I'm Not Dead..I Promise

Sorry I've been such a stranger recently!

The Amy Biehl Foundation is hosting its annual Gala Event Fundraising Dinner and I have been deemed event co-ordinator along with one other woman in the office. It's been pretty hectic--coming in to the office early and leaving late, but I've so much enjoyed the work. From obtaining hundreds of donations (juice to wine to luxury cruises on the Zambezi river to phoning FW de Klerk) to literally writing the order of events, managing the RSVP spreadsheet, and meeting with the florist, artists, staging crew, and MCs of the evening, my time has been pretty full!

But, as always, I've found time to fit in a few fun things recently.

Almost 2 weeks ago now, we took our Foundations Phase kiddos out to the park for a braai and some play time. It was so great to give these kids a chance to play outside of their usual township environment and to really just goof off, eat cotton candy, and play in the mud.

Next up on exciting things in life---SKY DIVING!!!! I seriously can't give this experience enough credit, but in a nutshell here it is:

You suit up in your harness which isn't much more than what you would wear rock climbing (although you do have straps over your shoulders) and sit in the airplane hanger waiting for your turn to do something completely against all common sense. I can honestly say that I think I was more excited than nervous about the whole experience. The 20 minute plane ride while sitting on my instructors lap and literally crammed into a tiny tiny aircraft with 6 other people was so exhilarating as we climbed up to 9000 feet. The views were absolutely STUNNING!

Next thing you know, the side of the plane opens and I'm hanging my feet over the edge and falling and ignoring all gut feelings and falling out of a plane. After 35 seconds of complete free fall and absolutely LOVING the rush and craziness of the whole situation, the parachute was pulled and the next 5 minutes I slowly drifted to the ground (all the while making left and right turns by pulling strings on my parachute). And just as soon as the door to the airplane opened, I was on the ground again...ready to jump back in the plane and go for round 2! Maybe I should put "become a sky dive instructor" on my bucket list....

I guess you could say I've been keeping busy with things in both work and play. In other news, I went to the Bafana Bafana vs USA soccer game in the Greenpoint World Cup Stadium which is a whole other experience to talk about. In short, it was incredible, the USA won 1-0 and we were interviewed on live TV for being Americans. I've posted a picture below, but I'll explain more later. For now, I should get some sleep. Morning comes early and the gala dinner is only a day away!

I Play My Vuvuzela in B-Flat

(note: this was supposed to be uploaded on 4 Nov)

So today I was back at work again for the first time since Monday. With my illness nearly gone, I returned to a pile of papers on my desk and 68 unread urgent emails (never mind the other un-urgent ones), and a stack of 10 laptops to inspect. No worries though, I had a good 5 hours to get some quality work in before heading out to the township----right….. In true Cape Town fashion (or is it Amy Biehl Foundation or South Africa or Africa, I just don’t know), we were interrupted today for a good three hours by nothing less than a vuvuzela workshop. That’s right, those lovely ‘instruments’ that gave the world a headache during the World Cup would now be tooting and blaring for the next little while in our small office space. So much for getting that work done!

It was actually quite hilarious as this white man in his late sixties, grey moustache, South African flag bandana and zebra print shirt pranced around the room showing us the many ways to use a vuvuzela. He even brought his friend (apparently a famous South African cellist) along for accompaniment!

Throughout the morning, we proceeded to work on singing, humming, and blowing the South African National Anthem through the small plastic tube. Who knew there was more than just crazy loud buzzing that could come out of such an ‘instrument.’ Our facial haired friend vibrantly instructed us on the appropriate usage and volume for these vuvuzelas which is not quite as boisterous as a World Cup game.

In true random African fashion (and admittedly kind of cheesy) we finished the day out by singing Josh Groban’s You Raise Me Up as an entire office while standing in a circle and holding hands. I was waiting for Kum-bayah to be sung next, but it never happened….oh well, maybe next time.

At the end of the day, I guess you could say I know a bit more about vuvuzelas than the average joe so if you need help or want lessons to improve your skills, just give me a ring and I’d be more than happy to help!

If You Put a Kid Out a Window, He Will Bring Back a Spoon

Sorry I’ve been a bit lax in my blogging—this past week was super hectic and this week I’m home sick from work (no need to worry out there, it’s not some ridiculous disease, just a bit of flu—I’ll be back and at it tomorrow). Anyways, I think I’ll give you guys an update on work and what’s going on during this busy season as the school year here draws to a close.

I’m still working with the Foundation phase class at my elementary school and I think I’ll stick with the little kiddos until the end of the year. There is a new computer class that started up at a different school where it is safer and as much as I would love to continue teaching kids how to type a CV and make powerpoint presentation and paint their families, I think the Foundation phase has a bigger need. The current teacher for computers is a very talented lady and she’s got it under control. The 60 kids under the age of 7 however…well, let’s just say control isn’t a word I would use to describe them.

Nosibulelo, the primary teacher, has an incredible way of making these kids behave, but when there are 60 of them in one room, things can get a bit hectic. In order to ensure maximum learning in our classroom, we have decided to give them spelling tests in Xhosa and English. I administer the Xhosa side and she administers the English side. This way, we both learn each other’s language. When it comes to marking these kids tests, I mark them both. It’s really great actually! Not only are the kids learning to listen, read, and write in English and Xhosa, but I’m adding to my minimal Xhosa vocabulary at the same time! We’ve done a few art projects and some games, but most recently we worked with colors in Xhosa in English. It was during one of these days when the door handle broke….

The school that I’m teaching at isn’t exactly the nicest school in the world, but it is pretty well maintained as far as township standards go. Only a few windows are broken and all of the doors have handles and locks and close all the way. While I was busy explaining the color blue, one of the kids decided to hang all of his weight on the door handle as he went out…..and then it snapped. The outside part fell off and the inside part was now completely broken in two. Somehow he managed to lock the door before breaking it so now we were completely stuck. Funny how it seems to be a theme that I am stuck in this one classroom with 60 kids…..

Anyways, after trying to pry the door open with a stick from the trashcan, the kids decided it would be a good idea to all rush over and help. No surprise here that they ended up pushing and shoving until 3 girls were crying and two boys hitting each other. Eish! These kids! After regaining control of the room and sitting them all down again at their desks, I did the only thing which seemed feasible at that moment—put a kid out the window. I took the smallest kid who knew where to go and opened the window and lowered him down. He then ran to get the supervisor who proceeded to bring a metal spoon and pry open the lock (apparently this wasn’t the first time the door had broken). After about 8 long minutes of suspense, we were free!

Only here would you throw a kid out the window to fetch a spoon to pry you out of a classroom…oh the stories I am racking up by teaching at John Pama! I love that every day is its own adventure and when people ask me for a typical day at work, I really can’t answer with a straight answer. Because here, anything can happen J

A Beachy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This Halloween was like none other Halloween I’ve had before. Cape Town doesn’t really celebrate this holiday although it’s just now starting to become popular because of all the American movies. Anyways…back to my holiday celebrations…..

I woke up early to go to the morning church service with one of my good friends and we both enjoyed a good cup of coffee and conversation afterwards. (Why do those two always seem to go hand in hand??) Next, we headed over to a bakery called Knead which just opened in our area of town. There’s another location on the beach, but it’s kind of a mission to get there so this new place is great! Because it just opened, they were giving away FREE cappuccinos and americanos and FREE oven fired pizzas, but wait…FREE FRESHLY BAKED BREAD!!!! We literally sat at our table sipping our free cappuccinos while they baked our loaves of bread. As soon as they came out of the oven, they wrapped them up and put them into our hands. Bread doesn’t come more fresh than this bread. Kneadless to say (sorry, couldn’t help myself) we each ate about half of our loaves of bread before heading off to our next destination—THE BEACH!

Now, I’ve always loved the beach and being from Missouri I especially treasure the hours spent in the sun and sand and water. Today was no different. We trekked down to a beach on the Atlantic side (much much colder) and set up our towels for fun in the sun. About every 20 minutes or so I would stop and exclaim… “Guys….we’re at the beach! And there’s a mountain behind us!” My poor South African friends just shook their head at my childish delight, but I didn’t care—I was in paradise. It was Halloween and I was on the beach playing paddle ball in my bikini. This doesn’t happen in Missouri. Ever.

I’ve just now arrived back at home and I think I will make a big dinner with my roommates and enjoy playing Scrabble with my Danish friends. (It’s really an unfair advantage for me, but they wanted to play so I can’t resist) In light of my last community blog, I just want to emphasize how much I’ve been blessed with such a great group of people here in South Africa. From my SA church buddies who would do anything for me to my Danish, German, Mexican, and Canadian roommates who want to play a game that deals with words in their second (or third!) language; I truly can say I am surrounded by amazing people. And that, dear friends, is just one more reason why I love this place so much J

PS- please don’t forget to brush your pearly whites tonight and tomorrow. All those sweets will catch up with your teeth!

Community Creation

Community (n) – a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

But is community merely that? People who reside in one place and share a government, culture and history? I’m always curious about how people create community--why certain people connect with some and not others. What kinds of things do you use to determine whether or not you will associate with a group of people and stay away from others? Or do you just flit around to all sorts of groups and therefore don’t really have a strong community of your own?

Maybe the fact that I just up and moved to Cape Town and had to create my own community has made me more aware of these questions, but I’m still curious nonetheless. All of my 8 other roommates had to do the same thing and it’s been interesting watching them create a sense of belonging and support system in a foreign country. Some of them have gone to bars and clubs to seek their friends, others have joined gyms and running clubs, some joined groups on campus and other still have sought community in churches and bible studies.

I know I’ve wrestled with the right balance of foreign to familiar culture. While Cape Town isn’t exactly the back hills of India or the tundra of Russia, there are certainly a plethora of cultures and communities to try and be involved in. People who are like each other will naturally gravitate towards each other because they like the same things, enjoy the same music, taste in food, music, movies etc. There is the township culture, the busy city culture, the hiking culture, the beach/surfing culture, the wine cultivation culture, the coloured culture, the white culture, the northern suburbs, the southern suburbs, the Christian culture, the Muslim culture, the non-religious culture, the community-development culture, the high-and-mighty culture, and the list goes on and on….

But where do I plug in? I want to experience as many different kinds of cultures and communities as possible because I believe there is SO much to be learned from all of them. Leaving your own culture and exploring another one helps you appreciate your own and adds new and exciting things to what you’ve already learned. I know that after a long time of being in a community much different from my own, I need to just come back and find a coffee shop to relax and reflect. I guess that’s where I feel the most at home.

This is an on-going line of thought I’ve been kicking around so I’m sure I’ll blog on it again, but through all of this there is one thing that is certain: We all long for community—we were created to be in community and no matter how far we travel through this earth, every human being longs to be in community and connection with others. The beauty of this fact is that there is an endless possibility of people to connect with. You may already be in good community or may still be seeking for that right mixture of people who you are comfortable with yet push you along to be the best you can be, but either way know that the person next to you needs to be in community just as much as you do. Don't live in isolation--we weren't meant for that. Create community.

The Tutu Ladies

As promised, here are pictures from the 10K race that the girls I participated in on 10-10-10. Enjoy!

Long Hours, but Worth Every Minute

This past Wednesday I had a very long day of working with the Foundation, but it was such a great day that I didn’t mind at all. Let me tell you about it….

I started the day as usual—walked to the train station, was in complete awe of the mountain, saw the regulars on the second car of the 208 train, headed to the office to open up my lap top and begin work for the day. After greeting everyone in the office, I responded to some emails (36 to be exact), chat to our MD about ideas for the gala, work on gala prizes, help Masi with some song choices for the next dance (his first pick was a Backstreet Boys song and I about died…I started singing and dancing along and then realized that the rest of the office was staring and then laughing at me…oh how I love my office, ha!). Next I had to fix Nwabisa’s computer because her program wouldn’t load correctly, give Easy a hug because he’s looking a bit down, back to the computer for more gala work (sending out the invites this time), take the CEO of Capitec bank on a quick tour of the office and tell him about what we do and the Amy Biehl story (impromptu request from the boss), update the website (press release just went out), charge the computers for the computer class, follow up with vouchers, then head to lunch at Damascus Gate (great chicken schwarmma).

Made it back to the office just in time to pack up and head out to the township and help out with the Foundation Phase kiddos again (total count for the day 56…well, that’s what we could determine). Colored with them a bit, sang some songs, helped spread jam on bread for the little ones then fed them. Took the transport to 3 different schools in order to get the right one to head to The River Club which is where our fundraising event took place.

Now, this is usually the part of the day when I’m exhausted and head home, but this night was something different. Several dance studios in town sponsored a Salsa and Tango fundraising event for the Amy Biehl Foundation and I managed to rope one of my roommates into helping out for the evening. I quick changed from the dirty jeans that had dirt, sand, snot, spit, crayon, and a bit of jam (all side effects of working with 56 little ones) into a dress and some heels. Let the event begin!

My roommate and I welcomed guests, did ticket sales at the door and sold mystery prize vouchers to our patrons. We managed to make friends with the wait staff walking around with hor’deourves and had plenty of fun finger foods for our dinner. During the breaks (the guests were watching song and dance performances of the tango and salsa studios) we mingled through the crowd collecting donations and selling more vouchers. The evening finished with dance lessons for the entire group and Maike and I are a part of the first bit, but then have to leave to finish up at our table. The dance instructors saw that we had to leave early, so after the official lesson they gave us a private one on the dance floor—how great! After the lesson we packed up the vehicles and headed home…whew!

Today was definitely worth every second of it. Working for an NGO you never know what your day will look like and as you can see, you get to do a little bit of everything. But, through this, I am able to see all sides of how an NGO is run in one day. I saw the office side where all the preparation happens and the staff meets to discuss the next strategies, I saw the hands on work where the kids are taught and what the organization is all about, and I saw the fundraising events in the more affluent communities that make it possible for the kids to have such classes. If that’s not a full view, then I don’t know what is!

I think it is safe to say that I will sleep well tonight AND tomorrow night after yesterday’s events. Sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down in the every day hum drum of a ‘position’ in a job and it can be hard to see the bigger picture. It’s hard to understand the reasons why some things are the way they are and the policies and procedures that go with them. After seeing everything today, I gained a larger perspective of the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of what goes on every day. Instead of getting frustrated with the way things are, I was able to see just what goes into running something of this size and (hopefully) am able to better assist in making the Amy Biehl Foundation a better organization. But for now….to bed…I’m exhausted!