Greetings From South Africa!! :)

I have almost been here in South Africa for two weeks and wow it has been amazing. My final days in Vietnam consisted of finishing a lot of final country assignments as well as our end of Vietnam dinner banquet. This is where we were able to thank our wonderful country coordinators as well as all of the amazing student volunteers that were so helpful when translation issues came up.

Pictures from Vietnam country banquet 

Now to South Africa! The time is just flying by. I am having such a wonderful experience. After arriving to South Africa almost two weeks ago my group spent the first few days at a hostel in muzienberg. This hostel is located right on the ocean which had some of the best views when it came to watching the sun set and rise each day. 

The view from the hostel

After a two day transition period we were off to our first home stay experience in zwelethemba. Zwelethemba is a black township community that was created during times of apartheid. Race is definitely something that is talked about much more openly here than I have ever experienced in the US. I had never been in a situation where I stood out as much as I did these past ten days; yet I have never felt more welcomed and protected in any other place I have stayed. 

My homestay house!:)

Each morning I woke up to my host mothers good morning. on days that I went running it was my host brother that she made get up at 7am to sit outside and watch my home-stay partner and I run. It wasn't even the fact that I ever felt unsafe it was just my home-stay mother being so protective of my home-stay partner and I. My host mother treated us like her own children. 

Family pictures

Through our morning runs I was able to meet some adorable neighborhood children that began to join in on our morning running routines. They were so cute and actually if anything they sped up my running pace. Their drive and desire to learn how to do push-ups and squats as I taught them a new move each morning was hard to compare to anything I have ever seen. These children would come knock on our door two hours after we finished our running workout to see if we wanted to go back out and run again. Most of the time the children ran in flip flop type sandals if they even wore shoes which a few did not own. I was running in sneakers and still these children were keeping up with me. I learned so much from these children and my morning runs each day with them.

Each day we would make the 15 minute walk to the local library where we would have class. In Zwelethemba our group was so fortunate to have so many panels of individuals from the community that wanted to speak with us. From the youth panel where we talked about gang violence, drug use and other peer pressure that face the youth these days growing up in this township. We also were able to hear each of the five mid 20 year old guys tell their experiences as well as the extreme unemployment rates within South Africa. We also had a mothers panel as well as a reconciliation panel. This panel was especially touching as one of the worchester 1999 bombing victims told her story and her journey in later going to the prison and forgiving the bomber that traumatized so many people that Christmas Eve day. Olga has been featured in the national geographic magazine as well as was recognized by Desmond tutu for the human reconciliation act award. She was such an inspiring women and I am so grateful to have met her and hear her story.  

Later in the week we spent time doing a photo-voice project which by far has been my favorite project on this trip. We gave cameras to people within our families or local community members and asked them to take pictures of places that were healthy or unhealthy in zwelethemba. It was such a unique opportunity because the people had the ability to take pictures of whatever they wanted to within this assignment without any guidance from us. 

Each student picked two pictures with the help from our families that we mounted on construction paper and will have displayed within the zwelethemba library. All of the children that participated were so excited to see the picture they either took or were getting prepared to be put on the library wall. 

Later in the week my home-stay partner and I made dinner to show our appreciation for our family hosting us. We kept it simple and made a spaghetti dinner with salad, garlic bread and chocolate chip cookies!:):) 

Although it wasn't the same as my home-stay mothers amazing cooking; she was so appreciative. Many of the things Elizabeth cooked were similar to what my family cooks in the US which was really comforting to be closer to my US in comparison to Vietnamese food which was definitely  a major adjustment. 

My experience in zwelethemba was nothing but extraordinary.  My host mother Elizabeth is one of the most hard working people I have ever met. She is so religious and so appreciative for everything god brings into her life. She works as a social worker for the school for the deaf about 15 minutes outside of the township. She deals with children of all ages and asks as resource for so many children that are abandoned as a result of being deaf at a young age. My host brother even stated that when he is younger Elizabeth would use so much of her own salary to give back to these children that her own family would struggle to out food on the dinner table each day. Giving back and helping others is her mission no matter what. She is a true discipline of god and I could not have been more inspired by living with such an incredible women and family these past 10 days. I know my experiences here in zwelethemba will stay with me for the rest of my life. I even hope to be able to make it back to this township community at some point during my graduate school years. Tears have filled my eyes as I am leaving a community and family that I have become so close to these last ten days.

On Monday, March 24th I will be off to my second home-stay experience in South Africa in the Bo Kapp which is a Muslim community located very close to the heart of Cape Town. As sad as I am to leave zwelethemba I am excited for the new experiences I will be able to embark in this weekend and with my new home-stay in   completely new part of the city.

I went to Cape Point this past weekend. I was told by our tour guide that the drive around the Cape is one of the most scenic in the world! :) It was remarkable. I also went to Boulder's Beach which is one of the few sands beachs with penguins. It was amazing!! 

I hope is well with everyone. I am continuously so appreciative of all of the support everyone has given me. I am so grateful.

Hillary :) 

"Everyone leaves footprints in your memory, but the ones that leave foot prints in your heart are the ones you will truly remember"- Nicolas sperling

  

My trip to the Lac Village!

 

Greetings from Vietnam!! I still cannot believe how fast time is flying by. I spent last week in the gorgeous, beautiful, Lac Village. And this week is my last week in Vietnam. I leave next Monday to head on to South Africa. 

Rice Field 

This Thai village is located about 4 hours away from Hanoi. After arriving I quickly began to appreciate the fresh air, warmer weather and finally not having to worry about traffic every time I took a step. It was such a nice break from the city life. After arriving we had some time to get settled in our traditional thai guest house, (similar to a tree house). All 30 of the students in my group were all in this one house all on mats on the floor. It was such a great experience. I really enjoyed everyone being together! :)

Our Thai house we stayed in for the week

The mats on the floor overlooking the community! 

We had our classes in a gorgeous community building down the road from our guesthouse. The views on our walk to class every morning consisted of livestock, rice fields and lots of dogs even some puppies too! :)  

Our classroom :)

We even played volleyball with the locals one day!! TEAM USA won for the first time in 8 years! Definitely was great to get playing with everyone! So fun! :)

Playing some volleyball!! 

Throughout the week we were able to travel to two separate villages outside of the Lac Village. The first village we traveled to was another Thai village and a 2.5 hour hike!! We split up into groups with translators and were invited into their homes to meet with the families. After hearing about their daily lives in the village each of us in the group was able to reciprocate and tell apart of our story as well. It was an amazing experience! 

The views from the hike for 2.5 hours!! 

One of the few areas where freshwater was safe to drink! 

We next went into questions related to health and access to health care. When questions were asked about nutrition in foods for children the response was that the people were too poor to be able to focus on that aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Pre-natal care only occurred once or twice throughout the pregnancy. These responses really made me analyze the thoughts and ideas that I had preconceived about what poverty looks like. These families lived in houses that were smaller, perhaps not the best insulated but nothing that shouted out to me as poverty like I have seen on previous service trips before. I have begun to unwind my notions and the media representations of what I assume all poverty to be and encompass. After leaving the home we were able to stop by a school and watch the children perform for us. We even got up on stage and did some improvising after they insisted that we dance for them as well. (The 5 year old students definitely did way better than us :)    

The students getting ready to perform for us! 

Later in the week we travelled to the H'mong village. We were able to see the health center and listen to information about the work and health problems within this community. The doctor had stated that he was the only doctor for the 7,000 community members in the H'mong village as well another village 45 minutes away therefore leaving both of these village with little to no access to health care.  

After arriving to our first house I quickly began to see and hear the poverty I had originally imagined would look like. My first step into the house was filled with smoke from the open fire that was in the middle of their home. The man of the house quickly started to tell us all about his story and how he plans to work until he physically cannot anymore. His family spends most of their day in the fields after age 13 because school is only free at the primary level. He finished the conversation with a few questions for us. Much to our surprise all of these questions were medically related and all in reference to how he should treat certain ailments he had been feeling. It was an incredibly awful feeling in regards to how much privilege we carry as students from the US. It was almost like he felt we could treat his illness or ailments. I will never take my access to health care for granted ever again especially after the second house we visited. 

This house was a little bigger but filled with many more people. There was so much chatter that filled the air, only if I could understand the language. This family spoke about their three month old baby that was born in their home. He is now three months old and still has not yet seen a doctor... (She planned to go when the baby was three months because that is the only time the doctor would be available). The questions that this mother asked us all surrounded the health of her baby which once again was not easy to hear. We tried our best to answer the questions to the best of our ability but we do not have the knowledge that they seemed to assume we had :( 

This week was filled with so many questions. How is my access to health care in the United States almost viewed as a human right while in so many other countries across the world access to even minimal care is hard to come by? Why do you have to pay for an education after primary school? Why is having an open fire with no ventilation the only way to heat your home?  I have found that many of my questions have started to surround the injustices in the world therefore they are almost impossible to answer. I could not have asked for a better group of faculty to help our group sort through all of this information and work together to learn from our experiences from a not so "typical" week compared to our others. The biggest question of them all is how do you really make the world a better place? Who decides what needs to be "fixed"? And finally where do the standards in which we contrast and compare other communities, cities, and countries come from? I do know that making the world a better place does not just come from one aspect of discipline it comes from all across the academic spectrum. The discussions we have in class each day are such an amazing aspect of this program. The voices of each and every member of my group have become so valuable and important to me. Although we all attend American Universities we all come from so many cultural backgrounds. This  allows for our learning environment to be enriched with such amazing wonderful contribution each and everyday.

group picture by campfire :)

The last night of our stay at the village we had a special dinner and even celebrated a birthday of a member of our group! :) We were also able to see a traditional dance by local vietnamese women. It was gorgeous to watch! 

Traditional Dance 

Katie's birthday cake with a crazy candle on top that scared us all! :)

After our four hour bus ride we made in back to Hanoi. I am excited for what this week has to offer. Definitely already missing the Lac Village. So hard to believe I leave for South Africa a week from today.

I hope all is well with everyone! :) 

I have heard that we will not have much access in South Africa but I will try to post every two weeks if possible! :)

Thank you for your continued support! 

Hillary :) xoxo 

"Accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith what will be"