THE NEW WORLD

     I'm back.  I'm in Canada.  You can only imagine how weird this feels!  When Kara, Sarah and I landed in Pearson airport, Toronto, we started to ask each other the usual questions and then laughed because we didn't have to ask them anymore...

How much money should we pull out at the airport?

Are you sure Emma confirmed who would pick us up at the airport?

... and then the horrible moment where we remembered that we did not fill out a visa application for this country yet... followed by the hysterical moment where we realize that we are entering Canada and don't need a visa!

     None of us were quite sure we were ready to be back in our old world, to the extent that we were relieved to fly Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Toronto instead of Canada Air!
   
     But now, here I am.  

     At first I wasn't sure how to approach this new season in my life after my return.  But I am choosing to look at it as a new country and a new adventure.  I felt a moment of fear when I first thought of returning to Canada, to the same places as before, to the same challenges and struggles and temptations.  I thought about how much I had learned and grown in the past 9 months and felt another twinge of fear that I would return back to the same spiritual and emotional levels of before.

     And then I remembered that I serve a God who continually does new things.  I may be in the same physical locations as last year, but I have changed and so have the people here.  Life is not stagnant.  I also remembered some words that a wise woman at Jubilee Health Center told me:  God has given me a backpack over the course of GlobeTREK.  He has been placing in it different tools and equipment that I will be able to pull out and use in the future.  These past 9 months have not been a dream, but have affected and shaped me in many wonderful and real ways which won't disappear when I return to Canada.  And as I move forward in life, I will continue to learn and grow, utilizing and adding to the stash in my backpack.
   
     So I face forward into the future, trusting the God who never leaves me nor forsakes me and who does infinitely beyond all I can think or imagine.  As I look forward to a summer at home, and then my final year at Prairie, I am excited to see what God will do in and through and around me.  I wonder how He will use the skills and truths He has placed in my life or the past while.  Every day the world is new with hope and potential!

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  II Timothy 1:7

Goodbyes and Hellos

     Goodbye Cape Town and Hello to Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Cairo and Istanbul!  I flew out of Cape Town on the night of April 26th and rejoined my fellow GlobeTREKkers, Kara and Sarah, in Kenya.  From there we ventured through Ethiopia, Egypt and now Turkey.   It has been really hard for me to say goodbye to South Africa because it has become such a part of me over the past six months.  God has used this place in a special way to teach me about life, myself, and other people.  I know how vague and sappy it sounds to say that a place has really changed your life, so I want to elaborate a little more and tell you just a couple of the ways that my life has been enriched by my time here.
 1)   Present-future thinker over a past-present thinker.  Too often I am a past-present thinker--where what has happened in the past, or what I did in the past, determines how I respond in the present.  For example, if I messed up yesterday, then I live out of shame and a need to compensate today.  I guess it basically comes down to some form of legalism.  However, as a present-future thinker, my past is covered in Christ.  This shapes my choices in light of my present identity in Him and what His plans and purposes are for the future.  I may have made a bad choice yesterday, but right now I can make the right choice with Him.
2)  The multi-dimensionality of life!  I have tended to define mission and the Christian life too narrowly--it is about Bible reading and having DMCs (deep meaningful conversations) and doing unpaid work for others and cleaning toilets and other similar things... you get the gist :)  But it is very depressing, discouraging, and disillusioning to define Christianity too narrowly and then confine yourself to only that.  Anyways, I have come to appreciate how mission and gospel encompass and elevate all areas of life.  My mentor, Caryn, played a big role in that as I saw her surf with non-Christian friends, diagnose and pray for patients at the health center, take time to talk to people, just laugh and have fun with friends, and be interested in everything from medicine to linguistics to culture to good books to surfing to... you name it!  And in all of this, God was at the center in a foundational, joy-giving way--not in an awkward, tacked-on way.  So now I leave Cape Town with a renewed understanding and a greater excitement for life coram deo.

     These are just a couple of the lessons I've learned in Cape Town.  There are more, but I won't burden you right now with an entire 6 months of soul work :)  It feels so good to be back with Kara and Sarah and to face a couple new adventures together before my feet hit 'home' again.  My runners and my traveling bags are getting rather dilapidated, but now they just need to last for one more flight!  See you tomorrow, Canada :)

Vroom! Vroom!

     When I watch a well-run intersection, I find it fascinating how the cars flow past each other.  It seems like organized chaos with numerous unspoken rules... a little like a game.  In Cape Town, it is a whole different ball park though!  At one intersection on the way to Jubilee Community Church, tow trucks sit under the bridge every day waiting for an accident.
     Many types of drivers fill the streets, and the taxis simply add a new spice to the mix.  These minivans carry anywhere from 1 to over 20 passengers.  A helper hangs out hte window, whistling at passersby and calling out the taxi's destination:  "Mobricap, Cape Town!" or "Wynberg! Wynberg!"  When the taxi pulls over to the side of the road, this fellow also opens the door for the passengers and collects their change.  It usually costs me ten rand (around $1) to take the taxi from Rondebosch to Jubilee Church in Observatory.  I usually catch a ride with some of the staff from Jubilee when I need to get to the church, though.
     Taxis seem to have a road code all their own, and there has been fighting in the Nyanga township between the taxi drivers and the police.  Most taxi drivers don't have a driver's licence, and the police are cracking down on them.  This past week two Golden Arrow buses were set on fire as part of the fray.
     In the end, for myself I just learn to keep my eyes open when I am on the road or crossing it.  I actually really enjoy the thrill of crossing the road here.  Only newbies wait for the traffic light; everyone else simply crosses when the coast is clear--or clear enough.  While in Vietnam one could trust motorbikes to swerve around you when crossing the road, here it is better to trust no one--particularly not taxis!
       I think it will be interesting to start driving again when I return to Canada.  I haven't driven for 8 months, and the places I have been to don't follow the same rules as North America!  I appreciate how traffic flows in an orderly fashion in Canada.  However, I have learned to appreciate the fluidity and spontaneity of life while I am here, attributes which are mirrored in their driving patterns.
     I'm not sure how these past months have affected my driving abilities, but thankfully I have my licence and don't have to worry about passing another driving test until I'm 80!

     While I'm on the topic of traveling, I will be leaving South Africa on Sunday.  My 6-month internship is nearly up, and I am going to reunite with my team-mates in Kenya.  I am looking forward to the next phase of this journey, but also really sad to be leaving a place that has really blessed me and changed me.  I would appreciate prayer for the rest of my travels (which include Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and Turkey) and also that I would be able to leave well.  Everyone's prayers and support has meant a lot to me in these past six months!  Thank you!  ...And don't forget to stay tuned for the final flourish over the next couple weeks :)  

Challenge: Past/Present/Future

     South Africa is at an exciting new stage in their history.  The 'born-frees,' those born after the fall of apartheid, are coming of age, graduating matric (grade 12), entering varsity, and beginning to shape the future of their country.  What will this new stage look like?
     From my short experience so far, South Africa seems to be a young nation that is finding its identity--what does it stand for?  How will it achieve the things it wants to achieve? WHAT does it want to achieve?  What is its relationship to its past?
     At the beginning of December, I attended the Michaelis Graduate Exhibition put on by the fine arts students.  For me, "Challenge" was the theme of the event.  Many students chose to use their art to face their personal challenges, focusing on addiction or abuse.  One exhibit, "dis"(place)ment, arose out of three stories--a memory of furniture falling on the artist, of her house burning down, and of constant moving from place to place--and rose for three stories up a stairwell.  Furniture hung from the balustrade and ceiling so that it appeared to cascade down on the viewer at the same time as it seemed to swirl up--kitchen chairs, trellises, wicker chairs, small tables, and other wooden what-not.
     Other exhibits challenged the viewers.  Several addressed stereotypes of men, women and fashion, including a bridal-themed exhibit with a title "it's not all a garden of roses."  This last one displayed complimentary and uncomplimentary wedding photos, as well as some pornographic images.
     Some exhibits challenged our perception of the world.  I almost walked out of one entitled "In Plain Sight,"  thinking it was a lounge area, until I all of a sudden noticed lamps curving in strange directions, the chandelier hanging at a rakish, unnatural angle, the rug lying bumpily on the ground, and the champagne table stopped mid-crash to the floor!
     One young artist chose to face the challenge of how we view nature and cities.  We all see them through a certain 'lens,' so she painted some with a 'looking-through-a-glass' effect.  How we interact with and paint nature is shaped by our life and beliefs.  It is interesting how different cultures interact and portray with nature--think of the nature painted by the Japanese, the Native American, Americans during the Industrial Revolution, the Impressionist Era, and then our own!  I think this exhibit was my favorite.
     Another artist challenged the waste and wealth of the society she grew up in, especially in the face of overwhelming poverty.  She used food residue to form designs on paper, which I found thought-provoking but not particularly beautiful!  
     The only part that wasn't a challenge at the event was enjoying the free wine and cheese!  But overall, I felt like I was watching a whole group of people question what they know and try to discover who they are and how they interact with their world and their past.
     The role of the past in the present is an ongoing cause for much noise and excitement.  Students at the University of Cape Town have been agitating for the removal of a large statue of John Rhodes on campus over the past couple weeks.  John Rhodes was a British businessman in South Africa, founder of Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), and a hardcore racist.  The debate has been going on for a while over his place on campus, in our memories, and in the future.  His future on campus was sealed this past week, as the statue was taken down, beaten by students, and carted away.
     Someone wrote on facebook that no one can tell others how to express their pain.  There is a lot of pain here in South Africa... A lot of it that I will probably never experience or understand...  We need to pray that people will learn how to face it well and to move forward with joy, purpose, self-sacrifice, and vision into the future.  Pray for creativity in developing new jobs and in addressing the massive rich/poor gap.  Pray that people will learn to forgive and break the cycle of vengeance and anger and bitterness.  

Randomness (a.k.a. Melissa's week in review)

     Randomness.  That is the theme of today's blog post.  I am going to give you little snippets of what my past week has been like and maybe it will give you a flavor of the randomness of what constitutes life.

Monday
* Most of the morning I spent at the South African Museum by the Company Gardens.  I learned some fascinating animal facts:  Did you know about the pygmy shark?  It is around 15-20 cm long and lives deep down in temperate and tropical waters.  It camouflages through photophores on its belly which produce light to match the amount of light filtering from above.  That means that this animal manages to live without casting a shadow!  I also learned how sharks have a great sense of direction.  They basically have a built-in GPS, consisting of ampullae of Lorenzi which are filled with electrically conductive jelly.  Small hairs at the bottom of the ampullae detect changes in electrical polarity.  This keeps them in tune with the earth's electromagnetic field, as well as alerting them to the electromagnetic fields of other living creatures.
* I spent the early afternoon at the National Art Gallery.  Because the South African Museum is under construction currently, they gave me a free pass to the Art Gallery.  Then I met with Caryn for a hike in Newlands forest.
* In the evening I played Liar's Dice with Zac and Hope after supper.

Tuesday
* I spent the morning with the Sunshade ladies.  We talked, drank tea, and had an exercise class together.  I had some intense conversations with a couple of the ladies about their lives and God.  I find that can be quite draining!
* In the afternoon I helped out at the Jubilee Health Center.  This included singing and dancing in the staff kitchen with Ma Rosemary, the cleaning lady, and praying with patients.

Wednesday
* I spent the day volunteering at Jubilee Health Center.  The nurse, Rachel, and I had a really good chat with a diabetic man.  We were able to help him understand his condition better, and empower him to take good care of himself since he is already starting to experience neuropathy in his feet.  Then I had the opportunity wash his feet, put cream on them, and pray with him.

Thursday
* Schoolwork and reading in the morning
* I walked to Claremont and spent the afternoon with a good friend.  We had lunch and shopped at Cavendish, where I got the comfiest pair of pijama pants, as well as a nice shirt and some new flip-flops (or 'slops', as they call them here)
* In the evening I helped serve at a fundraising/awareness dinner for the Message Trust, South Africa.  Andy Hawthorne, founder of the Message Trust, spoke, as well as Tim Tucker, National Director of the Message Trust in South Africa, and some of the men whose lives have been changed through the Message's prison ministry and Gangstar Enterprises.  The goal of the Message is to raise up a generation of urban heroes, and I am very impressed by the work they do!  Some of my friends at Jubilee are also part of their new Eden initiative in the Salt River area, which is somewhat similar to the MoveIn movement in Canada.

Friday
* Volunteered for the day at Jubilee Health Center
* In the evening I joined Gravity (the young teenager group at Jubilee) on an outing to Supertubes in Muizenberg.  This is a waterslide park by the ocean.  What a blast!!

Saturday
* Morning:  I helped serve at the LifeGroup Leaders Training at Jubilee.  I also managed to sit in most of the sessions, and I learned some practical things that I hope to use as an IMPACT leader next year at Prairie Bible Institute.

Sunday
* Church service at Jubilee in the morning
* I spent the afternoon with Shaun and Wendy's family.  Wendy works at Jubilee, and they are keen to befriend me and introduce me to life in Cape Town's townships and surrounding areas.  We had lunch at their home, and then went hiking in Tokai forest.  I saw a cork tree for the first time!
* After the hike, they dropped me off at Jubilee for the evening service.

...And so one week is past and another starts!  Life can only be boring when one loses sight of God, His work in the world, and the wonder of His creation.  I wonder what randomness and insights this week will bring.

The importance and inadequacy of Education

     Last Thursday was "take-a-member-of-your-life-group-to-work-day" for Jenn, a member of my small group at Jubilee Community Church.  She works at Living Hope, an organization centered in FishHoek.  I have been asking her for several weeks if I could see what they do, and now it has finally happened!
     First she gave me an overview of the organization in FishHoek, and then we drove to Masi and Oceanview, two nearby townships, to see some of the work there.  Masi is more of a Black township.  Oceanview is more Colored, formed when the Colored population from another area was relocated to make room for a new all-White neighborhood.  One of the great tragedies of this relocation--apart from the basic, appalling injustice that it happened at all--is that the people of Oceanview used to live by the ocean and now they had a beautiful view of the ocean but no access to it.  Their fishing skills are useless in this inland community, and drugs and alcohol have become big problems.
     Living Hope is involved in these communities through children and youth programs, addiction recovery programs, food-sharing, support groups, teaching the people how to farm, care for HIV patients, and overall education.  The work they do is really amazing! (check out livinghope.co.za if you want to find out more)
     The importance of education in particular stood out to me.  I learned, for example, that HIV positive moms can have HIV negative babies.  These babies have natural immunity against the virus, but this lasts only as long as the baby exclusively breastfeeds.  If the baby starts eating and drinking other things besides the mom's breastmilk, the baby's resistance to the virus is broken down and the baby often becomes HIV positive.  So it is important to teach the moms to exclusively breastfeed, or exclusively feed the baby formula and other food.  Of course, things get complicated when other people feed your baby food or when your friend, who is baby-sitting, decides to nurse your hungry baby--we're all family, no?  But if they understand the concept, many young children can then be protected from HIV.
     However, I was also struck by how education is not always the answer.  Another big challenge in these areas is the prevalence of young, single moms.  Often, though, ignorance about safe sex and abstinence isn't the problem.  Rejection is.  Many young girls feel unloved, and they know that at least a baby will love them and provide a reasonably safe outlet for their own love.  This underlying relational brokenness must also be addressed for lasting and meaningful change to take place in a community!

Time Travelling

     A week or so ago I met some 'strangers' in Cape Town with a vaguely familiar accent--it almost sounded Canadian, or American, one of the two (sorry for any unintended insult to either party!).  This group of 'stranger' students were the Discover team from Prairie Bible Institute (PBI).  They were here for ten days or so, helping with kid's work at Jubilee, visiting metro kids in Cape Town, and helping set up for the new, enlarged Jubilee Health Centre (to read some of their stories, check out discoverourglobe.prairie.edu).
     It was neat to meet the Discover students, as well as spend some time with Kendi, who is also very much involved with the GlobeTREK program at PBI.  But that was an expected emotion--to enjoy hearing some news from 'home' and seeing the excitement of the Discover students in a foreign land.
     Some of my feelings as I met them were more unexpected:  I felt a sense of belonging at Jubilee--that it was my church and I felt excited to show these 'newbies' around.  I hadn't realized how much I had learned about Jubilee and Cape Town and how many friendships I have developed in the three months I have been here so far.  I was also surprised by the fresh perspective the Discover team gave me.  I think I am becoming more proficient and natural at living here.  I don't stand out so much when I go to the shops--at least until I open my mouth and my Canadian accent falls out :)  But when they arrived, I re-noticed things that have become 'normal'--such as security guards zooming down the streets on segways and the exciting array of flora and fauna.  On a hike the one day I saw a two-inch, neon red and green grasshopper that almost looked fake!  There are also the cutest little geckos in the house and springiest springbok on the mountainsides... and such beautiful flowers!  My new fav flower is definitely the frangipani :)

...  Now the reason for the title of this blog post:  Time Travelling. Prepare yourself to travel from a couple weeks ago to the present! ... And I'm sorry if that is not as thrilling as you expected when you read the title!  I just found the above paragraphs in a folder entitled "incipient blog post" and decided I had better get going and terminate this post as well.  The longer I wait to write my next blog post, the harder it gets for me to actually do it.  You can only imagine the agonies I sometimes go through in this regard!  ...What should I write about?  ...If I write about something funny that happened, obviously my life here is too frivolous.  But if every post deals with some brobdingnagian and momentous epiphany, that would be depressing for those who live mundane lives--not to mention, it would be an unrealistic portrayal of my own, often mundane, life!  I could write about my feelings, but some people want facts and couldn't care less if I suffered indigestion or feel emotional.  I could write about facts, but I do like to think that some people actually care about my thoughts and feeling... Hopefully you can appreciate a little more what is going on now when you are simply annoyed by the fact that I haven't blogged for a while so I obviously don't care about you!
  As it is, I do care about you and am actually writing this at 11 pm because I couldn't sleep while leaving this undone any longer (those of you who know me will understand the great sacrifice this is, when bedtime is obviously 10 o'clock :) ).  Part of the reason for this insomnia is because life is so good I just had to share some of it with y'all.
     Right now I am living in a house with around 12 other people, and the set-up is family style.  This means that we take turns taking out the garbage, cutting the lawn, going shopping, and cooking meals for everyone four nights a week.  It is a neat opportunity to talk about all kinds of things and get to know each other better... as well as try a variety of interesting dishes :)
     Tonight was my turn to cook, and I made a chicken and broccoli casserole with rice and a sumptious salad.  It was a good end to a good day of spending time with the moms at Sunshade in the morning and just talking with patients from the health center and volunteers at Jubilee in the afternoon.  It is a humbling and wonderful experience to see and be part of what God is doing here.  There are crazy stories of God's healing in people's lives, and how God orchestrates unexpected things. For example, through connections at the health center an unemployed man who came in for physiotherapy left the clinic with a job working for the physio's friend.  God cares about these down-to-earth things as much as He cares about all aspects of our lives--work, relationships, health, etc.!
    ... Thank you, Father God, for your provision in my life and the lives of the people around me!  I feel so blessed by my friendships here as well as those 'back home'--and all around the world!  I look forward to seeing more of your amazing goodness and work!

     Well, it really is bed-time now :)  So, I wish all my readers a wonderful day tomorrow, and thank you for letting me be a little part of it as you read this!