Peace, Love, and Africa
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Penguins, Lions, and Science!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Yesterday one of the seemingly more troubled boys – he has tried to stab a classmate with scissors, constantly has his hands on other boys, and throws chairs out of anger – wrote “27” on my hand. To those unfamiliar with the gangs of Cape Town, the 27s are one of the largest in the colored townships. I asked the little boy if he knew anyone in the gang and he first said that he himself is a member and then told me that his father is in fact involved in the gang. It broke my heart that someone so young would, if not actually a member himself, would have such close and intimate contact with someone who is. Even before the gang reference, I had a feeling that this little boy had a rough home life and thus made an effort to hug him each day and just show him a little extra love and attention. At first he didn’t understand why I would want to hug him and was very resistant to the whole thing. As I was leaving the classroom to go home this afternoon though he came running out after me and simply asked “my hug?” It was a great way to end the day!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Spring Break in September
After much deliberation of what to do, five of my housemates and I decided to spend our week off backpacking up the Garden Route on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. We each had a backpack of clothes and Saturday morning we jumped on the Baz Bus, a backpacker's bus that allows you to hop on and off all on its routes that travel all around the country. Our first stop was at the Wild Spirit hostel in the Crags, a small place in the middle of nowhere. The hostel is exactly how it sounds - the people who live there/run it/just hang out there are the crunchiest/earthiest/hippiest people I have ever met! There was a birthday party being held there that night, complete with drum lessons of course, and since it was spring themed we were asked to come wearing foliage and such...it was definitely a funny night!