"I Like Kids!" By: Bridget Altman

Well mom, you’ll be proud of me. Not only did I successfully live off of a dollar a day, but I loved it and now I love kids too.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for animals. Any kind of animal would make me smile and I would always try to play with them. My parents worried that I only liked animals and I seemed to be uncomfortable around kids. In fact, that’s true. I used to really not like kids. They always cry and have runny noses and try to touch things. I would never know what to say to them or how to act around them. With animals, its easy, you just give them attention and they seem happy (for the most part).

However, after my experience spending the night in Sir Lowry’s Pass with all of the children in the township, I have a whole new appreciation and love towards children. From the very first second I stepped off of the bus, all of the kids ran up to me and gave me hugs. Their smiles were so big you couldn’t help but genuinely smile right back. I truly believe it was one of the happiest state of minds I have ever been in. There was just so much positive energy being emitted because the kids just needed love. All they needed was someone to listen to their stories, hear them sing their songs, watch them dance and even to learn their games. I had so much fun playing hand games with this girl Daniella who knit her own hat. She also sang me songs with some of her friends and went out of her way to introduce me to her friends and include me in her jump rope, circle games and everything she does. She only wanted me to give her hugs and piggy back rides. Now all I want to do is go back to Sir Lowry’s Pass and play with Daniella and her friends!!

See mommy, happy now?

"Living By Giving" By: Stephanie Spinella

After a full night of dancing to Michael Jackson, sharing stories with our new family, and watching the epic saga of Mosquitoman, our overnight experience in the township had come to an end and the bus full of exhausted yet chipper Global Leaders was abuzz with stories from the night before. In our “Power of Giving” session, we learned of even more stories from last night, both funny and heart warming. Andrew shared some extremely colorful Afrikaner phrases he was taught and I can only describe Logan’s questionable story in three words: prize winning pigeons.

We also discussed what this experience meant to us and how it changed our perspective on giving and living. I think that the importance of family in these people’s lives was really inspiring to all of us. While at Veronica’s home, my group members and I met so many different people we weren’t exactly sure which children belonged to whom. They cared and loved for each member in the community and it was irrelevant to which specific family tree they belonged. As Garret put it, if you were to see a young eight-year-old girl holding a baby in the middle of the street in the United States it would be shocking to see, but here in Sir Lowry’s Pass, this is life.

It’s sometimes hard to think that the same exciting city that is hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup is also a home to so much poverty. This experience was an eye opener in so many ways. Now when I hear of little children living in these conditions, I’ll now think of chubby cheeks baby Kelly, High School Musical fan Kay-Lee, or Samantha who wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

…And I swear I’m not making up Mosiqutoman. He exists!

"Hit the Jackpot!" By: Joy Dudley

Top 10 Memories of our “Surprise Sleepover” at Sir Lowry’s Pass:

1. watching the little boys do Michael Jackson dances and African soap operas on tv with the family
2. trying to learn some words in Africaans, learning “Bafana Bafana” hand game, and a game like jump rope with dancing and pieces of yarn
3. listening to Miss Anne’s stories and looking at pictures of their family
4. listening to two little girls sing along to all the words of High School Musical Songs
5. the many hugs and playing peek-a-boo with a precious little 3 year-old boy
6. Miss Anne’s faith and optimism: “Nothing is impossible”
7. Sleeping in a twin bed with Julie, listening to the pouring rain and being afraid the house was going to fall down, and waking up at 6 in the morning to kids staring over us
8. The experience showing us you can live off a dollar a day, and can be happy with just the bare necessities needed in life
9. how appreciative and sincere all the kids and adults were
10. The experience reminding us how important family is and how blessed we are...WE HIT JACKPOT
    

"First Full Day in Cape Town" By: Matt Groves

Today was my first full day in Cape Town, and the city is amazing. Our residence is high class and my roommates are awesome. After a light, palatable breakfast we took a bus tour of Cape Town and the nearby Lion’s Rump (mountaintop). Upon the mountain top we beheld an amazing panoramic view of the entire city and the booming coastline. After our tour I almost got run over by a car... now I know that here a stop light is known as a “robot” and that one must look to the RIGHT before the LEFT when crossing the street.

Life in three words: Castle, Forrester, Black-Label

"In My Hands" by Alexandra Koehn

Mark that off your list. 22 hours 52 minutes and twenty seconds traveled via three different planes. A man lighting a fire on the side of the road. Table Mountain dressed in a white tablecloth of fog. A huge donut-shaped stadium with a rainbow gracing the sky.

In flight. After a long day of flying, anything sounded better than sitting in a cooped up plane any longer. On the eight hour plane flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, I met a man who was born in England and had lived in Detroit, Germany, and several places around the world. He told me how he heard Cape Town was one of the most beautiful places in the world, yet I cease to remember his name. As the English-man opened up and began to converse with me, he told me that his first wife and I had the same birthday. I found this sort of odd, and wondered how many wives he’d had in the past…but I didn’t ask. English-man also managed to laugh at me for being excited about my first airplane meal. I guess karma got him back when he missed his next connection in Amsterdam while the crew and I sprinted to the opposite end of the airport to catch ours. On the eleven hour and thirty minute flight to Cape Town, I managed to read a hundred pages of The Last Song and of course enjoy a few good movies including James Cameron’s Avatar. “Crack, crack, boom.” Although the plane made quite a unique landing sound, we made it.

Landed. I lugged my bag into my apartment, showered, hopped into bed, set my alarm for 8:30am local time, and woke up in time for breakfast. After a speedy orientation, one hundred and four of us hopped into tour buses and headed to the waterfront. On the way I noticed a man on the side of the highway who was burning some small papers and trying to cook maybe his first and last meal of the day. In that second, my mind wandered away as I thought about how blessed I am. It was unfathomable to me how the underprivileged people of this city dealt with their poverty stricken life.

The service week starts tomorrow and I can't wait to participate in the hands on service. As we continued to tour several different parts of Cape Town, I was especially disappointed that the rain and fog was covering the mountains. I hate rain. I wanted to see Lion’s Head and Table Mountain at their fullest. As we drove up Signal Hill to see a view of the Atlantic Ocean, the rain continued but I was too stubborn to stay in the bus. I got out (with my camera too) and began to take pictures. The second I walked to the side of the road to get a picture of the world cup stadium, the sun came out. In this moment I saw a rainbow. What a beautiful way to begin the trip.

"One Big Smile" by Allie Barlow

After the LONGEST trip of my life, approximately 25 hours or so, in case you were wondering, we finally made it to South Africa! After our orientation Monday morning, we went out on a tour of Cape Town. The best part of the day can be described in one word: Ishmael.

Ish was our tour guide, who is a local to Cape Town, the cab driver for our taxi service this month, and one absolutely hilarious dude. He showed us all the beautiful landmarks around Cape Town, taught us some history, pointed at all the “cool” places to go and eat, and cracked jokes left and right. He was completely full of life; his joyful spirit was spreading throughout the bus and as I looked around, everyone was happy.

At this sight, I realized that Ish is the epitome of how we all should be, not only on this trip, but everyday in life. I hope that the others saw what I saw in Ish, and I look forward to our adventures and learning experiences together; hoping that our joyful times and smiles rub off on each other throughout the trip.

-Allie Barlow

My life in 3 words: ONE BIG SMILE

"You Might Be..." by Tyler Biringer

You Might Be…

• Reading this if you got 9 gigs of internet
• An African waiter if you put 20 individuals on one tab
• Ishmael if you do a great Borat impression
• A Global LEAD employee if you’re not here today
• In apartment 1 if you can mess up a cheese pizza
• Wearing a tank top in the middle of winter
• 5,000 fans short every Saturday in the fall if you go to Auburn
• Blake Porche if you say weird things in your sleep

Diplomacy Week photos

Here are some photos of the students serving at a primary school and the Amy Biehl after school program in a local township!

Our last bit of Cape Town