Orientation in Pietermaritzburg

The first day here in Pietermaritzburg it was around 100 degrees Fahrenheit so we drove an hour to Durban and went to Ushaka water park! Here is a picture of the skyline of Durban.

This is the last piece of the prison left in Durban. During the apartheid there were many political prisoners here. It is in front of the convention center.

 One of the days this week we drove to Mpophomeni, a township of Pietermaritzburg, to see two of the work placements that are at Aids clinics there.  This is a picture of the cemetery there.  Funerals are common on Saturday afternoons.

 This is a picture of the second largest waterfall in South Africa.  It is about 80 meters and if you look at the picture you can see the black on the rocks, once the dry season is over the water will fall over all of the black areas.

 This is a house made of grass that is in a traditional Zulu settlement.  The houses are quite amazing.  There is no better design for a home in South Africa.  During the summers they stay cool as they can breath, and during the winters they stay very warm with a fire in the middle.

 This is a picture of the inside, the door is very small.

 Here you can see why the doors are so low (someones actual house).  With the fires in the center and no hole in the roof the smoke spreads out in the house and goes through the grass walls/roof.  There are no chairs and one does not walk around in the house, so inhaling smoke is not a problem. 

This is a picture of the Indian Ocean and a little bit of Durban when we were at the water park-Ushaka.  

The internet is being really slow right now and the rest of my pictures will not load and I probably will not have internet for the next week because today I will be going home with my host parents after we have a braai.  I will be staying with Mark and Prasila and their son.  Mark and Prasila are both pastors at New Anointing.  I will be working with the Church Land Program (CLP) for the next 10 months.  They are an organization that started in 1997, a few years after the Apartheid, that works with the churches by helping them find out how much land they have and what to do with the land that they do have.  The CLP helps amplify the voices of those who do not own land.

 Okay so the picture above is of a garden about an hour from Pietermaritzburg where we went yesterday (Thursday) to stop and relax for the day.  The garden is absolutely beautiful with a natural stream that runs through with drinkable water.  We reflected on where we are coming from and where we are now.  It was very peaceful and great for preparing to move in with our host families.

This is a picture of a Weaver finch with nests around it (there are tons of these birds here) in a botanical garden here in Pietermaritzburg.  We went there two days this week to reflect on the assumptions and expectations we came with.

Orientation in Johannesburg

So I picked up my visa/passport at around 9:15 am and flew out at of O'hare at 10:50 am Friday and arrived in Johannesburg at 5:00 pm (11 am Indiana time) Saturday! From there my time here has been jam packed with learning and exploring!  The next morning we went to a church in Hillbrow where the energy throughout the service was amazing! (sorry I do not have any pictures from the first few couple of days).  If you want to see more pictures, you can check out my South Africa album on Facebook! Feel free to ask questions!

 The above picture was taken in an informal settlement called Kliptown in Johannesburg.  KYP is an awesome program that provides an education and much more for the kids in these settlements.  The program was actually started by the youth!

 We drove past Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela's house and Desmond Mpilo Tutu's house on the most famous street (name seen above) since both of them grew up on the same road and both have received the Nobel Prize.

 There is a lot going on in this picture.  To the right you can see a little bit of the largest soccer stadium in all of Africa.  In the background you can see a large mound of dirt which is actually one of many mountain-like piles of waste dirt from the gold mines in Johannesburg.  The smoke in the picture is from a controlled burn.  As winter (dry season) is ends and the rainy season approaches the dead grass is burned.  Right now it looks like Indiana during the winter, minus the snow, since everything is very brown due to the lack of rain.

 We visited the Hector Pieterson museum Monday and the Apartheid museum on Tuesday.  Very moving and heavy.

This is a picture of one of the cameras that takes the picture that you receive in the mail with a ticket!  Don't speed!

Orientation in Las Angeles (Hollywood)

 This week has been jam packed with learning and fun.  We visited Sana Monica beach one night after a long day of discussing racism. 

 The above picture is from the museum of modern art in Las Angeles.

 One of the days this week we learned a lot about looking at a neighborhood and learning many things about it from what one can simply see.  We also learned about gangs and the different types of graffiti.

 After a wonderful tour of some of the great places in Las Angeles we topped it off by eating at an all you can eat Korean Barbecue.

 This is the DOOR house that we have been staying at.  It is located in an awesome area of Hollywood, right by Paramount studios!

 Here is a picture of the iconic Hollywood sign taken from the observatory.

 This is the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood where we met with the director of DOOR and the Dwellers (a group that is doing a year of service in Hollywood) to learn about homelessness in Hollywood.

 After having a discussion on restorative justice we went to a restaurant in Chinatown where we were served all kinds of delicious food.

 A beautiful mural on a building we saw in downtown Las Angeles while roaming around on our "free day".

On Sunday we attended the above church.  They have an Indonesian service and an English service each Sunday and are working on making it one service. We listened to a wonderful sermon on fasting (translated from Indonesian to English).