Going out with a Bang… Literally

*if you are squeamish, you may not want to read this, or skip Wednesday and Saturday’s entry :)

I don’t even really know where to start with this entry. I have been staring at the screen for too long, and I just figured I would start typing and hope that this all makes sense. I have had a total sensory overload this week, but it’s been great.

This past week has been an incredible one, but it has also had its difficulties. It was our last really busy week because this week now is more of the wrap up and "good-bye" week. I have learned so much about serving others, through readings in class (even though I forget this is a study abroad program), and through my own personal experience this week. I guess I’ll just start from the beginning and hope it all makes sense.

Monday: We were assigned a soup mom to be paired with. I was in a group with 3 other girls that I love and we were given a bag of rice and lots of vegetables to make stir fry for the mom and her family for dinner. We drove out to Sir Lowry’s Pass, a township about 45 minutes outside of Cape Town, and were greeted by hundreds of kids who swarmed our bus. They were all smiles and seemed so happy to see us. They greeted us like this every day, despite the bad weather that came later in the week. There were about 50 of us and I think everyone had about 4 or 5 kids latched to their arms and legs- not a bad feeling at all. I think it’s safe to say we all felt very loved. The mom I was paired with was Ms. Vanessa. She has been married to her husband Shane for 10 years, and he has to work all the time. They have 3 beautiful girls, Casey (who is around 8 or 9 years old), Shevanah, (either 4 or 5 yrs old), and Shana, (around 3 years old). I loved being with a family of all girls because hey, that’s normal for me. There were plenty of friends running in and out of the house all afternoon, and I laughed with Ms. Vanessa that her household was very similar to mine. My dad always says he doesn’t feel like he has 4 girls, he feels like he has more, because there are always extra friends hanging out at our house. The three other girls I was paired with and I rotated making dinner, getting to know Ms. Vanessa, and playing outside with the children. We played all sorts of games in the street, including dodge ball, random hand games, and this one game that involved running and jumping over sticks. Again, it made me think of growing up at home in Atlanta. Obviously, I grew up halfway around the world from this community and in different circumstances, but I made a connection with these kids because I grew up playing some of the same games as them (for example: boom, snap, clap). Serving dinner went well. I honestly felt like we were feeding the 5,000 because we planned on feeding Ms. Vanessa and her 3 girls, but ended up feeding about 25 people in all and thankfully had plenty of food. 

Tuesday and Thursday: I’m putting these 2 days together because they were so similar. Both days were rainy and both days we were supposed to have “Camp Global LEAD” outside, but it was all moved into their Community Center, which I was very thankful for. We were already so soaked, so a roof over our heads was a blessing. As you can imagine, like children anywhere, being cooped up inside because of rain gives them even more energy, so it was a mad house. I was in charge of the “education station” both days, which meant I got to have kids sit in my lap and read them stories, give them stickers, and color. It sounds cute and peaceful, but having a kid stay in your lap for more than 5 minutes was a record breaking achievement. As hectic as it was, it truly was such a joyful event. After camp, we all went back to our mom’s houses and hung out with them. On Tuesday, we watched one of the girl’s favorite movies, (yes, they have a TV and DVD player- I was surprised), and talked and got to know them better. On rainy days, everyone pretty much stays inside, especially since it is their winter here. On Thursday, I helped Ms. Vanessa prepare dinner and some of the other girls I was paired with played with her girls.

Wednesday: We didn’t go back to the township, but instead we went to this place called The Amy Biehl Foundation. We helped them pick up trash in their recess field behind the school, we entertained the kids, and then we sat in on their after school activities and they asked us questions about our lives. Well it’s funny how God works, really and truly. This whole week we were being challenged by our teachers here in Cape Town about what service really is and if we are actually helping people if we come for a week and then leave, something I had never thought of before. We read several articles in class that provided very real evidence that random outside help may not be super beneficial, and that service should be more of a 2 way street for both the giver and the receiver. I don’t think I fully grasped this until Wednesday afternoon, when I had a little incident. I was watching all of the hundreds of kids chase all our Global LEAD boys around the field. It was funny watching them chase our guys, but what was funnier was seeing them catch the guys and then tackle them to the ground. Well, it was all fun and games until the boys decided to send all of the little kids after me… I took one step to start sprinting away from all these kids because I had seen what they were doing to the boys, and all of a sudden I had the most excruciating pain run through my leg that I had ever felt and I heard a pop. It was a cold day, and all of a sudden I was burning up, dizzy, and incredibly nauseous. I fell to the ground truly writhing in pain. The kids of course caught up to me and it was all I could do to send them after someone else before asking for help up. I thought I had just pulled my quad muscle, but I was in SO much pain. I couldn’t even walk. I had to be carried back to the bus, thanks to one of the guys on this trip, and the rest of the night I iced, elevated, and relaxed. (I promise, this has a point).

Friday: This was our final day in the township and it was one of my favorite days on the trip. Despite the pain in my leg, I was able to participate in Field Day. It was raining again, so Field Day was in the community center. I got downgraded from my job as Team Leader to Station Leader because I couldn’t walk. I got to color with all of the kids instead, which as you can imagine, was crazy! Then we went back to Ms. Vanessa’s house one last time, and oh my goodness, we had a party. All the girls and their friends, after doing all of our hair-doos, put on a fashion show for us and it was one of the greatest things I have ever seen. These girls have some sass, and were dancin up and down the room in their dresses from their uncle’s wedding, school uniforms, and anything else they could find. I filmed the whole thing, and once again, was brought back to my childhood, (and early teens even), putting on fashion shows with my 3 younger sisters. I felt more connected to them in that moment, than any other day of the week and I truly wish we could have continued going back for the next several weeks. Thankfully we will all get to see our families one more time this Wednesday for a “final celebration”. The rest of my Friday was spent in the hospital getting a doctor’s diagnosis on my leg. My leg had continued to be swollen and painful, and while I kept insisting it was just a really bad pulled muscle, there was a purple lump on the top of my thigh that just didn’t seem right. Well, if we didn’t already have enough reason that I shouldn’t be a doctor, here’s more: I hobbled onto the little bed in the hospital and when the doctor asked what had happened, I told him to his face what my diagnosis was: I had a badly pulled quad muscle, but the Global LEAD staff were all making me come to see him… Well he had another diagnosis, and he wanted me to come back Saturday morning to get an ultra-sound on my leg. Not gonna lie, that concerned me a little. [I want y’all to know, I am not sharing this to get pity or to worry anyone. I promise I am fine. The medical help over here is wonderful, and the Global LEAD staff has been very on top of making sure I have everything I need, down to scheduling follow up appointments with the doctor here and continually asking me how I’m feeling and how my parents are doing.]

Little Shana

Saturday: I had a hot date in the hospital bright and early at 8:00 am with my friend Joe who had a purple, black, and blue ankle. I’m not kidding, it actually looked like someone had painted on his foot. He was getting an x-ray, I was getting an ultra-sound. His diagnosis was “severe ankle sprain with torn ligaments”. Mine was “ripped quad muscle with hemorrhaging of the muscle”… so gross, and so much worse than I expected. Again, I am not saying this to concern anyone. They are taking very good care of me, but I am sharing this to show you very vividly how the Lord is working in my life. I was given crutches (yuck), tons of pain meds (ew), and instructions to lay low and have a follow up appointment soon (…). I HATE being helped and I HATE when the attention is all on me. Well guess what, with crutches and a severe limp, people are gonna ask. Joe and I had such a great laugh over the fact that once we got to the Old Biscuit Mill, (yes we went there after the hospital- I’m 4 for 4 by the way), not one Global LEAD student there didn’t ask “oh my gosh, what happened?!”. No one seemed to notice he was limping too, but we hobbled around and got some delicious food. The rest of the day I spent posted up on the couch, again, my least favorite thing to do, but here is another cool part of the story. I made a friend early on in the trip who instantly became a close one. We have a lot of the same interests and views on life. She is a strong Believer and has been such a great encourager to me throughout the trip of continually pursuing Christ even while on “vacation”. Well, the moment she heard I was on crutches, she told me “Tell me when you get to Old Biscuit Mill, and I’ll be by your side helping you for the rest of the day. You don’t have a choice”. I of course argued with her telling her I was fine and was not going to suck away her day, but true to her word, Taylor was there when I showed up, and she took SUCH good care of me all day. She walked in front of me so that people wouldn’t bump me with crutches, she held the sack of clementine’s I bought, she walked with me as I fell behind every group of people I walked with, she came and sat with me in my apartment, and she forced me to rest and take my meds. I could have written pages before Saturday about what a great friend she has been to me and so many others already on this trip, but after the way she acted Saturday, I could write a hundred more. She has a servant’s heart and lives for the Lord, and her actions are such a reflection of what she believes. I am so incredibly thankful for her and that she took care of me, because I guarantee you, I wouldn’t have been so self-disciplined or so careful without her. I could talk about so many other people as well. Truly almost everyone has extended their hand to me and offered to help in some form or fashion. I have been carried more times than I would like to admit, and have definitely been giving these boys a workout with the amount of incredible food I have eaten down here, (sorry I’m not sorry). Again, I hate all of the attention being on me, but God is working through all of this.

This is what the Lord taught me firsthand: Service must involve a relationship with someone. I have a hard enough time anyway accepting help from others, and if they didn’t already have a relationship with me, I would hate it even more. I know part of it may be a pride issue because I don’t want to be seen as “weak”, but I also genuinely hate all the attention being on me. I constantly have the feeling that I owe people back for the energy they are expending on me, but because I know the people who are so kindly serving me, I know that isn’t what they want. The same rings true with missions work. No one, no matter how poor they are, wants to be seen as a charity project, a one and done kind of deal. If my friends just came to serve me for one day and then I never heard from them again, I would honestly be angry and think their service was not genuine. I know sometimes, it may not be possible to do that, but it should be attempted as often as possible. This past week has totally reaffirmed my belief in life long missions and being a missionary, and it is interesting that being here would open that option back up in my heart again. It has at least made me realize that I want to expose my own children to long term missions work as they grow up. One of the only advantages to having crutches- all the cute locals want to help you out and that turns into a conversation of what happened, why am I here, etc., so maybe I’ll fall in love with one of those guys and have a family that grows up here doing missions work in Sir Lowry’s Pass (I’m kidding mom and dad… but not totally). You just never know what the future holds, and you never know what life events the Lord is going to use to teach you incredible, life changing lessons.