Last Week in Cape Town!

Hi friends and family! Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. I’ve been pretty busy for the past week and a half and haven’t had a spare minute to blog at all. This is an update of the highlights of my last week in Cape Town. My next one will be about my road trip up to Pietermaritzburg (PMB)!

On Wednesday, 9/17, I went to an orphanage called the Christine Revell Children’s Home. It houses up to 49 infants/children from birth to 5 years old. Most of the orphans are there because 1) their parents didn’t have the money or desire to care for them, 2) they’re taken out of abusive homes by social workers, or 3) their parents died from HIV/AIDS. They sleep upstairs, 6 to a room, and have a super cute community bathroom where all of their toothbrushes, towels, and washcloths are hung up on walls with name labels. Downstairs are the playrooms, kitchen, play ground, etc. My group of 5 got to visit the infant room first where there were 2 baby girls in cribs. One was named Ilana (6 months old) and the other was Valentina (2 months old). They both outstretched their arms when we came close to them and started grabbing whatever they could. My heart absolutely broke when I learned that the policy of the orphanage was not to hold the babies/kids so they wouldn’t become dependent upon being held. I know for a fact that babies need constant human touch and soothing; otherwise, they don’t develop correctly. When we left, the babies started crying and I did too because there was nothing I could do about it. I had to respect their no holding rule. Then we went into the toddler room (1-2 years old) where I was literally swarmed by babies learning how to walk with outstretched arms. They wanted to be held just as much as the babies did. It was so hard for me to be there and not do anything. Finally, we got to play with the 3-5 year olds out on the playground. I ended up pushing a bunch of kids on swings; they loved it and did not want me to stop. After being outside for awhile, my friend Rosie and I decided to go back to the room with the infants. They were supposed to be napping, but Valentina was still awake and fussing. We tried rubbing her head, patting her back, and singing to her, but nothing would make her go back to sleep. Eventually, we decided that we had to break the rules and hold her; it was the only way. The minute Rosie picked her up, she stopped crying. The women who were in charge of the infants at the time came in and were upset that we were holding her, but eventually gave up and left us alone. Shortly after we picked her up, it was time for the babies to be fed. A woman woke up Ilana, put a bottle in her mouth, and left it to rest on her body. Ilana could barely grasp it with her tiny hands. I couldn’t believe that a 6 month old was feeding herself. When she started to choke on the milk, I couldn’t take it anymore. I picked her up, patted her back so she wasn’t choking anymore, and fed her the rest of her bottle in my arms. I burped her when she was done; I can’t imagine the last time someone did this to her. After laying the babies back down, Rosie and I prayed for both of them; it was the only thing we could do. It was really hard to leave that place. I will never forget the encounters I had with the kids there. One of the nursing classes I’m taking this semester is a senior seminar class called “Ethics and Issues in Healthcare.” We have a huge paper that we write over the entire semester, and I think I’m planning on doing it on the ethical implications of not holding infants/children and treating them in the way that this orphanage did.

On Saturday, 9/20, I had another adventure packed day of shark diving. It was a pretty expensive optional activity, but like abseiling, I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime. Taxi buses picked us up early in the morning and drove us 2 hours away to Hunt’s Bay, which is the only place in the world where you can dive with great white sharks. It was an absolutely beautiful day, just very windy. The organization, called “Shark Diving Unlimited”, fed us a huge breakfast, gave us a brief orientation, and then showed us to our boat. Apparently the cage we dive in is permanently anchored in an area where sharks are everywhere. The boat ride to the cage was really fun because were speeding over massive waves the whole time; I was on the top deck of the boat and it felt like we were going to get flung off at any second. Unfortunately, all that movement was not good for my full stomach and I got sea sick as soon as we stopped (along with quite a few other people). So while I wasn’t barfing over the side of the boat, I was taking a lot of cool pictures and videos. Six people go in the cage at a time, and I was in the last group out of four to go. We got all suited up in wetsuits (mine was way too big for me, so it wasn’t very effective), booties, and goggles and hopped into the FREEZING cold water. Then we kneeled on a bar inside of the cage and held onto bars above us. There was a big bumper in front of the cage (that already had teeth marks in it from previous sharks) to protect us from getting our hands chomped off. Whenever a shark would come, which they lured in by these massive tuna heads and fish guts, the guide would tell “Down to your right/left!” and we would hold our breath and go under water to see it. Unfortunately for my group, we ended up sitting in the water shivering for a half hour before our first and only shark came. It appeared that after the first few groups, the sharks lost interest in our boat and the food we had to offer. I was pretty disappointed and felt like I got hypothermia for nothing. It was hard, but I had to change my perspective and simply be grateful to even be where I was. We weren’t able to go to shark alley, which is the only place in the world you can see great whites breach, because the wind was picking up and the waters were too choppy. So we went back to shore, ate lunch, and watched the video a cameraman made for us. It was way too expensive for me to buy, but still cool to watch.

Tuesday, 9/23, was our last day in Cape Town. My final history paper, which I chose to write on the role of the church in the HIV/AIDS crisis, was due today. I didn’t get any sleep the night before because I was writing it, so I kind of felt like I was in a daze the entire day, haha. I had four dreadful hours of nursing class, hung out at Cornerstone for the afternoon, and then went back to Lucy’s for our “last supper” together. As a gift for letting Corey and I stay at her house, we printed out a picture the three of us took together after church and framed it. She absolutely loved it and even bragged about how she was going to bring it to work and show her coworkers the following day. We also gave her some dish towels, napkins, and placemats that I brought from home. She was more excited about the fact that they were from the U.S. than the gifts themselves. It was really funny. When it was time for Lucy to bring us back to the college, I was actually sad. I ended up really enjoying the two weeks I got to spend with her. I got used to her bluntness about everything; this character quality actually turned out to beneficial in my learning about the country’s (not so good) political state and her opinion regarding it. After I began having tea time with her every night after dinner, she started to warm up to me more and even started calling me “my lovely.” God answered my prayers…I finally made friends with Lucy!

I left Cape Town on 9/24 (Happy 23rd Birthday Dan!) for a four day road trip up to PMB. I’ll update you on that trip in my next post. I love you and miss you all. Thanks for praying!

Kaama, the Peninsula, & Lucy

Hi everyone!

It has been yet another week in South Africa and I’m back to update you on my adventures. Rather than give you a “play-by-play” like I’ve done in the past, I’ve decided to update you on the highlights of my week instead. Not only does this save time on my part, but hopefully it will make my blog a little more interesting.

The first thing I want to tell you all about is a conversation I had with Kaama, one of the mentors at Cornerstone. He is a 32 year-old black man from Lesotho, a tiny country enclosed by South Africa. From the moment I met him, I noticed that he had a significant limp and an arm that didn’t seem quite right. We had been trying to connect all week and time just kept getting away from us. He kept coming up to me saying, “You owe me,” so I was excited when I finally had the chance to talk with him on Sunday night after dinner. We exchanged basic family information, but the best part about our whole conversation was the story of his leg. Eight years ago, he was assaulted in Lesotho while he was walking down the street. Kaama didn’t remember anything that happened; all he remembered was waking up in the hospital one week later. The doctors informed him that he had a serious brain injury and was in a coma for a week. They also told him that if he didn’t die (which they assumed he would), he would never be able to use his left hand or walk again because his entire left side was paralyzed by the brain injury. Kaama refused to believe either of those things to be true. One night in the hospital, he started having difficulty breathing and panicked. All of the nurses were asleep (bad nurses!) and the doctors had gone home for the night, so he didn’t know what to do. Somehow (I think it was God), one of the nurses woke up, noticed him turning blue, and called a code. Kaama could hear everything going on around him (like them giving him CPR), but couldn’t see or speak. At that very moment, Kaama started praying. He asked Jesus for his forgiveness and promised that if Christ saved his life, he would serve Him for the rest of his life in whatever he did. As soon as he finished that prayer, he gasped for air and could finally breathe again. Jesus had literally brought him back from the dead; it was a miracle. After that near-death experience, he did physical therapy and blew away the poor prognosis he was given by the doctors; he started using his hand AND walking again! All of his life, he wanted to be an accountant like his mother. Before the accident, he attempted to obtain an accounting degree from 3 different colleges; however, he either failed out of his classes there or ran out of money. After the accident, he realized that maybe accounting wasn’t what God had planned for his life; thus, he applied to Cornerstone Christian College, got accepted, and had his entire education paid for by the school. Currently, he is in his fourth year at Cornerstone and will graduate in the spring with a theology degree. Now tell me that God isn’t great?

The second thing I want to tell you all about our bus tour around the South African peninsula on 9/11 (which, by the way, 9/11 means nothing to South Africans and was not mentioned once the entire day). We began the drive through incredibly wealthy areas where penthouses cost $4.5 million and a shot of 50 year-old single malt whiskey costs almost $2,000. When we were driving along the coast, which was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in my life (white beaches, turquoise waters, huge rocks, the works), we passed through the richest area of SA called Clifton. Apparently many celebrities in the U.S. own houses there. Honestly, it reminded me exactly of Malibu. Seeing all of this opulence was surprisingly hard for me. I couldn’t help but notice the numerous homeless black people wandering through the streets of these wealthy communities. I also couldn’t help but notice that right next to these neighborhoods, there were townships. These are the neighborhoods where all of the black and coloured people were relocated to by the government during apartheid. Basically, these dilapidated houses are made out of steel (what appeared to be garage doors) and have no electricity or running water. This stark contrast between the richest of the rich and poorest of the poor living side by side shocked, dismayed, and even angered me. According to our tour guide, over 8 million people currently need housing in SA. In Los Angeles, the number of homeless people is 240,000. I then realized that I couldn’t be angry at the wealthy people in SA for ignoring the major economic gap because Orange County is exactly the same way. We live 60 miles away from one of the biggest homeless populations in U.S., but we don’t give it a second thought. Working on Skid Row, or Hope Street, a few weeks ago with my Community Health nursing class really opened my eyes up to the homeless situation in L.A. I really learned how important it was to serve “the least of these” just as Christ did. That got me thinking…what would it be SA be like if everyone knew and practiced the loving, servant attitude of Christ? It just makes me want to tell everyone about Jesus! Anyway, I’m going to get off my soapbox and tell you what else I did on the tour. I saw a whole lot of whales playing super close to shore, which was amazing. The most beautiful part of the day was at the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most South-Western point of Africa. Not only did we get to climb up a mountain to see over the entire cape, but we got to see where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet as well. It was one of the most incredible aspects of God’s creation that I’ve ever seen. You could see the white water currents mixing between the two oceans; they were even different colors! We also had the opportunity to see penguins at Boulders Beach. I never thought I’d see penguins anywhere other than Sea World, so that was awesome. Finally, we got to visit Kirstenbosch Gardens, which consisted of acres and acres of gorgeous South African plants and flowers.

The third and final thing I want to tell you about is my new place of residence. On Friday night, 9/12, we had our “Last Supper” at Cornerstone and then packed our lives away to go to homestays. Homestays are homes of people from local churches who have volunteered to house students who are studying abroad. The point of homestays is for us to be able to completely immerse ourselves in the South African culture, eat their food, and learn as much as we can from them. I was really, really sad. I felt like I had finally gotten used to everything at Cornerstone (the people, routine, even the crappy internet) and wasn’t ready to leave at all. The fateful moment came when Lucy, my homestay mom, picked me up. She’s a 62 year-old woman who has never been married or had any children. Right away, I felt like she hated me because she “didn’t know what [she] was supposed to cook for someone who was lactose intolerant.” I explained to her that it wasn’t that hard and I could eat pretty much everything as long as it didn’t have cheese on it. She wasn’t convinced. Lucy dropped me off at her house, which is a few blocks from school, and then left to go get Corey (another nursing major) because her car couldn’t fit both of our luggage. I seriously had never felt so alone in my life; I had just been ripped away from all of my friends and the community that I bonded with at Cornerstone. Anyway, things here at Lucy’s house haven’t been ideal. She is very particular about things because she has lived alone her entire life and is used to doing everything a certain way. You flush the toilet, turn off the lights, lock the doors, use the shower, and make the beds HER way, not your own. She is also very blunt and says whatever is on her mind, which can be hurtful at times. Personally, I think she is a very lonely woman who tries to fill in the silence in any way possible. As much as she may not like me, I really want to connect with Lucy and be her friend. Please pray for that!

Oh one more thing...I promise! On Saturday, 9/13, I climbed Table Mountain (the mountain that Cape Town is famous for), which is comparable to Half Dome in difficulty (just a lot shorter). There are rock stairs the entire way up, and it took us about 1.5 hours to get to the top. Then guess what I did? I abseiled (repelled) down a 400 ft. rock on the back of the mountain! It was one of the most frightening and exhilarating experiences of my life. I finally conquered my fears of falling off rock walls, and it felt absolutely incredible. God protected me and my newly reconstructed knee. Anyway, I have a week and a half left in Cape Town and a TON of work to do. We’re finishing up our history class and just getting into the meat of our nursing classes. Please pray that I have the endurance to get through it all. Also pray that I find God in South Africa. I’m still experiencing “separation anxiety” from my home church and don’t feel like God is as present now as he was with me this summer. I love you and miss you all so much! Your support means the world to me!