What what! This is our ride for the next year! And we've already had some adventures in it, believe you me... And I'm sure more to come. Tim, oh yeah, that's my roommate, aka car deliverer, has a hard time getting the car to start. We are unsure if this is because of the anti car jacking system (cause yeah they have that on all the cars here, gnarly... and not really sure how helpful it is) or the actual car itself. Hmmm... Only time will tell. Oh and Tim learned how to drive stick about four days ago, about 48 hours before he had to drive across the entire country of South Africa alone. Go Tim! So always an adventure. Oh and we also can't figure out how to open the trunk. No Tim!
So after grocery shopping, one of our first adventures was going to a camp Mpilonhle was running on Saturday. A big part of the camp was our Grassroot Soccer arm of the organization, which is who Tim works for. It's a cool concept that involves a lot of activity, combining sports and soccer concepts with HIV/AIDS education, which really draws the kids in. We were also doing health education courses, health counseling and HIV testing.
This is where we do the health education, counselling, and testing. We haul these units to the schools and set up usually in a field right behind. The little rooms you can see the door open to is where we do the counseling and testing. And then those placards you see opened up with the photos on them? Well on the other side is white board material. So when you open up all four between two units next to each other they create a nice little enclosed space that we use as a classroom for health education so we don't require any space from the school. The units are amazing, totally custom done. It's a pretty sweet set up.
And by the way, I'm using "we" in the sense of this organization I'm part of, cause I definitely don't do all the hard work mentioned above. Yeah, like they let me drive those bad ass Land Rovers to haul the trailers down gnarly dirt roads. Cause I'm that hardcore. Nah, that is done by the awesome staff at Mpilonhle (like Bheki!) who I will continue to introduce you to and you will get to know.
But, the most memorable part of the day had to do with the Grassroot Soccer. So part of the program involves what we in the US would call "icebreakers". But, icebreakers are a little different here. They involve clapping out rhythms, chanting beats and awesome dancing! I mean it was awesome, for many reasons. First, there is NO way you could of gotten a group of high schoolers in the US to participate in this stuff. They would of been way too self conscious. But for these kids, it's part of their culture. And on that note, it is so natural for them! They way they follow and pick up the beats and the chants and the moves! Damn! They got rhythm! I mean honestly, it would take a group of white people two hours to get what they picked up in ten seconds. And they are amazing! Their dance moves are awesome, and their voices, wow. Their voices are beautiful!
It was awesome when we had them playing soccer and the kids who were not on the field were cheering for their respective teams, which involves all of the above again, singing, dancing, and chanting, and they would just naturally harmonize. It was unbelievable. They would just pick up singing a song, no direction, and everybody knew their part, in perfect harmony. And it wasn't like just one particular group of kids, like the dorky choir kids or whatever, it was all of them! And this is just their goofing around doing soccer cheers! I literally was stuck there, mesmerized by the music, looking around, being like "Is anyone else hearing this? " But, this is just their everyday, their norm. Tim and my presence was the interesting and intriguing part of their day. Geez, I wish I had made a video! The whole time I was thinking of how I could share this experience with everybody else. But, even with a video... I'm not sure it would translate. There is something about standing in a soccer field at a high school in a Zulu village listening to these kids come together and make this beautiful music to cheer on their team. I know it sounds corny, but it was a little surreal, like I felt like I was in a movie. It was such a testament to how deep and rich their culture is. Despite the parts I don't understand and find frustrating (more on that later...), it is a beautiful thing to be valued and respected. There was definitely a moment of "I wish I had that". I mean, the Jews are cool and all, but we def don't have that kind of rhythm.
It was an awesome but exhausting day, so having the day off today was nice. Tim and I went for a run, which was... let's say... interesting. It's hot here, and I'm out of shape in American terms, and I'm def out of shape in African terms. But, I'm sure Tim will whip me into shape in no time. Again, more on car deliverer-soccer player-runner boy later. He's a nice guy, I promise. :)
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