This is Africa

After departing Sioux Falls nearly 3 weeks ago commencing my journey in South Africa for the coming year, I will soon be able to unpack all of my bags and lay claim to my new home. It has been quite the journey to get here. First, spending a week in Chicago getting ‘orientated’ with 49 other YAGM volunteers who have been sent out all over the world. In that week we had several seminars discussing a variety of subjects including interfaith discourse, cross cultural issues, world of 100 experiment, and typology of personality through an enneagram of personality test. Many of the issues and ideas brought up in these discussions and seminars were furthered in small group discussions and at the dinner tables. It, however, was not all work. We did play. Having this time in Chicago was a great opportunity to see the sites and enjoy one another’s company through watching the air show from the beach, dining at a local African restaurant, laying under ‘the bean,’ rooting for the home team at Wrigley Field, and playing soccer and volleyball at the beach. The week in Chicago was great for building community with all of the YAGM volunteers and creating friendships sure to last but it was also a perfect stepping stone as we ventured around the world.

The eleven other South African volunteers and I left Chicago on Wednesday August 24. After thirty-eight and a half hours of flights and layovers, we finally made it to Durban, South Africa! It was quite the journey. As soon as I could see the ground of South Africa from my seat on the plane, I could not believe that I was actually here. I kept thinking to myself, “Is this really South Africa? Am I really here!?!” We quickly (but actually rather slowly due to some glitches with our bags) gathered our luggage and loaded up the van awaiting our arrival to transport us to our home or the next ten days in Pietermaritzburg. While we were driving I continued to wonder if this was really Africa as it is not what you might think of when one thinks of Africa. There were cars everywhere, nice buildings, paved roads, and pizza. Now at the end of this leg in my journey, I still find myself questioning if I am really here, but I know the answer is simply, “This is Africa.”

In the last week or so, the twelve members of M.U.D. 4 (the fourth group of Ministry Upstream and Downwind as we are so called) have had the opportunity to continue developing a sense of community together through many activities such as attending church for hourS at a time (don’t worry, the services seem to go by faster than the one hour services back in the States), play soccer, engage in several discussions on “what we are doing here,” cooking and sharing meals together, experiencing a traditional Zulu cultural village, and hiking in areas abundant with zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, bucks, and monkeys. Again, these days together have been wonderful for each one of us. They have opened our eyes to many things we have never seen or experienced. I still cannot fathom to think I am here and what is to come. Which brings me back to my original thoughts of, “Am I really here?” I keep hearing and seeing throughout my short time here, “This is Africa.” People use it for a variety of reasons, but I feel it speaks directly to me in the sense that, yes I am here.

This morning, I began the final leg of my journey to Masealama. I, along with three other M.U.D. 4 volunteers, took a bus to Johannesburg. In the morning I will take another bus to Polokwane where my host mother will be picking me up to take me the rest of the way. I am looking forward to this and the moment I can finally say, “I am here, and this is Africa.”