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.