Rebecca on Frontier Farm

5 hours.  The trip took 5 hours.  All 29 of us, plus Bruce and Norma, crammed into two vans.  It was hot.  So hot.  However, it was completely worthwhile.  Our weekend visit to Frontier farm was one of my favorites so far.  We traveled inland, no beach this time, but one glance out the window led to an endless landscape of mountains and hills.

Getting off the highway, we finished travelling on a rocky dirt road.  It was very bumpy.  Just through a couple of gates and we finally arrived to one of the three farm homes we would be visiting for the weekend.  Famished, we ate some sandwiches for lunch and began the activities soon after.

We walked over to some animal pens where we met Tiny.  However, Tiny was not so tiny.  Tiny is an eland, which is the largest antelope in Africa.  This particular eland is kind of unique though, because he was raised with kudu, so he thinks he’s a kudu.  Some of us got to feed him corn.

Milking cows.  That’s the next thing we got to do!  We all took turns milking a cow and then drank the milk straight from the udder!  It was super weird.  The milk tasted ok, except it was really warm, which was kind of gross.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming.  Put on our swimsuits, which are called costumes here, and hopped in the back of a truck.  It was about a ten minute drive to the swimming hole.  But before we jumped in, we climbed to the top of this hill overlooking the swimming hole which was behind a huge mountain and red rock formation.  It was so beautiful.  We had a fun photo shoot on the top of the hill, saw a couple of wild tortoises – they were huge.  It was a hot day, so cooling off in the water was a nice treat.  We had to tread water the whole time, but it was still worth it.

After swimming, we all changed into dry clothes and sat around the bonfire for a couple of hours while dinner was being prepared.  It was dark out by then so we realized that they serve dinner really late in South Africa sometimes.

Before going to bed, the farmer came in with four warm baby bottles full of milk.  Hannah and I went outside with him to bottle feed the abandoned kudu and reedbok babies.  It was so cool.  After the bottle was finished, my little baby reedbok kept following me around and stepping on my feet.  He was so soft and little.  The kudu were bigger and more stubborn.  It took awhile for them to trust us enough to feed them.  But once we did, they didn’t leave our sides.  

Most of the group left to spend the night at the other two farm houses, about twenty minutes away.  Eleven of us girls stayed in the comfy cozy house.  It was the first time in a month I have slept in an actual home instead of apartments or hostels.  That was really nice.  Unfortunately, waking up in the morning was not as pleasant.  The roosters starting cocka-doodle-doing at 4 in the morning.  Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep after that.

Once we were awake, we drove over to meet up with everyone else for breakfast at another farm house.  This house was a one-level house, but it was magnificent.  The rooms kept going and going.  It was also sitting in the middle of a huge garden right out of a movie scene.  We had some photo shoots going for sure.  In South Africa, one of the most popular foods is called “toasties,” which are just toasted sandwiches with cheese, egg and tomato.  Almost everything down here has tomatoes in it, which at first was not fun, because I don’t like them.  But now I’m getting used to it and actually enjoying them.

Next we went to a barn and watched the farmer inoculate a sheep.  Then Taylor got to try too!  The purpose was to dip the sheep’s foot and spray it with some medicine to help the hooves heal and grow strong.  Then we went over to the barn where they do the sheep shearing.  The whole production isn’t going during this time of year, but they did shear one sheep for us, and some of us got to try it as well.  I was not brave enough, for fear of missing and cutting the animal. 

Our next adventure was by far my favorite of the weekend.  We jumped in the back of some 4x4s and made the drive out to Winterberg Mountain.  The drive was beautiful, though bumpy on the unpaved paths.  The whole scenery was just mountains and farmland.  It was fun standing in the back of the 4x4.  We were packed in pretty tight and were always running into each other.  With some great conversation it was a nice bonding experience.  Thank god as well for the overcast weather.  We didn’t even need to wear sunscreen that day!

We went about half way up Winterberg Mountain on the vehicles and climbed the rest of the way.  It was a huge mountain – so still a long climb.  Every time I got to a certain point, I think I would be done, but then I realized I wasn’t!  The climb up got windier and windier.  My legs were definitely feeling a burn.  At the top I was just elated.  It was so cool being so high up in the world and seeing for miles and miles (or should I say for kilometers).  Everyone took a moment to themselves, sitting on a lone rock, taking rest in the grass or snapping pictures with the camera.  I found a rock that overlooked a good portion of the land.  This was one of the moments in our whole trip so far where I think we all got to really appreciate being in South Africa.  I’m so grateful for the opportunity and having the support of my family and friends.  I wished at that moment that my family could be there with me, to see the majesty of it all.

After awhile, we all came together and took tons of fun pictures.  Jumping, arms, looking, dog piles, piggy backs – you name it, it was done.  Big groups, flat mates, just the girls, individuals.  We couldn’t miss this opportune photo moment.  Looking back at some of the goofy pictures, I smile and am so happy that we have such a great group.  Everyone has their own personality or quirks about them.  We all get along really well and I know I’m making some of my best friends for life.  Experiencing these amazing things with them has brought us close and we will never forget it.

After heading back home, it was a pretty chill afternoon for awhile.  Lunch and dessert, we played some tennis, chatted it up.  It was nice to have a break and just relax – not have every single hour planned.  However, soon things turned ugly when we all went out for target shooting at the range.  We began taking turns with the .22 rifle.  It was my first time shooting a gun before, and I have to say I did pretty well.  There were two targets to choose from and I hit both!  I even knocked the can off of the second one.  After we all tried the .22, they whipped out the big gun – used for shooting elephants – and gave the boys of the group a chance.  The noise was much louder – I had to cover my ears.  The kick-back was also huge.  Nick was the first to try from our group and he nailed it!  Then Mark went up to bat.  Mark is the biggest guy on our trip – plays football and what not, but he had never shot a rifle before.  After the kick-back, all the sudden he stood up and blood began to drip down his face.  “He just got scoped!” someone yelled.  The scope on the rifle hit him in the kick-back right on the corner of his eyebrow.  Taylor, the EMT in our group, ran to him and tied his shirt around Mark’s head.  We rushed back to the house where they decided to take Mark to the hospital.  All of this happened so fast, but I have to point out that Mark did indeed hit the target.  He got 4 stitches and is doing fine.  What an unexpected happening of the afternoon.

The farmers on this farm were big game hunters and to go along with their gun collection, they had an entire room dedicated to taxidermy.  There were antelope of all kinds and sizes, an otter, a zebra and even a giraffe.  I couldn’t believe it with my own eyes.

We had steak for supper.  Yep, steak.  I did not come to the farm expecting steak, but that’s definitely what we got.  It was easily the nicest meal I have had in a month.  The rest of the night consisted of playing games at the dinner tables with our group.  I really enjoyed getting to know everyone a little bit more.

Drove back to our sleeping home, woke up to the roosters again.  Except this time, something very strange happened.  The noise they made Sunday morning all too familiar to me – they were actually squawking what sounded like my name, Rebecca.  But it was more like this “RE-BEEEEE-CCAAAA!!”  I knew I wasn’t crazy because some of the girls agreed with me!

The other group joined us for another “toasties” breakfast.  Then to finish the day off on Sunday, we put our costumes on and for one last time, rode on our 4x4s.  We drove to a path that led to a hidden waterfall in between some mountains/rock formations.  On the path, there were gigantic spider webs connecting from tree to tree.  The spiders were black and yellow and just under the size of a golf ball.  We had to duck under all of the webs!  Our destination point is was what I would consider a ‘gorge.’  However, to get to the waterfall, we had to swim in the gorge!  There were rocks everywhere - it was very dangerous.  We often made chains and held hands to get across to the swimming water.  It was a slow process, one that involved testing paths and working together so no one would get hurt. 

The water was chilly not to mention.  Also, the farmer warned us that there were small creatures in the water that looked exactly like crocodiles – but that they didn’t bite.  This didn’t matter though, I was still nervous.  Unfortunately, when we got to the end, the waterfall was dried up.  So we decided to climb up into it.  Luke was brave enough to swim all the way across with his expensive camera – we kept telling him he was crazy.  But, we were thankful he was able to take pictures of this neat experience, all sitting in a dried-up waterfall.  Since I am too scared to do cool nature adventures like this, I was really proud of myself for braving the water and doing it.  I have all of my Bennies and Johnnies to thank for that – I couldn’t have done it without their encouragement.

Absolutely exhausted, most of us slept on the way home.  We all kind of smelled too, from the dirty water and overall sweat from the weekend.  Although I loved every minute of it, it was nice to get back home to Langerry once again.  We had tons of homework to do for the week, so Sunday night was dedicated to that.  If you want to see more awesome pictures from the Frontier’s weekend, check them out on my Facebook page!

Missionvale Care Centre: Breaking the Cycle

One of the main reasons why I chose to study abroad in South Africa was the opportunity to volunteer and do service work for people in need.  After hearing stories from past trip participants, I was really excited to fly down and begin making a difference.

During our first week in Port Elizabeth, we were able to tour three different volunteer sites in which the 29 of us would be divided and placed in.  The first was Missionvale Care Centre, a non-profit organization based in Missionvale, a township home to 130,000 people living in poverty.  Next was House of Resurrection AIDS Haven, home to 37 orphaned children affected by HIV/AIDS.  The last site was Pendla Primary school, one of the many township primary schools that serves children grades 1 through 8.  CSBSJU students have been volunteering at the AIDS Haven and Pendla for a number of years now.  Missionvale Care Centre would be a new site added to the list of possibilities for students to choose from.  This is just one of the many reasons why I decided to choose Missionvale as my placement for the next four months.

Missionvale Care Centre was started by an Irish nun named Sister Ethel in 1988.  With nothing but love and kindness, Sister Ethel began her work by teaching and caring under nothing but a tree.  Throughout the past 23 years, the care centre has grown immensely, with 12 units of care including such things as nutrition, clothing, healthcare, education, carpentry and much more.  Missionvale has a board of trusts, an administration office and employs over 40 people, many of whom were born and raised in Missionvale.

Every day, over 500 people wait hours in line for one half loaf of bread and a cup of powder soup.  Also, one day each week they come in to receive a food parcel made up of sugar, anchovies, beans, soap and tea.  However, this is not just a free handout.  In order to maintain the dignity of the people, the township members must in bring in a tin or aluminum can for recycling.  The recycling is eventually exchanged for money that gets put back into the food funds.  Missionvale Care Centre does a great job with sustainability.  All of the bread bags are used for packaging food parcels and wrapping up tea bags – nothing is wasted.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the rest of the Missionvale township.  There is garbage absolutely everywhere.  Nothing is recycled.  There is broken glass all over the ground and I’ve even seen kids walking around barefoot.

Getting back to the centre, we work every Monday and Tuesday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.  So far, I have worked in 4 different units.  The nutrition unit/food shelf is headed up by Dorothy, who I have gotten to know really well.  In the nutrition unit we cut bread, prepare food, package food parcels and cut soap.  Even though this work can sometimes be monotonous, distributing the food to the township members is really rewarding.

In the clothing warehouse, we work with Rachel and four more women who wash, fold and sort clothes.  All clothing, shoes, bedding and accessories are donated.  The warehouse is super packed; they are running out of room for all of the boxes and bags.  Families in the townships register with the warehouse, giving names and ages of all people in their family.  Then clothing parcels are compiled to fit the needs of the family.  These are given twice a year, one for summer and one for winter.  Other special occasions are kept in mind, such as clothing for funerals, proms and new born babies.  The coolest part about the clothing warehouse is that there are TOMS Shoes in all of the shoeboxes.  If you haven’t heard of the TOMS Shoes program, check it out at www.toms.com. 

Last week we finally got to play with the kids that attend the primary school at Missionvale Care Centre.  When the recess bell rings, we run into their play yard and the kids just go crazy.  They are always so excited to see us.  This school hosts kids in grades R (kindergarten) through 3.  All primary schools in South Africa require the children to wear school uniforms, which is often difficult because of the money.  However, the clothing warehouse provides uniforms for the kids at Missionvale.  

Very few of the kids speak English, so there is a language barrier.  This challenges me to get creative with them, because we can’t play simple games like “Duck, duck, grey duck” or tag.  I like to lead them in a version of “follow the leader” with dancing and clapping.  They also love getting lifted up and thrown around.  Except if you pick one kid up, then the rest of them want to be picked up too.  I’ve already been tackled a few times and have fallen to the ground.  Then they get a hold of my hair and get it super messy.  But it doesn’t matter, because it’s amazing to see the smiles on their faces when we come to visit.  I see so much hope in their eyes.

Lastly, the most recent thing we have been doing at the centre is join the nurses/caregivers on home visits to take care of the patients.  This has been the most eye opening experience yet.  First off, the nurses are all from Missionvale themselves.  Every year or two, the centre interviews prospective women and hire around 8 to attend school for four months of nursing training.  On Monday, we went out in a group with four nurses to the wealthier part of Missionvale, nicknamed “Smarty-town.”  Here, the government has built brick houses and put up electricity.  This has been good for the people, many invest in small TVs or radios for entertainment, but these purchases often come before food.  

We visited around five homes that day.  The first stop was at Sylvia’s, a very old woman with diabetes.  Entering my first township home was really difficult.  I fought to hold back tears.  I couldn’t believe the conditions Sylvia and her daughter and grandson were living in.  The kitchen was unbearable, the floor all torn up, the smell was of urine and there were flies absolutely everywhere.  This was my first glimpse of real poverty. 

Things seemed to brighten up after that, though.  We met Clive, 36, who lost his sight 4 years ago.  He has hope that one day he will regain his sight again so he can work and provide for his wife and two children.  Clive asked to come back to America with us and talked about his admiration for Michael Jackson.  Next we met Mona Lisa, also in her thirties.  She had both of her legs amputated because of diabetes.  Now she has prosthetic legs and can take care of herself.  We were extremely impressed with the condition of her home.  You could definitely tell she had a lot of pride and worked very hard to keep it so clean and tidy.  One of my other favorite people we met that day was Bruce, a young and healthy man who survived only thanks to the care centre nurses.  They found him on his death bed, sick from meningitis, rushed him to the hospital and prayed for him.  Bruce is so thankful for the gift of life and now wants to become a priest one day.  The most common ailments in the people of Missionvale are diabetes, meningitis, TB and HIV/AIDS.

The next day we went to King’s Crown, another one of the five sections of Missionvale.  This time, the homes were not made of brick, but wood and tin shacks.  The first stop we made was to Sister Ethel’s tree; the one that she first began the care centre under.  I was surprised to find that there was no plaque or recognition that this was an important tree.  It looked like any other tree in the township.  

My other favorite stop of the day was to visit a 3-month old baby boy.  Although the living conditions were just as terrible as the rest, we were pleased to find the baby nice and chubby, meaning he is getting enough to eat.

The home visits were extremely important for us to take part in, and we will be continuing to do as throughout the next three months.  This will help us understand more of how they live and what the care centre really means to them.  One of the members on the board of trusts has met with us a few times.  He gave us the task of reinventing the Missionvale Care Centre Web site and also starting up the Missionvale Facebook page.  Here is the link to the Web site:  http://www.missionvale.co.za/ for more information.  Look at it now, and then after our changes are made to see the difference!  

I know volunteering at Missionvale Care Centre will be one of the most impactful things I will ever do in my life.  I think it will put life into perspective and I will gain a new worldview.  We are so blessed in life and I need to remember to appreciate what I have.  At the end of our three months, we were also asked to contribute three ideas, ranging from big to small, that could help make positive improvements to the care centre.  I hope to help to break this cycle.  The cycle of poverty.