9/29/09-The Day I Fell In Officially Fell in Love

Today was my first official day at Nomzamo. Considering I'm sharing a bathroom with 5 other girls I had to get up earlier than I would have liked to shower, but it's okay. I woke up before my alarm went off and just hung out in bed until it was my turn. Then it was a quick blow dry, a quick bite to eat, and out the door to the van with the rest of my group off to the Langa township...finally! 

I was the second-to-last one to be dropped off. I wasn't able to meet with the lady I was supposed to meet with because she's in meetings all week supposedly so I was immediately thrown in with the toddlers. i LOVED it! There were about 10 little kids running around, all under the age of 6. Only one of them spoke English so I had 9 little ones running around screaming and clicking at me. Luckily, that little guy stayed by my side and would tell me what the other ones were saying. They were absolutely obsessed with my hair. I had it in a ponytail but the very first time i knelt down, i was mobbed by all the girls who pulled out my hair tie and started petting me. All the little boys joined in and I had 20 little hands - dirty snotty drool infested beautiful loving little hands - playing with my hair. It was almost impossible to get them to let go. I was left alone for quite a bit of the morning so it was kind of hard to communicate with the children. We managed mostly with gestures and facial expressions. Before I knew it, it was breakfast time. We took the kids into the kitchen to eat but before they did  the teacher had them all line up against a wall. They said a little prayer ("God is great. God is good...") in English! and then bum-rushed the tiny little tables where their breakfast waited. Then it was time to play outside where I became a human jungle gym for the next 3 hours. My day was filled with piggy-back rides, flips, somersaults, more hair playing (and pain!), a grass fight, monkey bars, and oh-so much more! 

When we were done playing we went inside to get them cleaned up for lunch. I was waiting in the room with all the kids and watching a movie when the door opened and babies starting streaming in! Ok, so it was one baby at a time seeing as how someone had to bring each one in, but that's not the point. The point is the toddlers and I were joined by 6 of the cutest babies on the freaking continent! And can I just tell you, my heart melted to see the older kids immediately go to the babies on the floor, pick them up, and take them to their seats. They were so good with them, holding them and playing with them, comforting them if they started to cry...oh my gosh! It was absolutely priceless! I barely got to hold any of the babies because the little ones would get mad if I took the babies away from them! But at lunch time while the other kids were eating I got to hold all the babies and feed them so it worked out! The time to leave came way too soon. I could've have stayed there much longer and been totally fine with it. I could probably just move in with the kids and sleep on one of the tiny little beds they sleep in and be totally happy. I might just do it. Seriously. 

Tonight I had my first xhosa lesson. It's the harder of the two languages but it's so much fun! I already know some of what my kids were yelling at me today haha! I recognized the words quickly so I'm hoping I can manage to pick it up fairly quickly. Not that I'll ever sound good speaking it because their tongues have to move in ways that mine just finds impossible. No joke. There are 3 different clicks in the language and every one is more complicated and harder to do than the last. And there are consonant sequences that you've never seen! "NdinguTiven mna" means "I am Tiven." They also don't like spaces in xhosa apparently! But I really enjoyed learning it and our teacher was a lot of fun and very accommodating when we asked for ridiculous sequences of clicks and what word had the most clicks, or the greatest combo of clicks. Needless to say we all got ahead of ourselves trying to pronounce these suckers!

Overall my first day was great. Better than I could have ever thought. When I got back to the house, my roommate told me it looked like I had just come back from war because my hair was up and I was covered in dirt and food and snot! I absolutely loved it! It was amazing to see the warmth and love in the way they welcomed me. I didn't have enough arms, or kisses, or hugs to go around. As soon as I picked one kid up I had 5 more grabbing on to my legs or arms in the air wanting a turn. These kids are so much smarter than me too! They pick up words so fast. It only took me saying, "up!" 3 times before they figured out what it meant. And that's all I heard for the rest of the day. I think the best part of my day though was just watching how much the older kids looked after the little babies and seeing how gentle they were with them. Boys and girls alike were so loving. Yes, these children have been abandoned or orphaned, but by no means are they alone. They have their only little community family. One thing that was hard to see though was how understaffed the shelter is. I am so glad I can be here to help. I know I'm not the first and nor will I be the last but I know my time here is appreciated. 

Lesson of the day: do NOT shower in the morning. Shower in the afternoon when you're all done getting dirty and snotty!!! 

I can't wait for tomorrow!

London to Cape Town!

Oh man oh man oh man! Where do I begin? There's so much to tell, so many little anecdotes that I feel need to be shared even though I know the don't. Luckily, I'm not too sleep deprived and jet lag hasn't really effected me too badly but things have been crazy hectic ever since I arrived in Cape Town. And London for that matter. So let's start from the very beginning! A very good place to start! In the beginning there was the word...hahaha just kidding! 

In the beginning I got on my plane. But before I got on my plane I had to wait until 30 minutes efore boarding to get a seat assignment. Good sign. I was hoping that I would get my usual window seat. I was one of the last passengers to get called. Great sign. Then I got on the plane, find my seat between an old British couple on their way home from holiday and an Indian couple. Yay. The old British man immediately hits on me in front of his wife, while the Indian lady is glaring at me because I practically had to straddle her to get to my seat. Two more great signs! Nothing super eventful happened on the flight. The first 2 hours was the kind old British gentleman regaling me with stories of his life in the military. It was hard to hear because he talked so quietly. Then I fell asleep for 30 glorious minutes and got woken up by a smack to the face. At first I couldn't figure out what (or who and if who, why?) hit me and what smelled so nice. Then I got hit in the shoulder and I found the culprit. That lovely (and I'm not being sarcastic because despite having a bad case of sour grapes this lady was gorgeous) Indian lady  in the seat next to me had hit me with her extremely long-longer than mine!-hair. Twice. And every time she woke up from her cat naps and came out from underneath her blanket, she'd do it again. For some reason I didn't say anything. I guess I just figured if I had to get hit by something, it might as well be by something beautiful that smells good. 

Anyways, London was awesome! I got in 45 minutes early, got through customs, headed out to the Tower of London (like a pro I might add), and prepared myself to walk in the footsteps of historic figures like that syph-infected king we all love to hate, King Henry VIII, his conniving mistress/wife Anne, and then the cool ones like Isaac Newton and Thomas Moore. I had an awesome tour guided by a "beefeater." Don't ask. I did and he didn't even know why they were called beefeaters. I have to admit, it was a weird feeling to know that I was walking on the same streets as all those psychos I learned about in history. Then it was off to see the crown jewels and the whole survived armory of King Henry VIII. I could go into crazy amounts of detail (and I did in my journal) but I want to talk about Cape Town! Let's just say, I used to hate London, now I kinda like it after my day of wandering around.

Ok so now for the good stuff! Cape Town! I arrived at 9:30 in the glorious morning and met up with Kiemmie, my driver, and Diana, who was on my flight-not that I knew that. We hopped in the van and proceeded to what will be our home for the next few months. On the way we immediately saw the stark reality of the townships and the beauty that is Cape Town. The house is awesome! It's a 150 year old historic protected house, meaning it has some history (something about a famous woman who had a scando affair). And it's yellow!!!! I love yellow! We were met with a very warm welcome by the staff and fellow volunteers who have already been here for a month or so. The day was pretty much just hanging out around the house, trying to get unpacked, and getting to know the other volunteers while trying to stay awake and beat the jet lag. Everyone is so nice. One of the girls took a few of us newbies into Rondebasch so we could pick up a few things we needed. It's only about a 10-15 minute walk and about 5 minutes away from the house it started sprinkling. By the time we got to the store we were drenched. By the time we got back to the house it looked like we had jumped into a pool. Hahaha! I loved it. It was great! I know I've only been here a couple of days but seriously, I feel like I'm going to love it here. The group in the house is one freaking sweet group! Our ages are mostly from 18-26 with a couple of outliers in the 40-60 range.

Sunday and Monday was orientation. Sunday morning was just the typical policies and rules but in the afternoon we went on a tour of the city of Cape Town. We stopped at Cape Town Castle for a quick photo-op and then made our way up to Signal Hill which has got to be one of the most gorgeous look-out points ever! You stand on this mountain in between the ocean, Cape Town, and Table Mountain and just stand there in complete awe. Absolutely breathtaking and the pictures can never do it justice! Fun fact - from Signal Hill you can see where they're building the stadium for the 2010 World Cup. It's sitting in the middle of a golf course that they tore up because FIFA wanted the backdrop of the stadium to include both Table Mountain and Robben Island. So they tore up the oldest golf course in Cape Town. Typical. 

Today (Monday) was more orientation, but the good stuff. We learned about South African history and talked a lot about our placements which pretty much just served to get us all even more excited to start tomorrow. All of us are now very antsy in the pantsy. After a wonderful lunch of bbq chicken, sausage, and some other type of meat with salad, and pup (maize) covered in a tomato sauce, we headed out for our tour of the townships. Our guide was Coceko (clicks included!), or Richard. We went to 3 different ones, Langa, Guguleto, and Khayalicha. In Langa we went inside some of the homes and saw how the locals live. The house we visited used to be a mens hostel during the time of apartheid. There were 3 men to a room, and 6 rooms to a house, 18 men in all. When apartheid was over, and the men were allowed to be reunited with their families, they brought their families to live there with them. Imagine 3 families sharing a single room and 18 families sharing a single home. That was the condition they lived in. But walking through the townships, we were swarmed by children. Let me just say, they are characters! They loved getting their picture taken and were absolutely hamming it up for the camera! It was great! A lot of them kept asking, "Sweet? Sweet?" 

After going into the homes we went to a preschool were about 30 of the most adorable kids sang and danced for us. One of the songs they sang for us in English said, "This is my body. I love my body. I respect my body. It is not okay for anyone to hurt my body." They are taught this to help break the cycle of abuse, in the hope it will be easier for kids to tell their teachers when they are experiencing some kind of abuse. These kids are crazy smart though. They sang the South African national anthem for us...in TWO languages! I can barely sing ours in English. Ok so that's not true but still, I was jealous. We were able to play with the kids for about 20 minutes or so before Richard had to drag us into the van. The preschool just got me even more stoked to start tomorrow! 

Next we went to Guguleto to see an African medicine man. We went into a dark shop with animal skins and bones hanging everywhere (and what looked like a couple of voodoo dolls) and got blessed to bring us "many many boyfriends" haha! Then it was off to Khayalicha where we stopped at the very first bed and breakfast ever built in the township. Across the street there was a shop where ladies made rugs from t-shirts that had been thrown away. The money they make helps support one of the local preschools. One thing that absolutely blew my mind throughout the day was how resourceful the people here are. In the townships, everything from a payphones, barber shops, to schools and appliance stores inside of old shipping containers. Even some of the houses are. 

It was a lot to absorb in 4 hours and I know I'm leaving a bunch of information out, but I'm exhausted and excited so you'll just have to forgive me. I swear I'm keeping a better account in my journal so you can get a more detailed version when I have time or when I get home. I don't know if any of this was interesting or if it makes sense but I don't care because I get to meet my kids tomorrow! 

P.S.

If you really truly love me, or have the time and inclination, please please please keep me updated about football season, especially the Packers, and of course, my beloved Sharks while I'm gone! Thanks!!!

Usale ngoxolo!

Yeah, I just said  "peace out" in isixhosa. Okay, okay, it really means "goodbye." Try and say it out loud. Right now. It's fun. You're probably not pronouncing it right hahaha. Isixhosa is the language I get to try to learn to speak...somewhat. I'll most likely just end up butchering it. Hopefully I can make a good enough impression on the locals that they take pity on this poor American girl and think my mutilation of their native tongue is cute. Fingers crossed!

T-minus 14 hours until I finally get to board my plane and get out of here! After everything (i.e. my complaining that time was going too slow, my excitement, the working 2 jobs, the preparation....well, you get it), I can't believe how quickly tomorrow has-or will- come. I've been running around all day and I still have 100 little things that I need to get done that I know I'm going to forget to do. And believe or not, I'm strangely okay with that...big surprise I know! My parents are also thrilled. But hey mom, at least I dusted my blinds right? 

I just wanted to say that as cliche as it sounds, I think I've got the best and coolest friends in the whole world. You'll find out I'm also big on cliches. I think I even wrote a poem about them once. It was pretty good. But that is a spiel for another time. Spiel. There's a word for you. Someone please tell me why there is a "sh" sound in a word that doesn't have an "s-h" anywhere in it? Anyways, my point is, my phone was ringing off the hook most of the day with phone calls and texts from everyone wishing me luck. I tried to call everyone back but I know I didn't. So if you're actually reading this and I didn't call you back, I love you, thank you, and I'm sorry we didn't get to talk. If I did call you back, you're welcome. Haha just kidding! Anyways, I will leave you with something a little more profound than my typical rantings...

Miriam Beard said, "Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the idea of living." I like that. That is exactly what I'm looking for. I know I said that I wasn't going to have any expectations for while I'm gone but this one doesn't count. I'm going to be changed, that's a given. And hopefully it's deep. And hopefully permanent. 

The Story So Far...

So first things first. As you all know, I, Tiven Catrett, have got some crazy itchy size 8 1/2's that I inherited from my father. And I love being barefoot. Socks and shoes are just way too confining. And if you cover them up all the time, how will you feel the itch and know it's time to leave? I obviously won't be barefoot the whole 8 weeks I'm gone, but I can't help love the symbolism. Anyways, these aforementioned itchy feet have been coming into their own the past couple of years and absolutely refuse to be ignored. The day after getting back from my Ireland adventure with my lovely friends, I decided it was time to start planning the next one. Soon though, a problem presented itself. I wanted to travel but I also had a strong conviction that at 22 years old, I needed to be doing something a little more worthwhile than galavanting around the world on a whim. Don't get me wrong, I plan on doing a lot of that in the future, but first I wanted to make a difference somehow. It didn't take long until it hit me that I can do both. I can travel, scratch those itchy monsters, and help people!

I did my research and found a non-profit organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions. I contacted them, asked my questions, and when it felt right, I signed up for 8 weeks. Then came the first hurdle...funding. Yes, I had a steady job but saving $4,644 for the program fee plus another $1300-$1500 for the plane ticket in a 5 month period was going to be hard with a capital H-A-R-D! I sucked it up, prayed, and sent out my fundraising letters. Then, 2 months later I lose my job. (Thanks economy!) It was a Tuesday. All I can say is God loves me because I didn't even have time to start freaking out. That Thursday night my mom got a phone call from a friend asking if I knew anyone who needed a job! I jumped at it and started my better paying job the next morning! I was also able to get a second part time job to help out even more. Throughout all of this, donation after donation came in. It was a slow and steady stream of love and support in the form of checks and prayers. Every time I saw another envelope in the mail, I couldn't help but feel so extremely lucky to have people in my life who are willing to help me when money is tight for everyone. I was able to raise over $4,400! Needless to say it is a very humbling way to start off this awesome adventure I will be embarking on in the next few days. So thank you to everyone who donated their hard earned money to my cause. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you all.

While I'm in Cape Town my assignment is to work in a children's shelter called the Nomzamo Place of Safety.

"The mission of Nomzamo is to transform and integrate the facility into the broader community by rendering an effective and efficient service for children under the age of 6 years that takes into consideration their special needs, ensures their safety and well-being, and reunites them with their families. Nomzamo aims to provide a place of safety for children who have been traumatized, provide care to children orphaned, abandoned, neglected, infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, and provide nursing care, spiritual and emotional support and education for orphaned and abused children."

It will be tough I'm sure. I know I'll experience challenges I can't even imagine so honestly I'm not trying to right now. I figure if I just go with no expectations except to help as much as I can, I'll be golden. All I know is, I can't wait. The past 5 months have flown by but the next few days can't come soon enough! I would apologize for this being so long, but I already did that at the beginning so I'm not going to!

Beginning of the Babble

This whole keeping a blog thing is going to be weird for me. I'm doing it to keep everyone updated as much as possible while I'm in South Africa. I don't know how its going to turn out because I don't know how often I'm going to actually get on a computer. But I'll try to do good! Honestly, knowing me, this will probably just end up being gibberish because I have a hard time keeping my thoughts in order when I'm really excited about something...like this whole experience for example. But, I'm warning you all that I like to babble, as you can tell from the title of this thing. I like the word babble even. I like it because you only have to say it 3-5 times before it stops sounding like a word. Most words you have to say 10 or 15 times before that happens. So this is my disclaimer and pre-apology for whatever this turns into!