Here is my journal to date!
MONDAY - TUESDAY(15&16/04/08)
Had a bit of a hectic day packing and the like but my day really started in the afternoon/evening when I got to Heathrow
- Team Wildcats all met up with family in tow; much hugging and holding back of tears on my part (if I'd have started I wouldn't have stopped!) and much thinking how surreal all of it is.
- check-in and boarding was uneventful - with one heck of a holy huddle before we got on the plane! humour as dad and i realise that he didn't actually give me the keys for the padlock for my suitcase!
Our plane >
- we arrived at Jo'burg rather tired and slightly disorientated. approached a guy nr the check-in desks to ask which check-in we needed to go to. he grabbed one of our bags and said he was upgrading us to business class(he didn't) and ended up asking us for 20 quid each (by then there were three of them hassling us all at once). Needless to say we ended up being fleeced - very embarassing, slightly hilarious in hindsight and most definitely not happening again.
- despite this experience the flight to Durban was pretty awsum as flights go. nice food and really great views over the surrounding area as we very slowly descended into Durban airport. Unfortunately I had put my camera in my hand luggage and therefore couldn't photograph :S
Here's one from earlier on in the flight:
- Nice drive to PMB on highways which make Kenya look like Europe; there was a constant comparison to Kenya going on in my head. there is a only a minor culture shock compared to Kenya so far, tho we haven't been into the local township areas yet - so have yet to see the harsh reality of life for most ppl.
Was very tired when I got to Project Gateway. Though was hugely excited - and had been since descending into Durban. Couldn't belive that we were/are actually here!
- The rest of the day was a complete blur; tried to remove padlock from bag using Phil's pen knofe - this took agges and i was nearly there when a very lovely guy (who's name i forget - like a lot names i''ve been told since i got here!) turned up with these huge metal cutter and had my padlock (and Jonno padlock which had been crushed so he couldn't do the code) off in 3seconds flat! Phils penknife may be slightly worse off for hacking through a couple of mms of metal!
- we had an introductory meeting with Becky(Teams Co-ordinator), Di(fundraising and admin lady and all round genius), Lorne(absolute legend with a big heart for God), Sheelah(having us round for pizza on Saturday(need i say more? :D) and Mbkosi(sorry for spelling - he works in admin - haven't seen him much since)
Unfortunately not a lot of information from this information came anywhere near sinking in as i was a little too tired.
- Finished unpacking (i'm sharing a cell/room with Abby - and am ironically enjoying cell life!) and did my photo wall (BIG SMILES) missed everyone lots - but in a healthy way!
- Had our first dinner cooked for us by a woman who works in CCP (community care projects) and had a fun, very giggly evening(sleep deprivation) felt like midnight at about 8pm! lol!
Played one of the slowest games of Uno ever! (Phil's fault for dealing 13 cards each!)
Loving being here. Can't believe its happening and can't w8 to get started.
WEDNESDAY (17/04/08)
Felt a little homesick this morning but it quickly passed. Had a cold shower coz the warm water hadn't warmed up yet, it was nice and oddly refreshing. Breakfast was nice and chilled out and we had a discussion with Becky aboout our timetable for the next two weeks (third week is made up purely of public holidays and a day trip with the children of Pietermaritzburg Christian School to a water park on the beach front in Durban) In the fourth week we will have decided which projects we want to get involved with and we will make up our own timetable!
We visited Pastor Sinatra Mantemalow (originally of Zambia and who speaks seven languages!!) who is the principle of the school and he gave us a really brilliant session of teaching and discussion around Acts 17:24-31 and Matthew 5:13-17. He was full of wisdom.
We have also had an invite to go to his house for a classic Zambian meal (incl cow's intestine, and chicken head and feet....needless to say we're considering this invite cautiously as we will be expected to eat what is given to us..)
We also got to talk to some of the children which was awkward - as it was initially in Kenya. They were very eager to know when we were starting work. which is a slightly tricky qu as obv we haven't worked it out yet! But am looking forward to getting to know them and def to the waterpark trip!!
Becky then showed us around the Project Gateway site as it is quite big and told us abit of the history - which is incredibly interesting. The prison was built in 1862 (that building is derilict at the mo but plans are in the pipeline to turn it into a museum as it is the equivalent of a listed building and would be a good source of income because of tourists.
There are rumours that Nelson Mandela spent a couple of nights here on a transfer here - but there are no official records as most of the prisoners were not being kept here legally.
One of the guys who now works here used to be held here as a prisoner and escaped once (no mean feat!) before being put in the high security block. Amazing; definitely want to hear his testimony!
The building we are living in was built in 1892
and the building with all the admin, our kitchen and dining room was built much later on (1930ish)we found out that our dining room was at one point used as the gallow room (there are the outlines of the space in the ceiling where they were hung and the outline of a pit in the floor for bodies!) and the kitchen used to be the post-mortem room
Needless to say i think most of us almost wish we didn't know that!
After the tour we had lunch and headed out to go shopping(becky had bought some food for us prior to our arrival). We went to Scotsville Mall (about the size of Egham High Street but with two storeys and more parking)
Driving is interesting. I didn't drive on Tuesday but did drive 2day(weds)
We are driving a vauxhall corsa with a little hatchback. The clutch is heavy, there are some suspicious squeaking noises after a recent repair, when you push down the clutch to the floor and then turn the wheel you can feel the steering axel with your toes! and there is no power steering so it is incredibly difficult to maneourve - but all in all a pretty fun experience!
We spent an age in the supermarket working things out, and ended up buying alot but didn't spend as much of our weekly budget as we thought we would, we are going to have far more than enough in the weekly food budget! Things that cost 3-4 quid are considered pretty expensive out here!
After our shopping trip Pastor Jabu (pronounced Jar-bu) who''s the overall pastor of Gateway gave us a talk about culture which was good and helped us all to understand that we need to be quite careful and take our time to understand how things work because even though the country is far more westernised than many places in Africa we still need to be very careful not to ruin our witness - though we will inevitably make some mistakes! we are human after all!
We then attempted to cook for the youth worker from NCF - the church that will be discipling us (as opposed to PCF which is onsite) and two of his friends who he brought along with him.
However our tuna pasta bake turned out rather stodgy due to being unable to accurately measure anything and not having much experience of cooking for 10!
The fruit salad was more of a success although the ice-cream was a little more like cream as the freezer decided not to work properly (it has since sorted itself out properly!)
At 1930 the electricity went out for one and a half hours - this is scheduled power-shedding; as there are not enough power stations to power the entireity of the country so there are scheduled localised power outtages - this affects us for one anda half hours Tues, Weds, Fri and Sat - at different times. The only really annoying ones are the one on Weds and the one 2day which goes out 1600-1830 which is normally when we would cook dinner and we are out at PMB youth group at 1830 so we having a late cooked lunch.
We sat around and chatted for a while in the dark which was alot of fun.
Went back to our rooms around 10ish but me and Abby ended up sitting up till 12ish chatting about lots of stuff - mostly deep stuff - but some pretty random stuff aswell - well, this is me we're talking about!
THURSDAY (18/04/08)
We spent the morning at Bethany House (just opposite the prison) which the headquarters of CCP, sitting in on a workshop morning for the staff who teach HIV/AIDS education in schools. Started off with some awesome worship songs - few zulu one english - just so amazing to be a part of - gets your mind in the right place and makes you realise how naturally gifted the African ppl are at singing!
It was a long and heavy sess - very open about everything and discussed alot of things - not overly relevant to us - but good nonetheless.
Learned some shocking stats
Kwu-Zu Natal (the province of which Pietermaritzburg is capital) has the highest rate of HIV infection in the WORLD
and in a class of 50 children about 5 will be being/have some experience of sexual abuse.
seriously sobering stats.
Then lunch and a talk from Di Milford about the history of SA - which has opened a lot of questions and discussion
its all very different when you're here to when you're reading it on a info pamphlet thing.
Had an awsum meal last nite
mainly helped by bananna pancakes and chocolate spread for pud!!
I have literally been typing for ever
I hope you are not all too bored.
I doubt I will have time to write this much normally
we shall see
there are many other important things which may be prioritised over this!
I LOVE the sunshine
its the best
even if the evenings are short (its dark around 1830) and fairly cool.
Hope alls well
Peace out
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