From SA to PA to PC

Well, it has been several days since I have returned from South Africa. It has been much longer since I have posted on my blog.

I woke up Thursday morning of last week very early. I was anxious about the upcoming plane ride and the thought of seeing my friends and family at home. I quickly started looking around my room for more things to pack. After finishing packing, we walked into town to say our goodbyes to Maryka. She had become one of our closest friends in Springs and it was tough saying good bye. On our arrival back at the house we said farewell to Fr. Lewis and Fr. Raphael. We ate our last South African meal from our amazing cook, Florence, and said our goodbyes to her and our cleaning lady/South African mother, Pretty. As we walked out to the car we found that many of our favorite caregivers from the plot came to wish us goodbye by driving to the airport with us. We all piled in the van with Brother Dominic and drove to Johannesburg airport. We boarded our plane to Frankfurt and readied ourselves for the 11 hour flight. After landing in Frankfurt I promptly found somewhere to lie down before I boarded my next flight to Newark. Once returning to the States, I was met with the wonderful aroma of Starbucks Coffee and McDonalds burgers. My parents were ready to pick me up at the gate and drive me home. This day was a blur but everything seemed to slow down when I sat down with my parents and talked about the experiences I had the past 7 weeks. While it was a lot to think about, I found that many of the frustrations I had were masked by the good memories of friends and children at the plot.

Goodbye Kids!

The Ceremony!

Lots of things have happened since I returned back home. I arrived at home in Scranton and was met by Facetime calls from my siblings and a visit from Kerry. This was especially needed to help me process all that had gone on in South Africa. After spending time with them on Saturday, I got up in the morning on Sunday and drove to Providence. At Providence I will be working in a Cancer research lab with Father Nic Austriaco and many other undergraduate students. It was especially good to see all of my friends in lab and get back to doing science. Since then, I have moved into a new house for the school year and planned a trip up to Canada to see my family. So yes, it has been a whirlwind of a weekend but I am starting to feel settled here in Providence. I am also starting to get used to America again by frequenting Dunkin Donuts.

What is clear to me as I remember South Africa is the experience of our last few days. On Monday before we left, we were able to join some of the caregivers in Kwa Thema and see how well they helped their community. This showed me that there is still hope for St. Martin’s in the poor communities of Johannesburg. Hopefully the rest of the organization will change in this direction in the future.

To round out our time at St. Martin’s we spent more hours at the plot with the kids. What was different though was the type of activity that the caregivers had in the last few days. We saw them choreographing dances of the kids and working to make sure the different groups of kids had something to do. Most of the time when we did try to help with these activities we were told that it as a surprise. It was a surprise for our last day at the plot. When we arrived in the morning on Wednesday we found that there was a whole schedule of events planned our for our last day. There were dances, skits, speeches, songs, and my personal favorite, gumboot dancing. One of the caregivers, Sesi, put lots of effort into the whole departing ceremony and it was truly amazing to see how everything could come together. We danced and we sang with the kids and caregivers and finished the day off with a braai and slideshow of all our pictures from our time there. It was a wonderful ending to 6 weeks of South Africa.

The Slideshow with everyone at the plot

Goodbye Beauty and Sesi!

Goodbye Pretty and Florence!

Goodbye Brother Dominic and Beauty!

While I had an incredible time with the Fathers and sightseeing, it has truly been a blessing to have worked with the kids at St. Martin’s. I have found that the times with them have been true representations of African happiness and curiosity. When I look back on Africa I will remember, the faces of the children, young and old, and the many questions that they asked every day. It has made me understand on a wider scope God’s love and curiosity in us. It is without bounds just like how those children loved and how we loved them back. It is truly a blessing for me to have spent so much time with them and to have them on my mind in the future.

I am so happy to have had this opportunity and I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers during my time there. I want to especially thank my parents and family for their support and their constant interest in everything I was doing. I also want to thank all the people who made this possible through the Smith Fellowship at Providence College. If you have any more questions about my trip feel free to email me at rpinches@friars.providence.edu. And as always GO FRIARS!

Ngiyabonga! Dankie! Thank You!

From Cradle to Sandton City

It has been nearly a week since my last blog post and the flight home is just around the corner. The last few days have been filled with many different things. The week has been the lasts of many things and has made me reflect on many things that have gone on in the past 6 weeks. From Monday to Friday, the kids were on school holiday. This meant that the kids were at the plot earlier and were often much more energetic. This is fun for us but trying on the caregivers. They seem to shrug their work off more noticeably when the kids are there for longer hours. On these days we hoped to get to the plot earlier in the afternoon. This way we could do a variety of activities with the kids and help with lunch. But, with African time being a real issue here, this never seemed to work out. Often we would spend most of our time waiting at the Dominican House for transport to come. We would then spend hours in the transport waiting as all sorts of different people finished their errands in town. Then finally we would reach the plot and have an hour or two to play with the kids.

Duck Duck Poose! Hoose! Goose!

Getting somewhat fed up with this process after Monday and Tuesday, we decided to accompany several ladies who work at the local church soup kitchen. They drove us to a home called Vita Nova. Vita Nova is a home for severely handicapped children and adults. The project is similarly subsidized by the government, but it was obviously run much more efficiently than St. Martin’s. There are over 100 children and adults at Vita Nova and each needs 24-hour care. That means they need over 75 dedicated staff members. As we toured around the grounds of Vita Nova I was constantly reminded of my sister Claire and the work she does with mentally disabled children in Philadelphia. I have seen the amount of work that she puts into her job and it astounds me. I have also seen that it takes a special sort of person to care for these kids. Marina, the director, explained that many of the kids had been found on the streets or left by their parents. They have no one left to care for them except Vita Nova. Organizations like this show true love to those who need it most and it is refreshing to see. I know that Claire would be happy to see some of the same physical therapy equipment used in Melmark at Vita Nova. They not only care for the kids, but go above and beyond to improve their lives.

After Vita Nova, we did get some time at the plot and again I was astounded at the amount of caregivers laying in the sun while the children are off playing by themselves. Looking back, we had high hopes to improve the caregivers’ work ethic. In the last few weeks, we have seen that their lack of desire to work with us is just as frustrating. They seem much more interested in what kind of clothes we can buy them than how we can work together. It has been frustrating to say the least, but there has been small rays of light throughout our time working at St. Martin’s. One of those has been the volleyball net. It has been used every day by the caregivers and kids. Often it ends up being the caregivers against the kids, but it is progress nonetheless. I have noticed that it is a game like volleyball, which requires a lot of people, that bring lots of people together. I have seen that soccer often ends up being one or two kids playing by themselves. Nevertheless, these are good lessons learned.

Lunch time!

Volleybally

While much of the work at the plot has been the same, life with the Dominicans has been more than interesting. Father Lewis returned recently from a trip to Australia and upon his arrival he vowed that he would show us some South African culture before we left. This weekend he took us under his wing and showed brought us to many different places. On Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to visit some sisters in Boksburg. After having a lovely Mass and breakfast with them, we drove North to an area called the Cradle of Human Kind. This area has become quite touristy after they found some very old human bones there. Other attractions have settled in near this location and two of them were on our list of things to do. The first one was called Lesedi Cultural Village. This exhibit showed off five of the different tribes that lived in South Africa. We toured around small replica villages and saw some of the local dancing and customs. Although I usually shy away from overproduced cultural shows like this, I found that this one gave us a lot of culture without dramatizing it too much. They made it feel very real as we spoke the local languages in each different villages and even tried some of their foods. One of them was called Mopane worms. Yes. They are little worms that live in trees, but don’t worry Mom, they were dried out and salted. After this nice crunchy snack, I washed it down with local beer. I actually think this stuff was worse. It tasted like sour milk and charcoal!

Lesedi Cultural Village in the Cradle

Lunchtime?

Worms? Caterpillars? Cheetos? You decide

I’d rather a Bud Light

After this adventure, we drove a short distance to The Elephant Sanctuary where we got to touch and hang out with the elephants. I was able to walk with them, feed them, and get a slobbery trunk kiss on the cheek. It was absolutely incredible. If this wasn’t enough, on our way back to the house Fr. Lewis drove us into Sandton City. This is where the very rich stay in Johannesburg and it was easy to tell by the malls situated on every other corner. The disparity between the rich and the poor in this area is pretty astounding. You can drive several blocks from this Manhattan like area and find squatter camps. Throughout our day Father Lewis reminded us that we started out in the Cradle of Human Kind and ended up in American malls! We traveled through centuries in a single day.

After I pinned him

Making sure he watches his figure

A slobbery nozzle on my face

When we arrived back in Springs, we were able to spend our last recreation night with brothers Godfrey and Edward. Recreation night happens every Saturday night and the brothers spend some time relaxing with some beer and salty snacks. It has been one of my favorite parts of the week as we often stay up late telling stories and laughing. Brothers Godfrey and Edward left today to go back to their studies in Pietermaritzburg. They were great to get to know for the past few weeks and it is sad to see them go. While they were packing up to leave, we had a full day with Father Lewis. We woke up early this morning and went to say mass to a group of elderly Dominican Sisters in Boksburg. After finishing mass and having a quick breakfast with the sisters, we drove to Kwa Thema and Father Lewis gave a great mass to a very lively congregation. This mass was given in Sotho and Zulu but the singing and dancing made it very easy to follow. Then we drove to Pretoria and Father said a Zimbabwean Mass in Shona and Ndebele. Did you catch that? That’s 3 masses in 5 languages. The man is a machine. It was incredible to accompany Father Lewis on this day to see just how much joy he gets out of being a Priest. He is truly overjoyed to be with these starkly different groups of people. He loves them and they love him. It is really an honor to see how God is working through him and affecting so many different people.

I mean, why not have a party for Fr. Lewis? Happy Birthday!

And that’s it from South Africa! I may post again before I leave on Thursday but if not, I will see you in America!

Ngiyabonga, Seth

A Slice of Paradise

It has been quite a while since my last blog post. The end of my Smith Fellowship is sadly just around the corner. As a part of our trip we were advised by many friends and family members to take some time to visit Cape Town. This last weekend, Molly and I did just that and were blown away by the sheer beauty of the place. But it wasn’t just beauty that made this very worthwhile, it was a combination of the city and incredible hospitality that made this my favorite weekend so far.

We left Springs at about 7:00 in the morning on Friday. Brother Dominic graciously drove us to the airport so that we could catch the flight that our life-saving travel agent booked for us. The flight was a short one. This was fortunate for me because the child sitting behind me seemed to think he was training for the World Cup by kicking my seat back as hard as he could. When we landed we were greeted by one of my uncle’s colleagues and close friends, Koos. Koos has lived in Cape Town for the majority of his life so there was no better guide for us to have this weekend. To my delight, Cape Town is known for its craft beers and it didn’t take long for me to embrace this. We first traveled downtown to an area called Kloof Street where we had a braai lunch and some local brews. A Braai is a South African version of a barbecue and this braai-joint had a special emphasis on sausages. After a scrumptious meal, Koos dropped us off at our hotel which was situated within walking distance from waterfront.

Coffee on the Cape!

The Waterfront on one side

Table Mountain on the other side

That evening we walked down to the waterfront. The views were spectacular with Table Mountain on one side and the ocean on the other. The waterfront also had loads of small shopping areas and markets. The atmosphere is touristy but as Molly pointed out there is still something distinctly African about it. It is particularly refreshing.

The next morning Koos picked us up and drove us out to Cape Point. On the way we stopped for coffee on the shore. We started to get a feeling for the city and understood why people say that Cape Town is like a different country. As we drove, we were blown away by the beautiful sights up and down the coast. We drove out to the point and then walked the rest of the way out to the lighthouse and tip of the Cape Point. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the exercise was much needed after these past few weeks. I found mind being transported back to hiking in the Adirondacks. After spending lots of time walking around the point we drove back towards Cape Town. This time though, we took the scenic route. It consisted of winding roads that cut through cliffs, Chapman’s peak, and Cape’s Bay. We also stopped at a small rooftop bar for lunch and tasted some more craft beer! It’s really hard to explain how beautiful everything is but hopefully my pictures do it some justice.

Cape Point

Also Cape Point

Cheers with Koos!

This day was everything we could have hoped for and it was incredible to hear about everything from Koos’s perspective. We found that he was also very good to talk to about what we were experiencing in Springs because he is also in Christian ministry. Our final stop for the day was at our new friends’ house. In my post about Kruger, I mentioned an American couple that we got to know. They are living in Cape Town with their friends and invited us over for an American Party! It was a Fourth of July party in South Africa! It was incredible spending time with Alex and Aubrie and their friends. They were very hospitable and did a burger braai just like at home. We have been so lucky to get to know them and we especially felt their hospitality and generosity to us, their fellow Americans!

Our great American Friends! Happy Fourth! #America

The next morning we drove with Koos out to Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is beautiful wine country that is only a short drive from the City Bowl of Cape Town. Koos went to school here and he was able to really show us all the ins and outs of the small town. We visited Stellenbosch University and Koos explained to us what it was like to be a college student in South Africa. I found it strikingly similar to many of our universities except it had an underground library! The school and town was quaint with beautiful mountain ranges looming in every direction. We started our scenic drive back to Cape Town but stopped on our way in a small village called Franschoek. The lunch was to die for. We tried the local wines and a South African dessert called malva pudding. Koos then drove us back to our hotel where we soon walked to the Waterfront to do some shopping and picture taking. Again we were lucky to have amazing weather. We have been told that often the weather is hit or miss this time or year but we definitely hit.

Botanical Garden Coffee in Stellenbosch

The view from Table Mountian…like what?

Please let me hike it!

Cape Town from Table Mountain

The next morning we got up early and took the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain. The views from Table Mountain were breath-taking. I have never seen anything like it. A mountain on the coast with the city right below is beyond beautiful. On the cable car up the mountain, I looked around and saw lots of hiking paths and was instantly jealous of those hikers. Due to a limited amount of time we were not able to do any hiking while we were here, but that just means I will have to come back! After returning we went off to catch our flight, but not without saying good bye to our new good friend Koos.

I have found that so far this post has been one of the hardest to write. I find that it is just impossible to put into words the experience that I had in Cape Town. Not only are the views beyond words, but the amount of generosity and hospitality that we received these past few days has been truly indescribable. From talking for hours with Koos to singing country songs with our American friends, I have found that these sorts of friendships are really what makes a place special. This weekend is cemented in my mind as one of the best weekends I have ever had and it is all due to these people.

Thanks to them and thanks to you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers as I figure out life in South Africa!

Dankie! (Afrikaans for Thank you!)

Seth

Soweto and Nets

Sanibonani from Springs!

It has only been a couple days since my last blog post but several important events happened in the past few days that I’d love to tell you. On Thursday, the last time I wrote, we spent lots of time with the kids and saw them start to share the small toys that we got for them. Since then we have only had one day with the children. That day was today and we saw even more changes in the children’s attitudes.

Molly and I arrived to the plot early in the afternoon expecting to see all of the kids and caregivers doing activities together. We had been told that the next three weeks are school holidays for the kids, so they often come to the plot early. They come in the morning to get breakfast, play the rest of the morning, get an early afternoon meal, and play until 5 when the plot closes. We were told that there was going to be a schedule of activities for the kids during these days. Sadly, when we arrived, we saw the same sight that we have been seeing for the past several weeks. The caregivers neglecting their jobs and doing just about anything to avoid playing with the kids. They will hide out in rooms they know we won’t go in or they will blatantly disregard the kids and socialize in small groups while sitting in the warm sun. It is a frustrating to say the least.

Having been a little fed up with how the caregivers interact with the kids, we had all but given up trying to get them to care. We had shifted focus to the kids and decided to use some of Molly’s funds to buy a volleyball net. We decided that this could be something we could leave for the kids to use after we have left. It also helps that I have several volleyballs donated from a friend back home. Today we set up this net and found that it was a place where the caregivers would play with the kids! Two birds with one stone! Finally, we saw some progress. We also had tons of fun playing hula hoop games with the younger ones. I found that some of my camp knowledge came in handy with games such as Blob tag.

Posts for the Volleyball Net!

Lunchtime!

Bump, Set, Spike!

Between these days with the kids we had the privilege to get to know some new people and learn a lot about South Africa. On Friday, we went into Soweto with Father Raphael. He is a Dominican who used to have a parish in Soweto, so he was able to tell us a lot about the rich history of the Johannesburg suburb. We first arrived at a Catholic Church called Regina Mundi. We toured around and were told about all of the important meetings that went on concerning the student riots in the 1970s and 1980s. You could still see bullet holes in the ceiling and pieces of broken stained-glass window. We then went on to see several different museums including the Hector Pieterson Museum and the Apartheid Museum. The Hector Pieterson Museum was named after the youngest boy to die during the 1976 police shootings. The museum was planted right in the spot where the shootings happened and it told the gruesome story through pictures and quotes. Thousands upon thousands of students left school to protest the inequality between black and white education. They were gunned down by the police right in the center of the city. This was during the brutal apartheid government that treated the majority of people horribly. We learned more about the delusions of the apartheid government in a different museum. It was truly saddening to see the blindness of this system and the repercussions of the system that still plague South Africa today. We see them first hand among the caregivers. But a constant theme among these museums is the resounding South African spirit that permeates the culture. It gives me hope for these people and their country.

Historic Regina Mundi

Nelson Mandela’s House

The site of the shooting and the Hector Pieterson Museum

After having a few car troubles on the way home, we decided it was best not to drive out to the plot on Saturday. Instead, we went shopping with Maryka! We have constantly been seeking her out because she seems be one of the only people to understand the problems we keep encountering. She picked us up and we drove to a nearby town called Boksburg to do some shopping for the kids. We picked up some sports things but were also just thoroughly happy to spend time with her and her daughter, Audrette. After returning from shopping I was able to have some great conversations with our new friends Edward and Godfrey. They have some great insights into life and Christianity here in Africa. Before long, we were invited out to a movie with a new friend Asanda. She is the daughter of one of Brother Dominic’s friends and has one of the coolest jobs ever. She works with 20^th Century Fox in southern Africa. It’s her job to screen films and provide feedback about how to market and edit the film before it is released. So naturally we went to a movie theater and saw a movie that she hadn’t already seen called Inside Out. If you haven’t seen this movie, please do yourself a favor and go see it immediately. It might be my new favorite from Pixar.

On that note I will take my leave. I hope this satisfies your thirst for the latest from South Africa! Thanks again for reading! Keep me in your prayers for these next few weeks!

Ngiyabonga,

Seth

Dih-no-sore

Sawubona! Unjani?

Ngikhona, Ngiyabonga!

How is your Zulu getting? That conversation is often as far as I can get with many of the people I meet here. It means “Hello! How are you?” and “I am fine, Thanks!” For the past few days, there has been lots of adjusting but in the end…ngikhona, ngiyabonga.

We arrived back from our safari on Friday of last week and were met with a few days of relaxation at the Dominican House. On Saturday, we spent time talking with Brother Dominic and planning some things for the upcoming weeks. We have a few plans to accomplish for both the caregivers and the kids. Some of this included going to local stores to find useful things, such as plastic plates and spoons for meals. Molly also raised a large sum of money from benefit concerts in the US to supply the kids with toys such as hula hoops and jump ropes. Seeing these in action throughout this week has been hilarious.

On Sunday, we arose early to drive to a local parish that is run by one of our Dominican friends. The parish is in Kwa Thema, which also happens to be the village where St. Martin’s works. We were told that this parish was especially lively and it lived up to its reputation. The choir sang songs in both Zulu and Sutu but we listened and danced in our pews with the rest of the congregation. In the end of the service, which was in both Zulu and English, all of the visitors were asked to stand up. Knowing they were talking to the only two white people in the building, we arose and were greeted with a loud applause. It was quite a warm welcome. After this there was a blessing for the fathers, as it was Father’s Day. All of the people around me were astonished to find out I wasn’t a father. Instead of allowing it they pulled me up to the altar anyways saying “But you are a MAN!”

My first Father’s Day

The next few days were especially slow and this is something I have had to deal with while being in South Africa. I have found myself with lots of free time. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had free time. Thinking back on my past few years at school, I have constantly been studying or doing countless other activities. The summers are the same way. As a counselor, I barely had time to breath. Things in Springs move slowly and at times it has been a real struggle. But I have slowly learned how to adopt the lifestyle and I constantly think of one of the first things Brother Dominic told us when we arrived: “In Africa, time is not money.” So on days like Monday when it took 6 hours to do simple banking in the end was flawed, I frequently thought “at least time isn’t money here because we would be broke.”

On Monday the house received new life as we welcomed two Dominican novices named Godfrey and Edward. They are working alongside the fathers throughout the day and giving homilies at many of the masses. It is great to be able to talk with these young brothers who seem to understand our frustrations very well. When Wednesday came around and we were asked to accompany the brothers to visit the elderly, it was easy to say yes. We joined them as they gave communion and anointed the sick with Father Bryan. After this, we accompanied them to a small Mass at a parish close by.

Today was also a special day as we spent time visiting with Maryka in the morning and playing with the kids this afternoon. Maryka was able to book us a trip to Cape Town where we will spend a weekend seeing what all the fuss is about. I have heard countless stories from friends who have been there abroad and cannot wait to see what it holds. The afternoon with the kids was especially delightful due to a certain caregiver, named Beauty, who worked with us. I have found it troubling that when we go to the plot all that I hear is “give me ball” or “give me hula hoop.” Often when I do distribute the soccer balls there is no sharing and many kids are left with nothing to play with. The older ones take the balls while the younger ones come back to me and say “give me ball.” I constantly say “No, you need to share,” but the language barrier often makes it hard for them to understand. I realize that this constant greediness is exactly what they are taught at home. They think, “take what you can because tomorrow there might not be any.” It is a hard quality to overcome and one that might never become second-nature. But slowly, with the help of Beauty, it seems that the kids are playing together better. The older ones play soccer with each other, middle aged ones play with hula hoops and dance to Molly’s music, and the younger ones play with the cars and action figures. We have to constantly reiterate that everyone can play with all of the toys together instead of one playing with everything, but slowly there is progress. I decided to play with the little ones with animal action figures. They would climb on top of me and say “what is dis?” I would reply “A dinosaur.” To which they would all repeat “Dih-no-sore” several times until they asked about another. It was hilarious and so captivating for the kids that we kept on doing it for hours. It was a blast.

Cars and insects and Dinosaurs!

Toss the disc, bro

That’s this week! More to come after this weekend! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Ngiyabonga,

Seth