Hey a brief update

Hey friends!
So sorry for not having posted for the last couple of weeks it has been a bit hectic with travelling. Anyways I want you to know that I am fine, alive, and well. Tonight I am heading to Vic Falls, and throughout the next couple of days I will be continueing to blog on my laptop (so that when I can post stories they will be a long ways after writing them but you will get a bunch of them).

Anyways as for how my time is wrapping up here in Southern Africa (As I am in Zimbabwe) I should give people ample warning that I will be arriving in Early January! (That is as firm as you will get out of me sorry friends).

Basically it is my hope to leap back into life in a smooth and effective manner that will ensure that I don't go through culture shock really hard core. That probably sounds a bit odd but here is the dealeo. I have been away for 5.5 months learning in a different way, living in a different way, hanging out with different people, and just basically in a different culture. Also over the past 5 months each of you my friends has also changed. You have been changed by your experiences and friendships, What movies you watched, who you bumped into.

Now don't get me wrong but in essence the difference that is created between N.American Culture, and S. African culture, and my N. American Friends, and my S. African friends is going to take me time to experience well. It is my hope to do that effectively.

So since I am travelling in early January to return home, it is my hope to be able to arrive entirely at the same time to Canada. That would be ideal, but the reality is that I may arrive in Body at one moment, my luggage 3 days later, my heart a few weeks later, and my mind some where in between. Basically that makes a firm arrival date exactly Early January. So this means that I will be getting in touch with you guys for when I am keen to hangout and meet up. You may see me around London, and I may be attending classes, but There may need to be a good deal of processing time to ensure that I gather myself together. Don't worry too much about if I will do it I am setting aside ample amounts of time on both sides (of my travels) to review over my blog, my journal, and my experiences. During this time I might get in touch with you, I might want to be alone for the entire time. I will see what it is that I need.

Anyways, I will see you in Early January, but before then you will be heraing ore stories from me in the coming weeks!

Lots of Love from Zimbabwe!
Andrew

Backpacking: the First bit of two weeks-ish

So yeah I left off with me heading off to hit the road to start travelling and I am sorry for not having posted another post since the last post I sent out. Anyways I am alive and well in Cape Town (not that there should be any doubt on the first one anyways.). And I have had a wonderful re-experiencing of backpacking here in South Africa in particular.
So Tuesday morning after I had finished my exams I hopped into a minibus and left for the downtown part of PMB to get the first of the long-distance minibuses needed to get to Coffee Bay. So that first lift was my most comfortable of the day but also the shortest. So from PMB I went to Mthatha where I rather quickly got onto another minibus heading towards Coffee Bay. After a quick transfer I was finally enroute to Coffee Bay. Yet that makes it sound rather simple and easy, like an nice simple drive to Toronto to London. The reality of it was that I was busy doing ‘minibus yoga’ all day long. Basically my body because it wouldn’t fit comfortably with my bag on my lap or with another three people in the back seat, had to be contorted to fit in properly. One leg up on the wheel well, the other somewhere close by, one arm forward around my backpack holding it in place the other arm forward grabbing onto the hand hold on the roof. (I will show you at some point it looks hilarious!). Anyways so a full days worth of travel doing one position of Minibus Yoga all day long took about 8 hours (Almost 9 but I take off the hour of waiting for buses to be filled) and cost me only: 147 ZAR which is about 20$ Just amazing how cheap transportation is. But then again you also pay for comfort which I didn’t really get around to paying for properly! (This is true about most of my time travelling through south Africa. It is physically gruelling so I tried to avoid back to back hops as much as possible unless other factors were driving me.)
So in Coffee Bay I stayed at a wonderful hostel that had amazing atmosphere and a wonderful vibe to it. It was really an organic feeling sort of place with Yoga lessons (which I took one of), vegetable juices (which I also tried), close to the beach for surfing (Which I did), and just a wonderful place. In the evenings they alternated between drumming lessons (which I got the chance to do 2 of), and their band (a drumming band). Also in the evenings there was generally a bonfire and some of the staff even did fire dancing. While I was there some evenings the party really got hopping but even with a bit of partying it still had that laid back feeling to it.
Coffee Bay itself was an interesting town. It seems like a town that is extremely reliant upon backpacker tourism and fishing but fishing much less then the backpackers. As such (I don’t know if this is a result of the backpackers or of other things prior) there is a large and open drug trade scene. I got approached more times by youth on the street asking me if I wanted marijuana or shrooms. It was just crazy how open they were about it. Other than that the town is really quiet in the day time. Most travellers hit the beach or sleep off the night’s partying (which isn’t too good for an early riser like me where I was up most mornings around 7) but I spent my time there just chilling, resting and taking good care of myself. I read, spent time meeting travellers, journalled a bit, surfed, ate vegetable curry, and had a wonderful time.

The Next stop was East London (which I was warned against and told that I should go to Chintsa instead of by the manager of Bomvu...). So another lengthy day of travelling and I arrived and it was a rather large urban center. Not the nicest looking of towns though. So I walked through town and went to the hostel on the furthest edge of town, my number one choice for my time in East London. But the problem was they were full up with people. At least they were helpful in pointing me to another backpackers. I listened to their advice hoping that I would find a backpackers with other backpackers there that was perhaps a little bit more chilled out. Little did I know that I arrived at a ‘hostel’ that really didn’t have a good atmosphere at all. I was the only backpacker there and then there was an underwater hockey team. I had to sign an indemnity form for my stay. The beds were so perfectly made that an army sergeant would have problems to be angry with the state of the rooms. They had quiet hours from 8pm until 8am. They didn’t have music in the background. It was perhaps one of the loneliest nights I have had in South Africa. (...and that is why I should have gone to Chintsa instead) Because I was so lonely I decided that I needed to leave before it became a really bad experience for me.
So I decided to get to Jeffery’s bay (Hopping past a stop in Port Elizabeth because my booking there wasn’t until Monday and this was a Saturday I was heading to J-Bay). I went to this hostel called Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a very important concept. It means a sense of Community (or ‘I am the community’). This sense of community results in a responsibility to those in community with you, and as you find yourself feeling responsible to that community then you start to treat the community as yourself (hence the ‘I am the community’ (I feel that isn’t an ample descriptor of it but still one way of expressing it)). Anyways that was what the backpackers felt like; a community. Though a quiet backpackers, it was probably the ideal backpackers for me. There were people there that where open and friendly and just willing to welcome people in. There were those moving out the next day (after I arrived) yet still were willing to chat and hangout. There were those permafixtures who had been travelling on and off for either 5 years (in the case of this one Aussie) or 3 and a half (in a brit). Hearing their stories and how they travel (basically working for a couple months when their money runs out at a hostel or a bar, and then hopping on the road again) was just amazing. Needless to say that I stayed there for three days because I fell in love with that hostel.

It just was the right sort of place to be for so long. So even though I really didn’t get up to much around town. I had one of my best stays there. I went to an Anglican Church on Sunday morning, Read away the rest of that day, hung out with Joe and Sara, Monday we went into town and they showed me around to all of the surfing factory stores, I went to the beach with them and just watched the waves (it was very flat...) and contemplated going swimming (Decided not due to jelly fish), built a sand castle Taj Mahal, and yeah just an amazing weekend of good free fun.

I guess I am going to curve off my writing because I could keep on going but I should get breakfast into me and post this because there are alot of stories to put up.
Anyways the next time I will post will either be tomorrow night (in PMB) or Monday (in PMB). I am returning to meet up with John and friends to head on a Road Trip! Please be praying for us to have safe journeys!
Thanks!

Good Braais! (Thanks to Emily for the Pun!)

So this last week was filled with all sorts of Good Braais and goodbyes. Anyways here is the brief story of the last week of school:
So the last week was a highly unproductive week for me. I was busy relaxing reading chilling, sorting myself out for traveling etc... I should have been studying more for my Biblical Studies Exam but for whatever reason I found myself not feeling any pressure for it. Anyways instead of studying hard I chilled, spent my days resting chatting with friends (thanks friends!) and sort of sorting out my room and cleaning.
Thursday I had my first braai of the week (Braai=BBQ but south African style) with the other exchange students from Denison Residence. They didn’t wait for the charcoal to get going (it took its time... I guess we north Americans don’t have braaiing in our blood?). Eventually after we used up almost an entire pack of fire starters to try to get the charcoal burning we had finished all of our cooking and had eaten our fill anyways. But it was awesome to chill and grill with friends.
Friday Night was another wonderful night this time we were celebrating Hillary and Nonto’s 21st Birthdays (Sort of Belated for Hills and very belated for Nonto). Anyways so we got together with their church friends and had a braai at the Diggs. It was a wonderful night to hangout with people and learn how to be patient with the process of braaiing and getting it started well. It was a wonderful night with lots of laughs and good times. We even sent one of the pastor’s daughters (from Church on the Ridge she was young like 5 or 6 I would say) to the hospital during the evening. She was being pulled around on a beanbag chair through the house at high speeds and clunked her head on the doorframe. And well she started bleeding from her forehead. They took her to the hospital just to be sure but all they did was give her a band-aid and sent her on her way. But still a very enjoyable night to spend with Nonto and Hillary and other friends.
Saturday was exam day: I forgot to set my alarm the night prior because it was late the night prior, but I still woke up before 7am like i was hoping. It was just really a crappy way to wake up when I wasn’t sure what time it was and if I had overslept because I had need of taking time to study that morning. I had breakfast with Kate and Mendisa at 9am and that lasted until almost 11:30am. The tail end of it they were busy swapping music and I studied during that time which was nice. It was great to be able to finally spend time with Mendisa. Mendisa is a drama student in her Masters program at the UKZN. Kate and I both know her through NCF church and Cell group in particular. The unfortunate bit about it was that Mendisa was super busy and our schedules never really clicked so her and I didn’t get much of a chance to hang out.
Anyways after breakfast I went back to my dorm grabbed the specific notes I had needed for my exam and ran to the LAN to send some emails and message some people really quick. Then I went to Kara Nichas for lunch (Biriyani Tub with Curry for 5.50R like 0.70$ just amazing! I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but yeah, AMAZING!). And with my lunch and notes I found a bench in the shade (Because it was ridiculously hot that day like 37+ degrees) and did some prep work for my exam which was about to start at 2pm.
Anyways the Exam went well 4 essays in 3 hours, but the best thing about it was that we had access to a Bible. Wow was that ever a huge help! Anyways so I finished about 30min early and was happy to be done with it so I left the exam and was finally done!
Saturday night was Braai number 3 with friends from Holy Trinity Church (The Bible Talks People). It was just amazing to be able to chill out with people braai one last time hang out, watch Jumanji, and to be able to relax after my exam. Super good and it was wonderful to meet some people from the classics department and other friend circles that were brought together by a braai.
Anyways Sunday was a day that started good byes for me. Sunday at Church on the Ridge (possibly my last time) wasn’t too bad, it made me really wish though that I had committed myself to that church a bit more throughout the semester but I still learned alot from the other churches as well. That Afternoon I did Lunch with Margaux, Hillary, and Nono after church which was cool, and then after that I chilled out with Margaux at the diggs swam, chatted, chilled it was nice. In the evening I went to Holy Trinity for one last worship service there. It was so nice to be able to worship with friends from TBT and others from that church. I said good bye to Ant and Kim Carr (the staff of TBT in PMB or ex-staff as they are moving to Durban now for ministry there), and also to Anabel and Savio, and a couple of other people from there as well.
Monday was a day where I sorted out my payments that I owed to the school, and after that I packed up my luggage. I left it in my dorm room locked up in the cupboard, because I have the dorm room at varsity until the 9th of December. Which is wonderful. That afternoon I said a handful of goodbyes to people from the varsity (exchange students mostly) and then I got a relatively early night’s sleep.
Tuesday morning I said goodbye to kate (as she was up studying for an exam early) and then I hit the road to start travelling (more on that later.).
Anyways I guess I should run through my emotions rather than just the actions. I guess part of me is still in a high degree of disbelief of the reality of saying good bye to these people. It feels like I have such a long time left in South Africa that I can’t be really saying good bye. There are probably going to be (and have been) three sorts of goodbyes that I will say to people. There will inevitably be those brief “Cheers and Safe travels” sort of goodbyes. This first type is not a heavily emotionally attached sort of goodbye. Basically it works out to being just a very easy good bye because well these are the people I know by name, might have spent a wee bit of time with, but really not too close with. The second type of goodbye is the next step up. This is the sort of good bye that has the reality of yes we have gotten to know each other more than just in passing, and has the desire to have spent much more time with them. This one so far has left me with the longing to have experienced deeper and closer relationship with them, and that will probably get a bit lost with time and distance but there was potential. Yes it is sad and tough to say goodbye like this but if I try and put in some effort with long distance friendships something may come out of these. The Last one I haven’t had to many of thus far this trip. They are the deep friendships that are going to have much more of a difficult time being distant from each other. Saying goodbye to Kate was like this. We have made and arranged to stay in touch with each other. I think for me the emotional reality of this one will set in when I am doing these goodbyes to the really close friends close to when I am heading home. Basically this will be difficult in and around the end of December when I say Goodbye to John, and Ryan, and Margaux, and Duncan. Those sort of friendships are ones which I hope to maintain (also like Kate and Minnie among others) which I will be sad about the distance, but at the same time I will learn how to use that sadness as a drive to improve long distance friendships with these people. They are the sort that I will be calling when I am doing the work of processing, or will be in conversation with over emails frequently I hope. Perhaps even road trip to visit the ones who are close enough to go to.
Basically I am going to keep on working on that long distance communication thing. I know that I will probably fail at it about a month or two in to the return to Canada, but at the same time I will be working on being persistent and patient with these friends so that I can figure out how to be in better communication.
Anyways I will be posting this blog asap and it will probably come with another post quick on its heels. Cheers!
Andrew

Sani Pass

Hey friends so I am going to break up the events of the last week a bit to keep the reading length down a wee bit. So right now you are getting the post about the Sani Pass. Later on (tonight or tomorrow night even) you will get a second post.
So Friday Afternoon we (Kate, Jasmine, Elizabeth and I) hopped into a taxi to head down to the taxi rank to get to the Underberg. So we arrived downtown and asked around about where we needed to go to catch a taxi to get to the Underberg. So we walked to the farthest taxi rank that any of us had been to. We got in the taxi and slowly it filled up with people. (Us being 4 made it fill up rather quickly). Anyways they started the engine and as it was idling waiting to get going it sounded a wee bit off. Sort of like it was skipping a beat of the engine as it was firing. So we got underway and slowly but surely we pulled off to the side and we had to start the engine again. Then a second time we had the same problem but it wouldn’t start up again. As we waited for them to try, they decided to call another taxi to take us to the Underberg. (Unfortunately this was after being there for a while waiting...). So we got to stand on the road side and watch a herd of cattle cross the highway, and wait around for a second taxi.
Eventually it arrived and everyone was very relieved so off we went to the Underberg. We got there and called for a lift to a number that was given to us by the lodge we were staying at that evening. And the guy didn’t have a taxi at the time but was on his way towards the lodge and offered us a lift in his pickup truck. So the four of us tossed our bags in the back and we went in the truck bed to go to the lodge. It was a beautiful drive. (see the pictures of the clouds on the mountains taken just outside of our lodge for the reason why on my flickr).
That night we planned out our next day as we discussed with the manager of the lodge about what she thought was possible. We figured that our best bet was to hike up the pass and back down in the same day having lunch at the Chalet due to the lack of available accommodation for us that evening. So with that as our plan we were working on how to get a lift to the border crossing. Luckily Krzyz (Chris), a guy in the room next to us over heard our problem and was wondering if he could accompany us for the hike during the day. Luckily he had a car that could get us to the Border.
So the next morning we got up for 6am and left around 6:30am. We arrived at the South African Border (where we had to leave the car because it is a 4-wheel drive only pass) and started hiking around 7am. It was a beautiful morning to hike up. Also since we started early enough we missed the crazy traffic on the way up the pass. It was just beautiful hiking see the photos as my words can’t quite describe it. We made it to the top by about 9:30am and we were thoroughly exhausted. We had hiked 11.2Km and the majority was uphill. But it was beautiful and worth the walk.
At the border crossing as we were stamping through they were busy off to one side working on the butchering of a lamb which made me think: ‘Hey maybe lamb for lunch would be nice’ (Just kidding friends...). Anyways so we walked over to the lodge and flopped out on a couple of picnic tables looking over the pass and just rested for about 30min. By about 10 we poked our head inside the Chalet and looked around and then chilled out on some couches for another 30min. The kitchen hadn’t opened by the point in the morning so we decided to go for a walk around the area and hiked out along the cliffs. The best way to describe the Sani Top is that it is a very flat area at the top of South Africa (Again see the photos) and the pass is basically this valley that drops down from the town of Sani Top. It was truly stunning.
As for lunch we had it around 11:30 starting off with a pint in the chalet pub. Yup the highest pub in Africa! (Finally!). It was such a pleasure as we chatted with the owner’s brother and shared some stories with him. For lunch I had their famous ‘Mountain Sausage’ which was very delicious. It came with a little salad (a piece of lettuce and two tomato slices) and a potato (half really that was boiled) but it was a delicious meaty lunch (I stole some vegetables from other people’s plates).
After lunch we hiked back down the pass which was a bit slower progress (it felt like) but with less rest stops. The problem with hiking down was that it was a loose gravel and dirt road that is pretty steep so as we were walking we would start sliding with the gravel under our feet. That was the tough and gruelling section of the hike but we were overjoyed when we arrived back at the South African border crossing. Then we found out that Chris was heading back to PMB that same evening. Such a blessing so we asked if we could get a lift with him back to PMB and he agreed. So wonderful.
Basically it was a wonderful weekend trip tiring and exhausting but so amazing. It was a good chance for me to get to know both Jasmine and Elizabeth a bit better as well as to meet an awesome guy like Chris. It was a very chill study break as well. Also I did get to do one of the ists that I had missed once upon a time during the last time I was in Lesotho. Finally the Highest pub in Africa!
Cheers eh!

Lesotho Take 2: Who would of Knew?

Sorry for the Bad Grammar for the title but it is a great play on the sounds and I couldn’t resist word play like that!

Anyways so I am sitting at almost a week and some change before I hit the road and my studies draw to a close here in PMB. So I thought it would be good to give a brief update before the weekend.

So I finished off two more courses worth of work. One Take Home exam and one Essay done this week and I totaled about 7500 words in the course of 2 days! I feel like a bit of a champ (not being cocky but probably the truth is I feel like a marathon runner, Excited about the accomplishment but exhausted by the effort).

The Take home exam fell on Tuesday this past week the same day as cell group. Take home exams here are different than those I have received at Western in this past year, they are a 24 hour marathon. So the expectation laid out for us in class was that in the 24 hours we were expected to read broadly and write clearly. I hope that I did that. So that morning I woke up to try and get myself some breakfast and have a cup of coffee to start my day off well. I go to the fridge where I was keeping my milk and I opened it up and it didn’t feel any cooler than the room outside. So I checked the milk and it was definitely sour. So I tossed it out, and had my coffee without milk that morning. I then met up with a group of students from BIST 310 and plotted out how we were going to tackle studying for the final (We got given 12 Questions that might be on the exam for our NT section of the course, so we decided to each prep 5 questions and share our prep work, over 5 people we cover each question twice giving us a huge amount of detail to study off of!). I was busy complaining about my 24 hour exam that was starting in 30 min, and how my milk went bad so I wasn’t going to have the easy drinking coffee as a fuel for the night time push. Alice decided that she would buy me milk so that I could have my coffee. We separated up the questions and I went off to start my exam.

I started off well. I looked over the question sheet, and planned out the exam, grabbed the readings I thought I might have found useful, and went off to the Library. I spent the morning working on just reading Globalization Texts, and then I went and grabbed lunch. At this point I was feeling pretty comfortable about the direction and the pace I was going. After lunch I started into theology texts, (Liberationists, Economics and Faith, Feminist Theological Economics etc...) and that was when things started going slightly sour. At first I couldn’t find a table to work at in the Library so I went down a floor and found an open space. Then I found the texts more basic than and nowhere nearly as helpful as those of the Globalization scholars. Anyways, I finished up at the Library and went back to my dorm to start writing (At about 2:30/3pm). I grabbed a shower to refresh myself and then I settled into the couch and started writing. I got done the first question (of four) and started into the second. By 6pm I had eaten dinner, and the day before I had made the decision that I was going to go to cell group. Here is where things started to pick up and get better.

At cell group we combined two cell groups to form one big group for a larger session on Worship. Which was just enjoyable! As we worshiped I was able to relax and just gain some very positive energy from God and the people there. Afterward I was dropped off near my friend’s house in the pouring rain to hopefully grab some milk. Unfortunately she didn’t answer her cell phone, so I was left standing in the rain outside of her Diggs. Luckily a guy pulled up in his Car and was waiting to be let in through their gate so I went in after him and hollered in the window of their diggs hoping to get Alice’s attention. I got the diggs mates attention instead but they gave me the bottle of milk that Alice had purchased for me. Super thankful! Anyways so I got a lift back to my Residence sort of... Denison is a large complex of blocks, and well I live about equally distant from both entrances as is possible. So I had to run through the rain and puddles back to my dorm to get back to my take home. I got back and I had a shower, and energized by having worshiped and warmed up by the shower I settled in for the evening of writing. I pushed myself and got through the final three questions of the exam on only one cup of coffee. And I got to bed at 1:30am (and got a solid 5.5hours of sleep! Especially compared to that of other people in my class...). I had written 19pages at 1.5 spacing 12pt Times New Roman including my cover page and Bibliography and I felt really good about that.

The next morning having finished all of that all that was left was to do a quick read over and then print it off. So I did that and submitted it in. As I submitted the other students of the class rolled up around 9am with all of their horror stories of staying up till midnight sleeping till 2:30 and getting back to work at 2:30, or starting the exam @ 7:30pm. I guess I felt blessed by God and my decision to actively take time to value worshiping him. It is odd that even though having pushed late into the night, and had a very roller coaster experience of the day that in spending time with God and people in worship that I could just receive rest and energy in abundance. That rest and energy (even though i was jumping and worshiping with my full self) must have come from God. I guess it is part of that dethroning the Academy that I do with choosing to prioritize rest and events where I can gather with people around God. It is helpful for me, and I find that in those times, the best thing I can do is to value those activities and hold onto them for the same reason that I do them, to be and have time set aside for God in my week. I guess I am very like Luther in the fact that I agree with him when he suggests that on a normal day he spends an hour in prayer, and on a busy day he can’t afford to spend less than three hours in prayer before the day starts. (By the way if you are reading this and think that it is ridiculous and there is no way you can be as productive, or if you read about my pace of life and you think, ‘yeah right’ then you should probably consider choosing into it... Just saying that if you believe God to be good, then you might also believe that the 10 commandments are kind of important and well this happens to be a positive command within those rules, so consider it!)

Anyways also on Wednesday I had a wonderful Chat with my friend Thomas (Fr Thomas) over coffee after we submitted our exam. It is interesting to share my story of theology and to be able to share my passion of why and what I do with him. It is also cool to hear his perspective on theology as he is a priest in the Indian Orthodox Church (Think ancient church like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, like 4th Century split off from the Church, not like the Russian Orthodox Church (11th Century Split)). Anyways other than that on Wednesday I was exhausted and pushed my way through one last paper (Quite literally pushed my way through, I am not happy with how it turned out), but I am glad that it is finished.

I guess I need to return to the title where I might have insinuated that I am going back to Lesotho. Well this weekend some friends and I are going to try to hit up the Highest pub in Africa in addition to hiking up to the Highest Peak South of Mt. Kilimanjaro. So it is back to Lesotho with me, and Back to the Sani Top! It will give my new Backpack a good test run, (I finally downsized to a nicely sized 50L backpack) before I hit the road.

I guess I am going to end this post here and keep it shorter than 2500 words, but I would love to hear stories from anyone back at home. If you are sitting there thinking: ‘Oh surely he can’t mean me,’ I mean you in particular. If you are sitting there thinking: ‘What stories?’ Send me an e-mail about life, the universe or anything. It is really special to me to receive e-mails, stories etc... I guess since I am coming back in Early January that I will be seeing you guys and I would love to have some Idea about what is going on in your lives as well.
Cheers!

La Cucaracha!

La cucaracha! la cucaracha! El no puede caminar,
La cucaracha! la cucaracha! El no puede caminar!

Because I hit him with a toilet brush and flushed him down the toilet!

So I woke up and there was this big cockroach (cucaracha) about 1.25 inches long (3-4 cm long?). In the hallway, and he didn't want to leave on his own (trying to sneak past me into my room) so I took the toilet brush and Thwap! I hit him onto his back, and Thwap! Again to get him stuck on the brush, and then Flush! down the toilet he went.

Anyways in othernews I finished my first exam, 3 hours: 4 essays, 3/4 of an hour each essay! Theo of Transformation done, Onto an essay, a take home exam, and one last 3 hour exam!

Cheers!

Thunder Storms, Essays, and on looking like "Jesus"

Hey friends!
So a short blog post to take my mind off of writing papers and doing real work for today.

So recently in PMB the weather has gotten really wonderful. Most days we have been getting a little bit of rain, and then other days we hit 40 degrees Celsius. Today was an amazing thunderstorm during class. So we were in Masculinities and the sky just got darker and darker. by about 11:40am it was pouring down rain, and I even saw hail. At least the rain is making things greener. Most of the time I get pretty lucky with rain and thunderstorms. I am in class and it clears by the end, or I catch just the tail end of the storm. Other times like one evening a while back while I was in the LAN sending some e-mails and chatting with some friends I noticed it started pouring down like crazy. My one friend said that he would pray that the rain would fall like mad for a short period then stop so i could walk back dry (as I didn't have a plastic bag for my laptop...) and it did.

Anyways today I was surprised by an essay for masculinity. Basically we arrived in class and the first thing we recieved was an assignment due in one week for his essay of our masculinity course. It also just so happens that the date was the same as my Theology of Transformation Exam. So putting it all together into one crazy weekend and couple days of writing I am going to be busy. I have finished off the other three papers that were due around this weekend (and I will be submitting them all tomorrow) and then I just have to make a solid start on this masculinity paper and get it done by the end of Friday night so I can have 3 full days to study well for Theologies of Transformation (factoring in a Sunday Sabbath!).

I guess the last thing to share is that I have recently been called "Jesus" by a lot of people. It may have to do with me having my hair down and my beard long, and wearing a white sweater. Just to highlight it, two of my friends from theology saw me in the library from a distance and yelled out "Its Jesus" and I turned around and shared a good laugh today. More surprisingly is when strangers do it. Today when I was out getting milk, and juice (for essay writing) A group of Car Guards made the comment, "Hey Man you look like Jesus!" The ensuing conversation was good and hillarious as they were making fun comments like: "I thought it was the second coming and I was about to be judged!" Unfortunately my mind often goes towards saying that I probably don't look like Jesus. I remind people quite often that Jesus was a Jew. He was Middle eastern, and probably didn't look like a very white German Canadian who wears Birkenstocks, a white comfy sweater, and comfy pants. But I appreciate a good compliment when I get one.

Anyways I have wasted enough time this evening distracting myself from reading Augustine from a masculinities perspective. Back to the world of working on essays!

Cheers!

On my Pace of Life

Dear Friends!

I am super glad that today is a Sabbath day for me! It is so nice to take a break from the “hectic-ness” of work all the time. So surprisingly my time here in PMB is flying by. Crazy to be honest, I have one last week of classes and I have 6 Assignments left, of which only 2 are due by Friday and one is due the Monday after Halloween. I have two essays to write on Masculinity, and one Take home exam plus exams to study for. It is funny that when I tell people they ask if I am stressed out or assume that that makes me feel like everything is hectic. I guess for me I am not too worried about these things.

Perhaps the difference for me is how I pace out my life. I have for a little more than a year now been actively choosing into a Sabbath pattern of living. Basically I take one day out of every seven to not to do work. I put it aside for various reasons. I guess the two biblical reasons apply best, one being that God stopped to rest on the seventh day to enjoy his creation, and the other being that I rest because God is a god who liberates from oppressive labour, let me explain how each works out for me.

Firstly God is a god who liberates from oppressive labour rests entirely on the notion of the Exodus where the Israelites were freed from a 7-day a week, 365 (or 355 lunar year) day a year way of work. God heard their cries, and saw their oppression. For me, I wasn’t created for 7 days of work a week. Work often times at that point becomes an IDOL that is served, and that IDOL of Work is oppressive and crappy. Even in studying theology (reflecting on God and the World and all of life) I run the risk of turning my work as a student into an IDOL to worship. Basically I stop for a day to de-throne Work as an IDOL from the place of worship. In stopping from work (when I could gain 24 hours extra to be productive) to rest I necessarily need to trust in God to provide for me in the other 6 days, and because I am choosing 6 days to do work, that one day is a day to be in God’s presence.

Secondly because God as a creator stopped for a day to rest and enjoy his creation, I as well should stop to rest. So I spend the day doing things which allow me to enjoy his creation, like going to worship with a church, or sending e-mails( or writing blog posts like this). I can cook a meal and enjoy the cooking, or spend time in scripture just reading, or spend time in prayer just reflecting and enjoying God’s presence. I can hang out with friends and just enjoy my time with them, or I can take the time to go for a walk. Sabbath is a celebration day, a day of resting and enjoying with God all the things that he does. For me I Sabbath in this way and it dethrones work by building up a Sabbath of Shalom that is in service to God and therefore also worship to God.

I guess it is a beautiful liberating thing that shifts the pace of life from being hectic, and having adopted a Sabbath day I guess I start to get a Sabbath attitude towards living. To not allow myself to be worried about work and productivity. (Even though it still often happens, and I celebrate when I get to be productive but if I am not sometimes I might just need to do something different to rest and enjoy). I guess here is where I challenge my friends back at home:
Give Sabbath a Try. Take a chance to rest and break the oppressive power of work. Yes it is Mid-term month, and Yes it is essay writing season. Take a day, and Stop! Breathe and know that God is who he is. Rest and enjoy his creation, Rest and reflect on him for a full day. Give it a try and see what comes out.

Anyways Today I am resting and relaxing, tomorrow I am back to classes and paper writing but I will be refreshed and well rested. Happy weekend and I hope you have a wonderful day to rest and relax!

Cheers!

the Ujaama Consultation Week!

Dear Friends,
I have been trying to figure out how best to summarize this past week for you in a blog post. I have been playing around with posting notes, thoughts, a paper, or something like that to describe it but I think it is best to leave it as a story.

So Tuesday Night I went with some friends from my Theologies of Transformation class to see a lecture by Allan Boesak. He gave a lecture at the Ujaama 21st anniversary on “The Theological Underpinnings of the Empire” which probably sounds rather intimidating at first look, but basically it analyzed our current global political climate and asked the question what we are dealing with. He identified that we are dealing with a global empire. It is an empire that is dominated by Neoliberal Capitalist Ideals, dominated by free-market economy based democracy, and that worships the idol of the ‘holy’ Individual (Or perhaps Mammon, or perhaps, the ‘great and almighty’ ‘I’ or any other Ba’al that we can consider). The Empire is best known as the USA but I would extend it to being the empire of the G8/G20, We are unfortunately unable to identify a singular tyrannical emperor, but we can see that it is an Oligarchy that is dominating the empire, with Leaders, Ideologies, Corporations, Countries, Businesses, and Financial Institutions controlling and protecting its own interests. It is a power house of culture, ideas, and all outputs, it imports the foreign for its own consumption yet exports its own version of the foreign to dictate how the world culture should be. It is no different than the Roman Empire, It has the Pax Americana, the state worship of ideologies, co-option of religions, it has an altar that sacrifices for the sake of the economy. A super exciting lecture that identified deeply what we are dealing with, yet at the same time it was lacking. It lacked a theological reflection of what we need to do and work towards as theologians.

As for me, it left me feeling like the theologians present for the most part were like the nation of Israel at the time of Gideon. Just ‘OMG there is an oppressive empire, they are dominating the life of our churches, and our people, and they will never be removed.’ Unlike Gideon these theologians (I am perhaps overstating the fact in using all of them but I am going with the problem that I saw) are just willing to complain about the idols, and the empire but not want to do anything. We need theologians who like Gideon are willing to build an Altar to the LORD and name it “The LORD is SHALOM”. Theologians who would take the second Ox of their father and tear down the pole built to Ba’al and then sacrifice the ox on the altar. We need theologians who are willing to challenge the systems of the Empire that are built up. Perhaps Kairos Documents are one example, but when recognizing the evil of the Global Empire I think we don’t dream bold enough to flip the system on its head. Perhaps like Dr. Roderick Hewitt brought up we need to be The Church that is willing to be controversial and name imperial systems for what they are. A Church that would call each other out on bad ideas that support the oppressive system of Neoliberal economics. A Church, that would be THE CHURCH, the Kingdom of God present in the world. I would take it a step further and argue that we need to have THE CHURCH and say that the Institutional church is not necessarily the CHURCH, that THE CHURCH exists inside of the Institutional church, and that it exists also outside. THE CHURCH adopts a model of Eschatology as it’s principle knowledge of how to live life. It accepts the KINGDOM OF GOD, instead of the EMPIRE OF THE WORLD. This is central to the message of the Jesus of the Gospels. And this needs to become the central message of our churches today.

Wednesday Morning I went to a session (with the same students) to see a presentation on the KAIROS DOCUMENT (check it out on the Ujaama website: ujaama.ukzn.ac.za ) and actually got a presentation on the KAIROS DOCUMENTS hearing about the Kenyan Kairos, and the Zimbabwean Kairos. Super cool! It was amazing to hear some of the original co-signers of the Kairos document talk about how and why it was created, and then reflect on how much further Kairos Palestine has gone, as they make a strong call to Love the enemy, and hate the oppression. So good!

Friday Morning I went to the student session where students shared reflections on the issues that were presented. It was alright, there were two students in particular who provided beautiful insights on the current issues of the times. One Identified that there is an idolatry in our broader society of the values and principles of Neoliberalism (part of his thesis that he just finished), the other identified that we need to live and actively seek a prophetic message that can reach all people in our communities. I was hoping to ask the question of what is the alternative and how do we get rid of the idolatry in our society and what do we go towards.

But I had to go instead to class, as my lecturer was leaving (and I got a lift with him and the guest lecturer for the class back to the varsity). Anyways so Dr. Clint Le Bruyns gave a lecture on his Mzwandile Memorial Lecture that he gave the night prior but going into more details in some regards. Interestingly the lecture focused on the interrelationship between faith, the economy, and work. Which was just wonderful as we got discussing how the Economy isn’t a neutral body, but has values and beliefs and ideologies which drive it, and then how faith interfaces with those values (and can and should bump against those values) in the world of Work. Basically we eventually got talking about how we embody these values in our theology but also in our lives. We need to be working on how to become people who live out our theology.
Then Friday afternoon we had another lecture for industrial mission as we dealt with issues of food sovereignty. In it we examined a variety of responses (not that one is more important than another, they just respond to the problem as we see it) to the issue of Hunger. First we looked at Charity(CARITAS): the notion of providing relief and solving the immediate problem of hunger, the lack of food. Second we investigated Community Development (Service (Diakonia)): How do we solve hunger by empowering and enabling individuals to produce or grow their own means to access food, this involves dealing with the capacity of a community to access food by way of their own skills and abilities. Third we looked at Policy and law making (TORAH): in particular this seeks to have the governments implement the issues surrounding food rights that are in their constitutions. Finally we looked at the idea of working to make democratic movements (JUBILEE,): How to mobilize communities to gain and transform the systems of society which enforce hunger and lack of food. (In brackets are the Biblical ideas that help to illustrate the ideas theologically). This takes the response for food away from the old adage “Give a man a fish, and he will be full for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will never be hungry again.” But deals with the realities of asking the tough questions like “Why is it illegal to fish in the river?” and “Who owns the fences that are blocking us away from the river?” and beyond that to “Who is polluting the river so that we can’t even eat the fish we catch?” Dealing with food issues involves creativity and a mixture of all four of those concepts especially when we realize the depth of the issues.

Anyways the reason why I talk about all the stuff I learned is to share with you the crazy excitement of the week. Basically after almost each of these moments all I could do was bounce around and get more and more excited about the possibilities of the work that I can do as a theologian. I dreamed dreams, shared my excitement, and worked out the issues that I had and thought about where it needs to go, and how it needs to go from here. This is the sort of stuff that makes me glad I have had experiences which allow me to dream alternatives and that I don’t have to be limited. It makes me glad that I am a theologian (so I can dream the impossible alternatives due to an impossible starting point in how I work as a theologian). Super Exciting!
Unfortunately I am going to be hitting a hectic time of heavy work, I have about 2 weeks left of classes, and three till my first exam. And a whole bunch of papers and reflections to write. You might have to forgive me if I don’t blog for the next couple of weeks but know that I am working on writing papers and what not (After my first exam I will be able to have a bit more space to breath!)

Cheers!

Lesotho Part 3

Hello Friends yet again!
It feels so odd to be writing two blog posts one right after another. But here it goes (I do need to get you up to date!).
I realized that last night I wasn’t very descriptive about the bus stops or taxi ranks. So I guess that I should explain something a bit more about the process of travelling. So in South Africa and Lesotho most towns have a place where there are minibus taxis that you can catch to take you to where ever you need to go (almost...). So for the most part you could arrive in this huge lot that is filled with people, and minibus taxis. Then surrounding the area is alot of street vendors. The Minibuses for the most part have a sign in the front window that points you in the right direction (at fancier taxi stands there are even signs pointing in the right direction). For the most part Kate and I would just ask someone to point us to the correct taxi (generally a driver or someone just standing around a Taxi). It made transfers pretty easy. The worst part about travelling using Minibus taxis was that the longer the distance the slower they would fill up. Take for example going from Pietermaritzburg to Kokstad which is about an hour and a half away it took us about the same length of time to fill up the taxi. The problem is that the taxis would leave when they were full. Another thing about the taxi rank is that it is like a street market. When we were in Maseru catching the bus to Semonkong (which we waited on for an hour and a half before it left) we tried to see what all you could purchase. I will see how I do with a list of stuff that I could have bought: Food stuff: Bread, apples, oranges, bananas, fried fish, fried chicken, pap (Maize based starch), pop, juice, water; Stuff for a home: knives, rat poison, dish clothes, towels; Personal stuff: Razors, Electric razors, combs, brushes, earings, necklaces, sunglasses, medicine, vitamins, handkerchiefs, rosaries, stickers (of a very white Jesus for a little bit I thought it was me in a robe ; ) ), ; and even toys, hats, and anything else under the sun. For the most part they would walk around and sell stuff into the windows. Other times they would come onto the bus and walk up and down the aisle and sell their goods. Just hectic.
Anyways back to the travelling stories. So we left Semonkong on Friday morning (Hey it is crazy how fast time flies when you are telling the story I think I was even surprised by the fact that it was Friday when we left Semonkong) and we took a bus all the way back to Maseru. This time we sat right at the back. Which was just hilarious as we felt like kids all wanting to sit at the back of the school bus for the bumps. Well sort of, the bumps actually resulted in airtime and I swear that I was a good foot off of the seat of the bus at times. We arrived in Maseru and we knew exactly where we needed to go so when our bus arrived at the bus stop (on the one end of town near by the Lesotho Durham Link (LDL)) we hopped into a cab and gave the driver directions. The thing we didn’t do was negotiate a price as to how much it would cost us. When we arrived the taxi driver told us 40 Rand. We were both shocked and surprised as this was the first time that someone had tried to take advantage of us simply because we were white. Luckily we both knew that it would normally cost 4.50R to get to town from LDL so we told him that he was ridiculous but (we recognized that we weren’t sharing the taxi with other people) so we gave him 20R. We checked back in for the night at LDL before deciding that we needed to ask around to find out about getting a bus to get to Mokhotlong and the Sani Top the next day. Luckily we arrived around noon (we left really early from Semonkong), so we walked into town to stretch our legs (after a 5 hour bus ride all morning). We asked around the bus stop and found out the time for the bus, and eventually we asked about how to get to Teyateyateng (aka TY). We wanted to go there because it was a weaving town where they make all sorts of hand weavings.
So we took a minibus taxi to TY and hopped off in town to go for a good wander. We were trying to follow a sign to get to Setsoto Design Gallery which had a workshop that we could look through, and a shop where we could buy designs as well. So we walked through town, way down the street. And eventually (after turning back at least once and then pushing down even further) we arrived at another sign which worked out well for us. So we went down the road and arrived at the workshop. When we came in we got a tour of the workshop and watched the woman weaving. It was beautiful! Some of the designs were huge and custom ordered. Check out the website (I haven’t checked it out but if you are intrigued: www.setsotodesign.com ). They also paid the woman fairly for the work that they did, gave them reasonable hours, and even used locally grown and raised Mohair (Goat Hair) that they would comb, spin, dye and dry themselves hiring only locally. Then we finished our factory tour with a stop in their gift shop which had all sorts and sizes of weavings. I bought a small sized place mat (for easy of transportation as I already had a blanket that was big and bulky). It was really amazing. They also sold a variety of other goods from locals and local NGOs, like a bracelet that I got for Emily from the GRO Collective (www.grofoundation.org). They apparently encourage eco-sustainability, reward local creativity, and produce jewlery. The bracelet is made in Lesotho and paid an artisan to make it as well as giving access to social empowerment programs. Check them out!
So we hopped another taxi back to Maseru (45min without traffic) so that we could try to get to the Internet Café and get some dinner in town. But we hit traffic as there was horrible construction. We ended up walking through town trying to get to a section on the map that had both an Internet cafe and a restaurant but got a bit turned around with the lack of road signs. (Very helpful Maseru, thanks). That night we had pizza which was just wonderful. We were at first confused as to how you could have a pizza with Russians on it. So we avoided the pizzas with Russians, and I got a Hawaiian pizza (yum pineapple which is just coming into season here!) and Kate got a pizza with honey mustard and meats on it (which was surprisingly tasty!). After that we cabbed back to our hostel (for safety rather than walking that far at night). At the hostel we made popcorn and sat and just chatted for a bit and there were many more people around LDL so we were able to spend some time chatting with some of the other travellers. One guy we met was in Lesotho for a week before heading to a Atmospheric Physics conference at U Cape Town. He was from a French Island near Mauritius (I think...). Another guy was busy cooking up Russians in the kitchen (which we found out were a type of sausage) and he was a Kiwi I think. Then there was another French man who was in Maseru trying to do some freelance photography work with the police department in the field of Human Trafficking in the factories. And then there was Seth and Julie, an American couple headed in the same direction as us. They had found out about different times for the bus then we had found out, so we went with the earliest bus time to be on the safe side and we decided to share a taxi with them to get to the bus stop together.
The next morning (another ridiculously early morning 5:30am getting a cab from LDL to town) we hopped on our last big bus to get us as far as Mokhotlong (a town in the North East of Lesotho). Which was a very relaxed and long bus ride, we went around the northern side of the country and stopped in Oxbow for a rest break (at Afriski the place to ski in Africa!). We made it to Mokhotlong mid afternoon and started trying to ask if we could get as far as the Sani Top that night. Unfortunately it was a no go. So we set out trying to find a place to stay for the night. The guide book had several options (most of which were out of town or rather expensive) but had one option called GROW which had dorm rooms for people to stay at. We asked how to get there and wandered way down the road and found GROW and asked there if there was any room for the night. Unfortunately there was no space at all. But they did point us to a guest house a bit further back from the road. So we walked down and asked there about a room. They took us to a beautiful rondavel (with some 8 Beds anywhere from queen down to a single) and they started negotiating a price with us. Seth (being very practical and quick talking unfortunately for him) was very eager to go and find a cheaper place to stay (they were trying for 180R per person), but they were very insistent that we were just talking and that we need to talk about a price before we leave, (that wasn’t very good negotiating Seth) and the older woman preferred when I was talking because I would chat slower and more clearly then Seth (no offence meant). She eventually agreed to let us pay 500R for the four of us (at 125R) on the promise that we would tell other people about her guest house, but in all truth it was a wonderful place to stay and a very comfortable night. A very welcoming family and helpful for my learning of some Sesotho phrases like thank you (Ke Bua). Anyways that night we tried to find a restaurant in town but with no luck. So we ended up getting soup to make from hot water and had a wonderful night hanging out with each other. So if you ever end up in Mokhotlong and need a place to stay go to GROW and then ask for directions to the Boikhethelo Guesthouse and Catering, your choice B&B Accomodation in Mokhotlong Town.
The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the first minibus taxi to the Sani top. Unfortunately we had to wait for several hours before leaving to get to Sani Top. Yet at the same time we got to enjoy a beautiful morning in Mokhotlong. It was clear and crisp and enjoyable a perfect day! And then during the morning I got all sorts of strange looks about my blanket, and I was even taught by one man how to wear it properly I just need to get a big safety pin for it. One older man in walking through the bus stop on his way to town decided that he would come and say good morning to the four of us. He came over and shook all of our hands and said good morning to us. And then he asked where we were from and reshook all of our hands when he found out we were from the states and Canada!
Eventually the Minibus taxi got going and it was just going so slowly. For almost an hour and a half we were driving at less then 5km/h. (I was sitting in the front seat). And eventually we pulled over and turned the minibus around and we all got out because the engine was getting too hot. They asked around for water (and eventually went down for a big bucket of water from the stream) and poured it over the engine to cool it off. Luckily the engine block didn’t crack or anything but shortly we were back on our way at a really solid pace back towards the Sani Pass. We arrived and who did we see just getting out of Customs? None other than the Israeli Couple! We got our Lesotho exit stamps and then hopped back into the taxi to head down the Sani pass (Which was just so stellar and beautiful) and got stamped back into South Africa. From there the Taxi took us to the Underberg where we knew we could get a taxi to PMB, at least we thought it would be easy. The taxi that we had transferred onto was waiting to fill it up before it left to go to PMB and we knew it would take a bit more than an hour and a half to get back to PMB. The worst thing was we were a pretty full taxi but they would send us until we were full. Eventually they left with two spaces (which were filled up quickly on the road) after much complaining from passengers hoping to get as far as Durban. Luckily we got underway and had a stressful fretful ride into PMB. Kate and I were busy conspiring about what we could do for Seth and Julie to help them out. So we invited them to come over and spend the night in our dorm rooms. We took them with us back to Scottsville and gave them a place to stay in our dorms (Actually just Kate’s dorm as I had 8am class on Monday). But they cooked us dinner that night which was just wonderful.
Yeah that is my trip to Lesotho, the mountain kingdom. Pretty exciting and epic all things considered. God was really good in providing for both Kate and I during the trip. It was a good experience for the two of us to grow together as friends. We met some pretty cool people, did some pretty cool things, learned a couple of good lessons on how to travel and how not to travel in Africa. And were blown away by the hospitality of people we met. On a whole for a deeply impoverished country we found a huge beauty that isn’t just in the scenery and the freedom of the land, but a beautiful and helpful people. In fact it was only in the urbanized centers that we ran into the most problems with people trying to scam us because we were white. In fact after having heard from people a lot of questions about why anyone would ever travel through Lesotho like that for a week using local transit I think there is a horrible stereotype that goes with poor countries. ‘That Lesotho is not safe’ or ‘That you are going to get mugged in Maseru’ or fill in the blank with the assumption. For the most part they were hospitable, warm, kind and compassionate, and it is just stunning to see a country that has almost no fences, and to see herdsmen along the side of the road. It is truly a beautiful and untouched part of Africa by travellers I really think more people should try to get to Lesotho, it is a very different flavour to South Africa, yet is so cool. As for safety, really you could be mugged in downtown London Ontario and get killed there. Really you need to realize that it is just about being aware of your surroundings and not putting yourself into dangerous situations (like walking through downtown Maseru at night). Anyways I will hopefully get to blogging more experiences later on this week!
Peace and Blessings!

Lesotho Part 2: Maseru Take 1 and Semonkong

All righty, so I think that I left off the last story of my trip to Lesotho with myself and Kate hoping on a mini bus taxi in Mphaki and heading on our way towards Quthing. So we arrived around 10:30ish in a town or a cross roads nearby to Quthing. Where we were informed we could go and see Dinosaur foot prints!!! (Super exciting eh?) So we wandered back up the road after getting directions to the foot prints. We walked and eventually we saw a sign on one side of the road saying Dinosaur Footprints. So we went on in and got shown some petrified dinosaur foot prints in the rock. They were small little foot prints, maybe about 4-5inches long and there were loads of them. Really cool! The guy who showed us the foot prints said that they had only recently been protected (1999) as a find but they were in amazing shape. Unfortunately I have no clue (and nor did the employee) know which dinosaur made the foot prints. They had only a few small fossils of bones in their guest shop. But I did see real dinosaur foot prints and I have the photos to prove it!

After that Kate and I hopped into a minibus heading to Maseru and we got the most comfortable seats ever! We got the passenger seats in the front of the minibus! (I found it so very comfortable, Kate preferred a seat where her bag would attach her in for sure, I liked the view and leg room!). We arrived in Maseru after driving through (What must have been) the flattest part of Lesotho. It was beautiful and filled with farming land. In Maseru we started the effort of working on finding a place to stay. Most of the time the Lonely Planet Guidebook is up to date and has amazing maps that make it really easy to find a place to stay. I Kind of wish that this guidebook was a bit better for Maseru (or that Maseru would have better road sinage...). Anyways there is a story behind all this bitterness. So we wandered around the taxi stands looking for a cab to take us to Maseru Backpackers and Conference Centre. Which we thought would be easy enough to find (provided that we even had a map and everything!). So we asked around at the taxi stand (This was after Kate and I had discussed about asking people). We ended up finding a very eager young man who wanted to take us there. We asked him to get us to a taxi so that we could take a cab to get to this location. And he wanted to walk us to a taxi. We went with him on a bit of a city tour. He took us towards another taxi rank where we asked a driver if he knew the directions to get us to Maseru Backpackers and after looking at the map he gave us directions towards a guest house in that general direction. So this guy we had leading us was very eager that we would give him some money for helping us find the location. And we were really not in too much of a bargaining position. Eventually we found our way towards some characteristic road intersections that we (Kate and I) used to figure out where we were on the map. The guy that we had was leading us in the wrong direction and I was convinced that we needed to go the other way. So I stopped us and said (quite strongly) that I believed that the road we needed was back the other way. So we went back and walked along for a while, before we got frustrated enough with our friend (who was insistent that I was heading the wrong way) that we gave him 15 maloti to thank him for his help. After this we wandered down the road a ways before realizing that the Backpackers that we were looking for wasn’t quite as close as we thought it was. So we walked back as we had seen a wonderful military base thinking we could ask for directions there. After a while we had 3 military guys all trying to decipher the Lonely Planet map and one tried to call the phone number (and called the wrong number). But luckily a fourth guy who knew about the place but under the name Lesotho Durham Link was able to confirm that it was just down the road a ways. So we walked all the way down the road, way past where we had earlier been and walked down a dirt road way to Lesotho Durham Link (Which was just wonderful). So we checked in for the night (each of us getting a separate dorm room (we really lucked out with having separate rooms!) and paid that afternoon so that in the morning we could have an early departure. That evening we were both hankering for a good bite to eat (we had survived on Nuts and fruits for the last almost 36-40 hours). So we went out and flagged down a cab and asked the driver and the other passenger for advice for a place to eat. The passenger (assuming that because we were white that we wanted the best restaurant in town) pointed us to the luxury hotel and casino Lesotho Sun. We arrived and asked about the costs and we decided that we didn’t really want to pay for a ridiculous meal. Instead we got taken (at no different cost then we had negotiated) to a mall where we were able to go to Spur. Spur is an interesting restaurant for Canadians in the readers it is like Kelseys meets a bit cheaper style of roadhouse grill food, (For USA read TGIFs). The thing about it is that it is always a very interesting experience with the decor. It is sort of Western style theme but it meets the western style theming with a mixture of diverse native American decorations. Just very mix-matched. That was fine though as we got a good greasy bit of meat that also had fries.

That night we crashed back at the LDL(Lesotho Durham Link) and woke up early (and well rested) ready to travel on towards Semonkong. So we got to the bus stop for about 7am thinking that we would catch the bus on time. But that wasn’t quite how it worked out. We got onto the bus and sat for a while. (Unfortunately we didn’t make a wise seat choice and picked the wheel to sit on so we had to cramp our legs up for the ride). Fortunate for me they took my bag and tossed it on top of the bus! It was always a blessing to not have to have it on my lap (70L is way too big for southern Africa. It may work well for Europe and the States but not for cramped busses... I am probably downsizing for December). The Bus ride was just stunning. We bumped along (I think that is a great term to describe it) dirt roads up and down and in between mountains. Just stunning! We had a brief stop at about halfway to rest and stretch and to go to a store. Kate and I were among the last people off of the bus and we thought we had enough time to make it to the store and back. We ended running to get on the bus before it left! But we got on and made it all the way to Semonkong. When we arrived in Semonkong we met a guide from Malealea lodge who was there at Semonkong to run a fishing trip and he offered to walk with us to get to the Semonkong Lodge. We walked through the local town and it was just beautiful. Obviously not a rich community but an agriculture dependent community, as we walked past small herds of sheep and cattle. On our way down into Semonkong Lodge (the lodge is nestled into a valley!) we saw a group doing Abseiling lessons. Abseiling is rappelling down a cliff. It is really cool. We arrived at the lodge, checked in, and got given a tour of the facilities and settled into our beautiful Rondavel dorm room. (space to sleep 6 with a fireplace to keep us warm at night, a hot shower and a big 5 gallon jug of water!)

Kate and I just settled in and rested for a bit before talking about which activity we would like to do. After weighing in the Cost and time commitment of the Abseiling (Which was 800 R or so and 2 days in the lodge...) we decided that it would make more sense to go horseback riding for a day instead. So we decided to walk into town and find a grocery store so that we could make a lunch and our breakfast for that day. We had a wonderful wander through the streets and there were all of these shack shops that were painted in various flags for the world cup, so cool! That evening we ate dinner at the lodge which was just deliscious and so good to eat a proper meal. and Then that evening, two friends whom we had met in Maseru at LDL arrived to spend the night. They were an Israeli couple who had just finished their mandatory military service and were travelling from South Africa to Ethiopia in the course of 8 months. They shared our dorm room which was just wonderful! So we had a good chance to hangout and chat with them for a good bit of time. The Next morning Kate and I were both up nice and early so that we could make breakfast and lunch for when we were heading out on the horses. We then went and met our Guide for our horse ride. Please do note that this was my first solo ride on a horse and I think I learned quite a bit. We went up and out into the rural country near Semonkong and rode our horses to the Waterfall where we sat and just enjoyed looking at it (and even saw the same group of abseilers as the day before start abseiling down!). From there we rode even further into the country and went out past a lot of really beautiful picturesque rural communities. They were little communities that had some farm land, and flocks surrounding the area near the homes. Just beautiful. We then climbed up a mountain and sat and had a bite to eat next to a couple of spiral Aloe. (please see the photos on flickr!)

Unfortunately I had a really stubborn horse. He would stop at random, mark his territory, and try to go his own way. Luckily I learned really quickly to click at him and kick him to get him to move (though he really didn’t like to get moving...). That was frustrating but still a lot of fun. We ended up nice and saddle sore so by about 2pm when we arrived we were just stiff and ready to stop and rest for the rest of the day. The Israeli Couple that we had met were just about to head back towards Maseru that same day and invited us to join with them in their car. But Kate and I after discussing what we wanted to do decided that we just wanted to have a chance to stop and rest for an afternoon (to be able to stop travelling and just to rest.). So we turned down their offer and just stayed put for the afternoon. I spent some time in the area near the river just journaling and resting there by the river. Kate had a nap.

After that we took another walk into town to find some lip balm (for chapped lips) and to find myself a blanket (A Basotho Blanket). So we walked to the same grocery store that we had been at the night before to find lip balm, and in the same shop I found a beautiful Basotho Blanket (It is blue and black and has corn on it!) on sale as well!

That night we spent back at the Lodge, and had dinner (before realizing that we wanted to pay off our bill that night! And making one of the employees open up the office for us). For dinner that Night I had a saddle of lamb with apricot filling. It was really tasty and really fatty. Unfortunately that night I didn’t sleep very well as I had a horrible problem with a bad stomach cramp that kept me running to the washroom every 20 min or so. Eventually it passed but I still took an Imodium to settle my stomach before hitting the road again.

I guess I am really behind on how far I need to be on blogging about travelling so I am going to hopefully get it all up to date before tomorrow night. But so you have an idea of what has been happening/is going to be happening this week. Tomorrow night I am going to see Allan Boesak give a lecture on the Theological Underpinnings of Empire (He is a key figure in South African Theology). Which is super exciting for me as I have read only a little bit by him and it is stellar theology. Other things that have gone on... This past weekend being Thanksgiving was very tough for me. I realized Saturday how much I was missing people back at home. And that was my experience of the weekend in particular. But I have been hearing from some friends and that is always wonderful when I hear stories (and can also share more stories!).

Sorry about the length (If you made it this far I see that you slugged through the lengthiness of my writing) but it is a part of my spiritual heritage that I am in touch with! My Lutheran Preacher heritage which makes me long winded.

Anyways Peace and Blessings!

Lesotho Trip: Part 1

Hello Friends so I am going to try and keep my Lesotho posts down in word count to make them manageable while getting them up quickly this week. This is going to be in addition to my 2500-5000 word count this week, so hopefully I will keep it short and sweet.

Anyways Lesotho trip:
Monday morning Kate and I got up early, (well her way earlier then me...) I set my alarm for 6 am but it wasn’t turned on so I slept until about 7:10 (when we were hoping to be on our way out of Scottsville) when Kate hollered into my window, ‘Hey are you ready!’ and I got up about as quick as I could, and I was packed and out the door in 30min. (I figured I was doing really well...). We walked through campus and stopped by an ATM to take out cash for travelling with. We then hopped on our first minibus taxi to get from here in Scottsville to the City Centre. When we arrived at the taxi stand we asked around as to whether or not we could get to Kokstad from Durban or from Pietermaritzburg (it turned out easy to do from PMB). We got pointed towards another taxi rank that was in a building (like a parking garage), and we found our taxi really quickly (it was roughly 8am by this point in time). We arrived and there was only one person in the taxi ready to go to Kokstad, so we waited until the taxi filled up (it was a minibus taxi if I call something a taxi it means minibus, and a cab is a car taxi). It took almost 2 hours to get the minibus full. (talk about a long wait... but we had worse during our trip). By the time we got to Kokstad it was around noon, and we pushed our way onwards to get to Matatiele. It was a really easy transfer (we waited maybe 5min before the taxi left). From there we arrived in Matatiele at a larger taxi rank. There we had to ask around for directions to help us find another taxi to go as far as Qacha’s Nek. (The Q is clicked represented by a ! in phonetics, so it is !acha’s nek but if you can’t click you can always just say it like a q or a k). The taxi that we hopped into was a pick up truck which made for an interesting experience. The Pickup truck left when it was really full. We had 12 people in the truck bed (which had benches around three sides) and it was covered. The 12 people all had various things in it that they were taking with them (Kate and I had backpacks) other people had huge long packages of bulk ‘cheesies’, I think there was a roll of flooring, other food stuff, luggage, and loads of people. It made for a very odd ride, (I chatted a little bit with an older man that was beside me). But we bumped up a very rough road into the mountains, and we got further and further up, we saw less and less people (and signs of civilization). We arrived eventually at the border crossing which was just in such a beautiful place. Nestled in the mountains and there was very little in terms of fencing around the border. But stunning. Unfortunately I couldn’t take pictures (an SLR stays closed and away during and around borders, it is an easy way to get arrested for Espionage, not that I am a spy or anything, just photography is dangerous like that). So we got an exit stamp from South Africa then found our way to the Lesotho side using a cab, and got Lesotho entry visas. From there we went into the town of Qacha’s Nek, and tried to find another taxi to get us to Quthing (!uting (The ‘th’ is pronounced t). Unfortunately we couldn’t get all the way there, but a ‘helpful’ local put us onto a taxi that would get us ‘close’. Kate and I tried to find out where it was going but we didn’t stop to ask each other questions about where we were going to stay, how we were going to sleep, where we were going, and consult each other on opinions about this. We sat and just were a bit frustrated once we realized that we were going to end up in God-knows-where and eventually we arrived at the end of the line. Mphaki (as we found out during our ride). We were blessed truly. What happened next when we arrived I can only describe as God sending an angel to provide and protect us. A woman in front of us realized that we were ending up in a place we didn’t know, without a place to stay. Amazingly she spoke really solid English, and was able to get in touch with the Matron of the house stays in town. She then convinced a Taxi driver to go with us to get us to pick up the Matron and find us a house to stay in. They then went to a wonderful guesthouse (which had water (Very significant)) and they showed us in (after discussing with the owner of the house if it would be ok to use the house for us). We ended up having beautiful rooms with amazingly comfortable double beds. And separate rooms as well. The next morning we woke up and it was trying to rain, but it blew past really quickly that day. And the woman who helped us get set up met us on her way to work (She worked for the municipal government) and took us to the Ministry of Agriculture where we met with the matron and paid for our night (120 rand for the two of us). She then waited for us until the next taxi arrived heading towards Quthing. Just a huge and amazing blessing. We didn’t even get her name, but we were blessed incredibly. It is just amazing how God can provide in the worst of settings and make a crappy evening change and turn into a beautiful home stay.
(For those of you who are secularists I know that you would probably argue that it was happen stance, and hospitality, and that is an option, I prefer seeing God at work in people’s lives, just a theological stance and view. Plus Angels in the biblical tradition aren’t divine spiritual beings until after exile into Babylon, for prior writers of the Hebrew Scriptures they would have viewed angels as Messengers of God (Mal’ach in Hebrew) that could be either divine or human. )
Also as an aside a random story for you from the road; While we were waiting in the General store in Mphaki we met a police officer in the grocery (I think she may have been slightly enebriated because she wasn’t making much sense, and was a bit odd... but very friendly hard to tell). She introduced herself to us and pointed out that she was a police officer, and would be able to help us. She then told us that we should come and visit where she lives so that she could show us caves where the San (bushmen) lived. Also she would show us where another local tribe lived at one time that was a tribe of cannibals. That was when we suspected that she wasn’t fully sober. She also made some comments about wanting us to try and get her a boyfriend from both Canada and the States (So that she could choose one and go to that country to live). Just a funny random person, wonderfully friendly and wonderfully welcoming, just perhaps a wee bit tipsy...
Anyways that is the first day in Lesotho, just some brief thoughts on the country: It is frickin’ beautiful. All I could say was holy $#!% when we first drove into and through the country. On the drive from Qacha’s Nek to Mphaki we were just stunned by the beauty. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take pictures as my backpack was on my lap and my camera was under my legs. But it was stunning. Just rolling mountains, that are covered in grass, the landscape was just open and free flowing with no fences. The Road and the Electric/telephone wires seemed out of place as we drove through. It was like a time warp. We drove past shepherds, and other herdsmen with their flocks and herds, they had their Basotho blankets, and just made it so calm and tranquil. The habitations we drove past were mostly rondavels (in the country side) and they formed up beautiful little villages. Just stunning and amazing. Mphaki was just stunning as well. We had a beautiful view and it was just a tiny town on the highway between Qacha’s Nek and Quthing.

I guess I should give a brief preview of the next couple of days: The trip followed along the plan for the most part. I unfortunately didn’t get to do either of the ‘Highests’ but you will hear why later. We met up with some wonderful other backpackers. I practiced my French, and was able to learn a wee bit of Sotho.

More posts later this week!
Blessings and Peace!

Back from the Mountain Kingdom

Hello Friends!

So I am back safely and slowly recovering from my trip to the Mountain Kingdom. As I get my pictures edited and prepped they will get onto my flickr, so please do be patient with me. Also stories will slowly be coming onto this Blog, but for right now just know that I am back safe and sound, and there were adventures with stories. I didn't get to do any of the highest things (like the Abseil, nor the pub) but they were replaced with just as good of adventures and reasons why it didn't quite work out. Anyways it was totally epic and cool, a wonderful trip and we did get around the whole country. For those of you not following on Facebook as well, I also might have won transportation method Bingo, as I have now bumped around a country in many different and wonderful ways. (I may have to come up with official rules to play it by but we will see).

Anyways this is just a really quick post to let you know about some happenings this past week. Tuesday afternoon I attended a seminar by John De Grunchy (a brilliant South African Theologian) on the ecumenical movement (if you don't know what that is please do look it up) He discussed how instead of it being a sole institutional push that we need to have we need to have people who live ecumenically. That being said it needs to create a community of believers from diverse backgrounds that together unify and seek out the lifegiving new humanity that is coming in the Kingdom of God. Long and complicated story made short, It makes me want to do more readings on both John De Grunchy and Steve de Gruchy and see how and why they did theology (just so brilliant!). Also it was just a mind blowing experience to realize that I already am engaging in that manner (just so cool!).

Unfortunately I am losing concentration as I am sick, I picked up some sort of headcold while travelling, so I am currently fighting it off. so I am off! Keep your eyes peeled for more stories about me bumping around Lesotho shortly (Maybe tonight I will just work on my Laptop and write another post...).

Peace and Blessings!

Out of the country yet in the country

Hey friends so as promised here is the travelling details for the next week. So firstly I need to clarify that I am travelling with a friend who is also a girl. Her name is Kate. So I am putting it out so that I can clarify several key details. Firstly I have been talking with Emily, my girlfriend, about this in great detail and in great length. Emily is aware that Kate and I are just friends but even still while travelling we together decided that it was good to be upfront and clear about several things to help put any fears at rest. So firstly I talked to Kate about these things (relatively early on in the planning process) and made the nature of our friendship nice and clear. I emphasized to her that I am in a wonderful dating relationship and that I would not want to do anything at all to cause any harm to Emily. I also explained to her that I am not looking for a dating relationship with her and that I only perceive and see her as a friend. Equally she wanted to clear that up (luckily) before we started backpacking (as I had mentioned Emily early on in my friendship, as I do with most women so that they are clear in understanding that I am not looking for love). So we then went through the practical aspects of what that looks like while travelling. Firstly if we arrive at a hotel and they make an assumption that we are sharing a room then we politely make it clear that we are looking for two single rooms not one double room. Also we are going to prefer dorm rooms where we can stay with other backpackers and travellers so that we can meet other people. If people make any insinuations, or assumptions about the two of us we are going to be quick to answer and respond that we are just friends, and that I am in a dating relationship with Emily (which has been wonderful as we have learned how to grow together over a distance!). Also if there is no other option in a certain town for picking out where to stay and there is only one room available then one of us is going to be sleeping on the floor (I probably will end up there, but I don’t mind). All of this I have discussed with Emily and I have also left myself open to her saying no at any point including and up until this evening if she doesn’t want me to travel with Kate. Yet Emily has remained very positive and open minded about it, especially after discussing with her all of these provisions and clarification.
Equally I would like to note that this style of relationship is often times very counter cultural. In spite of our modern culture allowing for romantic relationships to form between any combination of genders, close friendships that are between the two sexes are automatically lumped into a heterosexual romantic relationship. Honestly, I believe that Men and Women should be able to have deep and meaningful relationships with each other that are not necessarily romantic. And these sorts of friendships should be allowed to flourish and grow even when a person is in an exclusive dating relationship that is romantic. In fact many men could really benefit from several women’s perspectives in how they live their lives. Equally (I would have to guess) that women could use men’s perspectives and opinions in their lives as well. These relationships are good, and can remain in the realm of friendship, rather than turning to romantic ends.
Anyways enough ranting about cross gendered relationships, you are probably more interested in my travel plans. Here is the rough outline with a couple of highlights:
Monday: Pietermaritzburg to Lesotho! The hope is to get in as far as possible into Lesotho yet we are going to be trying our best to get in through a border crossing that is not explicitly mentioned in my Lonely planet Guide book. (It is a border crossing just South African Access via Mini-bus taxis is not mentioned) The hope is to cross into Lesotho at Qacha’s Nek. (which is pronounced !acha’s Nek) to get there the plan is to take mini bus taxis from here to (Durban to) Kokstad to Matatiele to Qacha’s Nek. (Durban is uncertain as we might be able to go straight to Kokstad or elsewhere from PMB). The hope is to roll into Qacha’s Nek at around noon, (with any luck) and then from there hop on a mini-bus taxi and go to Quthing (pronounced: !uthing). Then we will crash for our first evening after trying to seek out the Dinosaur Footprints in the area!
Tuesday: Quthing- Maseru, We will hopefully arrive late morning into Maseru from which we will be heading to a Hostel, and dropping off our backpacks and heading out on a Mini-bus taxi to go and do some Crafts shopping. I am hoping to get a Basotho Wool Blanket (so I can blend in a bit). And whatever else we may encounter that day.
Wednesday: Maseru- Semonkong, this is unfortunately a short distance on the map but apparently it takes a long time to get there by transit. We are going to leave in the morning and arrive late afternoon in Semonkong. Where we will settle into a hostel like lodge for the next two nights!
Thursday: Semonkong: The world’s highest commercial Abseiling (I can’t believe I am going to do this. To be honest I am scared, but I am going to do it anyways), basically it is repelling down a 204m high waterfall but with one really large and long leap. Kind of crazy if you ask me, but apparently it is incredible. (Plus I will be doing one of the World’s Highest...s).
Friday: Semonkong to Maseru, bumping back to get around the rest of the country!
Saturday: Maseru to Sani Top (hopefully) or to Mokhotlong, depending on how long it takes to get there. The plans are a bit looser at this point. But the basics is that we are going to be heading to Sani Top for a pint at the Highest pub in Africa!
Sunday: Sani Top to Pietermaritzburg (via the Underberg,) We get to see the Drakensburg mountains and return the short route. If we didn’t get the pint the night before then we are going to stop for a lunch hour pint and then down the pass we go.
If you are feeling lost then probably I am doing all right because I am slowly getting down the names and rough geographic area. If you are like a certain anonymous friend who thought that Lesotho was a seaside town (This friend I appreciate and love deeply!) you will be surprised that Lesotho is about the exact opposite. (I was confused at the language Guidebook that talked about beaches, snorkling, and scuba clearly they have never been to Lesotho...). It is roughly reminiscent of Tibet, except in Africa. Mountainous, free and beautiful, except that Tibet is no longer free is it... I had better work on a better comparison. It is deeply underdeveloped so Kate and I invested in water purification tablets, and we guessed that we would be getting well off of the beaten path (which is where you find the best stories).
If we get lost, hopefully we will find ourselves. That is my perspective of travelling is that when we get lost we will hopefully find ourselves.
My laptop is coming and so is my camera! I am super excited to share good and solid stories with you folks as soon as I can!
Peace and Take care!
Andrew

More Stories (Finally up to date (J'espere))

Hey friends!
So hopefully with this blog post you will get fully up to date before I leave the country yet stay in the country. So I hope this blog post gets to you wonderful people and finds you well!

By the by, I hear that some friends of mine have had an epic feast and I would love to hear stories about people’s perspectives and how they found eating and feasting with some 80 people either facebook message me, or send me an e-mail and tell me a story about that wonderful evening.

Anyways, cool and exciting stories here from PMB, I guess I should explain the photos that got up onto the flickr page, because contrary to some people’s beliefs zebras don’t just wander around PMB. So I went on a game drive with some friends a couple of weeks back, I had a blast and a half. Incredible time. So we as a group (about 9 of us) piled into a large Convi sized van and went off to Howick to go for a game drive with a member from NCF church who manages the game reserve. Hilarious side note for you, as we were driving we let somebody off on the way, and we picked up a guy who was waiting for a minibus taxi and drove him to Howick with us. It was so odd but so very good of us to do as well. Anyways back to the main story, we went for a game drive so myself, and two others went in the back of one truck and the rest of them in the other truck. We drove into the bush and saw a variety of animals, including Boks (deer equivalent, think Springboks, except these were bush boks), Impala, wildebeests, zebras and several giraffes, as well as enjoying the stunning African landscape. Truly amazing scenery and sights. Giraffes are really tall in real life, and absolutely stunning. I always thought that the colouring was a bit odd, (Yellow with brown spots), but now I can see how effective it is during winter and fall when everything gets dry. Beautiful creatures just take a look at the pictures on flickr. Anyways after the game drive we had a braai and watched the rugby game (where South Africa lost to Australia by one kick. Terribly exciting way to lose). Then after that we got the meat on the braai and spent some time chilling out and chatting around the braai. We then ate together and had a wonderful evening getting to know people on a closer level. It was amazing afterwards to be able to watch Bafana Bafana play soccer with all of the guys and it gave me a solid opportunity to get to know them better.

Hmmm other good stories from my weeks... Well I have been playing more Touch Rugby and I am slowly getting better (it is starting to make much more sense and I am getting better each time I play). Also I got a pool pass so that I can stay in good swimming shape. So far I have only been twice. The first time I went it was on a very cool day, the sun had just come out but the temperature outside was in the cool twenties, and the pool was freezing. I swam about 200m before my arms were just not willing to work anymore. The other time that I went swimming I went about double that before I realized that I was really tired. That was on the hottest day this past week. I went back to my room utterly exhausted, and downed about 1.5L of water right afterwards. After that I napped for 45 min but still I was really out of it. But still the weather here is right hectic. So that same day (It was Wednesday this past week) I went to chat with Emily (which was a wonderful chat in spite of my being exhausted from the heat). But by the time we finished (Less than 2 hours later) it had rained briefly and the temperature had dropped by like 10 degrees or more! Just amazing! I walked back to my dorm room a bit chilled but smiling in disbelief. For a day that was like 35-36 degrees Celsius with no wind to drop to low 20s in the course of like an hour and a half was just incredible. (I was complaining about it to Emily during our conversation but I got proved wrong). Then Thursday this week was just miserable and Cold, but John came over and we chatted for a bit and he drove me to the mall so I could get a hat and he could get some things for his family back in Zimbabwe. So we went to the mall and I got a wonderful hat (for 30$ or so, which is a steal when you see my hat that I got).

Other than that this past week has been really quiet, I didn’t have class this past week on Thursday, and My Friday class was also cancelled so I have had three days of no classes in a row (right before a Vacation as well).

Oh and two more stories for you before I am done writing this blog post (I was just checking to make sure I don’t double up on stories).

Firstly A couple of weeks back I took a very important test. So the Theology department (led by a class dealing with HIV/AIDs and theology) organized a testing campaign on our campus. It was an excellent event (though possibly one of the scariest things I have ever done). So on Wednesday (several weeks back now... crazy) I went out to go to the clinic to get a VCT test done, at first I walked past. I was totally freaking out, I was nervous, and not sure if I wanted to hear my results even if I did get tested. So I walked past and went to the LAN (though it was closed and locked up because of the Strike on Campus that day). So I went back in the direction of the clinic. And After almost walking past I convinced myself to do it. Really I need to convince myself. It was scary to think that if I get tested I could test either HIV positive or HIV Negative. But the thing that made me decide was that it is more dangerous to keep living HIV ignorant in our world of vulnerability today. So I went and got tested. They did a tremendous job and spent between 45min to an hour with each of the people who were going to get tested. They started with a counselling session to discuss and talk about HIV. Talk about the fears, and what happens either way, prevention, and what HIV actually is. Which put me much more at ease to hear either result from the test. So I went and they took a blood sample from me (using a spring loaded needle much like how a diabetic would test for blood sugar levels), and then put it to the test. They took two samples in case the first sample came back positive they could do a second test to be sure. If the two tests were in disagreement they would do a third test and that would be the deciding vote. After then sitting for 15 min to wait for the results (which was extremely nerve racking). I got called back to the tent for a consultation about what the results were and what that meant for me. So now officially I am no longer the most dangerous status of HIV-Ignorant.
(by the way if you are wondering what my status is that is really none of your business, if you need to know it I would tell you, the truth about it is that HIV is just a disease with many ways to contract it, in fact most people should be testing yearly. Even in monogamous relationships, if you get an injection, get surgery, have a tattoo, or get a piercing you put yourself just as much as at risk as if you are engaged in promiscuous sexual activity as an uncircumcised male. HIV means the HUMAN Immuno-deficiency Virus, if you are HUMAN you are susceptible to the virus so everyone is vulnerable). So my status is HIV-Aware, and as such I am able to know how to protect myself and other people, and I can start eradicating the stigma that is around the disease. Like Jesus in John chapter 9 the question isn’t who sinned, or what sin, but How can the Glory of God be displayed. (I tell you these Christians all ways looking to accuse... just kidding, but seriously) Cheers eh!)

The other story is about a church that I went to this past week. It will remain anonymous as I am going to be critical of certain aspects about it. Firstly it is definitely a neo-charismatic church (not that all neo-charismatic churches are like this but that is probably the quickest and most easy definition of this church). I went on a Sunday with a friend from here at the Varsity, and it was an interesting experience to say the least. Firstly the Pastor of the church came to the front and announced this church’s vision for the next couple of months that it was going to be a period of harvest and growth for this church. They were hoping to have 4000 added to their church before the end of the year and to do this they would have at least 300 committed evangelists stepping up and reaching out to friends that were not yet ‘saved’. (I do need to interject to say that I am not a person who believes that this is out of line, I think big vision for growth is a good thing, but the processes and the means are important, yet again I think as a Christian if I had two people who came to know who God is in a deep and meaningful way than 4000 people who just become another face in the crowd I would be twice as overjoyed. I have fears about things trying to get that big that fast as when things are that big there is always a big back door, and people disappear more easily.) The biggest problem that I had with it was that they were going to keep a tally of the number of each person saved next to the name of the evangelist. It just sat really funny with me. Next the sermon was just very hard to deal with. Though it had some valid points just it was not absolute on the subject. The pastor was starting a sermon series on “Taming the Mind”. He was making links between being in control of your inner being making you healthy. I will give him the fact that certain emotions are related to certain health problems but they are only one factor of many factors for many of the problems. His theology left a very slippery slope by which he could easily lead people to believe that if they are in control of their mind then they will never get sick. (Which can lead to all sorts of problems as people then might believe that they don’t need hospitals or medicine for certain disorders, or that they don’t actually have those disorders.) Ughh just a very odd experience. Another odd point in his preaching was that he was suggesting that we as believers need to be colonizing our own minds. Honestly, we as believers need to accept and allow Jesus to be king in fullness (not us claiming our own selves as Jesus’ own...). The action of being transformed comes from God’s action not from our own listening to and filling up our mind with Christian materials. Again it leads itself into a very dangerous realm of an ‘I’ centered Christianity. So it begins to look more like chrIstIanIty rather that CHRISTianity. (I hope that you get what I am saying. Individualism is problematic for Christianity, as it puts too much importance on the one and not upon the One who is actually important in our communities.).

Anyways, sorry for the lengthy rant about a bad experience in a church, there were positives like hanging out with my friend that I haven’t had a chance to hang out with, and I can identify more clearly problematic dimensions in certain theologies. But I am super excited for tomorrow, as I get to pack. I did laundry today so my room smells of the detergent and fabric softener. So keep your eyes open for the next blog post going up by tomorrow night: Andrew is out of the Country yet in the Country... (Just think about it). And I will tell you all about my travel plans.

Peace and Blessings!

(PS thanks to those of you who sent me emails and stories, I love and appreciate getting stories, and It may be then that I will even tell you and extra story! I hope you guys are all doing well!)