I GREATLY APOLOGIZE...that had to be TORTURE waiting for me to come back to the STAGE! But I'm here and can't wait to FILL you IN...Let's GO!!!
June 20-July 1: This was the LAST week at Menzi High School and everyone was getting ready for the MATRIC DANCE FESTIVAL on Friday. We, the SIT students, were singing "We are the World" and the Menzi students were doing traditional dance, poetry and song. In the mist of all of this I believe I made a GREAT mark at this school, I felt like such a star every time I passed a classroom or entered a classroom, it was as if they had never seen a African American! Boys AND girls were trying to take me home to Momma. (Apparently there was a female who liked me just a little TOO much, but either way...) The FESTIVAL was priceless and I cried the WHOLE TIME.
I had a date later that night with a wonderful young ZULU PRINCE who took me out for a night on the town! On Saturday we had a BRIEFING on our rural stay which was in Dokodweni. We were to facilitate a camp for 5 days and DISCUSS the Gender, Racial and Social constraints on the young people of SA. We arrived on Sunday and started our program that following Monday. It was such a humbling feeling to wake up at 6AM, heat my water and pour it in a basin, wash, eat what the chicken laid for us and finally WALK for 30 minutes towards the beach to a camp full of village children.
We had an itinerary for each day and it involved heated discussions and debates in Zulu and English every day. On our last day Jack brought out his guitar and we played musical games until 12pm, which is when we left for our SAFARI!!
July 2-8: We arrived at INSINKWE Lodge on Friday evening and had a braai (barbecue) of chicken, sausage links and lamb. Everyone (but me) got SLOPPY DRUNK and I almost choked about 3 and HALF people (don't ask where the half comes from). We crawled to bed and awoke at 5AM to travel to the game park. When we arrived, FROZEN from the open jeep ride on the highway, we were greeted by a family of Giraffes, Zebras and Buffalo's. It was awesome to see them in their natural habitat. We headed back for breakfast and then off to Durban to go back to our home stays. We had Saturday night and Sunday off to relax and get ready for our next trip: GRAHAMSTOWN!
Grahamstown is supposedly the World Largest Festival and we were staying at one of the World’s Best Universities: Rhodes University. So EXCUSE ME if I have never heard of neither!! (Rolling my eyes...HARD) The ride there was 15 HOURS in a van; I wish that on NO ONE!! We were staying with numerous students from all over SA and we soon began to hang out and party together. The festival didn't go as PLANNED because of all the rain but we made it worth our WILD!
We headed home on Thursday morning at...you guessed it...5AM (Sheesh, you guys!!) We arrived at our home stays at 6PM and I took IT straight to the BED. Today I walked around downtown Durban with my home stay sisi, being that I'm leaving on Monday. Another date is planned on Saturday with the Prince of Zamunda then we are headed into our last week where we are staying in HOTELS (they are really high class LODGES but will definitely feel like hotels to us).
I have appreciated EVERY SINGLE MOMENT and I have no idea how I am going to remember every single event to tell all my people...oh hold up I am telling you, in this blog, Duh, Joanna...so best believe a NEW WOMAN is stepping off that plan on July 17th. I will try to continue to stay in contact WITH YOU until the end...LOVE YOU
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