Whirlwind...

Greetings from Mthatha. This is a long overdue post, but that’s mostly due to the fact that there’s been quite a lot happening in the past month. Here are a few more pictures from adventuring in Cape Town, and some updates from this corner of the Southern Hemisphere…

I am so thankful for the two weeks I was able to spend in the "Mother City" of Cape Town. Being able to share Christmas and celebrate the start of the New Year with good friends was truly wonderful. Amanda and Ann who are YASCers in Cape Town were gracious hosts and great tour guides to Jessie, who flew down from her YASC post in Maseno, Kenya, and myself. I arrived on the 23^rd, just in time for Christmas Eve preparations and to share the holiday cheer in a new place with some familiar faces. We had a tasty and unique Christmas Eve experience when Mari, one Amanda’s co-workers at HOPE Africa, invited us over for a traditional Finnish meal. We shared some delicious food, danced, swapped gifts, and laughed a lot. Then we journeyed over to the St. George’s Cathedral for their midnight mass. Sitting there as the service started, I couldn’t help but miss my family and the late night service that would be taking place a few hours from then at St. Paul’s in Chattanooga. This was my first Christmas away from my homes in Chattanooga, Los Angeles, and Sewanee, and I felt the absence of the traditions that each place holds. However, I realized sitting there in the candlelit darkness of St. George’s and singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” what a truly a miraculous event we were celebrating in community worldwide in a way that I never have before.

We all spent the night in the cozy home of Rev. Suzanne Peterson (and her wonderful pup Thembi) who has been living and working in South Africa for over a decade. Her house became holiday central on Christmas Day. We spent most of the day cooking, eating Jessie’s monkey bread, listening to music, trying to master the paddle ball that Amanda’s mom sent to her, and just being together. My role in all of the cooking was mainly to chop this or wash that, so I can’t really take much credit, but we ended up with quite a feast for Christmas dinner with Ann’s leg of lamb as our center piece (check out the picture from my last post to see more of our delicious spread).

The rest of our time together in Cape Town was spent exploring and sharing with one another. One of our first adventures was to the top of Table Mountain via the cable cars on a very windy day. We also made our way out to Boulder’s Beach where we could hang out with some penguins, and dip our toes into the verrrry chilly waters. Wine tasting was also a must, and a fun evening out with the staff of HOPE Africa made for many memories including a midnight visit to Clifton Beach. We also ventured to the Castle of Good Hope and the District Six Museum, which the history nerd in me loved. The District Six Museum stood out especially as a place where stories are preserved, honored, and shared in a very community driven way. I appreciated this and how it pushed me to think about memory, storytelling, and the power of the human voice in new ways. Our time together also allowed us to share our stories with one another and talk about where our journeys this year are taking us. I felt so much joy being there with Jessie, Amanda, and Ann. Ringing in 2011 with these amazing young women will not be forgotten, and I’m so grateful we had the opportunity to share this time together.

Flying back to Mthatha, I was filled with happiness both from the memories of Cape Town, but also in feeling that I was coming a home. I was coming back to people and places that are no longer so new and unfamiliar. Getting out of the truck on our first day back at Itipini, I was greeted by Wee Mama, who has one of the best smiles, and engulfed by a big hug and “Molo Sarah! Unjani?” (“Hello Sarah! How are you?”). I was happy to be back and hear how everyone was doing. It was good to see the kids and some of our regulars in the clinic. My first day back and these first few weeks since our holiday break have such a different feel to them than my first days in Itipini. I’m so very glad to be back.

School started last week, and a lot of our time has been spent helping sort out their registration fees and paperwork. It’s a busy time, and I’ll have more to share soon. Thanks for reading, and let us walk together.

Peace be with you.

p.s. To learn more about what Amanda, Ann, and Jessie are doing in Cape Town and Maseno, please click on their names and you’ll be taken to their blogs.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas greetings from Cape Town! More to come on how we celebrated together in Cape Town, but I wanted to share a few images from my past two days here. I am so thankful to share this time with Amanda, Ann, and Jessie. We've celebrated, laughed, decorated, cooked, sung, cried, given, and received together. It has been a good Christmas so far, and I look forward to the rest of our time here.

Merry Christmas, and let us continue walking together.

Peace be with you.

"Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

"Slow down. Quiet. It's Advent."

Advent greetings from Mthatha. This is a season of expectant waiting, preparation, and one of my very favorite times of year. In Sewanee we used to have, “Slow down. Quiet. It’s Advent,” signs up around All Saint’s. As it was then with the busy nature of the end of the semester, these past few weeks have been full of preparations for the end of the year at Itipini...

We had a World AIDS Day program at the beginning of the month. The older kids designed and painted posters for the day, the choir sang, and Yoliswa, who has been my language tutor, was our guest speaker. We also had an AMM staff lunch outing last week. It was great to have everyone together outside of work to share a meal. Probably the biggest event of the month though has been preschool graduation. Last Friday, twenty-two very eager five and six year olds proudly received graduation certificates from Itipini Preschool. It was a pretty exciting day to say the least.

I’ve also tried to decorate my rondavel with a bit of festive cheer, and we’ve had two very successful braais (Afrikaans for barbeque) here at the hospital to take advantage of the warm weather this time of year brings to South Africa. The picture from the coast was taken in Chinsta where I travelled with three AMM volunteers for a weekend to relax. Not a bad view from our room, huh? This past weekend, it was also great to have a visit from Travis, a fellow YASCer, who came up for a visit from Grahamstown.

While it has been hard to be away from home at a time when that seems most familiar, I’m enjoying spending this season in a new context. I’ve been trying to slow down, find moments of quiet, and get ready for the joy of Christmas. I’m also excited for an upcoming trip to Cape Town next week, where I’ll get to see three of my fellow YASCers and celebrate some new-to-me Christmas traditions. Enjoy the pictures, and thanks for stopping by. Peace be with you.

Here we go...

Greetings and welcome to my blog where I hope to share my year in service as a member of the Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) in Mthatha, South Africa. YASC is a part of the Episcopal Church’s Mission Personnel Office and gives young adults the opportunity to engage globally in international mission work. In September I will be leaving for Mthatha, South Africa where I will spend a year working with the Itipini Community Project, a part of the African Medical Mission. I am excited and humbled by this opportunity to immerse myself in new communities where I will be exploring themes of community, reconciliation, love, mission, and partnership in my own life and in the life of the Anglican Communion.

This quote from Lila Watson helps guide my approach to the coming year that will be spent as a missionary of the Episcopal Church. So too is John 13:34-35 where Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I probably never would have guessed that I would be a missionary and still sometimes cannot believe that this is where I am headed next. However, the time I have spent with my fellow YASCers at our discernment weekend in Florida, our two week orientation in Toronto, and my growing understanding of the Episcopal perspective on mission have helped me to see that this year is about partnership. This year will be about recognizing that we are working together to understand our lives and our stories, and to do so in love. I have a feeling that this year will teach me much about mutual liberation and what it means to live out Christ’s command to love.

As I prepare to for my time in South Africa, I am currently in the midst of fundraising, getting my visa, and spending time with friends and family. I know that this journey would not be possible without the support of my wonderful parents, my family, my friends, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Sewanee community, and the many individuals who have brought me to this decision that has been twenty-three years in the making. With little more that a month before I make my way to Mthatha, I look forward with great hope and openness towards a year that will be unlike any other. A dear friend reminded me of a quote from The Little Prince that sums up much of what I feel, "I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand!" This year I will be leaving many friends, but also know that they will share in this time of great discovery and new understanding with me.

Peace be with you, and let us walk together.