Half a world away.

I have edited an earlier version of this post. I have gotten older and learned a ton since I posted this - my very first trip to Africa. I was ignorantly parading as the white savior (on this trip and in others) and I vow never to do that again. Voluntourism doesn't fix communities, it only makes things worse, and I apologize for embracing that so willingly. I am so fortunate and privileged, and I'm working on recognizing that daily, being a better person, citizen, ally, and friend. The unlearn is a constant process. - Sarah, June 2020


So I've been trying to decide how exactly to post everything I want to say about my Africa trip. We did so much and I learned SO much that it's hard to write it all down in one post. But, for the sake of everyone else's eyeballs, I'm going to try to just summarize all the good important stuff. Although I can't help but post a million photos. So here goes:

After a quick and painless layover in JFK on Wednesday Feb. 17th we caught a direct flight via South African Airways to Johannesburg. Luckily the plane was only about half full, so instead of squishing myself into one seat, I squished myself into two. 17 hours and lots of gross plane food later, we made it to Africa!

Flying into Johannesburg you wouldn't even imagine there were any need for soup kitchens or donated medicine and hand-me-down clothes. It's as big a city as any, and is only going to be busier once the World Cup hits. The drastic differences in economic class throughout the country are just fascinating.

Once in Jo'burg we rented a giant van and drove 5 hours to Bloemfentein, where we stayed in a very lavish and seemingly undeserved casino-resort. Anxious to get to our destination, we hopped back in the car the next day and drove another 3 hours to Richmond. All in all, it took about 2 and half days of travel time to get there. And now that I've been, I know how to find it on GoogleMaps. Here. Richmond is about half way in between Jo-burg and Capetown, and so it's only claim to fame is that it's a stopping point from one city to the other.

In Richmond we stayed in a little bed and breakfast called An-Ra, which is owned by some of the Afrikaaner farmers that are partners with our program, Hope in Richmond. It was a very cozy little place, despite the nightly removal of ants and spiders from the bed before we went to sleep. The picture below is standing right outside our front door. This is the main drag of Richmond, and the very nice part of town.


After a quick stop to drop our bags off and get settled we made our way to the community center, which is where all the action always takes place. Over the last 5 years that Hope In Richmond has been coming here, things have dramatically gotten better. What was once a dirty attic behind the bleachers is now turned into this:

The children's library!

What was once just a storage room is now the soup kitchen!:

And what was once just land is now the kids' favorite things in whole world, the swings!:

Throughout the week I spent my time playing with the kids and learning about Richmond. The community center makes it really easy for the kids to come hang out after school, instead of go straight home where there might not be swing sets.

I also learned more about the HIV prevalence. 35% of Richmond is HIV positive, many of them children, who have it because their parents have passed it on. And many of theses people have no idea. Here's some scary statistics: 1) Teenage girls in South Africa are 8 times more likely to contract HIV than teenage boys. 2) A 16 year-old girl in South Africa is more likely to have been raped than know how to read. 3) HIV/AIDS is the #1 killer of women in the world. Scary huh?

You may have noticed these stats have a lot to do with women. Not only are there obvious but unspoken racial boundaries here, there are also distinct gender discrepancies that just make things that much harder for women and girls.

While trying to soak up a different culture and learn as much as I could, I also snapped some pics of some super cute kids:

From left to right: Lexi, Semmy, Justin, and Ruwayda.

These are kids that just got out of Sunday School.

This is Aubrey, very clingy and very cute.

During the week one of the ladies in our group gave the kids tons of watercolor paint sets. It was a resounding success, especially for many budding artists as seen below. The kids loved being able to be artsy and colorful and will hopefully be able to keep doing it.

This is one of my favorite little ones: Cruzaan. We call him Cruzer. And he spells his name like this:

This is AJ. He was so so sweet.

Also during the week I helped Grassroot Soccer Intern Anna with GRS related things. Please check out her blog for the full scope of what she's up to in Richmond. Grassroot Soccer is educating the youth of southern Africa about the dangers and prevention of HIV/AIDS through the universal language of soccer! Aside from helping set up a "Street League for Girls" I also went with Anna to a farm school about an hour away called Merriman. At Merriman Anna and her GRS coaches did some very cool activities with the students. One game was called "Risk Field." In this game the kids have to dribble a ball through some cones, each of which is a different risk factor for HIV. If the ball touches one of the risk factors, they have to drop down and do a pushup. The game evolves as do the topics and it's quite fun to watch and take part in.


One morning was spent going on "rounds" with my mom and some people from the Richmond clinic, which consisted of visiting homes and asking people if they felt alright. The answer seemed to always yes, and we spent most of the time just chatting. This gave me an opportunity to see where people really live in Richmond, and in what kind of conditions. Later that morning we made our way over the hill to squatter's camps.

Unfortunately, a pipe burst somewhere underground and is now flooding the whole camp.

Being at the squatter's camps made me thankful for my pillows and my toothbrush and my sneakers and electricity and modern plumbing and so much more. Half a world away in more than just distance. I am so fortunate.

South African are extremely hospitable. We spend a few evenings outside of the township of Richmond. Our partners with Hope In Richmond were happy to host us for an evening braai (South African BBQ), followed by a delightful sundowner's (sitting around to watch the sun go down), something I thoroughly enjoy. This is a photo of the sunset over Hendrik's farm. He owns about 30,000 acres of land. Kind of like an "Everything the light touches" type of deal.


Another evening found us at another Afrikaaner farm belonging to Johan and Anneke.

Sundowner's this night was spent at the top of a cliff overlooking their land.
(Everything the light touches!)

Our time in South Africa was not spent entirely in Richmond. Following a lot of work that week, we hopped on a domestic flight and got another rental car to drive to a game reserve called Madikwe for our safari. There are a bazillion pictures of baby lions and elephants and mongoose and such, but this post is long enough as it is. PLEASE please please check out facebook for the whole slew of pics and I will perhaps put up a safari post a little later.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures. These are the kids lining up to wash their hands for the soup kitchen.


Love, Shub :)