Week 1 - "This is Africa..."

“Hey, does anyone here know the Wacka Wacka dance?”

When Amanda Akes, my fellow YASCER and missionary to Cape Town for the next year, first uttered these words last Saturday night, I thought she was talking about Fozzie the Bear (I didn’t know Fozzie had a dance!?!). You know, the muppet… but I caught on fairly quick after that. She was referring to the Shakira song from the World Cup this past June. Naturally. I thought I’d heard it before, and little did I know, after tonight, it would be in my head for several days… but back to Amanda’s initial question – and the fact that we did indeed find someone to say “Yes” to it, leading us to learn (or more like attempt to learn) the Wacka Wacka dance by the light of the braii (which is a South Africa barbeque dontchaknow) forty-eight hours after landing in Cape Town.

After being here for a week, I’m finally getting used to the fact that I am, in fact, here in Cape Town. God called me to mission (and I definitely asked “Are you sure?” enough times to know that the answer was, in fact, “yes”). I answered, and now I am here. It took over twenty hours and two airplanes, but I made it to a new country on a new continent in a new hemisphere, where I am embarking on this new adventure.

Cape Town is the only city with two YASCers (Young Adult Service Corps missionaries) in it; Amanda (whose fabulous blog is linked to over on the right) and I arrived together last Thursday night, meeting up in Amsterdam before flying to Cape Town. After we staggered out of security with confused internal clocks, the first think I remember seeing upon scanning the crowd was Emily Beel leaping towards us and waving her arms in the air in what may be the most exuberant airport greeting I’ve ever received (and those of you who have known me for awhile know that I have indeed had plenty). Emily introduced Amanda and me to some of our new friends at Hope Africa, Donna, Jenny, and Maropeng, before we split all split into separate cars and received rides to our respective destinations, expecting to reunite in the office on Monday.

Currently, I am staying with Suzanne, an Episcopal priest and fellow American missionary who has lived in South Africa for over a decade (plus another stint a few years before that), and her dog, a wonderful yellow lab named Thembi, which is short for Thembisa (sp?), which means “hope” in Xhosa. Suzanne has been a wonderful hostess and is incredibly helpful in helping me adjust to life in this new culture. After I spent my first day settling in and getting over the jet lag (it took awhile to shake that feeling that “I stayed at the Hotel Muntenia last night”), Suzanne graciously showed me around over the weekend. I am now in possession of my very own South African cell phone! Also, on my first grocery-shopping expedition, I discovered that Hannah Montana’s is far more extensive than I had ever realized; she can be found on school supplies here.

On Saturday night, Emily Beel, another YASCer here who is finishing as Amanda and I start, hosted a braii, which was bursting with good food and even better company. So many new faces to meet and break bread with! Bread like… braii bread, which is like grilled cheese, but with tomato and onion, too, and of course, cooked on the braii with (or after?) the meat. I highly highly recommend it. Anyway, it was here Amanda and I laughed and danced and tried to keep up with our Wacka-wise instructor. I wish I could show you pictures! As we danced, I felt myself let go of another chunk of my travel tension; dancing and laughing with friends (even ones that you’re just meeting) is some of the best kind of joy that’s out there. I felt a resurgence of joy for what my next year is likely to hold.

On Sunday, I attended my first church service here at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, right next to Parliament. It was one hour and forty-five minutes of awesomeness – in three languages, with a choir from a local private Anglican all girls school. The three language thing especially fascinated me; the three being English, Afrikaans, and isXhosa. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a service that ever so fully utilized more than one at almost every single point in the service! It was inspiring; I hope to worship there often and make a point of looking for more multi-language services, when I return to the US.

Another highlight of Sunday was joining Suzanne as she took Thembi to a park near Bishop’s Court, the home and offices of Archbishop Thabo. The park was beautiful and natural, colorful flowers grew wild and calla lilies were everywhere. It was fun to watch Thembi frolic across the grass and play in the stream. Do you know calla lilies grow wild here? Yeah. How awesome is that!?!? Calla lilies are one of my favorite flowers; my Grandmother Ann carried them in her wedding bouquet.

On Monday, I started at the Hope Africa, which is a really awesome place where I don’t think I’ll actually be working. Allow me to explain. Hope Africa is an amazing amazing organization which works in partnership with other aid organizations (including Episcopal Relief and Development) as well as parishes and dioceses across the Province of Southern Africa, which includes the countries of South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, & Angola. Hope Africa carefully learns about each dioceses before offering help, and the programs and aid they offer aren’t about giving handouts. Hope Africa’s aid and programming is focused more on providing tools and support to communities and building partnerships for a sustainable future. It’s a wonderful office to be in while I figure out what my job will be! There’s a wonderful sense of community here; I look forward to hearing about Amanda’s experiences here!

Slowly but surely, my placement is coming together. Right now, it looks like I will spending three days a week at the ASF office and the other two at ANSOC (Anglican Society, equivalent of ECM or Canterbury in the US) at UCT. The Anglican Student Federation (ASF) is the provincial student group; it’s not provincial in the way that we have eight provinces in the US. Provincial in the global Anglican Communion is regions of one or more countries rather than several states; The Episcopal Church (the US) is its own province in the global communion. Every June they have a student gathering/event (much like the US’s Gather from what I hear) and next year it will be in the northeast part of South Africa. On Monday, I meet with Odwa, sort of the “Douglas Fenton” or young adult/ASF coordinator, for the Province of Southern Africa. Then, I’ll learn more about what my work with ASF will look like. Earlier today, I met with Father Christopher Swartz, the chaplain at the University of Cape Town, and we discussed what my work there might look like as a resource for their campus ministry and for the students. Some things that I might do include leading a Bible study, discussing ecumenical ministry on campus, and perhaps even doing a survey of young adult ministry in local parishes, similar to what my friend Jesse and I did as interns for the Diocese of New Jersey two years ago. It was a very energizing discussion, and I will continue to post as my ministry continues to take shape.

Well, this is running a little longer than I had initially planned, but it has been an exciting week! I can’t believe I’ve already been here for 7 days! 1/52nd of my trip is now officially complete, and it’s September, which means a very special holiday on Saturday and, if this September follows suit for the last several, something really big and life changing and (usually, hopefully) awesome. We shall see!

Until then, thanks for reading and for supporting my ministry here. Peace!

Songs: “This is Africa” by Shakira & “Love Like Crazy” by Lee Brice
Books: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (the third in the Hunger Games series, an awesome awesome airplane read that was released the day before I left the states)
Movie/TV show: Smallville (I watch it to relax before bed some nights as part of my introvert time. I love following the journey of young Clark Kent as he learns of his origins, develops his powers, and discerns his call – and following the journey of his best friend Lex Luthor as his journey leads him towards darkness. Personal development and science fiction – sounds corny but it makes me happy)