Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

I had my first volunteer day for SHAWCO today. It was the first day so everything was somewhat unorganized. We left late and the bus didn’t have enough space for everyone, so we had to squish. I volunteer at a girls’ home, St. George’s, about fifteen minutes from campus. The girls are all ages and they have all been removed from their homes by child protective services. When we got there most of the girls weren’t around for various reasons, so we spent most of the time hearing about the history of St. George’s and all that they do there. The St. George’s staff works very hard at reuniting the girls with their families, and last year reunited seven families. Girls started coming in a little while before we had to leave, and it was nice to meet them. Most of them are really friendly and have a lot of energy. They are really excited for us to come every week and you can definitely feed off of that energy. I’m really looking forward to going to St. George’s every week. The ratio works out that it’s about one girl to one student, so we have the opportunity to form a real bond. That they’re excited to get to know us makes me much more excited to start volunteering.

I’m currently totally obsessed with learning the South African national anthem. It’s in five different languages: Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English. The national anthem has an interesting history, since it combines the anthem from the Apartheid era and a hymn called ‘Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika’ (‘Lord Bless Africa’), which is the actual title of the anthem. It’s a pretty song, and I really like that it’s in five languages. I tried to include a link to where you can listen to it, but my internet is running wild so I can’t. If you get the chance, search for it on YouTube and listen. Another South African song that I’ve been listening to nonstop is the ‘Shosholoza’ as performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It’s so beautiful, and South Africans play it at all of their sporting events. Shosholoza is the name of a long distance train in South Africa, and the sound of the song is supposed to sound like the sound of a train. The song is also significant because it’s come to represent unity, strength, and pride of South Africans for their country and people. Try to check out ‘Shosholoza’ by Ladysmith Black Mambazo if you get the chance. My friends can attest to my obsession with these two songs, as I am constantly singing them.

Next weekend I’m driving the Garden Route with four friends. The Garden Route is a beautiful stretch of coastal highway along the southern coast. We’re renting a car and taking off Thursday evening. The drive to Knysna, where we’ll be staying, is about six hours from Cape Town. Between Cape Town and Knysna (pronounced nys-na) is nothing but beautiful scenery and small coastal towns. I’m sure the drive will be reminiscent of the wonderful road trip I took with my mom this summer down Highway 101. Hopefully there won’t be as many drop-offs or hairpin turns as there were on Highway 101. The road we take is the N2. You can take it for a really long time, maybe farther than Port Elizabeth, but we’re not making it that far since we have to get back for school. There are a ton of cool things to do around Knysna, like bungee jumping (highest bungee jump in the world!), canopy tours, elephant parks, cheetah reserves, ostrich farms, just to name a few. I’m really looking forward to doing a trip without a tour group. Everything up until now has been organized by travel organizations. It will surly be an adventure!

I added more pictures to my Picasa page. I’ve also added captions and reorganized the album. Be sure to check it out! http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahcaldwell9/CapeTown#.