A Weekend in the Bush

Housemates Around the Campfire (L-R): Marissa, Drew, Elizabeth, me, Marianne, Rachel, Deepa, Alyssa (the last 3 are kids of the program leaders)

This weekend was called our "Expectations Weekend" although none of us knew quite what to expect. We got into our 20 person bus and rode out of Cape Town, 2.5 hours north through the mountains to the absolute middle of nowhere (aka- the bush). It was absolutely gorgeous! Mountains, vineyards, dirt fields, rivers.....you name it, the bush had it. Most of us expected to sleep in tents (we were told to bring lots of warm clothes for the evening) and to fend off lions, elephants, etc.....Oh how American we were! We ended up staying at nice lodge that had a very camp feel. We slept in cabins, hung out in the lodge and had amazing meals prepared for us. If this was roughing it in the bush--we were treated like royalty!

Basically, it was a weekend for us to bond together as housemates and a service-learners. We had meetings where we discussed what the program looks like, what our objectives were, what exactly we were doing for our projects. When we weren't in meetings, we did team building activities, climbing walls, and sat around camp fires under the stars. Wow, the stars here are absolutely amazing! It's a little disorienting looking up and not seeing the same stars as back in the Northern Hemisphere, but I'm slowly learning the constellations here.

As many of you know, there is a service component to my study abroad program. I am required to spend at least 160 hours in service work and my capstone project is a report of the sociological research findings within my service. I have talked a little about Khayalitsha before, but now I am officially going to work in that township at a SHAWCO community center. They have a strong need for an IT class for women and no one has stepped up to the challenge. Although I came here expecting to work in an orphanage with kids, there is a huge need for this class and it would be selfish for me to ignore that plea just because I want to work with children. I will still be working with kids once or twice a week by helping them learn how to read English, but that is apart from my research. I'll write more later about what I will actually be doing within the IT center and how I will construct my social research once I actually figure that out. My hope is that I (along with my housemate, Marianne) will be able to give these women the skills and more importantly the confidence to go out in the workforce and get a job. We'll see how it actually shapes up! Please keep it in your prayers if you think about it. Thanks so much!