First of all, what/ how. How has
it already been nine weeks? I remember like it was yesterday when my mom texted
me saying “one week down, a lot more to go!”, and it has been eight weeks since
then. I love and miss my parents but it is insane how not homesick I have been.
Maybe it’s because I’m so distracted all the time but I’m also so happy to be
here and don’t want to go home at all.
Monday through Wednesday this
week at the clinic was interesting. I have gotten to do so much hands-on work
there. The sisters, or nurses, leave me alone all the time to do bandaging by
myself. It’s really awesome how much I get to see/do. On Tuesday, the 3 women left me alone all day to go to a Gender Based Violence Workshop. It was definitely
an experience to have them gone that day, and I have such a greater
appreciation of having friends with me at work. Also being the only white
person in a room full of 500 was definitely interesting to say the least.
Thursday after class, me Avery, and Allie stayed around UCT to play soccer for
a couple hours. It was extremely hot that day so we didn’t last as long as we
wanted to but it was a nice time because we got to distress and talk.
 |
| Patrick & Allie painting what will become the schools first ever library |
The next day Allie, Anna, and I
got up early and went to the paint store for Books For Nyanga. We chose the
aptly titled ‘hope’ (peach) and another green color. After, we went directly to
the school to see the job the carpenter did on the shelves for the books. We
paid him a lot of rand so we were hoping it was going to be worth it; and it definitely
was. All of the chairs and desks that were piled high to the ceiling were moved
out. The broken down piano was thrown out and the shelves were varnished and
nailed down. After a quick rejoice we started working on the walls. By the end
of the day we had taken down everything that was unnecessary/broken down from
the walls and fixed all of the scratches, and laid a first coat of paint on
most of the walls. We were exhausted by 6:00 P.M. so we came back and ended up
getting some incredible news: our story was about to be aired on NBC
Connecticut! Completely unexpected, we all had to do a Skype interview to an
NBC correspondent which she used portions of for an online article and a live
newscast. It was so cool to be able to know we got the word out and how great
this project could actually become. While talking about this I want to bring up
a point that was reiterated in the online article. Allie, Anna, and I do not
want this to be about us. We don’t want to set any precedent for any future
UConn students to beat or match. We hope this happens but we definitely don’t
want anyone on this trip or in the future to feel inadequate because all we
really did was come up with an idea, send out a couple of Facebook messages,
and do the work. But that being said, the idea was not hard and if we all
actually wanted to give kids better lives here in South Africa and make them pass
their exams we definitely could.
Another reason I believe Friday
was probably my best day here was that night. My roommate Carl’s birthday was Friday
so all 29 of us decided to go to Mama Afrika’s for dinner which is a restaurant
and bar that features live music and classic African food. Unbelievable. Not
only was the food amazing, but the African instruments and dancers were awesome
to watch, listen and dance to. I even ended up playing on of the drums for a
while! After, we went home and went swimming even though it was raining. I
literally love it here. Every day is so awesome and jam-packed. Even though I
know I’m spending a lot of money, it’s completely worth it and the best
possible thing I could spend my money on. When I get back to the states, what
am I going to be spending my money on anyway?
Obviously woke up to another
awesome day on Saturday to the aquarium in the morning, a braai at a friend of
Vernon’s house in the afternoon, and Carnivale at night. Carnivale was this big
parade with these elaborate and colorful floats. They even had this concert
right next to the parade which was awesome as well. I feel like I keep using the
same descriptive words over and over again but there really isn’t a way to
express on paper how happy I am all the time here. You really have to come here to get the full
experience and understand what I’m talking about.
The next day I woke up to a St.
Patricks’ Day celebration at church, and then lunch at a pub in the city. After
that I went home, exercised with some friends, and went to dinner at Marita’s
flat. Marita was obviously so welcoming and was nice enough to offer Allie,
Anna, and I dinner while we talked about our project. After a poor week last
week, I’m happy to say I’m all better. Again, I’m very thankful to Marita and
my classmates for making me feel so much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment