South Africa: Johannesburg to Bushbuckridge

"One Love, One Heart, Let's Get together and feel alright." -Bob Marley (Our IHP Cultural Exchange song)

Greetings to all my friends and family back home. I'm sorry I've been out of touch. Arrived in this beautiful country on January 28th and all has been well. The first stop was in Johannesburg (Joburg) where we (34 students, 3 faculty) stayed at Wilgespruit Community Center(I am spelling this wrong as I don't have the paper in front of me.)

As far as I'm concerned, we almost got treated too well. There was only 2 to a room, our meals were well rounded and our laundry was done for us from the incredibly gracious staff that worked there. The hostel was crucial to the anti-Aparthied movement.

Beautiful Black faces everywhere; it's taken aback especially in the Township of Soweto, which was crucial to movement against Aparthied. Relationships between race, poverty, unemployment and AIDS are heartbreakingly similar between here and Washington, DC. In South Africa, the rate is 11 percent or 1 out of every nine people. There's a generation of people between the ages 25-49 missing.

Some of the images and stories I saw in the museums took some time to absorb; they hurt my heart a lot. I guess privilege is universal. There were too many speakers talking about too many struggles to describe in detail. Our days are hectic from morning to night-- but by the grace of God, this group has gotten closer, or at the very least more empathetic toward one another.

Yesterday we departed Johannesburg and arrived at the Wildlife College near Bushbuck Ridge where we'll stay tonight before meeting our homestay families tomorrow afternoon. This might be the biggest test yet as many of them have no running water and most of us will come in bearing a much larger amount of material privilege than they possess. But I'm more than ready for the learning experience.

South Africa and the generosity of its people keeps amazing me. The country is too too beautiful. The 6 hour road trip from Joburg to the college could only be described in images.

Miles and miles of lush and fresh greens and mountains! Imposing mountains that made us feel like we were only ants or intruders to their beauty. Mother earth is stunning when she hasn't been industrialized-- to be cliche, it took my breath away and put in a place of serenity. I am frustrated that these words do the nature no justice at all. Pictures up soon.

It didn't become dark until 7 p.m., so we had a long gorgeous road trip. But when it did-- the stars came out. I barely ever pray but last night, I did, because the stars made me appreciate life and fall in love with the process of living again. And I'm not religious but I believe that when we die our energy (physical, emotional, philosophical) as humans become dispersed and recycled in the stars and that our ancestors will look after us. Maybe it's idealistic, but maybe everyone who dies does become a star-- where else could that energy (our atoms-- our protons, neutrons, and electrons) go?

The sky was pitch black when as we finished our drive here. The billions upon billions of stars were bright white and I prayed for the safety of the ones I love and the ones I used to love who still occupy my heart. I look forward to seeing more and more of this country-- building deeper and deeper relationships. But it's finally beginning to hit me; this here experience.

I've been teaching some of the students here Vietnamese for the next leg of the journey. It's a beautiful process. Not to mention the gorgeous animals; I head lions mating last night-- saw elephants in the field today.

To my family back home, I love you dearly! To my friends back home, I love y'all too much! To my friends abroad; I hope your experiences are life changing and that we all come back more experienced and empathetic about the world and its people than we were when we first bursted out of the protected and secluded bubbles we once called life. I will try to keep you in touch and share both poetry and pictures on this blog. I've been writing a lot and my life is meant to share with you.