MY Thursday.

So I feel like I have had lots to blog about, but I have been busy and also haven't been able to get Hannah time as much as I should be giving it to myself. I gave myself some time today and journaled so I will share

I am really enjoying my Thursday and that's because it has been MY Thursday. I have been able to wake up and go to a pilates class at the gym, have a small but filling lunch of leftovers, read in the grass in front of the beautiful theology school, and now I am at a cute cake shop and restaurant enjoying a cold water, a freshly baked carrot cupcake, and a chai tea. It has been nothing short of a refreshing day. While sitting under the tree reading I was able to reflect on community (thanks to my community development class readings). I have thought about the community I have already created here and the community I miss at home. I am so thankful to feel part of a community at home that I can miss while I am away and continue to keep in my prayers. Right now I find myself humbled by the new friends which I have made in just one month. If someone tried to make me go home right now they would be fighting me to get me on a plane. I like the idea of making Thursdays my days, but I would still love to connect with an organization or urban planner. Habitat and BTK (the hiking club) have events just around the corner and the wine society's first meeting is tomorrow. There's a lot to look forward to! Spring break plans are in the works (man how I wish I had a money tree for this reason).

The theology school that I sat outside of today to read! And I checked out some C.S. Lewis that I have been wanting to read.

great afternoon :)

Hiking Table Mountain this weekend! And i'm sure i'll find some other things to do :)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well -Psalm 139:14

What in this world gives you a "no"?

For our Transformation and Peacebuilding class we were given journals (that means I am journaling for 2 of three classes now, yay!) and the first day we were to do free writing on the question what in this world gives you a “no.” We wrote without stopping for ten minutes and I enjoyed reading back over some of the things I wrote. Here are SOME thoughts from the free write:

“I see sex trafficking, especially with young women and I say NO. I see children starving and struggling while their parents are treating them unfair and I say NO. I see people without homes and I say NO, that person deserves some place to be safe. I see gays and lesbians stared at and judged and I say NO. I want to just say WHY? Why can their not be interracial couples? Why can’t there be better schools? Why can’t there be jobs for everyone? I feel like I get more NOs than Yeses for things and that makes this world seem pretty messed up. The NOs that I have usually lead to WHYs and the WHYs usually lead me curious, angry, or upset. I want to take action, but I must first learn about what I am taking actions for. I see people hurt and upset, not thinking that there is some way out and I say NO. There is at least one way and that way is finding joy in Christ’s love. Find joy in something you love, a person, place or thing (although that one can get dangerous). Be passionate about something. A lot of things I become passionate about are things that I see and say NO to. I find hope and answers in Christ, and I find love in family and friends. I want people in the world not to think NO to their hopes and dreams. I want people who ask why? to their NOs like me to stand up and get an answer. This will help the world find more peace because if people refuse a NO and try to find ways to make things possible, the world could be better."

In Full Swing... Almost

Things are beginning to feel normal and get in full swing, but not quite. This week was the first day in the classroom, second week of jewelry making class, first day in Transformation and Peacebuilding, and first week of our Arcadia course in Cape Town. There are still a lot of firsts taking place and a few things that haven’t quite fallen into place yet. The Learning for Sustainable Community Engagement Course is seriously a huge privilege. I have to remind myself that I am really lucky to be going out to these schools every week to help these children and learn about community development. I wanted to learn more about community development and urban planning before I came and I have recently started thinking a lot more about graduate school. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I am running with the feelings I have inside. I think to be really happy with my degree from Meredith I am going to want to use my design skills in an urban setting. I am excited to start this Transformation and Peacebuilding course. I would never be able to take something like this with my busy schedule at home, but I get the chance here. It is a very interactive class which taps into your emotions and how you really feel about certain situations or conflicts. Jewelry making remains fun for the first part, but this week I got very frustrated but I polished and repolished my bookmark. I was ready to move on, but next week we get to move on to making rings. The Arcadia may get a bit frustrating because it is later in the day and we have to ride into Cape Town every week, but hopefully it will be informative and a good way to get closer to the other Arcadia students.

What I would really like to fall into place is something to take up a bit of my time on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I want to find someone working in the urban planning field, so I can see how they work and what they are doing in the surrounding communities. I also want to see if the local organization Atheart (an HIV/Aids organization) can use me for activities that take place throughout the week. Another big hope is finding a church that I can attend ever weekend I am in Stellenbosch and not away on vacation. I have realized how much it means to have my community group back in Raleigh and how much I love calling Vintage21 my church every Sunday. I have got to attend the first membership class series possible when I return! I am very happy about the things going on in the church back home and about what the people in my community are doing. I know that I need to plug in more to the beautiful city of Raleigh when I get back home and not just at Meredith, because after all I only have a year left there. There are a lot of emotions I feel like I had to leave at home, and I have to remember that every problem I left that wasn’t completely solved will not get solved any better 5,000 miles away. I have to remember the Lord is present in every place I go and he will help bear my burdens, because I am his. I am a daughter of the most High God.

I was reflecting on Hebrews 13 the other night and it was a comforting passage to come across, because it reminded me that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever (v8). It also talks about the city which is to come. I reflected on this and realized that the city of Raleigh, of Stellenbosch, the community of Lyndedoch, they are all cities which have not been completely transformed. There are things to be done in this city, in Raleigh back home and in every community everywhere. People must find their place and work to create something great.


Flee from the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart -2Timothy 2:22

First Day in the Classroom

Heading to the first day of class at Lynedoch was a bit nerve racking. I wasn’t sure what to expect even though Chelsea, Thijs and I has plans made. We didn’t know how long things would take or how the kids would react to everything. Mrs. April did a great job of putting us at ease and making us feel like no matter what we couldn’t mess up. We began with introductions and I realized that after the first few had gone answers were becoming very similar. They all seemed to like net ball or soccer and KFC. I think it helps point out that a goal for the semester should be to show students that they are all individual and finding the qualities they have that others don’t is what makes them unique.

Once we were back inside students wrote on each other’s backs things they had learned or things they knew about each other. It was a pretty good activity, but I realized I have so much more to learn about these kids than their favorite color and I hope that they can have more to write at the end of the semester than the face that to them I am “a very beautiful lady.” It will be smart to come back to this activity. We realized that students were a bit more timid around us and so I wasn’t sure how much of what we were saying they understood. We did an activity where we wanted the students to write what love meant to them using words or pictures. We gave them what we thought were proper instructions, but they simply drew hearts and swirls. Either they will get less timid (which I assume is because of our race) or we will just have to understand that they understand less English than we think. I guess my number one hope after the first week is that we can begin to become open minded to one another and therefore work even better together (this being my small LSCE group and the Grade 5 group).

I have more to add about my new class, Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding but I will write on my day off!

Classes Have Begun

This semester I am part of a service learning course called Learning for Sustainable Community Engagement. Monday we had our first meeting in the village of Lynedoch where there is a primary school. We will be helping in the classrooms on Mondays and on Fridays we will be in lectures about community development. While I know this class is going to demand a lot from me, I am very interested in its context and think it will help me even more when deciding what to do with urban or community planning in the future. We had introductions and then divided up into groups for our teaching. This reminds me a lot of what we did in Italy where I was in an elementary school class and taught students English. This semester I have grade 5 at Lynedoch Primary School, and the students will be learning more about life skills since they already know a lot of English. These students all take the train to get to school and stay until 2pm each day. The average income in the household is 700R and that is about 100 American dollars. We will take the resources available to learn about civil engagement and hopefully teach the students things they can keep with them. Grant is the director of the program and he is very well educated in community development and psychology. He will be teaching us about how we can position ourselves in this community and then how to address those abstract needs of the community. I really hope all I learn here can be really beneficial when I return home and continue to student community development.
I went to a Conflict Studies class today (Thursday) and as much as I am interested in the topics that we will be talking about in the class, I am not sure that I am ready for the course load. I think that I may try and volunteer on Thursdays instead and maybe Wednesdays as well. I am hoping that I can set aside time in my schedule to research HIV/Aids more (since the class conflicts with my jewelry making class) and read more about peace resolutions, since that is what I am missing with the conflict studies class. I am also hoping that in the next week I find an organization in town that I can volunteer with. I have to remember to make this experience my own and balance having fun and planning trips with class, service learning, and volunteering.

This weekend is a Robben Island trip with the Arcadia students, then hopefully church Sunday with some dinner plans. We have the first Varsity Cup match Monday. Its gonna be awesome!


Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow will die -dmb