Arriving in Moolmanshoek and beginning debrief made me realize how fast time fly’s. It felt like yesterday we were at Rocky Valley Christian Camp catching up on our Christmas breaks. I’d like to say that South Africa changed us, but I know that the truth is God played every role in our changes; South Africa was just where we were at the time. Listening to the end of the year reflections has given us a glimpse into the changes people have faced, and what this year has truly meant to them. Seeing the growth in everyone is reason enough for us all to be proud. As a community and family we have been there for each other through thick and thin. The friendships we have made have been built with a foundation that can withstand anything. This year we have seen hurt and brokenness, but we have also been blessed with so much love and joy. God has an incredible plan for our lives, and the journeys just beginning. This week we have set aside time for reflection, encouragement and prayer. We’ve spent evening’s sharing stories and singing around the campfire. I believe that this week has helped us see the growth in ourselves, and has helped us pin point our emotions post Outtatown. Saying goodbye is never easy, but this week has helped us all realize how excited we are for the next chapter in our lives!

Janice Giesbrecht

We had a free week in Simon’s town / Cape town area. We were given the opportunity to create our own week and get the experience of travelling with our own agendas. One day Joshua Klassen and I were praying on the beach together when I looked over at this family spending the day near the waves. The youngest daughter was in a wheel chair and I suspected that she had some form of cancer. My heart throbbed for her. Then I felt this urge to go up to her and tell her that “God is with them”. I spent some time contemplating in my mind if my urge was from God or if it was from my own emotions. Josh and I prayed for clarity. Soon it was clear that it was God’s desire for me to fulfill my “urge”. So I walked up to them and explained to them that I thought God wanted to remind them that He was with them . After I said this I got a feeling of peace and confidence in my heart that this was truly from God. You can’t stop the kingdom!

Josh Harder

Hey team, so this week we hit up this super sweet camp called impact adventures in the small town called Bonnievale. This week was dedicated to having a bunch of free time and doing a bunch of sweet adventure stuff (hence the blog post title). Our adventures actually started even before we went to the camp. We met up with our host for the week named Rueben at the side of the highway on like this random mountainous area. We were told to only bring a bathing suit and headlamp. We then proceeded to climb down this cliff and found this water irrigation/ lazy river. And there were a bunch of caves and in these caves were thousands of bats. It was insane! I honestly felt like I was entering batman’s bat-cave. After we finished dodging bats we went to camp to settle in, and this camp was one of the sweetest camps I have ever been to in my life. First of all, there were no cabins, so the girls had to sleep in tents and some of the guys slept under this roof with no walls around it (I slept with a mattress on top of a picnic bench, it was pretty much the best). And another cool thing with the camp is that instead of having rocks or gravel on the paths, it was millions of peach pits. So right from the beginning we had this impression that we were going to be roughing it here and that it was going to be incredible.

Now for all the adventure stuff. This camp had some of the coolest activities. First of all it had this really challenging climbing wall and high ropes area, that some of our best climbers had some challenges getting up. Also this giant swing that was in my opinion scarier (but still one hundred percent safe J) and exhilarating than bungee jumping, where you were harnessed into this swing and you held on to the rope and the group of people would pull you up about 40-50 feet (there is some dispute about how high it really was, but we all agree that it was really high) and then you let go of the rope in your hand and have about 1-2 seconds of free fall and just swing for a bit. I loved it soooooooooooooooo much. Also the camp was right on a river so there was some sweet kayaking and if you kayaked about 0.5 km you would reach probably the coolest rope swing I’ve ever been on. If you jumped off at the highest point, you get about 20-30 feet of air right into the water. Needless to say  I was there every day (and absolutely destroyed my body trying to do backflips) and never got bored with it.

Lastly this week was great just to kick back and relax and enjoy the time we had together. Every night we had a braii over the fire and ate like kings (with king sized servings) and really connected with the people who worked at the camp and would talk about anything from Canada- South Africa comparisons to cool stories. Card games with headlamps became the normal at about 8-11 at night and making couches out of extra mattresses and discussing life. We also had an awesome worship night as God made his presence known to us and it was just really cool to experience. All in all it was a great couple of days with some nice relaxing to super adventurous times. I know for me this place is a place I will remember for a while and I’m pretty sure others on our site feel the same way. Thanks for reading and much love.

-luke

(www.impactadventures.co.za if you are interested in seeing more about the camp)

Our stay in Stellenbosch was one of the longest this whole semester, but it was a very good twelve days. We split our time between Stellenbosch and the nearby township, Kayamandi, where we did our work projects those weeks. Stellenbosch is situated in beautiful wine country, and we were fortunate enough to experience that aspect of the culture on more than one occasion. I’m not a wine connoisseur myself, but even I enjoyed the wine tasting and tour that we went on towards the end of our stay.

One of the whole group’s favourite places was known simply as ‘The Farm’, and we were very happy to have four of our dinners there. The majority of our other meals were taken at the camp we were staying, so it was always a treat to drive to the farm for a fancy meal, which was sure to be delicious, and almost always included dessert.  We were able to experience more Afrikaans culture through attending two sporting events: a cricket game in a nearby town, and a rugby game played between the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Cape Town. The two are big rivals, so it was a packed and (for someone not a fan of sports) interesting game.

Our experience in Kayamandi was similar, and yet very different from our other work projects. Our contact for Stellenbosch (and generally the Western Cape) has been Johan.  Johan’s vision was that we go into the community and figure out what their needs are and start from there. We were encouraged to go in with the mindset of empowering the people to make changes themselves, and to think about longevity of projects as well as many other factors. A big thing that Johan emphasized was North Americans’ habit of going into a place and trying to fix it, thinking they know how to do exactly that. And I’ve definitely seen examples of that in places we’ve visited, where white people have come in, or maybe not even gone to that length, but simply assumed what the needs of the community were and sent something to “help”, or gone in and made “improvements” where others were more necessary. I think Johan taught and/or reminded us of a lot of valuable truths about work in developing areas; truths about listening and learning, and not assuming in our ignorance. So what did we do? Our groups were quite split up, enabling us to work on a number of different jobs. We were budgeted a certain amount of money, and three days to actually work on the projects. We had groups doing everything from painting a mural on the outside of an elementary school classroom, to a group sanding and varnishing a room at a community centre.  We worked at a couple of community centres, such as Kuyasa and Legacy, which worked on improving people’s skills and often had programs to help students with their school-work.

 

As long as we spent in Stellenbosch, it came to an end just as quickly, leaving not just one or two members of our group longing for more time in the quaint wine town. The University of Stellenbosch, which we toured, was a lure for some, the vineyard-covered countryside for others. Never-the-less, it was onto our next location (near Bonnevaile) that we departed for on the 16^th, to do some good ‘ole sleeping in tents.

 

~ Caitlin Dyck

If I had to describe our time in J-Bay in one word, it would be amazingly-awesomely-dream fulfilling-wonderful. There were so many great things that happened that week. I hardly know where to begin.

Firstly, we got to chill with Cam and Steve (from the Outtatown office). It was so nice to see people from home, and they even brought mail. Everyone was so excited about their care packages. Thank you to everyone who sent things; you brought us so much joy.

We also met up with Site 2. It was really nice to see friends we made last semester and to do worship together.

I have to say that my favorite part of the week by far was the activities that we got to do. I began with horseback riding. That was the coolest ride of my  life! Basically, we got a horse and then we went. There wasn’t really a guide or specific path, just me, Esther the horse, and the ocean. Nothing compares to the feeling of the ocean breeze on your face as you gallop through the water.

Another dream come true for me was the opportunity to surf. I had never been before and even though I could barely balance while lying on the board, I fell in love with that activity. Some people in the group were even able to stand. The lesson flew by too quickly and I hope to be able to go again someday.

The other optional activity was sand boarding but I didn’t go so I can’t really write anything about that.

I could have easily stayed another week!

See you soon!

Love,

Sarah

Once leaving Lesotho it was yet another 12- 15 hour drive to Mdumbi. It is original tribal lands pretty much. It is near the world famous coffee bay in it which we did hike to one day (even though we were told it would be a nice easy walk) and had the best pizza in Africa supposedly. It was quite good actually. Anyway this was our 4-5 days of relaxation/knowing ourselves. And this place was the highlight of my trip. It felt like a hippie-like community. I can’t describe it any better any other way. It had such chill people always around. And the sweetest hang out room which has given me so many ideas for things. There was a very secluded beach just down the hill from us. So we had site survivor one day on the beach with challenges and all. Super super fun. We all got super sandy and all. I know  I got sand in my mouth at one point. We all started discussing who would be good contestants on the actual show afterwards. For those that watch the show religiously, I was nominated to make it very far in the show if I entered but I would be a Russsel - Super funny. Another day in Mdumbi I spent the entire day in the water surfing and teaching others how to. . So much fun fun fun.  A lot of the site is now hooked on it and its all they want to do when were at the beach since. Nathan Rieger was also with us for 2 days and spoke to us about life. Many students absolutely loved there time with him. He told us some cool stories about his life and encouraged many of us about our futures. Needless to say I was very sad to say goodbye to Mdumbi. I loved it there so much. I would recommend any backpacker or even a newly married couple to go there for their honey moon … atleast I would

Brandon H

After a lengthy bus ride, we arrived at the Old Pietermaritzburg prison. It was great fun to  live, work and sleep (in the cells) in a former prison. There was a non profit organization  running from within the prison’s gates entitled Project Gateway. Gateway is a multifaceted organization which provides an expansive range of aid programs such as; computer classes, a pregnancy crisis centre, emergency shelter for the homeless, a fashion school, conservation agriculture education and a grade school . Gateway also rents to small local businesses and partners with Mennonite Central Committee. While at Gateway, we did some painting work for them. We heard a few staff members speak of the organization and the prisons apartheid history, as well as tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS.  We also  participated in a Zulu night! This involved an interesting dinner of chicken feet, tripe (cow? intestines) and chicken gizzards. Of course we had several adventures outside of the prison as well that week. For instance, we went skydiving at 10, 000 feet! Everyone concurred it was the most amazing feeling and experience they had ever had. We were the first ever Outtatown group to have every person skydive! Other activities that week consisted of were; visiting a beach in Durban as well as a waterfall and crafts market in a nearby village. But I think the most memorable part of our time in Pietermaritzburg was hiking the Drackensburg mountains. Three days of adventure, physical exertion and beautiful scenery. All in all, another fantastic week!

- Nicole Neufeld

Living in Lesotho for 4 days was really great. Most of the group stayed in a mission house at the Growing Nations complex but I was part of a group of 6 that stayed in the village. Every day we walked 15 minutes to and from the village/complex, which included crossing a Donga (eroded river) and crossing fields and muddy roads. And with excessive rain it turned into quite the adventure in the mornings! But it was worth it. We often enjoyed drinking chai in the evenings in our little house while talking and reading by candle light. The first day we all went to a local church and worshiped with the dancing villagers. The rest of the afternoon we had a rest and learn a bit about Lesotho culture. We also learnt to speak some Sesotho: “Dumela” is hello and “O pele jaun” is how are you? At the complex we had two workdays to help out. They included hauling rocks, digging trenches, making paths, gardening, landscaping, pruning, and weeding. Although one of the days was not very productive due to lots of rain, we still worked hard and helped out where we could. A group of us built a rock bridge over the flooded Donga and also made stairs up the muddy slope. It made the trip that those of us staying in the village had to make much easier. We also got to speak with the two SALT workers there and learn about the program. One afternoon we had free and some people hiked up a mountain, some swam in a river but those of us who lived in the village went back to our house and had a bath in a rain water tub! Our neighbour sat on her front step and laughed at us in our bathing suits, becoming clean for the first time in a few days after the workdays. One thing different we started this week was prayer partners. Our partner was randomly drawn from a hat and we spent intentional time with each other in discussion and then prayed for each other. It is a great way to get to know each other deeper and bring us closer to God. The day we were leaving we had to pile into cramped 12 passenger vans to drive back to where our bus was parked. These vans were equipped with at least 4 large speakers each that pumped out African club music, which was a very energizing way to start our travel day to Mdumbi. Our stay in Lesotho was full of great food (like steamed bread and peaches/apricots freshly picked from the tree), great talks, and hard work to give back to the community.

Wendy K.

Durban, the city with the highest population of people from India in all of South Africa was the location of our next homestay. We all got to stay with Indian families and eat some spicy food! But that’s not all.

Some of the things we did this week included; visiting some temples and a mosque, touring the Mahatma Ghandi Centre, wandering through Victoria Street Market, visiting the Aryan Benevolent Home, helping out with a crèche (pre-school) and enjoying the ocean!

I really enjoyed helping at the crèche. We took some young kids- around 4 years old, out on a field trip! The schools are often short staffed and therefore there are just not enough people to supervise the kids on an outing. With our group there it was about a one to one ratio from students to adults, so we paired up with the kids and hand in hand we made our way up a couple of blocks to the beach! You could hear the joy in the kid’s excited voices and trills of giggles. At the beach we played in the sand, blew bubbles and kicked around soccer balls. Definitely a memorable day!

When we were at the Aryan Benevolent Home, while we were taking a tour, we stopped in the psych ward to sing the patients a song. One song turned into two, and two into three and so on, the patients were clapping their hands and smiling, while the nurses began dancing, it was so fun! Then, the patients began taking turns singing songs for us, it was beautiful!

I think it’s safe to say that we all had a great week; it was nice to live in a home for a week and have a family like atmosphere while experiencing some Indian culture!

Jillian

Hey team! So our Outtatown family just got back from Kruger National Park. We obviously had a sweet time on our two safaris and the chill time we got to have at our little resort area. We got a true African experience as we got to sleep in legit huts with a straw roof and everything. Apart from the accommodations we had a full in ground pool to ourselves and we spend our entire days swimming and sun tanning.

The safaris were awesome. The first one was at dusk and the second one was at 4 in the morning. We were really excited to see some African animals. Our goal was to see the big five, which are lions, elephants, water buffalo, leopard and rhinos. Kruger has all five plus we got some surprises along the way. The thing about safaris is that they are as real as you can get so it’s pretty much gambling that if you see animals or not. Someday you can see like an animal every 5 minutes and other days you can go like an hour without seeing anything but trees and grass. But we got lucky as we saw a lot of cool animals. The first tour we saw giraffes, zebras, rhinos (which are huge by the way… pretty much the size of a car), hyenas, hippopotamuses (which are the most terrifying animal ever), tons of impala and even some vultures and other cool birds. The next day pretty much the same thing except we had to wake up at like 3:30 for a 4 o’clock safari. It was definitely hard to get out of the bed but it was worth it because we got to see a cheetah. The guide was telling us that there are only about 200 cheetahs in all of Kruger Park (which is about the size of Newfoundland) and they are super rare because of that. Our guide said that she has been doing safari’s for a couple years and has only seen a cheetah maybe 7-8 times. So we really lucked out with that. At the end of our safari we were pretty satisfied with what we saw except we didn’t get to see a leopards or water buffalo, but the really cool thing was that when we were leaving Kruger, the road leading to the highway was blocked because there was an entire herd of water buffalo. It was almost surreal how many there were and how big they were. It was quite the blessing to finish off our Kruger park stay on that note.

Luke C.