Hello, hello! Another good week going on at Cape Town! New pictures have been uploaded on facebook that you should all check out. Sarah and Casey also have a new blog:  (___) that you all would find interesting about the area and what is going on! I’m starting to feel a bit better…this cold has been lingering for some time now…yuck! I also have developed either like bed bug bites or flea bites (from the kids )on my left arm that aren’t too cute! Really weird that they are only on one part of my body so I don’t know what that is about but I hope they go away soon! Hope everyone is alright after that US east coast earthquake…how wild! Also, welcome back to school UNCW students!

So, Friday was a pretty chill day. I went to Living Hope for a few hours and finished up the Asthma part of the curriculum. A bunch of kids came over to Sarah and Casey’s house so I played with them for awhile. The high schoolers came over for youth group that night. We unfortunately didn’t get to go to Hillsong but we are going this week. We all watched the movie “Easy A.” You might say it was a little inappropriate for a youth group meeting, but I don’t think they really got everything going on, and hey – it sparked good conversation about dealing with high school stuff. It’s so funny thinking about all the petty stuff that went on during those years. 

The Ubuntu boys got another win on the road on Saturday. We went to this real ghetto field to play. In past games, some of the boys had heard gun shots at this place (nice!). The field house had barbwire all along the fence and there was trash everywhere, but soccer is soccer, and it doesn’t take perfect conditions to play. A bunch of younger neighborhood boys kept getting me to kick with them even though all I really wanted to do is hangout. I felt bad though and would go with them because I couldn’t let them kick with a ball without me there. (The balls aren’t mine to let them steal, eek.) After the game, Michael (one of the coaches) and I went out to lunch with a few of the boys. One in particular is a kid named Josh. This guy needs lots of prayers, so be praying for him! Casey and Michael have gone out of their way a number of times to get him to come to practice. They go to his house to ‘fetch’ him but he never comes to practice anymore. He has had a really tough upbringing with both of his parents being possible alcoholics and he lives in a shack with ten other family members. You can see the anger radiating from him. For some reason he wanted to come to the game on Saturday. He was upset when he didn’t get played and both of the coaches explained how it wouldn’t have been fair since he hasn’t been at practice. I thought after going to lunch with him and Michael talking to him about everything he would have been more willing to come to practice, but he has missed both practices this week. So basically at this point he has dropped out. It’s upsetting that he won’t let himself take advantage of such a great opportunity and how much potential he is letting go to waste. The coaches are still hanging on and going over and beyond to reach out to him. The fear is that if they don’t then this kid will end up in a gang/in jail so quickly, but is it fair to keep this kid on that doesn’t pull his weight when so many other boys would love to have his spot on the team? 

After lunch a few of the kids came over to Heidi’s house. Two of the girls did my hair (haha). I promise I didn’t make them, they wanted to! It turned into a mad house. Tomica put so much makeup…everywhere! On her eye lids, under her eyes, and ON MY BED! She was a sight to see with purple and pink all over her face as well as her burned scabby lip. Zuun, the cutest 4 year old boy, loves hanging with his older girl friends, and instead of doing hair and makeup like the rest of us, he decided to touch literally all my stuff. I only had a mild freak out when my camera lens got a little bent. All is not lost though, the camera still works, my hair got straightened, and I didn’t want that box of cereal they decided to eat anyways. 

Saturday night was so much fun. We went to this really cool bar/restaurant place right over the waves and rocks. I tried to get some pictures of the waves but it was too dark. The dancing is a bit different than in the US, but the music was really cool. It was this African band playing all the classics. I am so glad that NC has smoke free restaurants and bars though, because I was dying by the end of the night. I got to spend the night out with Rose at this really nice house (she’s house sitting). 

On Sunday, we went to Hillsong Church. It was really cool. For all the Wilmington people, it is a lot like PC3 but bigger and the preacher is Australian. The building used to be this huge night club. The bathrooms even have saunas in them; I bet that club was outrageous! The message was really good, it was about giving. It was quite rejuvenating as well. Sometimes I get distressed and anxious about seeing everything here and being away from friends and family, but it helped me to realize that giving my time like this is actually a brave thing to do, so I shouldn’t be so hard on myself when I’m feeling not so brave. Another message is that obedience brings blessings and God brought the best for you so you need to bring your best for him. 

After church, we walked around the Cape Town Waterfront. The mall there was way nicer than most malls I’ve been to in the US. We ate lunch at this German restaurant. I have no idea what I ate but it tasted pretty good. I even got a free beer-lemonade mix. Note to all: beer-lemonade still tastes like beer. Michael, Rose and I hung out at the nice house for the rest of the rainy afternoon and watched Slum dog Millionaire. I forgot how much that poor guy goes through!  

On Monday I went to the Primary School up the street for Ubuntu afterschool program. The field was actually a basketball blacktop. I was super afraid that one of the kids was going to smack their faces on the cement, fortunately they didn’t. It was quite the site to see all these boys trying to pass and dribble around cones with their school uniforms and dress shoes, but yeah, they kind of did it. We also had our first bible study for the high school girls on Monday. Six girls showed up so that was pretty cool. Since we are studying the book of Esther (who becomes Queen) I had us all make crowns. Kind of silly I know but they all thought it was fun and some of them even clipped them into their hair and wore them! I asked them if they were queen, what was something they would change/do with their power. I was happily surprised that all of them had quite mature responses that involved helping other people. I am glad to know that even when they act silly and immature, they understand different needs going on in the world. I have a feeling we are all going to learn a lot through this study.

Timia (who is Tomica’s sister – don’t know why the names are so darn close) came over after that and I helped her with her homework. It is so much easier to deal with one kid and not five. She’s really cute and wants me to go to school with her one day. She also wants to have a sleepover at my house and to go shopping. Oh yeah, she also wants me to pay! I told her that it cost me about 7000 rands to get here and that I was broke. She said she was going to faint thinking about how much money that was (uhhuh me too girl!). She comes over everyday now and is relentless about me coming to school with her and is even giving her teacher my email address lol. 

Tuesday is Kid’s club day. I’m glad to announce there was no KNOWN drugs on site at this particular kid’s club. There were these really elaborate paper guns some of the boys brought though. The paper guns really were phenomenal and it had to have taken some intelligence to make. It is a shame that that brain power wasn’t used for any good though. Tuesday night I had my first legitimate curry. Can’t say I am the biggest fan of this food but it was edible and a real African experience/(isn’t it from India?) hm who knows. I have been eating some random foods, some that I know what it is, some that I have a guess of what it is, and some that I have no idea. Still alive and kicking though!

So this is crazy…my new friends Michael and Rose (who are brother and sister) are from Zimbabwe. My good friend from UNCW, Tinashe, is also from Zimbabwe and they all went to the same high school. What a small world!  

Pretty much all settled in now so I don’t have nearly as many “oh, sh*t” moments anymore lol. God is constantly showing himself in so many different ways and I love the lifestyle of hanging out and volunteering all day. I know I must get a job and pay bills once I get back to the states and in no way do I want to neglect my responsibilities, but for right now it is nice not having to worry about the hustle and bustle of the busyness of the US. Don’t get me wrong, there are many worries here, but they are way different and it is a good change of pace for awhile. 

Thank you so much to all of you who I have been getting emails and messages from. I miss you all and am always thinking about you! Hope you have a great rest of the week! 

Love, 

Amanda