Sharp, Sharp!

This is the note I posted on Facebook on August 27th. I'm posting it seperately/out of chronological order because it is so much longer than the things in the blog post before this one, so please just pretend that it was all done in order, thanks.

Sharp Sharp

In South Africa when you meet someone you show thumbs up, pound it, then press and twist your thumb off of theirs and say "sharp, sharp" (but with their accents it sounds like "shop, shop"). "Sharp" is almost the same as here, for example: after shooting somebody's picture on a digital camera you see it and can say "sharp!" meaning it came out well/"thank you for your time :)"; "Thank you" sounds like a fine mix between the "a" and the "o" in "danky/donky".


Apparently this is what I do: stay up until 3a looking through pictures of a trip that my team just got home from only 19 bizarre days post de-plaining a 36 hour trip back to DIA. This note is me, raw and straight up, being shared at 5 in the morning.

     Rustengurg, South Africa was only my "home" for two weeks out of fifty-two in 2010. I haven't even been back in the States for three full weeks yet and I dont think I could be more "home" sick. The bruises on my shins from playing with (and being full on attacked by*) children may have almost faded by now, but I still have some kind of stomach bug and, as of  Monday, a relatively minor case of ringworm. Anyobody's first thought would be to wish themselves better, but mine is more along the lines of how blessed I am to only be hit with these things now after being back in Denver and not having to deal with it where there are worse cases than my own, that are in desperate  need of treatment that infected individuals cannot pay for.

*Lesson learned from experience: do NOT ever allow yourself to be sitting on the ground playing with 2 - 3 children at the same time 20 more children are dropped off in vans from school. They WILL all over power you - jumping and diving onto your torso or legs, pulling your hair, shirt, and arms, as well as pulling each other's clothes to try to make room for themselves - and you have to call a team mate of yours over for help to stand up but are still out-weighed. With so many young ones seeking love and attention from you, however, the normally simple movement of standing up is complicated by [what feels like] 70% and you are afraid for your life for a minute when you find yourself in a state of: A. needing your own air B. shock at how much children in other countries crave your focus.

     I have cleaned through my clothes, closet, boxes, desk, bags and junk almost twice since coming home. I still have too much stuff! I realize that I am an average 20 year old American girl living at home and it is "normal" here to have a good deal of things, but really?

     While we were in South Africa, some of the guys on our team built 3 shacks for selected people of the AIDS squatter camp (comminuty) we worked called Freedom Park. The first shack our team built was for a man, his wife, their 2(?) daughters, and little boy who is shy beyond words. I believe the care takers told us that the whole family is HIV positive. The second shack was for a girl who is my age and was just left with her much younger sister and brother (probabally 5 or 6 years old and 3 maybe 4 years old). Their mother recently died, leaving them with each other and the baby boy without pants. Our third shack more team members had a chance to help build because it was in the fence in area next to the garden our 'garden team' dug up for the community to develop. We built this one for a single man who steped up as a voulenteer to keep watch on the garden as it flourishes so nobody breaks in and steals everything at night. We left a bag of food and jug of tap water at each shack when we handed over the keys and prayed as a big group over the families. Every time I think about that day in the middle of the second week of our trip, I am amazed with how people know how to make so much of so little. I wish it were easier to live like that here and stand out in our communities like that.

We all have hypothetically enough energy, time, and food in our kitchens to stay home from school or work for a continual 24 hour period and do nothing but consume it. The children that I got sick from are fed typically once a day + given candy by "the white people" who are complete strangers who gave up a small amount of time to give the kids hugs, a bottle of bubles, a bag of legos, and/or crayons with a blank sheet of paper. Children who do not even know what a T.V. is can draw, color, play, dance, or find any other way to express themselves better than any modern day American 5 year olds that I know.

    I have told a few of you that the team that went on this trip last year wrote a beautiful song - called "Lerato" ("Love") about "Peter Pan" & the "Lost Boys." What I have not told all of you is that my favorite lines from the song are the last two of the chorus:

Chorus
So come sail away with me off to the red soil
Step out of your boat and see what I can do
You might think that I’ve called you off to change the world
Maybe it’s the world that’s changing you
(all of the lyrics to the song can be found at http://smithsa.blogspot.com/search/label/Missions%20Teams towards the bottom of the page)

     I realize the fact that I cannot do a whole lot to change the world. While in South Africa, through the surreal "culture shell shock" I did realize that I can put ALL of my energy into making a few children a little bit more happy daily regardless of how beat I will be at the end of each day of my "work". Swinging a child around in a circle by their arms for a minute while they are smiling, screaming, and laughing may be one less minute they are thinking about the scene of their shack being broken into and watching their mother/big sister/baby being rapped the night before... Hearing their stories definetaly puts you in your place.

 I'm not sure if you can actually see how "home" sick I am. </3

 I have a LOT of pictures form this trip up on my photography Facebook account in the albums "Lerato Wena" (1-3) (only visible to friends, so add it!)!! I know better than to expect anyone who made it through this whole note to go look at each picture because you most likely just used up any free time left in your day reading this monsterous note containing SOME of my 5am "home"sick emotions that kept me up tonight. A lot of you have asked me to tell you my stories and even though it may not be the same as me going through the albums with you (due to lack of time and coordination) I have a lot of stories set as captions with those pictures. Take a look, and you may possibly catch a glimps as to why I cried while writing this note. Sharp, sharp!