The Clause Blogs

Gracefully gliding over vast green groves, floating on air supported by thick steel ropes.  This weekend we were again spoiled in seeing some of South Africa’s beautifully green vegetation while on a three-hour adventure known as the Karkloof Canopy Tours.  Split up into groups of about 10, we all had the opportunity to traverse back and forth across a lush valley sometimes being suspended in the air as high as one hundred feet above the forest floor!  With little training or instruction, we suited up in our harnesses, gloves, and helmets and headed up the hill in the back of a truck to our first platform and slide.  After a brief explanation of how the breaking system worked (your gloved hand pulling down on the cable), we each took the step of faith and plunged into the canopy of trees.

The feelings of joy and exhilaration that accompanied these slides were absolutely phenomenal.  I literally had no control over what was going to happen as soon as I stepped off of each platform and although this may seem extremely terrifying to many, to me it was incredibly freeing.  We had to trust that the equipment was going to support us and as soon as we did we started to fly down each of these lines with incredible speed and momentum.  I lost all sense of hesitation or apprehension and began to simply feed off of the beauty of the surroundings and the delight of our group.  Although we were gone for several hours, it felt tremendously short considering we were soaring through the air at who knows how many miles per hour.  As of yet, this is the closest I have come to actually flying and has brought me one step closer to becoming the superhero I have always dreamed of being.   As a result of this experience I now have an idea of what Batman feels like when he uses his grappling gun to reach normally unattainable places.  He is one lucky guy that Batman and with a few more trips like this, I will be gliding right next to him in no time.

Now that our intense six-week academic program has come to pass, it is time for us to start our service-learning portion of the semester.  Every Tuesday during the semester we took some time to go and visit each of the service sights that we would potentially be working at and had to request where we wanted to be placed.  Luckily for me I was granted my first choice and am going to be spending the next four weeks at a ministry called Walk In The Light!

Walk in the Light is a ministry based on the principle of helping your neighbor.  Located just outside of Pietermaritzburg, the ministry is positioned directly across the street from Hanniville Township which is the entire focus of Walk in the Light.  This community consists of about 10,000 people and of those people over half are directly infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.  The ministry does several things in the community to try and help prevent and treat victims of the epidemic.  On Wednesdays and Fridays, youth programs are run to help young people of the township learn about Jesus and to give them hope for a better future by enabling them to dream and see past their current situations.  Everyday, people from Walk in the Light help transport members of the community to and from the local clinic as well as distant hospitals so that medication for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS can be received and administered frequently and consistently.  Also, home visits to people in the township happen regularly.  Sometimes these happen in order to deliver food packages to families while other times they are simply visits to pray for and love on people in the community.

Although this is a very broad overview of what happens at Walk in the Light, I hope that this gives a glimpse of some of the things my team and I will be encountering over the next few weeks.  I know that while we are there we will also be helping in whatever way we can to prepare a new site for a community center that the ministry is planning on building.  I have no idea why it is that God has placed me and my team at this site during this time but I know that we have been divinely appointed to do his work there and for that I am truly excited!

After a treacherously long week of final exams we have finally reached the end! In order to properly celebrate this momentous occasion, some members of the group decided that we should bring a little bit of American culture to South Africa and have a homecoming feast/dance.  The homecoming committee consisting of Janelle Yoder, Cherokee Rogers, Katie Baker, Beka Valle, and Elissa Emoto, all took extreme measures to make sure that this event was something we would never forget.

On our campus we have what is know as the Jabulani Larpa which more simply translated means the celebration hut.  The committee went all out with their small budget and decorated the place from top to bottom with hand made paper orbs hanging from the ceiling and paper cranes and candles set as centerpieces on the various tables.  Also, each table was garnished with Appletizers, (popular South African drink similar to apple cider) bags of Doritos chips and best of all, bowls of GUACOMOLE!  Now, South Africa is a country full of cultures and different types of food but one culture and food that they are severely lacking in are that of Mexico.  Not everyone here is a fan of Mexican cuisine but being raised in Southern California I had been suppressing the cravings for Mexican food for weeks and eating Guac that night was a serious blessing.  The main course for dinner was chicken burritos made assembly line style and for dessert we munched on a delectable apple turnover with blueberry ice cream.

However, the feast was only the beginning. The festivities that followed were exceptionally fun and an enormous relief to the many stresses that had burdened us previously that week.  We danced for hours on end and competed in groups to see who could create the best impromptu dances to random songs.  The thought and time put into this event was absolutely admirable to say the least and the night that resulted is sure to be something our group will never forget.  Many thanks to the homecoming committee, you all are amazing!

This morning at church a message was shared with the congregation concerning spiritual gifts.  The person giving the sermon was one of the elders of the church and he spoke about spiritual gifts because the leadership there felt that it was something the church had been blessed and burdened with.  The reason I say blessed and burdened is because there were some members of the congregation who were being overcome by physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit and others who were not and as a result seemed to feel left out or passed over by God.

In my Presbyterian background I have not been overly exposed to much talk of or use of the spiritual gifts.  However, I feel that the sermon this morning brought some clarity to my ideas about the spiritual gifts.

He spoke out of the book of 1 Corinthians jumping about from chapter to chapter but focusing mainly on chapter 12.  The verses that stuck out to me were versus 4-6 that says,

“4) There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5) There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  6) There are different kinds of working, but the same God all of them in all men.”

So often we compare ourselves with the Christians standing beside us in service on Sunday morning that forget that God created us as well.  We witness Godly things happening in the live of others and wonder why those same things are not happening to us. We begin to question whether or not we are living the correct way or doing what God wants us to do or worst of all we begin to think that God has forgotten about us.  In terms of this congregation, some people felt as if they were in the wrong because they weren’t having the same type of Godly experiences as their neighbors to the right and left of them.

I have often had many of the same questions so it was refreshing to hear that we should expect great variety in the way that God works in our lives.  The gifts are given for the common good and as long as they are exclaiming that Jesus is Lord then we should all be rejoicing that the Holy Spirit is there with us.  We shouldn’t dwell on the fact that our neighbor is speaking tongues and we not or that some people are collapsing on the floor and we are still standing but instead should be excited that the Holy Spirit is with us.  As the text continues it speaks about being one body made up of many parts and that only if we act cohesively together and understand each other’s importance in this world will we then be living the way God has called us to live.

Anyway, this is just some food for thought so please make some comments and share what you think about the spiritual gifts so that we may grow together in our understanding.

Photo by: Carrie Jarnagin

Reading, papers, presentations, exams. Reading, papers, presentations, exams. Reading, papers, presentations, exams.  Dead week arrived this week in full force bombarding us students with academic responsibilities that we seemed to have momentarily forgotten while experiencing many beautiful and amazing events here in South Africa. This next week we will be wrapping up our academic portion and the following week we will begin to become involved in the service learning aspect of our semester but until then it will most definitely be a struggle to buckle down and hit the books.

Photo By: Ronnie Fernandez

Despite the stresses and anxieties that come with finals week, we still managed to slip into downtown Durban on Saturday for some much needed fun and relaxation.  We started off our time shopping in one of the better-known market places called Victoria Market.  The market was quite busy with people bustling about every which way with vendors talking up storms to make sales. It seemed to me like a pretty touristy place simply because of the many shops selling African beadwork and artwork and other such goods that would appeal more to people not from South Africa. By the end of our time there, many of us had found some pretty epic curios and souvenirs and some of the students even managed to get a large portion of their Christmas shopping done by buying authentic South African made goods.

After leaving the market place we made our way through the traffic to ABSA Stadium, home of the Sharks.  The Sharks are one of five South African teams in the Super Rugby union and this Saturday they competed in a semi final match against one of their biggest rivals from the north, the Blue Bulls. We were lucky enough to get some tickets and as a result we spent the afternoon cheering the Sharks on to victory.  It was a pretty evenly matched game and stayed close until the very end which produced nothing but pure excitement the whole way through.  Midway through the second half it started pouring with rain but this did not stop the flow or intensity of the game in the slightest.  Big hits were being made, quick changes of possession due to a slippery ball were occurring and fans were still cheering until the clock read 00:00.  Although most of us had only a general idea of the rules of the game, it was awesome to be surrounded by South Africans and to enjoy watching a game with them that is very near and dear to their hearts.

On Friday of this last week, we were lucky enough to hear the inspirational story of a man by the name of Sean Wisedale (http://www.seanwisedale.com/).  Wisedale was the first African to summit the highest mountain on each continent and did so in the span of approximately 2 years. His tale was one of hope, danger, risk and triumph and it all started with a dream.

While working for a television company in South Africa as a cameraman, Sean was sent on an assignment to film an interview with the first South Africans to summit Mount Everest.  As he stood at the base camp a seed was planted in his mind that one day he would reach the top of that mountain.  As soon as he returned from that trip he immediately began looking for expedition that was planning on tackling the tallest mountain in the world.  Before long he found a group and with almost no preparation he joined them as a cameraman documenting their trip and providing assistance wherever he could.  In other words, the first mountain he ever climbed was MOUNT EVEREST!  How incredible is that! And ever since that the guy hasn’t stopped.  He climbs Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa’s tallest peak) three times a year and leads expeditions around the world in his spare time.  When he is not doing that he has spent some time over the past few years fixing up a racing yacht that he uses to travel around the coast of South Africa and to go on adventures mostly in the Indian Ocean.  Meanwhile during all of these crazy adventures he brings cameras along with him and captures some of the most beautiful and epic photographs and videos ever captured.

After reading about some of his adventures and hearing some of his stories in his talk, it made me wonder what sort of things a man like this puts on his new years resolutions checklist.  The lifestyle he has lea and continues to lead encourages me to take risks and forget about the possibility of failure.   Stories like his reminds me to dream big and leave apprehension and hesitation behind me, which in my opinion is something we all need to be reminded of every once in a while.  My dream is not to climb Mt Everest or any mountain for that matter and as of right now there is no specific dream that I have for my future but when I do figure out what it is that I want to do, I pray that I think back to Sean’s story of struggles and triumphs and go for it with all that I have.

Photo By: Brett Kawanami

Beadwork, cow dung, stick fighting, cattle rings, Zulu bread, dancing, fireside chats, sleeping in huts.  These were just a few of the many enjoyable experiences that came from our weekend trip to Emcabazini Zulu Cultural Homestead this past weekend.

The whole experience opened my eyes wide to see how amazingly intelligent, resourceful, and logical the Zulu people were and still are.  For example, the use of cattle in the Zulu community is pretty incredible.  For example, while living cattle provide a source of milk which they both drink and age to make yogurt which they typically eat every morning.  Also, cow dung is collected from the gated area where the cattle are kept at night and used to create a cover surface over the floors of their living areas.  This may sound pretty gross and it is understandable to think that their living areas smelt bad, however this was simply not the case.  Instead, the cow dung provides a smooth glossy finish that looks nice and although it smelt different than what I am used to, I wouldn’t categorize it as bad.

Possibly the most ingenious use of cattle comes from modern Zulu tradition.  Over many years, the Zulu’s have created a system that extracts the methane from cow dung.  That methane is then fed through underground pipes to the different huts in the homestead and used to power gas stoves and any other appliances that require gas.  The sludge that is leftover after the extraction of methane is then used to fertilize farmlands and because of the rich nutrient composition of the sludge, the soil and crops of their farmlands thrive.

Photo By:Brittany Weser

For a culture that has never had “basic education” according to western standards, the Zulu community is full of brilliant and inventive people.  This whole weekend has been yet another experience teaching me that it is important to take a step back and learn from cultures other than my own.  As we spend more and more time in South Africa, apprehensions and fears are fading away, intercultural relationships are being created, and growth and understanding are molding me in ways I never could have imagined.

This week in our Intercultural Communications class a guest speaker who was raised in the Zulu tradition visited us to talk to us about Zulu weddings.  He was in fact in the process of getting married so his presentation was filled with personal stories and experiences which made the whole experience much more realistic and enjoyable.

In the Zulu tradition, when two people are dating, they will never set foot inside each others homes and will never meet each others parents until they have decided that they are going to be married.  Even then, a very intricate process must occur before meeting the parents and sharing a meal.

First, the male will go to someone they trust and respect (usually a family member) and request that they be their personal representative.  Once, the representative has been chosen, that person accompanied by a couple members of the family, will travel to the chosen females house.  They will present the parents of the girl will two white plates (to represent purity in the relationship) wrapped in a cloth and the representative will introduce themselves as the person they have come to represent. The parents will then line up their daughters youngest to oldest and ask them one by one if they know the person who sent the plates.  They will then ask the daughter to whom it is for, whether or not she wants to marry this person. If she says yes, then parents accept the plates and the negotiation of a bride price (Lobolo) can begin.

Before hand, the representative and the groom will have discussed how much the limit will be to pay for the bride.  The representative will then do their best to get as close to that price as possible.  If it turns out that the parents and the representative are unable to reach an agreement, then the whole deal is off and it is tough luck for the couple.  However, if an agreement is reached, then the groom (who was waiting outside the whole time) will be allowed to enter their home.  Upon entrance the groom must get down onto his hands and knees as a show of respect for the brides father.  They then will interact with one another for a short while enjoying some sort of refreshments or something.  After all of this has taken place, the groom must then come up with the sum of money agreed upon and won’t enter their home again until he has done so.

After this part my memory becomes a little fuzzy and because I do not want to give an inaccurate account I thought I should make that known.  What I do remember is that there are many exchanges of money and clothing between both the groom and the bride’s family and also a period where the bride is taught how to be a wife.  Eventually, a banquet will be held by the bride’s family for the groom in order to say thank you for choosing their daughter and to say that they accept him into the family.  Only then is the marriage considered to be official.

However, because our guest was both a Christian and a Zulu, he and his fiancé decided that they wanted to get married in a church as well.  They have already completed the traditional side of their marriage but are still living separately until the church wedding has taken place.  He then started talking about the details of the wedding and mentioned that in Zulu/Christian church weddings, both the bride and groom dance down the aisle individually and dance out together to specially picked songs.  He then played us the song he had chosen and showed us the dance he was going to do and all I could think about was how fun it would be to attend that wedding!  Who knows, maybe I’ll be invited to a Zulu wedding while I’m here and get to experience the excitement myself!