Claire will forever cherish the people & memories

I absolutely cannot believe that it has been just over month since I landed back in the United States. Although the very much-anticipated culture shock wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, I find myself thinking about and longing for Cape Town more often then not during the course of the day. Coming home, I knew that people were going to quickly dismiss my trip abroad, and that deemed to be both true and untrue in some cases. The people who I thought would care did care and some did brush it under the rug but I had to keep reminding myself that the trip was for me and no one needed to understand every detail of what happened.

The one main thing that I am still struggling with is not constantly being surrounded with things to do and new adventures to seek. Knowing that my job doesn’t start until the end of June, I often find myself struggling to keep busy. I do find comfort in reaching out to my fellow co-educators, connecting with them and seeing how they are doing with the transition- we are all in this together! What helps me with the transition is looking back at old pictures and reading old blogs, remembering the good times when happiness was endless and worries were minimal. I also find comfort in keeping in touch with the people I met in Cape Town.

    

Just last night, I saw on Facebook that one of the members of the senior Khayelitsha Firefighter team was shot and killed on the streets at the young age of 22. This hit me way harder than I thought it would. I was left speechless and in tears after reading the posts people made and after talking with Bongi. All of last night I was tossing and turning, just so restless with the idea of how someone so young and full of life could die so young, especially someone who was loved and known by people who personally impacted my time in Cape Town- nobody deserves that, it is so unfair. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of this young man.

    

I do believe that I will return to Cape Town soon. I am so thankful for the eye opening experiences that Cape Town gave me and I am definitely a changed person because of it. I will forever cherish the people and the memories made in my second home. There was nowhere else I would have rather been with my 16 other co-educators (and Ethan!)- these people who I now call my second family.

Claire grateful for her time in Cape Town and confident she will return soon

Today I arrived back into the United States. Although tired after a long day of traveling, I am definitely already wishing I were back at my “home away from home”. As many may imagine, the last week and a half of our 15-week stay was extremely busy! We were made aware that we could no longer stay in the house we had been residing in for most of the semester, so we had just about 3 hours to pack up and move to a hotel just a few minutes down the road. I decided to look at this with a positive light and not be overwhelmed because ultimately, it adds to our Cape Town story. With heavy hearts saying bye to Loch Road, we packed up and found our new home in Newlands.

    

The closer it came to our departure date, the more I realized I really did not want to come home. The thought of saying goodbye to the people who I have come to know over the 15 weeks truly breaks my heart. But instead of saying goodbye, it was more of a see you later, another excuse for me to come back to Cape Town. I made sure to make the most of each and every day and to be in the moment. There is a weird feeling that I was experiencing towards the end of the trip. This weird sense that time did not exist. While talking to Shona, we both came across the conclusion that it was so hard to “be in the moment”. It is almost like there is a glass wall in front of us, keeping us from experiencing reality. I think this made it 10x harder to leave.

Going home and adjusting back to the US will be hard, but I am confident that as co-educators, we will all be there for each other and support each other through this difficult process. I am so grateful for everything that I have experienced in Cape Town and I am sure that I will be returning sooner than I think.

Lion's Head

Table Mountain

Claire's relaxing start to the week turned pleasantly hectic at the end

This past week has been pretty easy; Christel House was on Spring break meaning I had the week off, too. It was nice to be able to sleep in and catch up on homework and laundry, which was much needed.

Abongile & Claire in their special new shirts

 Today was the last day of the Easter weekend soccer tournament at Mandela Park hosted by the Khayelitsha Firefighters. There were 23 teams total and a whole lot of fans who came out to watch. Although it was a very long and tiring weekend, I enjoyed every second of it and I am so excited that it was a success and to say that we were a part of their first annual tournament. To make it even more exciting, we made t-shirts and tank tops for our fellow co-educators and for the coaches and admin of the Fire Fighters. Friday was the first day and most definitely the busiest with all the registration having to happen. Karen and Laura came with us, which was really nice. We met Oscar, the behind the scenes guy, and he is so amazing! The start time was 8am, but knowing people and having a sense of African time, people didn’t start showing up until at least 9:30. I had the job of collecting the money at the gate. I think a lot of people were pretty shocked when they saw three white girls collecting money, as some of them asked what the entry fee was even going towards. As Oscar said, we didn’t let anyone coerce us into not making them pay even as much as people were resisting. That consumed most of our day until about 3 when we took a minibus taxi home. Side note: I love taking mini bus taxis!! I find them so fun (and inexpensive), and I am definitely going to miss taking them when I get home. Saturday we got there around noon, and brought with us supplies to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the senior team. They were definitely all so appreciative, as were the junior firefighters who were there to support the team as well. The firefighters played a game Saturday afternoon and ended up winning and now they are in the quarterfinals! Today (Sunday) was more of a relaxing day, we took a lot of pictures (which people love) and made sandwiches again. I really enjoyed helping out, I am going to miss Mandela Park.

On another note, today is also Easter. I think me and a couple of my co-educators have noticed that it doesn’t feel like Easter, where as at home my mom would be decorating and we would be having a family party. Not too many people seemed to be impacted by the holiday, which I have also noticed that I think it is bigger at home. Although it is weird to not be celebrating this year, I will be home in a few short weeks with my family. At this point I am not too thrilled about my trip back into the United States but I think it is something that I need to work on in the coming time. All good things must come to an end, as some say, but this end came way too quickly.

Claire reflects on her awesome week away from Cape Town

I am currently sitting on the bus on the way back to Johannesburg from Kruger National Park. This past week has been so awesome, starting off the first part of the week with museums and a little bit of history and ending it in one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to- a much needed break from our crazy life back in Cape Town.

The hotel we stayed at was so nice (with extra comfy beds). It was nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about anything. I was never a huge fan of museums growing up, but there was something about the ones we went to that kept me wanting more. I was so fascinated with all of the information they had to offer, especially at the Hector Peterson Museum and Sharpeville Memorial Center. There were multiple moments where I had to hold tears back. It is so unbelievable to me how so many young people were killed for essentially peacefully protesting, and in the case of Hector Peterson, how a 12 year old could be the face of it all. Absolutely shocking. I also found it very sad how not a lot of people visit where the Sharpeville Massacre occurred, especially since that gained South Africa freedom many years later. I am so grateful that I was able to go to these places and learn about how South Africa came to be the way it is now. We also toured Constitution Hill that was very cool, we went to the Apartheid Museum, saw the Freedom Charter, and went to an African Flea Market.

One of my favorite days was spent at the Pimville Boys and Girls Club that was in Soweto (South Western Township), the biggest township in South Africa. Maddy, Sara, Rachele, Rav and I helped clean up the garden before playing with the kids for the rest of the afternoon. It was really cool to see how a little work makes a huge difference. Playing with the kids was very tiring, but definitely fun. We sang songs, played on the playground and danced around (even in the hail)! It was so easy to notice how quickly the kids get attached- within 10 minutes, they always wanted us to hold them and follow them around, some of them even fighting with others as to which one of us was “my teacher.” While we were there, the global CEO of Tupperware, Rick Goings, stopped by the club. He opened the 2 clubs in Soweto many years ago (sponsored by Tupperware) and he happened to be in the area. He was so personable with all of the staff and students. It was kind of funny because most of my co-educators and I were star struck, as if we were about to meet a famous actor or actress. It was funny to see Americans fanning over another American. It was so hard saying goodbye to all of the kids when we left. We kept getting questions about when/if we were coming back and it was so hard to give them an indefinite answer. It brought tears to my eyes as they were blowing kisses and waving as we pulled away.

After our long 8-hour bus ride on Friday, we finally arrived in Kruger just in time for our 5pm game drive. We then had a bush braai with delicious food. Saturday morning was an early wake up call (4 am) for our morning game drive, followed by a night game drive (8-10 pm) on Saturday night. We saw an elephant, lions walking on the road, giraffes, hyenas, kudu, impala, jackals, buffalo, wildebeests and many more. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat. Although we weren’t constantly seeing animals during our drive, it was still nice to drive around on the truck and look at the stars and hear the peaceful sounds of nature. Our chalets were really cute- I felt like I was on a retreat. I was so content sitting on our porch, listening to country music and relaxing without any Internet or anything. Although I will miss Kruger and this past week, I am looking forward to getting back to Cape Town for the final 3 weeks of my stay.

Claire can't wrap her head around leaving this place

Over the past few days, I have been receiving messages from friends and family about when I will be arriving home. When I tell them the date, they respond with excitement, but I just can’t wrap my head around leaving. I am now becoming more and more aware of how different life is going to be like back at home. When Eric came home last year, he mentioned how it was hard for him to talk about what he had experienced here because it was hard for people to engage in conversations about the racial differences and disparities that we have seen here. I believe this is going to be the hardest challenge. I am going to want to tell people what I’ve seen and talked about, but it’s hard to care to a certain extent when they have no idea how different life is 8,000 miles away. While here, I have also learned to be more independent, especially having to live in a house and cook and clean for myself. I know it’s going to be nice going home to meals cooked for me, but I think the adjustment process is going to take a little while.

One of my favorite parts about being here in Cape Town is working with the Khayelitsha Firefighters Football Club. Yesterday, we brought 6 huge garbage bags of donations filled with new soccer balls, cleats, shorts/shirts/uniforms, shin guards and other equipment for the team to use. As we were laying the stuff out on the ground, the kids were so excited. They aren’t often able to get new cleats and balls due to lack of funds at home. Seeing a few kids get these new things almost brought tears to my eyes. It really shows how a little goes a long way here in Cape Town. What might be someone’s old cleats from 5 years ago are someone else’s brand new cleats that they will have for the next few years. On Easter weekend, the Firefighters will be hosting a tournament at Mandela Park with about 20 other teams in the surrounding area. I am excited that we will be here for that, helping manage and run their first home tournament! Although we still have a lot of prep to do, it is going to be so worth it in the end. With the money that we have fundraised for them, we are going to purchase new uniforms for the team, sign them up for a soccer league and use some money for transportation to all their various tournaments. These kids deserve so much and it makes me so happy to see them smile 

Claire can't imagine leaving in just 5 weeks

Throughout my time here, I have been exposed to a lot of different music in a lot of different settings with different people. I have begun to notice that music here is so powerful. The first time I noticed this was when we visited Gugulethu Baptist Church way back during the first two weeks of orientation. Although I wasn’t able to understand what was happening during the ceremony, I still felt what they were trying to get across because the music was so strong. I felt this same feeling during the church service that Maddy, Rav and I went to during our homestay weekend in Ocean View. As soon as we walked in, the music started and everyone in the church was on their feet singing and dancing along to worship their Lord. While I have been here, I also have been to two different music festivals. Although quite a different scene than the churches that I have been to, it is still amazing to me to see so many people gather and celebrate music. I really enjoy listening to the upbeat and lively music that is here because I also feel like it makes me more cultured in South Africa. I have come to know and love African music and I can’t wait to be exposed to more during the rest of my time here.

As for an update on my internship, I cannot believe that I only have 9 days left at Christel House. It has been the most amazing and rewarding experience to watch the kids learn and grow. Even from the first week at Christel House I feel as though I see so much difference in the attitude and behavior of the learners. Having these experiences here actually made me add an early childhood development education minor to my human development and family studies major. Working at Christel House made me realize how important it is to teach kids properly because going to school at a young age is vital to future education. I hope to one-day work in a foreign country with kids who are underprivileged because the teacher I work with has inspired me to help these children. She is actually leaving in a few short weeks to go teach in Saudi Arabia for a year. Nonetheless, I have learned so much from my internship so far, I wish there was a way to bring Christel House home with me. It is so hard being away from them for a long weekend, I can’t even begin to imagine having to go home in 5 weeks.