Why Is My Life So Awkward? - Outreach Week Four

I think I’ve discovered one the main things that my outreach experience is all about: Being Awkward.

Pretty much everything we do involves some level of awkward. Usually pretty high. I’m gonna be so used to awkward that by the time I get home I’ll no longer be able to judge what is and isn’t socially acceptable – prepare yourself for lots of awkward conversations.

So this week I discovered that South Africa has three capital cities (this info is courtesy of the all-knowing and always accurate wiki so you’ll have to forgive me if it all turns out to be a complete lie. I know that wiki shouldn’t be referenced as a source but I’m not in uni anymore *sniffsniff* so I’m gonna reference it as much as I like). Pretoria is the executive capital. Bloemfontein is the judicial capital and Cape Town is the legislative capital. Why am I telling you this (other than to increase your world knowledge and better understanding of global politics )? Because on Tuesday we went to parliament. At first I was like “but Pretoria is the capital, surely parliament is there.” But as previously mentioned, Cape Town is the legislative capital, hence it has the parliamentary offices etc. I’m guessing that Pretoria has some too though – someone wiki/google that for me and find out.

So why did we go to parliament? We were planning to go to a prayer meeting held by some Christians who work for the government (yes, my life is a lot like being in a spy movie) but due to some African timing issues we missed it. Instead we prayed in one of the board room meeting things (just like in The Apprentice but without any voiceovers or crazy rich men telling us we're idiots for not choosing to sell pens instead of pencils) and then had a tour of the building -  we went to the old and new parliament room things (I’m sure they have proper names – if someone could wiki/google that for me then that would be great) and also the Speaker’s office and board room. So we prayed there as well. Shout out to Gabriel who organized it for us.

I’ve been struggling quite a lot lately and to be honest it’s almost what I struggle with most. Hairstyles. The women here have Good Hair. I’m talking everywhere I go I see straight perms, extensions, weave, plaits. My hair is a mess. Everytime I see someone with Good Hair I daydream for about ten minutes on what my life would be like if I only had Good Hair – it would definitely involve an endless supply of tea&cake.

Remember how I told y’all about the door to door ministry we did last week in Mfuleni?  (Wait, I think I wrote about that in the team blog – maybe you should read that first. Click this). Well, on Thursday we held our first ‘Girls Club’ meeting in one of the houses we visited last week. We had about five to six girls from the local area, aged between 19 and 25 and then a various assortment of children who wondered in and out. It was super awkward for quite a while. They didn’t know what to expect, we weren’t entirely sure of what we were doing and I’m sure at several points they wanted to be somewhere else. I’m also pretty sure that it was Gabriel’s influence alone that got them to be there in the first place, not any desire on their part to meet with a bunch of ‘missionaries’ from overseas. They began to warm up to us after we sang and danced to them though – the power of making a fool of yourself is never to be under estimated.

So on Friday we upped the awkward factor again. This time doing human trafficking awareness on trains. We get on the train and basically start handing out flyers and talking to people about human trafficking. I found it super awkward – funny that. To me the train is a place of quiet and still (obvs not literally). I’m in the zone, travelling. Going from A to B. If anyone talks to me then they automatically ruin my day. To be honest if someone even sits next to me without having a good reason then I’m gonna have to work hard to set my day on the right course again. So having to approach people and start talking to them was not my idea of fun times. Having said that, we were able to talk to a lot of people, many of whom had never heard of human-trafficking. So the awkward is worth it – just as our friendship will be once I’m home and we’ve worked through me making you feel awkward.

There's something in the water - Outreach Weeks 2/3

So it’s been about a million years since I posted something, but here you go, a collection of my thoughts, neatly typed, double spaced, spell checked and tied up in brown paper with a red bow on the top just for you:

I’m doing good. Sick of all the sunshine, blue skies, deepening tan and time spent at the beach (jealous much?) but what can you do?

So you know how I’ve mentioned this shark thing? Well, we were hanging at the beach the other day when Joy-of-Joys the Shark Alarm sounded. I’ve dreamed about this moment ever since I knew there were gonna be sharks in Muizenberg. I was expecting masses of people running screaming from the perilous waters to the safety of the shore, children crying, abandoned shoes and dropped ice creams. The reality was far less dramatic - the life guard had to run along the beach blowing a whistle and trying to get people to leave the sea. So. Very. Disappointing. I was also hoping that the shark would come close to the shore and make menacing snarls in our direction. Another disappointment. I live in hope that next time will be the shark spotting that I’ve dreamed of.

So I kinda had a near death experience the other day. We were hiking up Table Mountain when I almost died (you would have thought I’d learned after climbing up Mount Muizenberg but apparently I didn’t). For real. I thought I was gonna be on that mountain forever (meaning the feew hours I was bound to have left). It was really hot and it was really steep. I couldn’t go back to the beginning and I didn’t want to keep going to the top. The only other option was to lie down and let the sun fry me to death. Did I mention it was really hot and steep? The funny thing was we were on the ‘touristy’ path. In my mind tourist is an old lady of about ninety years old in a wheelchair (ok, even I’ll admit that this is a pretty strange tourist stereotype but I can’t help it. I hear tourist and I see a Lady Bracknell/Lady Catherine de Bourgh figure). Now while there were plenty of old ladies hiking up that path none of them fit the tourist picture I had in my mind. The children crying and throwing up did though. Suffice to say I lived to tell the tale and the view from the top was pretty sweet. We took the cable car down though. 

One thing that you often hear about South Africa is the gap between those who have money and those who don’t. I’m sorry to bring it up again but I really can’t get my head round it. Scrap metal huts built on the side of the road one minute and then gated luxury apartments the next. How did this happen?

Twice a week we go to Sibongile (a care centre for children with Cerebral Palsy) which is in Khayletisha, the second largest township in SA. The centre itself has running water and electricity but just behind it, over the road, you see homes made of salvaged metal built into the side of the hill, a few houses along from the centre you can see three newish cars parked on the paved driveway of a fairly large brick house. Again, how did this happen? And I’m not talking historical factors that led to it but how we’ve allowed it to happen.

When I’ve seen pictures of shanty towns and the suchlike on TV there’s always been a part of me that thinks that I’m being manipulated by whoever took the shot – you know, ‘they used the lighting or the camera angle to make it seem worse than it is.’ I now see that that picture doesn’t capture it, people really do live in 10x8 huts make out of metal and they hang their washing out to dry when the weather is good. Just like we do at home. How did we let this be ok?

If you wanna know what else we’ve been up to then follow this link to the team blog: www.sateam2010.blogspot.com

P.S. I’m sorry for all the American spelling – I can’t figure out how to change the language on this version of word.

Words with j, k, u & c - Outreach Week One

Three words for you people:

Nando’s

Drive

Through

Read them and weep. One of the first things I saw on the way from the airport to the hostel. I’ll say them again incase you missed it: Nando’s Drive Through. Try to control your tears of jealousy.

So we made to Muizenberg ok (if you ignore almost half the group having luggage problems and a few sprints across airports). But we all made it.

We're pretty much living on the beach (about three minutes away). You can even hear the sea from our room at the hostel - makes a change from people shouting and car brakes screeching up the hill like in Auckland. We totally upgraded our room from the one in Auckland – a lot bigger and more storage space whoopwhoop.

My biggest problem at the moment (besides the wind blowing my hair everywhere no matter how many pins I put in it) is coping with the prices. It’s about ten rand to the British pound. So at first I'm like "woah!! one-hundred-and-fifty!!" and then I realise that that's about fifteen pounds (can't find the pound symbol on the keyboard – could you tell?) and I'm so relived that it's gone from 150 to 15 that I immediately want to buy it. So far I have resisted the temptation to spend like crazy (if you ignore the fact that I can’t help but buy some of the amazing different kinds of Dairy Milk they have here).

So we figured that it would be good to try and blend in. You know, not be too conspicuous. FAIL. On our first group trip - just walking around Muizenberg - we were asked of we were YWAM. Apparently there’s no need to tattoo it to our foreheads or wear a sign because we're that obvious. It’s a bit creepy. Almost like we’re always being watched.

If you wanna know what we did this week then check the team blog: www.sateam2010.blogspot.com

Something else we did was play Bananagrams. A lot. Five minutes till team meeting – Bananagrams. Two minutes till dinner – Bananagrams. I think we may have a problem. If you can think of any words with j, k, u or c the let me know. 

Team Blog

The team blog is finally up. Check www.sateam2010.blogspot.com