Orient Yourself!

Gabarone, Lobatse, Naledi, and another place that I'm not going to spell because I really have no idea how to properly spell it. Botswana. This was where I spent my first 10 days in the beautiful continent of Africa! I was blessed to be able to participate in a sort of 'cultural orientation' before actually settling into my new internship in South Africa. Basically I was with a group of other folks new to Africa that decided we wanted to experience culture shock together and quickly so we'd know how to handle it if it ever hit us again while we're out travelling across Africa or beginning new jobs and whatnot.

By the way - Africa is VERY beautiful! I had deserts painted in my mind, but it is SO green here! I absolutely love it!!

So, I'm not really sure how this blog will go as the semester continues, but this post is basically a recap of my flight to S.A. and my media-blackout orientation! So, here we go!:

Saturday, January 14th:
After enjoying a nice, big breakfast with mom, dad, and Chip at the Huntsville airport I was off! Well, first I had to go through security and that kind of stuff. I haven't traveled via airplane since I was 12 years old, so when I got to the right gate I stood at the counter wondering what I was supposed to do next. I asked an employee working there if I was supposed to check-in. His response: a lot of laughter. I had to explain that I hadn't flown in quite some time and he then laughed a bit more and told me just to have a seat and he'd call everyone at once to board the plane.

Flying to DC was a great flight :) I met a new friend, Joanna, and we talked the entire way to DC. It sure made the flight go by a lot quicker. Dulles airport in DC was much less intimidating than I imagined. The memory of the Chicago airport had me a little paranoid, lol. Dulles was pretty empty when I got there around noon. I caught a bus and then took a train to the gate to wait on my partner/ fellow intern, Erin (she was flying in from Atlanta). On the way to her gate, I found it: a cheeseburger. The week prior to leaving I made SURE to get Little Rosie's, P.F. Changs, and Chickfila. What did I forget? A good cheeseburger. Naturally, I made sure to get an amazing Five Guys cheeseburger with plenty of fries before the Atlanta flight got in.

The Atlanta plane arrived after a few hours of waiting, and off walked Erin! We waited awhile before our flight to Joburg and I made sure to get a strawberry frosted Dunkin Donut before I left it behind for 4.5 months - gotta make sure you cover all your bases before flying off, ya know?

So after a 3.5 hour delay due to electrical problems, we were off into the wild, blue yonder!! I didn't sleep a wink in our 8ish hour flight to Senegal (our 1 stop) and I made myself paranoid by watching Contagion on the flight. Every cough or sneeze make me hold my breath for a second. I suggest not watching that movie to anyone considering on a bazillion hour flight with 100 other people.

The next leg of the journey was a 7ish hour flight to Joburg! By the grace of our dear Lord, I was able to sleep!!!!! We landed in Joburg and got to ride back to my workplace for this semester to take a shower and catch a glorious 2 hour nap before waking up to go back to the airport to fly to Botswana!

So Botswana: Our orientation leader started off our grand adventure by making us blindfold our partner and describe Botswana to them as we headed to our first stop. When we got to the first stop, a little house and office with a house cat that looks like a lion cub, we spent a few hours learning about African culture by doing various activities and we all got to know each other a bit more.  When it came to lunch time we were dropped off at a Spar (grocery store) with pula (Botswana currency) and told to buy lunch. I'd like to mention that we didn't know the dollar to pula ratio, and we also did not speak Setswana. Erin & I opted for banana bread and grapes because the was a pretty confusing venture, lol.

The next few days were spent doing more educational activities and getting introduced to the culture. We rode in their taxi vans (Koombes - don't quote me on the spelling...) - they were a TON of fun, :) we went to the market, we ate Botswana hot dogs from street vendors, visited a hindu temple and mosque, served a traditional Botswana meal (meaning the girls had to serve the guys and wash their hands and junk... I like America, btw), and practiced Setswana with the people working at the place we slept.

We spent one day at Naledi - the 'ghetto' of Botswana. I spent most of the day there working in the garden of a church, pulling weeds and trying to make things look a little bit neater for the congregation. I spent a lot of time thinking about my mom and thanking God that he placed such a hard-working, servant-hearted woman in my life. My mom definitely has the gift of helps and she's constantly looking for ways to serve others by doing various tasks, particularly cleaning. Lucky for me, I wasn't homesick while I worked, I was just very grateful for all of the leaders and examples God has placed in my life to teach me how to be a servant of Christ.

A portion of the time at Naledi was spent walking around looking at the living conditions and visiting with a family. The experience wasn't a flooring experience where I was overcome with grief or hopelessness, but instead God allowed me to see His beauty in all situations. There were mothers in Naledi that affectionately led their kids around, friendly neighbors that smiled and waved as we passed by, kids laughing as they played, and there was still so much vegetation! I've seen much more depressing places, Skid Row in Los Angeles immediately comes to mind, so it was almost refreshing to be reminded that God hasn't forsaken people in the poorer places. In fact, the family that we visited with had an older woman in it that eagerly led me into her bedroom to show me her certificate of Baptism. There was so much joy on that woman's face and she was so happy to hear that we were doing work at her church that day. The language barrier made it difficult to communicate in depth with the family, but I can tell you that the smiles shared between all of us communicated the joy that we all found in our awesome Lord. That day really solidified something for me: I'm not here specifically to add to my resume, to feel good about myself, to make a dent in social justice issues of sex trafficking, poverty, crime, etc, or to become self-righteous. I am here specifically to follow God's will for my life: to bring hope and joy into desperate situations by sharing the hope and joy found in Jesus Christ!

I often get distracted by learning different things about Christianity and morals and whatnot and sometimes I forget that the only reason I am here right now is because the Holy Spirit rescued me when I was hopeless and depressed and alone. The only reason I am here is because God allowed me to glimpse the hope and joy he offers to anyone who follows Him and to anyone that makes Him the center of their life.

It's Mail Time!

Below are the instructions I received from my supervisor about mail!:

Receiving Mail:
All of our mail is delivered to the office compound via PO boxes. You can receive mail at the following address:

IBSA
c/o Sarah Katherine Johnson
PO Box 1759
Edenvale 1610
South Africa

Don't expect to receive mail quickly. Expedited mail usually takes 1-2 weeks to arrive from the States. The normal system takes several weeks longer.

People in the States can send you mail at anytime, but there are some guidelines that they need to follow when sending packages to you in South Africa. I would highly recommend sharing these guidelines with them:
1. Clearly mark the following somewhere on the outside of the package: "Unsolicited Gifts." It's also a good idea to write "For Personal Use - Not For Resale" on the customs sticker that is included with the package.
2. They'll have to get one of the customs/ international mailing stickers from the post office. This gives them a place to give a general list of items included in the package and how much each item is worth. Do NOT list the actual (paid) price of items on the outside of the package or on this form. You will have to pay 1/2 of what is listed as the worth to the customs officials. For example, if an item is listed as costing $20... you will have to pay $10 to get the package from customs. The price listed should be the garage sale price of the item. Once an item is purchased and removed from its original packaging, it is not longer new. The resale (or garage sale) price is sufficient and truthful.
3. Anything included in the package needs to be taken out of the original wrapping/ container. For example, a CD/ DVD should be unwrapped/ opened, any original boxes for items should not be included, etc.
4. If sending any food... remove the items from their original package/ box/ bag and put them in a sealed Ziploc bag. The reason for this is two-fold. First, it will appease the customs officials for not looking like you're importing goods from the States. Secondly, the sealed bags will also seal the smell of the food and protect it from rats. Many individuals have received packages with holes in them... and the food half-eaten by rats. So again... if they want you to receive the food items they send, remove them from their original packaging and seal them in Ziploc bags!
5. Large mailing bags (no matter the size or weight), manilla envelopes (even the thick padded ones), regular letters or envelopes, postcards, etc, are easily received and rarely opened by the customs officials. You may have to pay a small fee for receiving large bags/ envelopes, but it is usually only a few dollars. Letters are not read - whether they're in an envelope or a package, but packages (boxes) are almost always opened by the customs officials. Usually there isn't a problem with receiving all that is in a package (unless an electronic item is included), but keep in mind that there is a slight chance that something could be confiscated. No one should send you anything electronic in the mail. It will NOT get to you.
6. There is no problems with sending Christian materials or items. Because you are an American, it is assumed that you are a Christian and expected that you will receive Christian/ spiritual types of things. Don't worry about that.