My updates and reflections have not been nearly as detailed or frequent over the past month or so but the time has certainly been packed with experiences that were uplifting, heartbreaking, exciting, fun, challenging, and interesting. The month of June consisted of final exams, an adventure to Hogsback, much time at Ethembeni and the After-School Program, goodbyes, time with friends, and many interesting conversations and encounters with a very wide range of people.
Exams went over without a hitch. Right after my last exam I went on a three day weekend trip to Hogsback with a group of 5 other South African friends. It was an absolutely AMAZING weekend! We stayed with a friend, Helen, in two clay huts across from a farm in the middle of the woods in Hogsback. There were great conversations, many laughs, fantastic hikes, camp fires, singing, and encounters with some local kids who came along for our hikes. The free time of the exam and post-exam period allowed for much time spent at Ethembeni and the After-School Program (see next entry for more details). The past couple weeks has also been a steady stream of goodbyes to a wide range of people, from guys in res, to other US exchange student friends, to other local friends, to Ethembeni and the after-school program, to local street kids I had befriended. Goodbyes really suck. A lot. Anyway…I also had many opportunities for the exploration of Grahamstown and further connection with the community. I had thought about planning a cool trip for right after exams, but besides the fact that I am no good at logistical planning for that sort of thing, I really wanted to spend more time with local community. Though it may seem like a small and sleepy place on paper, the greater Grahamstown community has many interesting experiences to offer. One of the more moving parts of this for me was getting to know a number of the local street kids who are often in town hanging out or begging. Some are sincerely hungry and just honestly trying to put some food in their stomachs, some hang out in town because it’s what their friends do, some are trying to get enough money to buy their next fix. I definitely met some interesting kids. Though incredibly obvious issues of disparity and also suffering come up, I very much enjoyed establishing to at least a small degree a mutual friendship with these kids. The last 10 days of my time in South Africa I stayed with friends at their off-campus home. The six girls I stayed with have really become some of my closest South African friends and I have been incredibly blessed to have adventures with them, laugh with them, and talk about faith and justice and all that jazz.
