Day 67: Still in Beijing. Woke up at 5am to attend a flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square. We were out of the hostel by 11am and on our flight to Hong Kong before dinner. After a 3 hour layover, we got on our 12 hour flight to South Africa!
Day 68: Arrived in Johannesburg at 6am and waited until 10am for a bus to take us to the long haul bus station. From there we boarded another bus for an 18 hour ride to Cape Town. During the long journey, Dusty, Christin, and I were encouraged by a man named George who is from Guana, but is currently living in South Africa to preach the Gospel.
Day 69: Arrived in Cape Town after breakfast. Mandy (the founder of Volunteer in South Africa) and Malcolm met us at the bus station. We then walked to the train station and took a 45 minute ride into Muizenberg (our home for the month). In the afternoon we went shopping for our first week of food. It took multiple trips and 5 shopping carts to buy enough food for 25 people.
Day 70: We had the morning to sleep in, but we all woke up around 6am due to jet-lag. I went to breakfast with a few of the girls at a Christian Cafe. In the afternoon, Malcolm gave us a tour of the township (the neighborhood with severe poverty), the local churches, and all of the projects we will work with throughout our month.
Day 71: In the morning, Francis and I led worship at one of the local churches with a high homeless population. In the afternoon I went to the street market with Kristen and two of the long-term volunteers.
Day 72: We had worship and orientation in the morning. My afternoon was spent at the Surfing Ministry getting to know some of the kids.
Day 73: We had worship and part two of our orientation in the morning. Matt and I were asked to work on another video this month (as well as some marketing work for the organization). In the afternoon we met with Mandy to talk about her vision for the video.
Day 74: Met with the marking team in the morning to divide up responsibilities and worked with Matt all afternoon to storyboard and write scripts for the video.
Day 75: Marketing meeting in the morning, followed by an extended lunch meeting with Malcolm to talk about Young Life. It was awesome to see his passion for ministry and to share my passion for Young Life with him. In the evening, we attended worship with all of the staff and students at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base.
Day 76: I spent the morning working with the marketing team. In the afternoon I filmed at the surfing ministry. Our friend Gershum cooked us a traditional African dinner and then we went to the night market for desert.
Day 77: Myself and 13 others from our squad went diving with Great White Sharks! We also got lucky and saw six whales.
Day 78: In the morning I traveled to the other side of Cape Town to attend Hillsong Church. In the afternoon, I spent time hanging out with a group of girls from Team Sisterhood.
Day 79: I spent the morning with Mandy, helping her get prepared for her interview with Super Sport (a worldwide sports TV program that is doing a special on Volunteer in South Africa). In the afternoon, I spent time talking the cameraman through the different shots he would need to get and assisted on his interviews with Mandy, the school principal, and several of the parents. I was also able to do a lot of the filming for the promotional video Matt and I are working on.
Day 80: Unfortunately, I caught the nasty sinus infection that is traveling through the squad. I spent most of the day in bed (which was very unfortunate because it was a beautiful day outside), but I was able to get all of the video from Monday edited.
Day 81: We had squad worship in the morning and then Matt and I spent the rest of the day filming (interviews, children’s homes in the township and at both the soccer and surfing ministries).
Day 82: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Matt and I filmed all day. In the evening everyone went out to dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving/Sara’s Birthday followed by a desert buffet back at the hostel. The bill for our table was 1,323… good thing that was in Rand and not U.S. Dollars 🙂
