New Post

Yes, yes, yes, we know you are starving for new information. Let us say briefly that while I am able to access the internet tonight (or today, if you are in the USA), I can only do it from my host family's computer and not my own laptop.

That means I cannot post pics.

But here is what we will do: Our flight leaves for the states on Tuesday night. When we arrive back safe and sound (God willing), I will post the pics from all days to your heart's desire. By then your children will tell you how wonderful the trip was and will have probably shown you all of their pictures. But no worries, I will still post them.

South Africa teaches us about humanity. The very best and worst we have to offer. It teaches us to believe, to mourn, to celebrate and to cry. It teaches us how to look at our past, that we might right our wrongs, heal our wounds and extend our hands and hearts to each other. One way or another, we are changed.

I truly hope your children are changed. My heart is renewed. I do not know if I can post again until we return, but be assured, the rest of the trip is coming. Until we speak again, thank you for reading, and may God bless us all here in South Africa.

Days Three and Four: PopUP and Edendale

On Monday and Tuesday, we went to PopUP, a community outreach program which stands for "People Upliftment Programme," and Edendale Independent School, a local private school mostly attended by black students. Both of these organizations we organized through Doxa Deo, the school in Pretoria previously attended by Duhann Jacobs (a junior at CHCA and a member of our trip to South Africa).

Monday's service consisted of hearing much about the ministry of PopUP. This program actually began as a homeless shelter, but over the ten years of its existence it has changed into a community service center. The goal of PopUP is to teach basic work skills so that people have a chance to get a job in the workforce. Amazingly, PopUP has an almost 85% success rate. We spent the afternoon at PopUP gardening and sorting clothing for the poor communities.

The girls on the bus on the way to PopUP. You can always tell that I do not snipe photos, because the girls are smiling happily. This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

This is our group after our morning program. Portia is the woman in the pink shirt in the front. She attended the PopUP program last year and offered her testimony to us in the morning.

Many of our students with the PopUP learners during the tour. This was a knitting class, and the teacher (seated in yellow) gained some valuable advice from our students about purses and clothing.

While I didn't get a good picture, the next class we visited was one of the highlights of our trip. The Africans in the class wanted us to sing for them, and the only thing we could think of was the National Anthem. Frankly, it bombed. Maria and a couple of the girls held strong, but we folded before the ending. After that, the group in the class sang the South African National Anthem to us, which consists of Zulu, Afrikaans, and English. It was an amazing experience to hear.

Karen Hordinski with Portia, one of PopUP's many success stories.

In the early afternoon, we had a chance to play with many of the children in PopUP's orphanage called Pop Kids.

Alysse and Chloe with the children.

After our day, we returned to Doxa Deo school to journal and reflect. This is our group sorted throughout the courtyard before meeting their host families.

PICS FROM EDENDALE

Mrs. Jacobs cleaning and sweeping outside. What a blessing she has been to us this week.

A pic I sincerely wish to have had a "before" and "after" shot. Suffice it to say that this room was an absolute mess before we arrived. The students cleared away the rubbish, swept, and mopped. Outstanding work.

The staff room at Edendale where we met in the morning.

This room had been an absolute nightmare. These desks and chairs were stuffed to the sides, filling the halls with dust and dirt. Mrs. Jacobs led the students in organizing and cleaning the room. Again, an outstanding job by our group.

One of the classrooms which was completely re-done by our group.

After a long day of work, the group is done for the day. This is a few of our students relaxing with colddrinks (a South African term) after a hard day.

Nate Post trying to snipe a photo of me. He didn't succeed. Also notice the Queen Sniper herself in the background. (She also didn't succeed.)

Dylan began playing this game after our work day. He would spin around as you see for ten seconds, and the try to run in a straight line.

It didn't work. He fell quickly. We who were watching laughed long and hard.

Then Victoria tried her luck...

Definitely running to the right....

And down she goes.

Overall, it was a wonderful two days of service to begin our trip's mission work. Our host church Doxa Deo heard from both PopUP and Edendale with wonderful reviews of our work over the first days. Over the next two days, we continued our work in Mamelodi.

Until then, cheers.

Day Two

Yes, we are finally again up and running. I hope today to go through the week in photos. I will get as far as possible as we are now in Sun City and heading out for our safari later this evening.

It has been a wonderful week. The children are doing so well. On Sunday (Day Two), we left the Farm Inn early and ventured about an hour's drive away to a lion and rhino park. One of the first things we saw was the last still-growing cave in Africa. Here are some pics below.


Our group as we arrived at the park. We were waiting for the next tour of the cave.

There were about 100 steps down and then we took a lift about another 200 feet into the ground. It was eerie and dark. This is our group heading down the steps into the cave.

Darkness. These stalactites (or are they stalagmites???) have been growing in the cave for thousands of years.

This was one of the more spectacular sites in the cave. It is called Mother Mary, a natural-grown cut-out of rock which looks exactly like a woman with her child. Amazing.

After we left the cave, we drove to the lion and cheetah feedings. By the time we reached them, the lions had already devoured their prey and were laying far away. We did, however, get a good look at the cheetahs.

If you look closely, you can see two or three cheetahs next to the blue car in this pic.

Then they came closer.

And even closer. They eventually passed us by and headed to their feeding. Cheetahs are amazing animals, particularly because of the small whimpering sound they make.

Zebras right next to our bus. The lion/rhino park reserve has a huge amount of land, and we happened to get lucky and see some wildlife.

These two rhinos were right next to our bus as well. Rhinos are incredibly peaceful, and they're vegetarians. Interesting facts about animals with such weapons.

Back at the park, many of the students played with lion cubs. Didn't get many great shots of the students with the cubs but used many of their cameras. There were also hippos, snakes, and a cheetah race. You will be glad to know that Katie Jonas actually defeated a cheetah. She did get a head start, and the cheetah was tired, but she still technically won.

On to one of our jokes this week. Many of the students will try to "snipe" me with a photo when I am not looking. I would never partake in such immaturity. This is Ronnie sniping me. She didn't get a good shot, though. I did.

After we returned home from the park, we met our host families at Doxa Deo school. The students have had outstanding experiences with their host families, and many have already expressed the desire to return to South Africa again. Some have even been invited back.

On Monday, we started the service portion of our trip. While we had only been in Africa for one weekend, it already was beginning to feel like home.

Still Here

Yes, we are still alive and kicking.

Sorry about the lack of recent updates, as internet availability here is scarce and unpredictable. I was secretly hoping that I would have a family with wireless internet capability. I was wrong. Suffice it to say that I am sitting here at an internet cafe in a mall while the students shop. That is what I have been reduced to.

But that's okay.

We have seen and experienced much this week. Much of it has been beautiful, but we are also struggling with some difficult questions about poverty and justice. Just spending a day at a health clinic in one of the poorest areas in the world (which we did today in Mamelodi) has taught us as much. And yet, we stay in homes which rival the wealthiest. It is truly a feeling of ambivalence.

And we are learning much.

So sad to say, it may be a few days on pictures. I am assuming I will have some capability for pictures and internet at Sun City, and most likely will post more then. I am at 700 pictures and counting. Not sure if I can post them all.

Until very soon, cheers. Keep praying for us, that we may see the world and learn its reality. And that we may continue to do it safely. God has been faithful so far.

Thank you all. We'll speak again soon.

The First Day in Photos

South Africa is so beautiful in the morning.

I awoke at 7AM today to the sounds of chickens and roosters and lions roaring in the distance. In South Africa, the sun rises at about 530AM and by 600, it is like mid-day. As I walked out at 7, it was seventy-five degrees, sunny, and reminded me of noon at Coney Island.

And I think the students like it, too.

I have uploaded some pictures of our first full day. I hope you like them. Please rest assured that we are safe and sound, only 8000 miles away. We could not have had a better first day.

Enjoy the pictures. And the clever captions. We'll speak again soon.

These first two pics are of a group of South African from Mamelodi who were eagerly awaiting our arrival. They did an African tribal dance for us and welcomed us to their country.

Okay, that first caption was not entirely true. This group from Mamelodi was actually awaiting the Crossroads group, but we came in first and they mistook us for them. (Seriously, shouldn't they be able to tell apart twenty white people from Cincinnati?) We still enjoyed their dance, and the vuvuzelas. You will enjoy hearing these at the World Cup.

Our group on the bus. They were very cramped today. Beginning on Monday we will have a 22-seater. This one falls just short.

One of the coolest things we did today was visit Loftus Stadium in Pretoria. This is the site where the semi-finals of the World Cup will be played. And we were there.

The boys, being boys, in the stadium. The only thing our guide (left) asked was that we don't walk on the grass. No problem.

The ladies, and more stadium shots.

Our whole group at Loftus. And yes, I am wearing a Bengals jersey. Proud of it.

The Union Building of South Africa, where the offices of the President are located. The students had seen this on Wednesday during the movie Invictus, so it was nice to see it in person.

The view from the Union Buildings. The large soccer ball in the middle is near Loftus.

At the Union Buildings, there are various shops and places to buy souvenirs. This was one of the vendors. He was very nice, but DID make a joke about having more than one wife. Right after this picture.

After we returned, we had a game drive (mini-safari) at the Farm Inn. This is the group in the back of the cruiser. Fitting picture.

These are Wilda beasts. Not the most attractive animals.

This Cheetah was beautiful. While the large animals at the Farm Inn are kept in cages, none have been taken from the wild and placed into captivity. That makes me feel a bit better.

Our guide Benny went into the cage with the cheetah. He paid for it with a bite. Just kidding, he is not really getting bitten by a cheetah.

Benny then brought a lion cub named Jack Sparrow on board our cruiser. Jack was grumpy, but he was a real hit with the students. A beautiful white lion who will be deadly to humans in about four months.

This is Apollo. He is very large; about 600 pounds. We were lucky to see him move since he sleeps about 22 hours per day.

Awwww... I think Jack is holding Paiten's hand.

This was a nice move by our hotel. No, I don't know what Etvall is.

Victoria was very happy to sit in front of the cruiser on the way to our Tribal braai. Did I mention she was happy? And excited?

The survivor-like wooden area where we had our fire and cooked the meat for the braai.

Alysse, Morgan, Victoria, and Paiten just before dinner.

There is quite a story with this monkey. He was very unhappy with us and was jumping, screaming and threatening us for quite some time. He didn't like me at all. At one point, he threw something at me. Yes, I think it was that. Gross.

Our great dinner crew grilling above the fire at the braai.

Our girls with Mike, one of the dinner crew. An outstanding job. We were very appreciative of him and the staff.

Grady had his turn. And forced me to take a picture.


Overall, it was a wonderful first day! We will post more again soon. Pray for us.