Hello all,
This is the first blog of my experiences in Southern Africa. I intend to use this site to tell my journey through personal accounts, intellectual thoughts and poetry.
I am one of 23 students participating in a study-abroad program in Windhoek, Namibia. The group consists of people from a large range of universities across the United States, coming with a multitude of different perspectives. Some of the areas of study include international development, international service, political science, philosophy and religion. I will be taking classes in development, religion, history and doing an internship. My internship will consist of assessing children with trauma- among other things-through an organization called Peace Center. I will also plan to travel to different parts of Southern Africa during this time.
So far my time in South Africa has been powerful, moving, inspiring and yet heart-wrenching. It has been difficult to comprehend and come to terms with the great inequalities that I have seen. The first week was spent in Jo-burg, the weekend with home stay parents in Soweto and the last couple of days in Pretoria. It has been a challenging time of gathering thoughts and perspectives and trying to discern their meanings.
During my time in Jo-burg I have heard from a variety of speakers, visited museums and other important sites. I have experienced various perspectives in regards to the political, economic and theological climates, providing a framework for understanding South Africa and the remnants of the apartheid legacy. I will talk briefly about these experiences in my next blog. I will now finish up this entry with a poem I wrote after an early rise in Jo-burg. In all the racial ugliness that has drastically shaped South African history, I look towards beauty found in the land and people. The interpretation of the natural aesthetic demonstrates some of my sensory understandings of the land.
A South African Morning
Early morning calls
As familiar sounds speak life
Into the dawning of a new day
The fresh crispness is made known
Through the winds gentle gaze
The elegant birds speak a sweet tune
To awaken the sleeper
From a laze of susceptible blues
Nature’s noise falls together
In a synergy of hopeful melody
That entices the listener to be
Drawn out into the morning light
Which speaks no remedy but
Carries a sight of great tranquility
For the early listener knows
The beauty which takes hold
In the winds relentless murmuring
And the birds incessant chirping
Where excitement is told
In an ever growing glow
Which awakens one
To this experiential flow
