will bring back vivid memories of Masi. I sing Loliwe when I walk around Ukhnayo and Masi, and everyone, from students to adults, laugh and laugh because they love hearing me sing it so much. I should record a video of me singing it in front of some people because it really makes any situation brighter and more fun.
My first month in Cape Town makes me never want to leave!!! I've learned so much its crazy...I'll post my next blogs later on today. Thanks for reading!! Once again, ask me whatever questions you want, I love questions!
Cheers
Joshua
Monday, 12 September 2011
Day 18? 19? 17? Shoot I've lost track.
Hello my lovely family! Dearest Chasans, dearest Canfields I am so sorry I havent been updating my blog. I just am so focused on what is going on around me that I forget to let all my followers back at home know what Im up to! I just hate sitting on the computer when I could be out kicking a ball, or wandering the city around me to learn more about it. My mom has pleaded and pleaded tho, so I will take a few chunks from my and hers back and forth over email and insert in my blog so you can all read up on how im enjoying myself. Some things that arent included below: I went seal diving on Saturday, and cage diving with Great Whites on Sunday!!! It was awesome!!! The seals are so friendly, they are the puppies of the sea. They love to bounce around and do flips with you, and they love clapping their fins and barking with happiness!! The cage diving was so intense...those are some scary beasts, let me tell you. But I will have all you readers know that after I went diving with those big ol sharkies, my fear of them lowered dramatically...did you know more people get killed by toasters every year than by sharks? More people get killed by chairs, CHAIRS, then by sharks...so, ya. Oh and how could I forget...on Friday, I went to my first club in Cape Town. Well, Ive already been to one, but that was on a Wednesday night. This was Friday. WOW. WOW. WOWZERZ. WOW. I thought I had seen beautiful girls in my life, and then I walked in the doors "Fez." Now I have so many reasons to go to UCT; the natural beauty of the land, the ocean, the animals, the sea life, the surfing, the 7 soccer channels, the rugby, how nice the people are, Masi, and now, how gosh darned spanking HOT the girls are. Not that Im going to marry one of these club hoppers, but I will certainly have my fun for the next 6 or so years in Cape Towns club life, oh yes I will.
On to my back and forth with my mom..if anything is unclear, feel free to comment and I will respond with pleasure:
Every week day is the same in some ways and different in others. Every weekday im at the school, in the classroom that ive been moved to. Miss Xhabsi is the teacher (click-absi), and shes great. The class is much more well behaved then my last class, but I dont want to help the kids that dont need help, I want to help the kids that do need help :( Every day im helping miss do various things, from typing new assignments on her laptop to grading assignments (quick anecdote to show you that Im really in Africa; one of the assignments had a part where the kids defined english words. One of the words was abuse. The kids either looked up the definition in the dictionary and wrote that down, or put something like 'abuse is when bullies steal my rand.' I was scating through the papers, until one girl wrote "Abuse: Abuse is when my father has sex with me." I just stared at the paper for a while in disbelief...) Its very interesting being an assistant, as sometimes I am correcting Miss Xhabsi's english, and helping her explain things in a simpler way to her students...I suppose its not all that weird though, as thats what a teachers assistant should be doing, right? Helping out and stuff!
All i heard about SA before i came was about how dangerous everything was going to be, and how scary everyone was, but it is really quite the opposite. Everyone, EVERYONE I walk past on the street nods, smile, and gives me a thumbs up. The bartender at the bar we go to the most often consistently gives me free drinks...but who knows, the more I think about it, the more I think that the only reason I am being treated so well is that I am going out of my way to treat everyone around me well. Just like my mama always says, if I can pass love on to one person, they can pass love on to another person, who can pass love on to another, and so on and so on.
Ive been surfing a couple times, which I have fallen in love with. Its soooooo fun!!! Were so unlucky in seattle with no surf spots!!! Im sleeping fine, eating fine. Our maid Belinda makes us sandwiches for lunch every weekday (sometimes theyre mayo, tomato, and cheese :/ mostly theyre good tho ) and cooks us up a dinner every weekday. Weekends we get to eat out. Im trying to find some nice cultural food, but its very hard here for some reason. I guess ill just have to look harder. Today though (September 12th), a couple coaches, volunteers, and I went out to lunch in the township...wow, it was so DELICIOUS!! 11 of us walked into the "braii" (south african barbecue) and ordered some raw meat to be thrown on the grill. We each had multiple beef and pork steaks (I think we ordered 25 steaks) and sodas, and we only paid 220 rand. Thats R20 a person, which is less then $3 for 2 steaks and a drink...remember though that this was in Masi, where no one lives in nice living conditions. Shacks for houses, broken down cars everywhere, broken glass cover the streets, and 1/3 people have HIV. Still, the meal was the best Ive had all trip. Cant wait to go back.
These last two weeks have opened my eyes to the amount of soccer talent in the world that no one knows about, because the talent resides in small, poor, unknown villages. Every day after i do my teaching, from 2:30-3:30 us volunteers set up five a side games. The majority of kids who play with us are between 8-11 years old. I have NEVER seen such talent at this age. The ball skills, the passing and shooting skills, and the tactical awareness of these kids makes me nearly soil myself every time I see them play. 90% of kids are unbelievably talented, 5% are a little less talented but still talented, and the other 5% are gems. Absolute gems. They would be the next messi's of the world if a club signed them and put them to work, but no clubs know about them. In all the seriousness, whoever is reading this should come down to visit me so you can watch these kids play. THEY ARE 8 YEARS OLD!!! Some of them are better than me, they're just small so they can't compare in strength.
Here is my plan. My new found passion, if you will. Ive talked previously many a time with my family about going to University of Cape Town. UCT is a half hour drive from Masiphumelele, the township that the school resides in where I teach and these little pele's play. Plan: I want go to UCT, earn a degree in business (MBA) and every day during the week come to Masi to coach these kids. More specifically, I would set up a month long tryout where I would decipher who the greatest of these players are (there are 1400 students, around 800 boys, around 400 are between 7-12) and handpick my team of all-stars which would consist solely of that 5% of gems. If I went to UCT for 6 years to earn my degree, and spent 6 years coaching my boys, by the time they were 15-18 yrs of age, I would have the South African national team on my hands...and if not, then its not like I waisted my time because I had just gotten my MBA!!!! But, say they did become as great as I think they will, then not only will I have a team of greats, but I have a degree in business to bring them somewhere.
I hope that all makes sense! Like I said please feel free to ask any and all questions...I love answering questions!!! I just dont like having to take an hour out of my day to rethink my day and type it up.
The ultimate point you should take out of this editions blog is this: I am fairly sure I am going to UCT. I have sent an email to their International Admissions office, and I hope to set up a meeting soon. When I was searching for colleges back home, a huge point towards deciding what college to go to was how much I enjoyed the city. Willamettes a wonderful school, but how much am I going to enjoy Salem? I LOVE CAPE TOWN. You can never run out of things to do: Play soccer, watch soccer, play rugby, watch rugby, go surfing, go clubbing, go work out in the beautiful mountains, go hiking, go to a game reserve, go fishing, go diving with sea animals, go help at Masi, go eat in some hidden hole in the wall, wander around the city...the possibilities are endless. I have been talking to true homies ive met here (matt, andre) and they are both 20. They keep stressing that theyve lived here their whole life, and they have barely scratched the surface of the amount of things that one young sprite man can do in this illustrious city. How much I love this city, plus what I want to do over the next 5-10 years with my kids in Masi (plus the beautiful Afrikaans women...OWEEEE) are huge factors as to why I want to come to University here. Lets cross our fingers that my meeting goes well!
Cheers!!!
On to my back and forth with my mom..if anything is unclear, feel free to comment and I will respond with pleasure:
Every week day is the same in some ways and different in others. Every weekday im at the school, in the classroom that ive been moved to. Miss Xhabsi is the teacher (click-absi), and shes great. The class is much more well behaved then my last class, but I dont want to help the kids that dont need help, I want to help the kids that do need help :( Every day im helping miss do various things, from typing new assignments on her laptop to grading assignments (quick anecdote to show you that Im really in Africa; one of the assignments had a part where the kids defined english words. One of the words was abuse. The kids either looked up the definition in the dictionary and wrote that down, or put something like 'abuse is when bullies steal my rand.' I was scating through the papers, until one girl wrote "Abuse: Abuse is when my father has sex with me." I just stared at the paper for a while in disbelief...) Its very interesting being an assistant, as sometimes I am correcting Miss Xhabsi's english, and helping her explain things in a simpler way to her students...I suppose its not all that weird though, as thats what a teachers assistant should be doing, right? Helping out and stuff!
All i heard about SA before i came was about how dangerous everything was going to be, and how scary everyone was, but it is really quite the opposite. Everyone, EVERYONE I walk past on the street nods, smile, and gives me a thumbs up. The bartender at the bar we go to the most often consistently gives me free drinks...but who knows, the more I think about it, the more I think that the only reason I am being treated so well is that I am going out of my way to treat everyone around me well. Just like my mama always says, if I can pass love on to one person, they can pass love on to another person, who can pass love on to another, and so on and so on.
Ive been surfing a couple times, which I have fallen in love with. Its soooooo fun!!! Were so unlucky in seattle with no surf spots!!! Im sleeping fine, eating fine. Our maid Belinda makes us sandwiches for lunch every weekday (sometimes theyre mayo, tomato, and cheese :/ mostly theyre good tho ) and cooks us up a dinner every weekday. Weekends we get to eat out. Im trying to find some nice cultural food, but its very hard here for some reason. I guess ill just have to look harder. Today though (September 12th), a couple coaches, volunteers, and I went out to lunch in the township...wow, it was so DELICIOUS!! 11 of us walked into the "braii" (south african barbecue) and ordered some raw meat to be thrown on the grill. We each had multiple beef and pork steaks (I think we ordered 25 steaks) and sodas, and we only paid 220 rand. Thats R20 a person, which is less then $3 for 2 steaks and a drink...remember though that this was in Masi, where no one lives in nice living conditions. Shacks for houses, broken down cars everywhere, broken glass cover the streets, and 1/3 people have HIV. Still, the meal was the best Ive had all trip. Cant wait to go back.
These last two weeks have opened my eyes to the amount of soccer talent in the world that no one knows about, because the talent resides in small, poor, unknown villages. Every day after i do my teaching, from 2:30-3:30 us volunteers set up five a side games. The majority of kids who play with us are between 8-11 years old. I have NEVER seen such talent at this age. The ball skills, the passing and shooting skills, and the tactical awareness of these kids makes me nearly soil myself every time I see them play. 90% of kids are unbelievably talented, 5% are a little less talented but still talented, and the other 5% are gems. Absolute gems. They would be the next messi's of the world if a club signed them and put them to work, but no clubs know about them. In all the seriousness, whoever is reading this should come down to visit me so you can watch these kids play. THEY ARE 8 YEARS OLD!!! Some of them are better than me, they're just small so they can't compare in strength.
Here is my plan. My new found passion, if you will. Ive talked previously many a time with my family about going to University of Cape Town. UCT is a half hour drive from Masiphumelele, the township that the school resides in where I teach and these little pele's play. Plan: I want go to UCT, earn a degree in business (MBA) and every day during the week come to Masi to coach these kids. More specifically, I would set up a month long tryout where I would decipher who the greatest of these players are (there are 1400 students, around 800 boys, around 400 are between 7-12) and handpick my team of all-stars which would consist solely of that 5% of gems. If I went to UCT for 6 years to earn my degree, and spent 6 years coaching my boys, by the time they were 15-18 yrs of age, I would have the South African national team on my hands...and if not, then its not like I waisted my time because I had just gotten my MBA!!!! But, say they did become as great as I think they will, then not only will I have a team of greats, but I have a degree in business to bring them somewhere.
I hope that all makes sense! Like I said please feel free to ask any and all questions...I love answering questions!!! I just dont like having to take an hour out of my day to rethink my day and type it up.
The ultimate point you should take out of this editions blog is this: I am fairly sure I am going to UCT. I have sent an email to their International Admissions office, and I hope to set up a meeting soon. When I was searching for colleges back home, a huge point towards deciding what college to go to was how much I enjoyed the city. Willamettes a wonderful school, but how much am I going to enjoy Salem? I LOVE CAPE TOWN. You can never run out of things to do: Play soccer, watch soccer, play rugby, watch rugby, go surfing, go clubbing, go work out in the beautiful mountains, go hiking, go to a game reserve, go fishing, go diving with sea animals, go help at Masi, go eat in some hidden hole in the wall, wander around the city...the possibilities are endless. I have been talking to true homies ive met here (matt, andre) and they are both 20. They keep stressing that theyve lived here their whole life, and they have barely scratched the surface of the amount of things that one young sprite man can do in this illustrious city. How much I love this city, plus what I want to do over the next 5-10 years with my kids in Masi (plus the beautiful Afrikaans women...OWEEEE) are huge factors as to why I want to come to University here. Lets cross our fingers that my meeting goes well!
Cheers!!!
Monday, 29 August 2011
Day 3
Alright. Today is the day. I can not believe how much my worldview has changed over the past 24 hours...
I sleep in the bottom bunk of a two bunk bed, and it turned out that Alex, the dude who was sleeping in the top bunk, is quite a sleep talker. He woke me up quite a bit throughout the night, and at about the fifth time he had woken me up, at around 5am, I decided to move into the common room to sleep. It turned out I couldnt really sleep, so I decided to go outside for a nice African view of the stars. As I sat next to our pool, and watched the last of the SA stars glisten, a cat jumped over the wall. I knew deep down that I really shouldnt have, but against all my natural instincts, I decided to "Ce Ce" (not see see, rather it is tch tch, welcome to Xhosa) until the cat wandered over to me. The cat, without a collar mind you, rubbed itself onto my sheets I had brung with me and my hands, up until the point where I rubbed the cat all over, especially behind the ears and on the back (Im allergic to cats, so this was a big deal). But the most mystifying part was not the rubbing but rather, it was the metaphorical color of the South African cat. It was all black, except for its pawes and underbelly which were white. To me it represented the fact that SA is 70-80% black and 20-30% white. No matter what has happened in the past of SA, the gov't and the people are working their hardest to reinstigate a completely equal country. I love you SA. I love you.
After the cat had had its fair share of rubs, it wandered off and jumped up onto the surrounding wall, and soon dissapeared into the dark. I returned to the house soon afterwards, but I couldnt fall asleep, so I decided to do some dishes. After 5 or so minutes, Neal joined me, and we had quite the discussion for a 20 minute period or so. I will say this right now....Neal is the ultimate homie. Dad, I love you, but Neal (not Neil) is the ultimate homie. I love the dude. He is so similar to me, he just doesnt know it.
After we finished doing the dishes, it was about 645 am (we were leaving for our first day at the Masupumalele township school at 745) and we decided to get 15 more minutes of shut eye. 15 minutes of napping later, I was up and about, waking everyone up for our early morning start. After a wonderful breakfast with the whole GYSA family (including our cook/cleaner Belinda, who is an absolute saint) we all headed out to our first day working at the school.
We arrived in Masupumalele, and immediately I was struck with a new sense of reality. Not 30 seconds before we hit the town, we had been surrounded by first class houses. And all the sudden, we were in a shanti town, with both stores and houses being composed of simple carboard and decomposing metal. We were, GYSA, officially beginnning our project. Soon enough, after many interpretations, I found myself staring out onto the soccer pitch of the school. I cant even explain to you what it looks like....trees, holes, bricks, logs, you name it, it was on the pitch. Completely unplayable, the pitch was an absolute joke when compared to the rest of the first class pitches that you would find around the world. Alex and I decided that it was our job to repair the field. After an hour of cutting down trees and pulling up roots and moving bricks and moving logs, only 1% of the field had been repaired. I have no doubt in saying that it was the most depressing moment of my life. I sad down ont he pitch with Alex, and we began to talk about the haves and hoave nots of the globe that we live in, and I realized how much I had on MI. I really, truly believe that I will never, ever return to MI the same. At this point in my life, I am utterly disgusted with the life that 99% of my friends live. Masupumalele is a township where 90% of the population recieves one meal, if that, every day. They live in shanti shacks. And, somehow, they smile 100% of the time. They hold onto their happiness and dignity because they literally have nothing else...and people from my hometown consider themselves depressed...........live one day as a Masupumalele citizen, and then you will forever appreciate what you have, opposed to what you dont have.
So after Alex and I had had our depressing moments out on our basically unchanged pitch, we returned to our sport court to enjot ourselves some basketball and football fun. After 30 minutes or so of messing around with the PE classes, I somehow found myself in a classroom (a portable, in american terms) without any teachers. There were 40 kids, about 1/10th of which spoke a little bit of english, and the other bit spoke Xhosa. I spent two hours in the classrom messing around, making drum rythyms, wandering around the english alphabet, breaking up fights, singing, reading, doing whatever was right at that given moment. I have never truly fallen in love in my life, but I will tell you now, I fell in love with that portable. Those kids climbed all over me (as they were 8,9, 10 yrs old, tiny) and I tossed them around as if they were my little brothers and sisters. I will tell you this right now, after "teaching" one day in the portable, I have decided to change from PE to teaching. The smiles I see on the kids faces when I explain to them the angel mother I have, or the brilliant father I have, or the broyiest bros I have, or the cutest lil sis I have, make my life worth worth living.
After I finished with my kids in the portable, I ran home to gather my footballs, and returned to the Masupumalele school that I once was at. Will and I had an excellent discussion after our ride home to collect the balls which consisted of how one could achieve a PHD in discovering why people who have so much tend to focus on what they dont have, and people who have so little tend to focus on what they DO have. It was about 2:00pm, and so it was the time to begin the soccer traning. It ended up being just scrimmage after scrimmage (which is what I believe in) and it was fantastic fun. Right when I went to get a water break, there was a volleyball game going on, and I was invited to join, so I did. It was great fun, not as much as the football, but still great fun, and soon enough I found myself being called by Chana as it was time to go.
After school. the girls decided tp gp hpme, but us boys decided to go help out with a rugby tourney, and we had so much fun. The boys constantly wanted to goof around, and I joke you not, we thru them around for an hour straight. Literally an hour. Probably the biggest workout of my life. The boys were so funny, so happy, so fun. After a couple of rugby matches, will picked us up, and we returned to our house.
We had some xhosa lessons from a wonderful man named Thomas, whos life story I will telll you about tomorrow, and after dinner and a few drinks at the pub, we returned home and the majority of volunteers passed out. Here I am, a changed man, waiting in anticipation for tomorrows challenge. I cant wait to see the new loves of my life. The Masupumalele children will change my life, and in turn will change those around me lives, forever. I cant wait to go back.
Ma and Pas quote of the day: My love for you is like a Masupumalele child. He/she may have seem to ahve very ittle, but the extent of my giving will never end. Smiles until I die.
I sleep in the bottom bunk of a two bunk bed, and it turned out that Alex, the dude who was sleeping in the top bunk, is quite a sleep talker. He woke me up quite a bit throughout the night, and at about the fifth time he had woken me up, at around 5am, I decided to move into the common room to sleep. It turned out I couldnt really sleep, so I decided to go outside for a nice African view of the stars. As I sat next to our pool, and watched the last of the SA stars glisten, a cat jumped over the wall. I knew deep down that I really shouldnt have, but against all my natural instincts, I decided to "Ce Ce" (not see see, rather it is tch tch, welcome to Xhosa) until the cat wandered over to me. The cat, without a collar mind you, rubbed itself onto my sheets I had brung with me and my hands, up until the point where I rubbed the cat all over, especially behind the ears and on the back (Im allergic to cats, so this was a big deal). But the most mystifying part was not the rubbing but rather, it was the metaphorical color of the South African cat. It was all black, except for its pawes and underbelly which were white. To me it represented the fact that SA is 70-80% black and 20-30% white. No matter what has happened in the past of SA, the gov't and the people are working their hardest to reinstigate a completely equal country. I love you SA. I love you.
After the cat had had its fair share of rubs, it wandered off and jumped up onto the surrounding wall, and soon dissapeared into the dark. I returned to the house soon afterwards, but I couldnt fall asleep, so I decided to do some dishes. After 5 or so minutes, Neal joined me, and we had quite the discussion for a 20 minute period or so. I will say this right now....Neal is the ultimate homie. Dad, I love you, but Neal (not Neil) is the ultimate homie. I love the dude. He is so similar to me, he just doesnt know it.
After we finished doing the dishes, it was about 645 am (we were leaving for our first day at the Masupumalele township school at 745) and we decided to get 15 more minutes of shut eye. 15 minutes of napping later, I was up and about, waking everyone up for our early morning start. After a wonderful breakfast with the whole GYSA family (including our cook/cleaner Belinda, who is an absolute saint) we all headed out to our first day working at the school.
We arrived in Masupumalele, and immediately I was struck with a new sense of reality. Not 30 seconds before we hit the town, we had been surrounded by first class houses. And all the sudden, we were in a shanti town, with both stores and houses being composed of simple carboard and decomposing metal. We were, GYSA, officially beginnning our project. Soon enough, after many interpretations, I found myself staring out onto the soccer pitch of the school. I cant even explain to you what it looks like....trees, holes, bricks, logs, you name it, it was on the pitch. Completely unplayable, the pitch was an absolute joke when compared to the rest of the first class pitches that you would find around the world. Alex and I decided that it was our job to repair the field. After an hour of cutting down trees and pulling up roots and moving bricks and moving logs, only 1% of the field had been repaired. I have no doubt in saying that it was the most depressing moment of my life. I sad down ont he pitch with Alex, and we began to talk about the haves and hoave nots of the globe that we live in, and I realized how much I had on MI. I really, truly believe that I will never, ever return to MI the same. At this point in my life, I am utterly disgusted with the life that 99% of my friends live. Masupumalele is a township where 90% of the population recieves one meal, if that, every day. They live in shanti shacks. And, somehow, they smile 100% of the time. They hold onto their happiness and dignity because they literally have nothing else...and people from my hometown consider themselves depressed...........live one day as a Masupumalele citizen, and then you will forever appreciate what you have, opposed to what you dont have.
So after Alex and I had had our depressing moments out on our basically unchanged pitch, we returned to our sport court to enjot ourselves some basketball and football fun. After 30 minutes or so of messing around with the PE classes, I somehow found myself in a classroom (a portable, in american terms) without any teachers. There were 40 kids, about 1/10th of which spoke a little bit of english, and the other bit spoke Xhosa. I spent two hours in the classrom messing around, making drum rythyms, wandering around the english alphabet, breaking up fights, singing, reading, doing whatever was right at that given moment. I have never truly fallen in love in my life, but I will tell you now, I fell in love with that portable. Those kids climbed all over me (as they were 8,9, 10 yrs old, tiny) and I tossed them around as if they were my little brothers and sisters. I will tell you this right now, after "teaching" one day in the portable, I have decided to change from PE to teaching. The smiles I see on the kids faces when I explain to them the angel mother I have, or the brilliant father I have, or the broyiest bros I have, or the cutest lil sis I have, make my life worth worth living.
After I finished with my kids in the portable, I ran home to gather my footballs, and returned to the Masupumalele school that I once was at. Will and I had an excellent discussion after our ride home to collect the balls which consisted of how one could achieve a PHD in discovering why people who have so much tend to focus on what they dont have, and people who have so little tend to focus on what they DO have. It was about 2:00pm, and so it was the time to begin the soccer traning. It ended up being just scrimmage after scrimmage (which is what I believe in) and it was fantastic fun. Right when I went to get a water break, there was a volleyball game going on, and I was invited to join, so I did. It was great fun, not as much as the football, but still great fun, and soon enough I found myself being called by Chana as it was time to go.
After school. the girls decided tp gp hpme, but us boys decided to go help out with a rugby tourney, and we had so much fun. The boys constantly wanted to goof around, and I joke you not, we thru them around for an hour straight. Literally an hour. Probably the biggest workout of my life. The boys were so funny, so happy, so fun. After a couple of rugby matches, will picked us up, and we returned to our house.
We had some xhosa lessons from a wonderful man named Thomas, whos life story I will telll you about tomorrow, and after dinner and a few drinks at the pub, we returned home and the majority of volunteers passed out. Here I am, a changed man, waiting in anticipation for tomorrows challenge. I cant wait to see the new loves of my life. The Masupumalele children will change my life, and in turn will change those around me lives, forever. I cant wait to go back.
Ma and Pas quote of the day: My love for you is like a Masupumalele child. He/she may have seem to ahve very ittle, but the extent of my giving will never end. Smiles until I die.
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