Common Attitudes

Greetings from South Africa,

We have been having extraordinary experiences here in South Africa. At this point in the trip we have learned not to expect anything because the activities and things we have learned are far beyond our expectations. One main attitude here in South Africa is to focus on the positive. We have seen this at the Sustainability Institute, throughout the townships and the leadership here. During the visit through the very poor township, we were all focusing on the negative. These individuals did not have very many material items. Some people were not able to live in homes or have a place to use the restroom. However, we also visited the church and we saw so much passion for worshiping their Lord and Savior. We also discussed these negative feelings and Rudy, a man from iGubu, told us to recognize these feelings but then move on becasue if we stay at the negative place, we are missing everything they have accomplished. This seems to be seen throughout the attitudes of the South African people.

We have been participating in very exciting activities. Tonight we are going to visit the township again and eat at the restaurant there, called Roots. We will also learn how to play traditional drums!

We will continue updating! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

First Full Day in South Africa

So it's Jonathan again. Today was our first full day in South Africa and we had an amazing time. The day started with us going to eat at one of the newer food courts on the campus. At breakfast several of us sat with the driver and were able to get a 'real' view of where we are and some of the people. We also had a fun time trying to learn some of the language. After lunch we went the the Neelsie, which is their version of the student center. We had a meeting with Rudi, the 'Brian' in South Africa. We then met with the SCR, the student government. It was amazing to talk to them and see how different their student culture is from KSU's. In fact it is completely different. They are trying to get in touch more with their private students, which are like our commuter students.




After that meeting we had our first South African lunch, which was an interesting experience. The ketchup is sweet and has no salt in it...which is odd to us, but in the same aspect they think the salt in out ketchup is odd. Once lunch was done we moved on to the Sustainability Institute. That was an amazing experience because it really showed how you could use all your resources. (Some of the pictures I took are shown.) From that we all took a hard look at what we do in the US and how we can all take what we have already learned back.


















After that experience we were invited to go to a rugby game and were able to really see THE sport of the country. It is the same as football is here as far as popularity goes. The backdrop for the rugby game was amazing, through all the rain we saw an amazing rainbow.

The final part of the evening was going for dinner to a place that translates into "Turtle Valley". At this dinner we got our first real taste of South African food. We met several of the other staff members that helped and work with Rudi. All and all it was an amazing first day that really showed us another view of the world.

More to come...

Jonathan

Our Journey From Atlanta, GA to South Africa

So it's Jonathan and Brigitte and it is 5:05 pm GA time and 11:05 pm in Cape Town and we are finally in South Africa!!! woo hoo!!! Here is the really short version of how we got from our homes in Georgia to another country half way around the world. On May 13th 2008 at 12:30 14 students and 2 advisors boarded a plan to JFK airport in NYC. That was the shortest flight of the day. Once we got to the JFK airport we had about 20 minutes to grab something to eat and then board a 8.5 hour flight to Dakar where the plane would be restocked and refueled, then we had another 8.5 hours to our final destination in Cape Town South Africa. For most of the students this was their first international flight...so the food and everything that went on during the flight was interesting (we will let the videos speak for the experience as they portray us as we are actually going through the process).

Once we finally landed in South Africa we had a little bit of an issue getting into the country. I had to get out mine and Brigitte's laptop to prove that we are leaving the country (also shown in a video). After that we went through customs and I think Judy described it best when she said, "I showed him my cookies...he looked at them said fine...and that was it." Customs was the easy part of the day as we were able to just walk through. After that we got picked up and saw our living situations (also shown) and then went to a local grocery store. In case anyone was wondering they do have orange fanta here. Not the exact same as in the USA, but that is just one of the few differences that the group is coming across...our first but I highly doubt our last. More to come as we explore South Africa.

So we have about 10 more videos that we have taken thus far, but for some reason the internet is not letting us upload them :(. So here is the one that we actually got up. Hopefully we will be able to get more up tomorrow.

Landed!

Schedule

May 13th - Leave for South Africa
May 14th - Arrive in Cape Town
May 15th - Introduction and welcome event
May 16th - Day to Explore
May 17th - Meet Counterparts and visit local community project
May 18th - Visit Parliament, District Six, and Waterford
May 19th - Table Mountain and Buffelsfontein Game Drive
May 20th - Visit Desmond Tutu Peace Centre and Roots Restaurant
May 21st - Visit Institute for Justice and Reconiliation
May 22nd - Visit Robben-Island
May 23rd - Free Day
May 24th - Meet with community leaders
May 25th - Learning reports and Publications; Wine Tour
May 26th - Debriefing Session/Leave
May 27th - Arrive in US

Malawi
May 27th - Free Day
May 28th - Leave for Malawi
May 29th-June 1st Malawi
June 2nd - Arrive in US

Wrapping Up and Getting Ready!

We are so excited we graduated from LINK and are ready to go to South Africa

Wow! Where did the semester go? I can't believe we leave for South Africa in 5 days!

This past semester we hammered out the details of our civic engagement as well as continued to learn about the South African culture. We had a South African guest speaker come and talk to the group about racism in South Africa as well as the importance of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a humanist philosophy that talks about the relationships that human beings have with each other. People with Ubuntu are open and willing to talk to others. They do not feel threatened by another race or other person's idea. Ubuntu is the philosophy that humans can't isolate themselves. Rather, we are all connected by a circle of life. Even though this discussion wasn't what the group was expecting, it helped bring the group closer and helped us realize that we all make up this LINK group and would have not accomplished anything without everyone's ideas and contributions in the group.

As for our trip, we are sadly no logger staying with host families but will be living in cottages near the University of Stellenbosch. We will still be involved with our comrades, and we can't wait to meet them. We finally received the schedule, so we have an idea of the events we will be doing each day.

Hopefully, when we get to South Africa, we will be able to update this blog to keep everyone informed about our activities and what the group is learning and experiencing.

Molly