Monday, July 19, 2010, 9:51AM
Mugg & Bean, Stellenbosch, South Africa
It’s been a week since I wrote last… Why so long? I don’t know! I was wondering the same myself, actually. I think it might be because I just really got comfortable here. I realized that the blog connects me back with home as I picture each person that might be reading this- people that I miss and long to hang out with again. I feel like the longing for those relationships from home came from a possible lack in depth of the relationships I have here. It makes sense though; it takes most people a lot longer than six weeks to open up and grow to a point where you have a “deep” relationship. Some people never even get to the point of having and maintaining a deep relationship, being completely content with a superficial acquaintance- that’s a totally different subject though. I feel extremely blessed to openly say that I already have some very deep relationships here in South Africa. You can blame them for my lack of contact with the outside world. So, now that I have a few minutes to update you, allow me to start with last week:
Driving through the Free State
Last Monday, we finished our road trip (above top) back to Stellenbosch, arriving safely with time to make dinner and relax. Sitting is hard work! I forgot how tiring road trips are. We also needed to get a good night’s rest as we had a big day ahead. On Tuesday, we started bright and early, meeting a team from Brazil at the same shack we were working on a week earlier (when we flattened and cemented the floor). We spent the day fitting, cutting, and clamping the steel walls onto the frame (above bottom). It was definitely hard work, requiring meticulous tasks that kept you in awkward positions. I was amazed with how efficient we were though! A couple of the Brazilians were very smart and handy, making our efforts much more precise. When the kids got out of school, they slowly built up the courage to come over and watch what we were doing. Joel, a 26-year-old student from California doing his masters in Sustainable Development, and I couldn’t help but to play with the kids- they’re so much fun (right top)! We did manage to stay focused and by the end of the day, we had completed the task. Afterwards I got to hang out with Lourens and Joel. We had such a fun time talking and hanging out; it was really the point where I realized how close I had grown to the people here. The day came to a close and Wednesday came quickly. Unfortunately it was a very ugly day; rain, cold, and wind consumed the air. Joel, Lourens, and I traveled over to Enkhanini to talk about some possible plans and ideas with Mama Unas, our main contact and “person of peace” at Enkhanini. We took a walk through the town (right bottom), realizing that when the weather is like it was, its rare to see people. We saw the bridge that we built two weeks before- it was still there and looked great. On Thursday Lourens, Elsa, and I did a little wine tasting and met up with Joel again. I spent Thursday evening hanging out with Joel. We were headed to braai with some of his friends and stopped to buy some food for the night. When we came back to the car, his back left window was smashed and his laptop was gone. Classic smash and grab after only 15 minutes of being away. We waited around for the cops to come and do a report, knowing full well that the laptop would never be seen again. It was definitely not our plan to have that happen and would probably prefer that it had not happened, but in that time together our friendship moved from being on the surface to having depth. We spent the cold, windy car ride to the braai in deep conversation. I got to hear about the ministry he was involved with over the years called JAM, Jubalani African Ministries. They tour around Southern Africa, doing outreach in villages, townships, towns, and cities. We arrived at JAM headquarters to find a bunch of guys grilling and enjoying their time together. I didn’t get to experience the JAM ministry in person, but I got to talk to and hang out with a lot of the people involved with them. The majority of them were actually from California! It was so funny how baseball, video games, football, and “dude” quickly became overused topics and words. I definitely still have strong ties to home! We spent the night there Thursday and had breakfast with their team Friday morning. I met some more Americans and other people involved with JAM. Joel and I left after breakfast to try to find a fix for his window. We got the quote and picked up his girlfriend, Annchen, to hang out before he took me back to the house. It was really fun to meet Annchen as I had heard so much about her in Joel’s and my adventures over the past couple days. Friday came to an end, bringing on the weekend.
Saturday we spent most of the day working on the house (above). Eight months ago, the house was not inhabitable. It was in complete ruins, mostly used as a toilet. Serve the City saw this house as an opportunity and business deal. They made a contract with the farmer who owns the house, agreeing that they could live there free of charge if they fixed the house. They had a lot of donations: paint, sinks, beds, doors, and labor. The rest they bought second hand. On Saturday we did some touch up stuff, spending a lot of time building a walkway to the front door. Lourens hired a worker for the day to help too. Since South Africa is still a developing country, unemployment is a huge issue, a hurting 25% as of the first quarter of the year. So, as a result, you can find very inexpensive labor. The worker we hired for the day cost R100, equivalent to $13.14. So if a day laborer was lucky enough to get work every day, six days a week, he could make R31,200 per year. Sounds like a lot! Well it’s $4,099.56. Even though living expenses are a bit less than the States, you still cannot expect to progress in life on this salary. Ok so back to Saturday: we were joined by a group from the farm who were taking the leftover bricks from all the construction off our hands. They brightened up the end of the day. I decided I wanted to treat Lourens, Elsa, and I to some ostrich steaks for dinner (right above). Man, they were delicious! We did have a little malfunction with the oven, bringing our vegies to a burnt crisp (right bottom; Elsa in Lourens' jacket holding the pan). Joel also came over with some of the Americans from JAM and we had a great time hanging out. Sunday came quickly and I found myself at More Wine church. We had an interesting conversation about our walk as Christians. Afterwards, we drove to Table Mountain and hiked it! It was such a beautiful, clear day. The view from the top is astounding. It was a very tiring hike, but totally worth it (below). We watched the sun set over the ocean (below bottom) and drove back.
