happy new year from soshanguve!

HAPPY 2010!!!!

it is hot hot hot here--weather.com says it is 84 degrees and there is no air conditioning, so i feel every bit of that heat! i thought the recent moderate temps in new orleans would prepare me for this, but i guess you never really get used to it. luc & petunia & anna have been such great hosts to me in my time here. it feels like i've been here longer than 3 1/2 days. here's a run down of what i've been doing so far...

on wednesday, my first full day here, luc gave me a tour of the township. we talked about the history and all the different sections and it was very interesting. this place is huge! there is a mix of brick houses, like where luc & petunia live, and shacks, all scattered throughout soshanguve. the land used to be farmland so there is still a lot of open space. this township wasn't recognized as a human settlement until 1974, which means that although there were already people living in informal settlements on the land before that, it wasn't until then that the government stated providing basic services like electricity and water. the township is still expanding even now, with new houses being constructed all around the edges. there are some sections that are very poor and some that are middle and even upper-middle class. one of the wealthiest men in soshanguve lives at the end of our street, and there is a large gate in front of his house. he has 4 wives and each of them has a house like that in various parts of the township. we rode on several taxis, and if you've never been to africa or any other developing country i suppose, you need to know that these are not like american taxis. these are little mini-buses and they pack people in and travel all over the township. riding them is defintely an adventure! luc and i went to the center of the township, with the train station and the marketplace and it was bustling with activity! later in the afternoon, i went with petunia and anna to visit some of their friends in the township. there are a bunch of languages spoken here, so i didnt really know what was being said most of the time but everyone was very friendly and having a good time :)

afternoon naps here are a must, and i won't complain about that! after our tour of the township, luc and i came back to the house to rest. luc reminded me that one of the values of innerchange is not always trying to be busy, but instead allowing time to just be. as vague as that may sound, i think it's healthy and will definitely take work (ironic!) since it seems so opposite from my instincts. it's not that there is much i can do here now, but just the urge to stay busy, or be using every second of my time "efficiently" will be a challenge to overcome. this is not to say that people here are just lazy, just that the focus is not so much on go-go-go-do-do-do all the time.

yesterday we relaxed in the morning, with time to reflect and process all that i had learned and seen on wednesday. in the afternoon, we headed out to pretoria for some more training. luc took us to several different locations in the city as we studied psalm 121 and talked about dependence on God. we visited the Union Buildings, which is like the White House of South Africa. they have some beautiful gardens and we saw 2 newlywed couples taking pictures there! We also visited UNISA which is the largest distance-learning institution in the southern hemisphere. classes are not in session, as it is summertime here, so we sat atop the quiet campus which overlooks the city. then we headed over to the South African Reserve Bank in the middle of the city. it has some nice fountains and benches, but in the past few years they have erected an iron gate so people can't really loiter. next we drove over to the headquarters for military recruitment and then finally to Church Square, with a statue of Paul Kruger. This little tour was not only to give a feeling for Pretoria, but also to remind us to rely on God in all that we do. we were brought to different symbols of power--political, intellectual, financial, military, and the power of the past--and discussed, reflected, and prayed about God's power in and above all those. we were reminded to trust and rely primarily on God, not just on the assets he gives us or the institutions that society is built on, but on Him and his power and his actions. i was really encouraged to remember this: "The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121:7-8 amen!

after our training was finished, we went to an area of the city called sunnyside for dinner. we had a nice meal and as we ate, our new year's entertainment began.

after that we dropped luc off at church so he could pray-in the new year and petunia, anna, and i tried to find some fireworks. usually there is a big display in church square, but we learned that the mayor cancelled it this year because the city is in debt! so we ended up back at sunnywide with a bunch of other people setting off sparklers in the street and yelling "Happpeeeee! Haapppeeeeee!" it was fun times! check out my pictures. (it takes too much bandwidth to upload the pics at normal size and i haven't quite figured out how to resize them in the right way, so that's why some of them look so small. if you know how to upload them smaller, but still get them to appear normal size on my picasa album, please let me know!)


since the new year started, i slept til 12:30 in the afternoon and then we've just been lounging around all day. it's too hot to do much and apparently on new year's the whole township sleeps til 5pm. smart!!

hope the new year has begun well for you!