One Afternoon in Johannesburg

Today I learned that I did not know very much about apartheid in South Africa.  I thought that I knew the basic information but after visiting the Apartheid Museum, I realized that I have a long way to go.  We were suppose to spend the whole afternoon exploring the city of  Johannesburg but we stayed there until the museum closed. It includes art, memorabilia, written descriptions and video clips all presented in a creative way.  We were also able to see a special exhibit dedicated to Nelson Mandela.  It was a bit overwhelming and we would have stayed longer but they turned out the lights! (No pictures allowed inside the museum).

Good-bye Malawi, Hello Johannesburg!

Our last early morning (6:00 am) breakfast in Blantyre at our special table. We will miss everyone that we met during our time there.  The children will definitely stay in our thoughts.

John drove our van the whole time we were in Malawi. Nothing phased him: We had extreme mud, rain, fog, masses of moving  people and other vehicles veering into us but he was steady and calm.

Due to a plane delay, we only had a short time in Johanessburg.  We spent most of the time at the Apartheid Museum.  It was wonderful. More than a day can be spent there and you would not see it 

all. 

Downtown “Joburg” in the distance.

On to Kruger (and no WiFi) in the morning!

Football and Bracelet Day! Ndirande: Blantyre, Malawi

Today we invaded a Saturday football practice in Ndirande, Malawi - a very poor section of Blantyre.    Chris brought some equipment and we got to observe and interact with the players and coaches. Devon participated in the drills.  There were some very good players.  Despite playing in Crocs and bare feet for some, they played hard and fast - even the little ones!

 

After the drills, we taught the children to make friendship bracelets like the ones we brought from home.  Truth be told, some were already very proficient and taught their friends much better than I did.  Language did not seem to be a barrier and we had a very enthusiastic bunch.

One of our Rolling Hills students, Alexandra, made many bracelets for these children. Thank you:) 

                                                  The finished products!

 

Devon made some friends.  One even wanted to travel back to the US with him:)

One of the coaches, Joyce, made a friendship bracelet with the colors of the Malawian flag and presented it to Chris. They also gave us beautiful handmade cards and their traditional football (wrapped plastic).

We then made our way to Makata School where many of the children attend.  There are a total of 7000 children and they are divided into shifts of 3500.

The classrooms look like this.  They have no window glass or doors. There are no desks and a concrete floor.

This the football field and playground for all of the students.

The community is very proud of their water pump.  Chris took a turn while the ladies who had come to get water, giggled in the back.  Apparently, they thought he was a bit slow!

Do you want to see something very cute?  Click on this link!

Luke tried to start a game of marbles with one of the children.

These look more like ratkabobs rather than the micekabobs that I described earlier but either way, they certainly do not look appetizing:)

Thyolo, Malawi: Red Ants and Tea

We visited a tea plantation today in Thyolo. Another wet and muddy walk:). 

This time, however we encountered red ants. Large, swarming insects. They bit and were hard to get off shoes, socks and skin. At the mere mention of ants, I ran and was unscathed. Nate, our insect lover, was swarmed! Ant(ie) Anne did not stop to help obviously but everyone else had those things crawling everywhere!

   

                Nate became shoeless quickly!















After we cleaned socks and shoes, we had a tea party. Devon did a great job serving us.

 

Our ride home was a muddy, slippery event! But, we made it without getting stuck thanks to our driver John. These are some of the pictures from the van window!

Some store fronts!