traveling

The rain is pissing down and we are tucked between and watching the fire fight an epic battle against the elements. I am staying at the most amazing backpackers lodge. A cluster of log cabins and cottages that look out over the plunging mountains and trees. Yesterday, when the weather, was better, the dogs took us for a long walk through a forest where I am sure Hob Gobblins and Knomes live. You have to be careful not to leave the kitchen door open or else the horse will come in and help himself. Last night as family of strangers ate beef stir fry and cuddled up on the couch and watch slum dog millionair.

I think the concept of a back packers lodge is beautiful and great. A place for travelers to come in and take refuge from the road and their times of homelessness. There are people from all walks of life and I feel totally safe and warm. The more I travel the more I see that people are not as bad as there reputation suggests.

last days in Cape Town

Today is our last day in Cape Town. We went to the organic Cafe for the last time and the owner gave us a big hug. Tomorrow at 8 am we will lug our backpacks onto a bus and travel for 8 hours northeast to Plattenburg, our first stop of many!  I know most people who know me will think its quite funny and hardly believable that I would riding a bus let alone with a backpack, let alone for four weeks. But I am really looking forward to seeing something new everyday and meeting people from around the world. The good thing is the green hue of my backpack matches my Long Champ bag!  

I will be traveling for four weeks along the coast of South Africa with Maryeke. We will finish our trip in Lesotho, a small country that is totally land locked my South Africa. Maryeke will travel to J-burg from there and I will stay on for nearly 3 weeks volunteering at another orphanage outside  of Meseru the capital of Lesotho. 

I am highly looking forward to my time in Lesotho. I have felt drawn to this country for months and I can't believe it is working out for me to spend so much time there.

Cape Town has been an amazing experience but I am ready and excited to the next chapter in this African Adventure. 

almost done...

My time at the orphanage is coming to a close. It seems a bit unfair that I am finally feeling at home and it is almost time to go. I have made up my mind to go traveling for a month through out South Africa and will be leaving Cape Town next week. It is bitter sweet. I am excited to see as much as I can and think that it is an opportunity not to be missed but on the other hand the children have carved a special place in my heart and it will be hard to leave them. I just tell myself that I will have to leave them sooner or later. 

I have a lovely couple of days at Masi. The sun was shinning brightly and we spent most of the days outside and we even going for a walk through out the township which excited the children as much as it did me. It is so interesting to see these little beings dancing through streets paved with garbage and gawking at free roaming cows with more flies on them than meat. They sang songs and waved joyfully at men and women looking out the windows of their tin shacks. 

The baby I was carrying fell asleep in my arms and his head bobbed back and forth with each step I took. I have truly fallen in love with  the children. I look at their faces and just want the best for them. But how can I insure that their lives turn out well? I can't. But there is a lot of work to be done in the world and I intend to use my life to a least chip away at the problems. 

I have been learning a little about each child's back ground and why they are here. Most parents are alcoholics. With the unemployment rate so high it is hard to tell if the parents don't have a job because they are drunk or if they are drunk because they don't have a job. Either way poverty is one of the worst things for the human spirit and I think you have to have experienced it to understand its damages on the soul. It is very hard to be a parent when you have no money. It is very hard to be a good parent when you have to work 12 hours a day to keep yourself and your child alive. I don't know who is to blame but I suppose thats not important; fixing it is what's important. But it is hard to imagine that such lovely little creatures could have come from such toxic situations. It makes you believe that is possibly nurture that trumps nature. The South African government does not like adoption I don't think; especially international. Ideally they would like orphans to be put back into their communities and be raised by extended families or foster parents. But I think that is a good way to keep the poor poor and people segregated by class and race. There are so many children in need of loving homes and a decent future and because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic more on the way.

I hope we can use this orphaned generation for change oppose feeding them back to the problems that made them.

Garden Route

We drove for four hours and watched the run rise over the Indian Ocean.  The car ride was for the most part quiet and what noise there was, was promptly blocked out my ipod.  Carla (the german volunteer) and were in the back seat, while Ursula( tour guide) and Marcus(ursula's friend) rode in the front.  Ursula had packed plenty of fruit, chips, and sweets for the long drive. I had a orange and an apple for breakfast and left the chips and sweets to her, which she enjoyed! 

We arrived at our first stop, the game drive,  around 11:00 am.  Ursula spoke Afrikan to all the staff and we browsed in the gift shop and drank lattes. After about an hour we were fetched by our driver/ tour guide Julius.  He hoisted our selves into the four wheel drive and set out. We saw giraffe, zebra, lions, and were even chased by an elephant. But the best part was the mama rhino and her baby. She was very comfortable with people and took her baby right up to us and walked slowly passed where she continued munching on leafy treats. We sat for what seemed like a long time just watching her. The game drive lasted all and all about 3 hours. It was small compared to larger parks in Africa where all the animals live entirely freely off the land and each other. We didn't see all of the big five ( missing the leopard and the water buffalo) but I didn't mind. 

We drove for another 2 hours to hour home for the week, a small and simple apartment that looked over the marsh.  We stocked the cabinets with vegetables, meats and breakfast foods. Since I have been in South Africa I have realized that I am a total food snob. I see that I am used to eating really high quality food and I am shocked to see that most people are perfectly happy eating white rice, white bread, canned vegetables and fried everything. I happily offered to make salad be my contribution to the meals. 

The next morning we drove to two hours through what sandy colored planes framed by the mountainous distance. Two hours is a long time to be in the car by most normal standard but two hours laced with Jesus tunes is numbing indeed.  By noon we had arrived in time for the first cave tour. I decided to take the "standard tour" oppose to the "adventurous tour" where you climb through unfathomable small spaces in the bottom of a musty cave; I was wearing cashmere. The "standard tour" proved to be worth the money and not nearly as stressful. The caves were originally discovered by Bushman but because they were too superstitious to explore beyond the first cavern. But the beyond the first cavern is these beautiful structures or different shades and hues. Some look like organ pipes and some even look like angel wings. 

I was on the tour alone( the others went on the adventure tour) and really got to soak in the energy. 

Next, was the ostriches. We rode the ostriches and fell off the ostriches. Learned about how many people you can feed with one ostrich egg(12 people) and their various mating rituals. There are pretty stupid animals and while they are quite striking to look at and admire you can tell that there is not much depth. 

We cooked a pasta dinner that night ( I made sure it was whole wheat) and were taught to play dominos by the South Africans before we retreated into some much needed sleep. 

The third day was my favorite. We drove to an elephant sanctuary where we spent an hour interacting with elephants( there are pictures on facebook). You reach out your hand and elephant rests it's trunk in your palm and together you go for wander in woods. Elephants, oppose to ostriches, are intensely deep. They mourn and burry their dead. You can tell just by looking at them that they have emotions and are incredibly wise. 

The drive home was a good five hours. I was exhausted and dreaded going straight to work. But the moment I opened the door to the orphanage and all the kids came rushing to meet me shouting "hello mama" I was happy to be there. 

I am finally feeling at home at masi. I find myself bounding with children who I didn't think I would ever connect with. Some of the older boys are so profoundly special. They are all little Princes.  They have amazing skills with the babies and I just imagine what wonderful fathers they have the potential to be some day.

We played outside in the sunshine all day yesterday. The children ate sugary sweets and took turns swinging as high as possible on the swing set. The older boys let out their pet rabbits, muphasa and simba. The rabbits hopped about as the boys scrubbed the cages so that they could earn their spending money. The younger children blew up balloons and danced in the little square of grass, looking a bit like rabbits themselves.  I took loads of photos and was incredibly happy to be there amongst all the beautiful little beings.

I have been thinking about cutting my time at orphanage short, not because I am not loving it, but I have the opportunity to travel through out South Africa with my friend Maryeke.  I haven't made up my mind entirely but I feel like it is a win win situation either way. Traveling through Africa would be an amazing experience and I feel I should try to see and feel as much as I possibly can while I am here. I don't want to leave the children though, especially now that I am feeling at home...