Clearview-Tal & Acacia

Hey Loves!

The time has actually come for me to leave for South Africa. I can’t believe it! I will be leaving Monday (my plane leaves at 5:30pm) and landing in the Johannesburg airport at 5:40pm Tuesday, then catching a connecting flight to Port Elizabeth and traveling another hour and a half to get to Grahamstown, where I will be living. I thought that Jon Kentner and I would be waving to each other in the Johannesburg airport as he leaves to go home, but he has extended his trip by two days, so I can focus on making my connection. My travel time (with the 7 hour time difference) should work out to be just under 24 hours—hopefully—and I would like to keep it that way.

For those of you who don’t know, I will be attending Rhodes University for what is their spring semester, from July through November. Since they are in the southern hemisphere, their seasons are the opposite of ours, and I will be getting there in midwinter. Luckily, midwinter won’t actually be that wintery, and it means that I get to do the spring season change three times in a row without the inconvenience of fall. I will be living on the university campus, which is basically in downtown Grahamstown, although both the university and the city are a bit bigger than their Gettysburg counterparts. I won’t sign up for classes until I get there, so it can be a fun surprise to find out what I am taking thing semester. As long as I can get some bio classes and keep on track for graduation, I will be happy. It is strange to think that I am going to be in lectures, using my brain and learning things in the near future.

Not that I have been completely lazy this summer… in fact, I will now impart upon you some things I have learned that you may or may not know about South Africa. Feel free to skip ahead, but since I am not talking about biology or psychology, I am sure it will be (slightly more) brief and comprehensible:

-There are 11 official languages, although English is the unifying language, and is the language of instruction at the university. However, this is South African English, which contains a healthy dose of Afrikaans, as well as other words I don’t know that will probably lead to some fun and confusing episodes.

-South Africa was the only African country not colonized in the usual way by European countries. Dutch settlers from the East India Trading Company came in the 1600s, and later settled and claimed Africa as their county of origin, renouncing their European ties and calling themselves “Afrikaners”. They developed their own language (Afrikaans), fought the British for control of the country (in 1880 and again in 1899) and continued to be heavily involved in politics despite their defeat by the British. Their National Party eventually gained control of the country after the British relinquished control, continuing to subjugate the black Africans in the country and setting the stage for apartied in the 1900s.

-After years of struggling against aparteid, the first nonracial elections were held in 1993, and the African National Congress came to power, with Nelson Mandela serving as president. The ANC has been effectively running the country since then, although Mandela retired after one term, and Zuma is the current President.

-South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation! Archbishop Desmond Tutu originally used the phrase when describing race relations and his vision for reconciliation, and Mandela also called South Africa a rainbow nation in one of his speeches. I adore the layered symbolism of a rainbow, from a covenant promise to a motif in Ntzake Shange’s choreopoem. I love that it will be a motif in my coming adventure...

It is actually hard to imagine being in South Africa in the near future… its just so new to me, so exotic, and I know that I can’t accurately picture what it will look like where I will be going yet. I am super excited about going, and I can’t wait to finally see the country in person! Of course I am going to miss you all terribly, and it has been so hard saying goodbye to everyone over the past few weeks, but—surprise!—God is already in South Africa, so I wont be alone. As I have been preparing to leave, the talk that Mark Fodale gave on Hosea 2 has been repeating in my mind. God takes us to the wilderness to romance us, to teach us things that we can’t learn in the crowd, and the wilderness is most often a place of affection, not punishment. This is totally opposed to how we usually feel… that God has abandoned us in the middle of our loneliness or suffering, and that he no longer cares. I so often feel insecure and unloved when I am not surrounded by people I know and love, but I am really starting to look forward to what God is going to teach me in my upcoming wilderness.