When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I just got back from my mission to South Africa. The jetlag woke me up REAL early so I'm posting! Honestly, I wish I could go back there. Here's the pictures...
Leaving NYC to go to London Heathrow.
We ended up having an 8 hour layover in London, so we decided to go around London. Big Ben
We then took the 11 hour flight to South Africa. We however, did not stay in Cape Town. As soon as we landed we went to the mountains where the villages are much different than Cape Town.
As soon as I arrived, there was a little girl walking towards us. She was playing on the wooden fence when i took this picture.
Then when I waved to her she smiled and posed
We did as much as we could with these kids. I only wish I could have done more. For lunch, we had to drive away from the town, or else the kids would swarm us asking for food and it would quite frankly become really dangerous. So we drove around and about a mile from the village was a beach so we ate our lunch there.
What a wonderful first day that was. And to cap it off...
South Africa is absolutely BEAUTIFUL... every morning I looked out the window and saw one of these
We even rented out city hall to accomodate the crowds that were coming. We had originally expected around 400 kids but here there was about 1200.
Kids fooling around outside waiting to get in
Afterwards we went to a village to help redo their school. The school, very similar to the houses that are built, is just a rectangle frame of wood with sheetmetal nailed to the sides and roof. Many times, the sheet metal are not uniform because they use whatever they find so the edges don't match up which leads to very bad leaks. Honestly, it felt like all the roof was doing was concentrating the rainfall into a few dozen spots instead of having an open roof. This made it very hard to patch the concrete floors or lay a bit of vinyl to protect the concrete.
While it was about 40degrees farenheit outside, I was wearing 2 t-shirts, 1 hoodie, and a north face jacket. Some of these kids were barefoot because they could not afford shoes.
Yet they were content and happy, making soccer balls out of plastic bags and just playing in the sand/dirt.
You know those commercials on TV asking you to give to their charity and they show kids playing in garbage. I witnessed this first hand as we were leaving the village and heading back to the base for the day.
If you look closely, you can see three kids playing in the garbage
We ended our work early one day so we took a trip to Cape Point.
Indian Ocean..
THen when you turn around... Atlanic Ocean
There is such a distinct difference between the rich neighborhoods and the poor villages...
I honestly want to go back. We only stayed in Cape Town for a day, but that was only because British Airways messed up and canceled our flight back to New York so they put us in a hotel on the Waterfront in Cape Town. All the other nights were spent in the villages. Working with the locals especially the kids. We had feedings, medical aid, and haircuts for the homeless, we helped to fix up schools, but I felt that the most important thing I did was meet these kids. They don't have much. You can go from one side of their house to the other in less than 5 steps. They huddle around a small electric heater which also doubles as their stove. Yet they are content and happy. It isn't an ignorant bliss because some of TVs and they know what's out there (they listen to rap and know all about the lifestyle) but they simply realize that they don't need all that. They are thankful for what they have. I went there thinking I was some American hotshot who would just help out those less fortunate than me. However, I was most richly blessed by those kids.
I want to say thank you to all who supported us. We went from just a vision to touching the lives of more than 8,000 kids. This was not possible without the help that made a little sacrifice to our mission. We ended up getting donations of 100 basketballs, 100 soccer balls, 700 hats, 600 scarfs, 700 gloves and mittens, countless boxes of markers and crayons, huge containers of vitamins, and the list goes on. We were unable to give out all the gifts that we brought simply because if we do that then the kids start to rely on gifts and so we only gave out a small fraction and gave the rest to the local missions that live there and they will give out a little at a time, to keep the kids motivated.
We sometimes get so caught up in our daily lives with our jobs, cars, even our meals that we forget how blessed we are. I hope that every one of you will just shake things up and go help someone out. I honestly would have done it all over again even if I were to meet only 1 person. You should have seen these kids. Go volunteer, donate, do whatever you have to do. There are kids in your neighborhood that could really use your help.
Sorry dumb question! Um, but anyways, were you going to reach out to these kids or was the point to just help support them?? That is really cool to go down there and see what another culture is like, and experience something totally mind blowing!!
great job man. i never really seen personal pictures like that. i think its great and as you said a reality check to those who fail to be thankful for what they have?
i myself fail to realize how lucky i am at times! this really changes my perspective and i would like to say you did a great job for a great cause
08-15-2004, 04:51 AM
My Africa Mission- a photo journal
