Wine lands!

Today I went to Stellenbosch (wine country) and we rented mountain bikes and biked the wine lands. We got to a vineyard and had a wine tasting and lunch! The wine was so good and they had certain foods out to try with certain wine, which was really neat. White wine and fish/shellfish/cheeses. Red wine and red meat.  It was really fun! I loved Stellenbosch. The university of Stellenbosch is right there and so it is a cool little college town with neat galleries, coffee shops, restaurants etc. I want to go to school there! The town reminded me a lot of the campus in Boulder CO! Logan, Julie, Spencer, Sam---you guys would have loved town! Emma, I wished you had been there for all tasting!

Table Mountain!

This morning we got up and went out to this amazing breakfast place that was just like St. Honore at home! I missed my mom and Alison so much because they would have LOVED this place so much! They had such good coffee! Then we went and packed a picnic lunch and took the hike up to Table Mountain! This hike was AMAZING! I LOVED IT! I wish that CJ, BJ, JFro, Dana, and Tony (and Trish and Dean to, although they hiked it like the day before I did☺) had been there to hike it with me because they would have loved it! The hike was a climb, very rocky and straight up! It took about 2 hours but it felt so good to get a good work out! The views were SPECTACULAR! We met lots of awesome travelers along the way from all over (the Netherlands, England, Iceland). I was so happy that we hiked it on such a clear and sunny day because sometimes, the clouds cover everything and so it was so great to get to the top and be able to see for miles and miles! We took the cable car down and it was this really cool egg shaped car that spun as it descended down the mountain so you get a 360-degree view! We did some shopping in the afternoon and then we went out to dinner and I tried Ostrich (Guy would have been so impressed!)—Tastes like steak if anyone was wondering!

From South Africa!

Wow! Wow! WOW! It has been such an amazing time in Cape Town South Africa! Whew, let me start from the beginning. We arrived on the 3rd of October. The port is BEAUTIFUL and reminds me so, so much of Mystic Sea Port. It is very touristy with lots of shops and ships and fish and chips. There was a small mall next door, which had a grocery store and so we took the morning to do some shopping. I love grocery shopping abroad! The foods and brands and things to taste and try are so yummy that we went a little crazy and bought a ton of cookies, crackers, granola, soymilk and Nutella to get us the rest of the way around the world. We had cheese and tomatoes crepes for lunch and then we headed out to the Khayelitsha Township.
This is one of South Africa’s fastest growing townships of about 2 million people. During our time in the township we got to visit the Philani Development Centre and Craft Shop that was started by the women in the town ship (with the help of Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu) to provide child health and nutrition to the children in the community. The women work in weaving, silk screen printing, bead work and fresco painting to create these amazing works of art and the proceeds from all the sales go directly to Philani Center! To learn more you can visit philani.org.za. The women were so gracious and showed us around the facility. It was really a special place. I could have stayed and talked and made art for days and days.
Our next stop was to the Kopanong B&B, which was started by women from Cape Town who lives in the township. She wanted visitors to see first hand what it was like to stay in a township and become a part of the neighborhood while visiting Cape Town. The room and board costs all get fed back into the community. I was bummed that I didn’t have more days in South Africa or I would have stayed here longer! The townships are shack after shack after shack and no words can describe the amount of poverty that these people live in. But, once you set foot in a township, you are welcomed into their communities, homes, and families. I found that the shacks are all quite beautiful. They have so much unique character in each scrap of metal, broken doorframe, shutter, wire, fencing, and windowpane. They are incredibly small and hold very little, but they are neat and tidy and well kept. We stopped in a park in the middle of the township and played with the kids at the playground. We sang songs and asked about school, family and music. The kids were so great and it was so good to spend time with them. Everyone was so incredibly friendly. We were sitting talking to some boys who were about 6 and 9 and the mom came over and we started to get up (because we were worried she was going to be upset for these strangers (us) to be talking to her kids) but as she came closer her arms were open wide and she grabbed me into a huge hug and squeezed me tight. I miss my mom so much so it was so nice to have a hug. Then she explained a bit about the neighborhood and the township.
That night we headed out to dinner and I was missing my uncle Guy and wishing that I could tell him all of my stories and so in honor of him I ordered a HUGE bowl of mussels! Cool fact: South Africans call traffic lights “robots”! So they would say, “go straight and turn right at the next robot.”

Reflection?I LOVE GHANA!

As I have said over and over, there is so much poverty in Ghana. It is so crowded and dirty and there is so much pollution and garbage. The landscape looks so fragile and delicate, as if one storm would blow down everything. Plastic bags and garbage pile up on the sides of the roads, most of the children don’t have shoes and their clothing is dirty and tattered. Not once did I see a hospital or a grocery store or a house that was fully built with a strong roof, front door and windows (like we see at home). The roads are so bad that what should take a half hour drive takes hours. There markets are filled with things that are imported or donated from America and all other corners of the world. Old refrigerators and TVs are used in Ghana homes as shelves and closets. However, there is a huge sense of community here. Most everyone walks everywhere and so they know each other.  If your shack is right next to someone else’s, you are also sharing a fire. And if you are sharing a fire, you are cooking and sharing vegetables. And if you are cooking, your children are playing outside and you are keeping an eye on them and so everyone is working together. At home, we spend so much time in the car and on the phone that we do not have these types of interactions with people. For the most part, we are self-sufficient and don’t need to depend on others to keep the fire burning and the clothes line dry. As a result we don’t interact with others face to face unless we make an effort to say hello in a grocery store or take a day to garden with a neighbor or have coffee. I fell in love with the sense of community and friendship that Ghanaian people have with one another. And truth be told, if we gave them the houses that we live in with buttons and washers and technology, they wouldn’t know what to do. And if I lived in their tiny little houses I wouldn’t know what to do either. The trick is to finding a balance to live a sustainable life. All of us need a strong foundation of friends and family. So, as we make our way to South Africa and I catch up on all my homework and papers, I hope that all of you at home will make some time to unplug and connect with those around you. Community is so important and over time our wants and needs will come and go but our friends and family are forever. Ghana is an amazing place and I hope that all of you get the chance to make a trip here at some point in time—I can’t wait to come back!

Habitat for Humanity

Today I went to a small village with some other SAS students and worked with Habitat for Humanity. At the sight they had three houses that they were working on. They had the foundations laid down and the houses were being made with cement blocks and concrete with tin roofs. We spent the day digging out concrete and thick clay mud that would eventually be the floor of this house. They had very little tools and it was so humid. But, we worked all day and it felt really good to be making a difference. While we were working some children that lived near by came over and talked with us. While we worked, they taught us songs and took pictures with our cameras. For lunch a few women came out of the bushes with 3 huge coolers and inside it was filled with 20 plates and forks and hot rice and chicken. It was such a good meal. I still want to know how they cook in the jungle with just a pot and some rice and live off so little. I have never seen so much poverty in my entire life, and yet they are so happy and giving. The kids are so cute and sweet and told us all about going to school and church and that they liked to play soccer. One little kid came up to me and asked for my shoes. He said that he couldn’t go to school because he didn’t have shoes. I wish that I had had a whole box of TOMS to give out.

The Water village

We took a trip to a water village. We drove about 3 hours out to this little town and walked out to a beach where small canoes were waiting for us. We got in and canoed out of town into this jungle. It was a 45-minute ride where we paddled through swampland, crocodile waters (although we didn’t see any) and passed by men and women making their daily commute by boat to their city. We are out in the middle of nowhere and it starts pouring rain and suddenly we see a little village of about 20 houses on stilts. We arrive and are welcomed by the men and women that live there. They take us through the village, which had a small schoolhouse, a church and one room houses with pots on hot coals cooking food and babies sleeping on small mats and children playing with a small deck of cards. The kids were so cute and we gave them our silly band bracelets. It is still so amazing to think that these people live in a water village—it is not even like a houseboat…it is like living on a dock. The story says that a snail led these people to this village and they have lived here ever since. They have chickens and fish and have a teacher and a doctor. They hang their laundry out to dry and make all their tools by hand. If they need anything, they take their canoe into town and get it. Otherwise, the village is entirely independent and self-sufficient. It was amazing. As I walked around I tried to envision myself living there and growing up on the water. After spending time with the villagers we made our way back into town and were met by Ghanaian people with fresh coconut that they cut open and handed to us. I don’t know about any of you, but I have never drunk straight from a coconut that was just cut from the tree, but it was tasty. We got lunch back in town at a restaurant and were sitting outside on the beach and all these little kids came over and sat near us. They were hungry and we ended up giving them our soda’s and plates of food.  It is heartbreaking to see so many poor and homeless children and families. They make do with so little, and we have so much to give.

The Water village

We took a trip to a water village. We drove about 3 hours out to this little town and walked out to a beach where small canoes were waiting for us. We got in and canoed out of town into this jungle. It was a 45-minute ride where we paddled through swampland, crocodile waters (although we didn’t see any) and passed by men and women making their daily commute by boat to their city. We are out in the middle of nowhere and it starts pouring rain and suddenly we see a little village of about 20 houses on stilts. We arrive and are welcomed by the men and women that live there. They take us through the village, which had a small schoolhouse, a church and one room houses with pots on hot coals cooking food and babies sleeping on small mats and children playing with a small deck of cards. The kids were so cute and we gave them our silly band bracelets. It is still so amazing to think that these people live in a water village—it is not even like a houseboat…it is like living on a dock. The story says that a snail led these people to this village and they have lived here ever since. They have chickens and fish and have a teacher and a doctor. They hang their laundry out to dry and make all their tools by hand. If they need anything, they take their canoe into town and get it. Otherwise, the village is entirely independent and self-sufficient. It was amazing. As I walked around I tried to envision myself living there and growing up on the water. After spending time with the villagers we made our way back into town and were met by Ghanaian people with fresh coconut that they cut open and handed to us. I don’t know about any of you, but I have never drunk straight from a coconut that was just cut from the tree, but it was tasty. We got lunch back in town at a restaurant and were sitting outside on the beach and all these little kids came over and sat near us. They were hungry and we ended up giving them our soda’s and plates of food.  It is heartbreaking to see so many poor and homeless children and families. They make do with so little, and we have so much to give.