Making A Difference

Hey guys- just thought I'd give you a quick update on life in Africa....

As many of you know, my program ended on Saturday and most of my housemates went back to the united states. I've talked to all of them since they've been home and it's so weird to think that they are actually living over there now. I miss them so much! I didn't realize how much I loved them and how close I had become with them until they left. The house is so quiet....

Tonight we decided to make some noise in the house so we invited most of our African friends over for a braai at our place. We found a whole bunch of frozen meat left from the other housemates and since we're getting kicked out of our house tomorrow, we had to use it all up. It was so awesome to be hanging out in the kitchen with about 8 of my new African friends. It was crazy, I don't think I've been so at home with such a diverse group of people. I was sitting next to my good friend Gerald who is from Kenya...across the table from me was Tate and Imran, both friends from Zimbabwe. Thapz and Lindiswe stopped by for a bit (not entirely sure where they are from, but fun nonetheless). Lowena grew up in Cape Town and we spent most of the evening laughing so hard that our sides hurt. What an amazing community of people! Even though it's so hard being here without my housemates, I have friends here in Cape Town who will jump at a moments notice to come and hang out. It's times like these where I really appreciate this place.... :)

In other news, and let me tell you....this is the good stuff.....
This past week before everyone had left, I had my final Xhosa exam on Monday (which I think I passed! thanks for the prayers for that one). Tuesday our program director cooked us a fantastic homemade meal in our house. Wednesday was quite possibly one of the most rewarding days of my entire experience here. Wednesday we all had our presentations to show what research and service work that we had been doing all semester to others in the community. Marianne and I explained our IT class and one of our women gave her presentation which was absolutely outstanding! She had the crowd laughing at all her crazy jokes! Let me tell you, for a woman who is not confident in herself, it was such a proud moment.

We called all the women up on stage and gave them all certificates with pictures we had printed of our whole class. After they had all "graduated" one of our women got up to the microphone (her name is Nomsa) and started thanking us in Xhosa to a crowd of close to 2oo people. Now, I don't know what she said, but all the Xhosa speaking people in the audience kept nodding and applauding so I think it was a good thing....Anyways, she then turned to english and said,

"Thank you girls so much for what you have taught me. Now, because of you, I have a full time job using my computer skill for an NGO here in Cape Town."

I almost peed my pants right there on stage!!! Can you believe it??? One of my women got a job because of the skills we taught!!! Ahhh!!!! I was sooo happy for her!!! I knew that she had been applying for jobs, but she never told us the outcome because she wanted to wait until she could announce it to everyone. If the rest of my semester was a bust, it would all be ok because Nomsa got a job. I came here to help the struggling 3rd world community of Khayelitsha and now one woman has a job! She doesn't have to worry about feeding her kids anymore! I may not change the world, but I feel like I've at least left a small mark here in Cape Town. If nothing else, a few more children are full tonight...

Even a few days after that, another one of my women said that she had put me down as a reference on an application. Sure enough, I got a call from a potential employer the next day and had a nice chat with him. 2 days later, Pearl said she had started a job! TWO women have jobs now!!! I don't know exactly what Pearl's job is, but the fact that she has one now is incredible! I'm so proud of my women for gaining the confidence to go out and look!

It's been a long week filled with joy and tearful goodbyes...I've been reflecting a lot on this past semester and it has changed me in so many different ways. Definitely more than any blog post will allow....I'd be more than happy to chat about it when I get home, but for now, I must pack up my things and move out of this lovely house. I'm leaving for Namibia on Wednesday so I won't be blogging for a bit (not that I blog often anyways...sorry about that). Don't' miss me too much, I'll just be sand boarding and 4wheeling through the desert. No big deal. :) Hope you all are enjoying the cold temperatures---I'm headed to the desert in the middle of summer!

School, Bomb Threats and Flight Changes

So, I don't know if anybody still reads this or not....I haven't been very good about keeping it up, but for the few that continue to check this page, here is an update.

The elections happened--I woke up at 2am here to walk down to Starlight (a 24hour American diner with a large tv) to watch the votes roll in. There is an 8 hour difference between good old central time and south africa time so the timing was just right. I'm pretty sure every American living in Rondebosch (my suburb) was crammed into that diner watching CNN. I'm pretty sure everyone in the diner was cheering on Obama as soon as CNN projected that he was going to win. Time passed so quickly and before I knew it, it was 6.30am!! Crazy!!! That day, I was congratulated numerous times by Africans on my new president and for the first time in Africa, I was proud to say I was an American. (note-in some countries, being an american gives you star status....not here) My friend Thabo jokingly commented that we were a little behind the times...."I mean, come on! South Africa had it's first black president in 1994!" :)

Anyways, the rest of my days have been spent finishing up papers, studying for more exams (Xhosa is on Monday and is worth 50% of my grade!!!), enjoying Cape Town, hiking Table Mountain (yes, that's right, I climbed the mountain finally!), driving on the other side of the road (no, I didn't hit anything, thank you, I did quite well), being ushered out of the mall because of bomb threats, having dinner on Monday evenings with my new Dutch and African friends, eating pasta (budget is running low), and breaking doors at the Nygaards house.

So, I guess you could say I'm pretty busy. I think I said this before, but most of my housemates move out on November 15th which is a week from tomorrow. I can't believe that my program is almost over and that they will be stateside in a week! How weird! This semester has gone by so quickly. It's going to be so sad to see them part, but I've changed my plane ticket to see a few of them when I go home. Instead of coming on the 16th as originally planned, I will now spend 2 days in New York with Liz, Marianne, and Drew and be home on the evening of the 18th. I've always wanted to see New York at Christamstime and the fact that 3 of my housemates live so close is the perfect excuse.

I should probably get some sleep now. Tomorrow we are all going to town to go market shopping!!! I am so busy this next week it's crazy! I've been getting up sooo early and going to bed sooo late because we are all just trying to get the most out of what little time we have together. Hope you all are enjoying the fall colors in the States! I'm enjoying the new summer here!!

Much love!

VOTE TODAY!!!!!

It's that time again! And this time, the whole world is watching.....

This was the front page of the paper today here in Cape Town, South Africa. If you opened up the paper, there were 3 more pages with US presidential race articles. Don't worry, some of them talked about McCain, but everyone here in South Africa LOVES Obama. The title of a half page article yesterday read--"Obama will become the 44th president of the United States tomorrow." It seems people are very confident over here. Obama runs through the billboards, stenciled grafiti on almost every stop sign of Main Road, and through so many people's converstations. Now, I'm not one for politics, but being here in South Africa has made me more aware than I ever have been. South African's know more about US politics than I do.....sad reality, huh?

Anyways, I'm not going to tell you who I'm voting for or who to vote for, but I am reminding everyone reading this (if you are in the United States) to go out and vote today! Don't forget! It's my first presidential election to vote in and it's a HUGE one! So get off the computer and VOTE!!

HAPPY ELECTION DAY!!!

ps- I did vote, but absentee...could someone send me an "I voted today" sticker please? :)