Travel and Arrivals

On thursday morning I left American Soil and by Friday night I had set foot on South African Soil.  It is amazing how quickly we can travel across half the globe.

          (Here is the large group of us leaving from Pennsylvania Airport on Thursday morning)


One of my first impressions has been that Johannesburg is quite similar to North America in many ways.  The city is full of malls and traffic and many of the other things you find in a typical big city.  In some ways it is hard to believe I have made it to Africa, but I suppose that exposes my stereotype of what Africa is supposed to look like.  I am  looking forward to ways this year will show me where I have a narrow view of what the world is like, and I am looking forward to finding a broader worldview.

                                                              (My first morning in South Africa)

In the first few days we have visited constitution hill, the Apartheid museum, Soweto, an orphanage and 2 churches.  These places have given me a little more understanding into the country, but some have been very challenging for me to process.

(Kliptown, a very poor area of Soweto)

       (A garden at the Kliptown Youth Project, which is supporting young people in the area)

We (the 6 of us serving in SwaLeSa and the country reps) have been staying at an Anglican retreat centre in Johannesburg.  Our time has been a good combination of activity and down time in order to start getting adjusted to the country.  It has also given us more time to get to know each other as the SwaLeSa SALT team, which has been very positive.

Well those have been some of the first goings on here in South Africa. Next we are driving down to Pietermaritzburg to continue our in country orientation.  By the beginning of September I will be heading to Lesotho, along with one other SALTer.  I am looking forward to our continued orientation, as well as the start of my assignment!