Day 9

Today I went up to L’Abri again with Rod; set off in the morning, grabbed roofing sheets, 10 concretes blocks and then made the trek up again... this is the quarry we got the blocks from... and some asian dude in the back of a ute...

Checked out a computer they had there that they want me to try and teach the staff up there how to use, and then was supposed to wait around for Rod to have a short meeting, which ended up going for a lot longer than he thought; I ended up spending a South African Tuesday afternoon shooting hoops... it’s such a cool feeling when you find your stroke...

Also wandered outside a bit, threw the ball into the tree to get some nuts to crack/eat, and saw HEAPS of monkeys... the ebola kind... they’re EVERYWHERE... I only got this not so good photo of one ‘cuz I didn’t have a proper digi cam on me... imagine this little dude times 10 scampering ALL over the roof and trees :S

The YDC, Pietermaritzburg

In all this haste to try and find my Souwth Afreekaan groove, I’ve neglected to blog about the place I’m staying @, the YDC;

It’s a house that’s right next to the Khayalethu (the boys shelter), with three bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and common area (pictured)

And I’m staying with... drum roll... five girls :S 4 Dutchies and 1 Belgian, with 2 MORE Irish coming in this Friday... it’s a little bizar; ironically, because I’m the only guy, I get my own room whilst the girls are all having to share between the two rooms!!

Whilst not of any star rating, it’s a cozy-ish place, it has a roof and a few (please note it really is only a FEW) powerpoints; akin to a backpackers, I think, except the power gets tripped (i.e. lose electricity to the entire house) a few times a night... usually around supper preparation time... which is now... in the whole time of writing this post, the power tripped 3-4 times...

Day 8

With the forecast at this point looking like I'll be working the weekends (camps), these days (mon-tues) I think will be my 'weekends'

So with notepad in hand, I've got lotsa errands to run today, most of which are online (i.e. finances), clearing mailboxes, uploading of photos and making sure the blog's still there!!

Walking down to the 'net cafe makes me wonder if I'll ever feel 'fitted in' here, as it's hard not to feel like I'm sticking out just a tad being the ONLY non-black person walking around... :S

Later that day...

Of course blogger was the ONLY site that doesn’t work on that particular PC  So will have to continue to mail in these entries, hoping that they’ll work...

Wandered around the town, with the purpose of trying find guitar strings, which I didn’t find, but was pleasantly surprised to see Pietermaritzburg in greater detail

Rod’s also just sms’d, letting me know that I’ll be up @ L’Abri tomorrow too... so much for a two day ‘weekend’ :P


Observations
• Internet here costs 10rand per hour... or a little less than $2 an hour :D It's not the fastest in the world though...

Day 7

Home time!! But first another wake up at 7am, brekky, activities and preparation for lunch, the kids go... we stay and pack up... and THEN home time (for us)... but no... not really either...

We finished packing up the site but due to miscommunications we had to wait an extra hour for our ride to show, so me and another L’Abri staffer just sat on the outside dining tables cracking nuts (walnuts?) in the sunny, sun-sun... was an awfully picturesque way to end the weekend...



Some of the male L'Abri staff kept bugging me to go for drinks with them, and I've been asked all through my trip so far, and although I was tired, I figured that it'd be a good thing to do for building relationships

I'm beginning to realise, for better or worse, that drinking is a BIG part of social life here, even for the most regular church attender (yeah, I know that doesn't mean much by itself, but still)...

Got back to the YDC, completely worn out, but for some reason feeling not too bad about it all, and perhaps a little encouraged of the picture of how I could fit in here

Day 6

Oh, and before I go on, let me explain that whilst the pics I took of L'Abri could allude to possible resort-like facilities, let me point out a few things; to get hot water, you have to make a FIRE, showers are outdoors (with tarpaulin doors), you pump the toilet handle to flush; the paths around the camp site are only in any useable because wild pigs frequent them (therefore moving the debris aside), and I’m told if a wild pig is on the path I’m on to get out of its way; these aspects aren’t the most photographical (dunno if I’ll have time to whip out the camera and simultaneously dodge pigs), so you get pics of the pretty bits

Today started at 7am, you know, natural waking up time for me (NOT) with brekky @ 7:30am and then lotsa team building activities, lunch and then a walk through quasi-rainforest (and back); more learning activities in the arvo, time for showers and then supper, followed by more activities...


Geez... as I type this out I realise that Saturday was a packed one :S

Observations
• Came across a tree that's 400+ years old
• Everyone keeps asking me about Jackie Chan
• How do you talk about family with those who have never had one???
• Am learning some Zulu; Hello (Sawubona), How are you (Unjani), and various swearing phrases :P
• Taught a zulu how to use chopstix today

Day 5

Friday started out a little abruptly; had been thinking I'd be able to wander into town and get a few things before I went off to camp for the weekend, but I got a call @ about 10am saying that I was going to be picked up an hour’s time :S Rod also mentioned during the call that I’ll be coming back to the YDC on Sunday, so that’s good too

So I quickly got up, packed, and saddled into a ute to pick up the other L'Abri staff in town...

Up to the camp we went, prepared the site and prepared supper (what they call dinner); the kids got there a little late, so all they had time for was indoor activities and the introduction, before we packed in for the 'night


Observations
• A junior taxi (i.e. a non-van taxi) with the branding "Arrive Alive" on the side of it
• Apparently the only time you see a chinaman here is because he's here to open a business
• With a normal knock-off time of 4pm here, people normally start leaving @ 3:30pm
• I don't know what I was afraid of with the flying thing here; if I make it through 10+ weeks of driving on these roads, THAT'll be the be miracle :S
• The flying bugs here are MASSIVE
• Street protests are incredibly musical and festive
• Saw a bunch of ebola monkeys scampering across the road (you know, the cute one from the movie "Outbreak")

Rest of Day 4

Managed to work out with the volunteer co-ordinator (Sally) a more workable arrangement; will be spending my working week up at L’Abri, but will still be based out of the YDC, which is a big relief; Went to the shops, managed to grab a few essentials and be acquainted with Pietermaritzburg in a cursory way

All in all, a good day :D

Observation
• It might be just me, but so far it's been awfully hard to find sunscreen here

Day 4

At least the start of it :)

I’m beginning to wonder if blogging in the morning would be a far better way to do it; when I’m not exhausted, when I’ve the hope of a new day ahead of me and the energy to embrace it, with a healthy dose of familiar Hillsong playing in the background (the Dutch people had it playing!!)

I’m still incredibly wary of what the next fortnight will hold, but as I sit here at the computer typing this entry, I look out at the sunny day, listen to the song “Majesty” blaring through the computer speakers (at a healthily not loud volume!!), I can’t help but feel my soul being restored

I’ve somehow gotten my phone battery to charge, chucked a load of washing into a semi-working washing machine (you have to half fill it manually by bucket, and I’ve been told that a lot of the time your clothes come out worse than they went in), and the shock of having to move everything again tomorrow is settling in a little bit

I’m desperately hoping to find a regular, sustainable rhythm soon (if I was only going to be unpredictable for 2 weeks, I could do that easily, because the end’s never that far away, but for 2+ months?! I don’t think so… at the very least, it’d be nice to be predictably unpredictable???) but if I don’t, I’ll try not to cry :P

The people I hold close to me believe in me, and I believe in my God does too, and that’s the only things I’ll need to cling too. At the end of the day, what more do I need, really?

Again, keeping my prayer to be open to all that God has to teach me through this experience, and to help me be as much of a help I can to the ministry here

Hope you’re all doing well back at home, and living just as much on the edge in your own lives :)… Time to see if my laundry’s been stolen…

Day 3

Haven’t really had a single day of respite yet; woke up @ 9, got picked up @ 10 and ran around ALL day with Rod on errands for L’Abri; heavy lifting and everything, so again have come back to the YDC utterly exhausted, and because of that, feeling pretty overwhelmed too

L’Abri is a beautiful place, quite magical in terms of natural beauty; I’ve confirmed however, that they’re hoping for me to spend most of my time up there, where I’ll be the only volunteer/white person, and in my section of this large camp, quite by myself when camps aren’t on (i.e. all non-weekends); just when I’d only barely started to get somewhat comfortable with staying @ the YDC, I now have to continue to shift my mindset to see L’Abri as my home base

Compounded by the fact that I’m the only really fluent English speaker, the boys shelter is right next door right now, that there isn’t that much personal space and everything is completely foreign, I’m feeling pretty silly for being so confident about doing all this by myself!!

There’ll be a lot for me to do @ L’Abri, between helping out with the camps (this weekend it’ll be the boys shelter up there) and maintenance of the site itself (there’s a LOT to do; fix the climbing wall, chop down trees and then use that wood to build railings, map the site itself, etc) so I won’t be bored, but I’m going to have to come to grips with being so far out of civilisation for a long time; with no Internet, no PEOPLE, no shops or services, just me, my room, beautiful scenery... and monkeys and wild pigs...

Last year @ Urban Seed the critical thing that got me through it all were the resies, and it seems that God’s taken it one step further to remove ALL things; Will be a severe time of testing for me, to spend all this time utterly and completely alone when I already feel so stretched, but I really, really pray that I’ll be open to what God is trying to teach me through it all

Observations from today...

·         In the Zulu culture, a man is only considered marriage material AFTER he has sired a child, and THEN is marriage even considered (sometimes they’ll even marry the mother of that child)

·         HIV is considered a manageable thing; a new strain of TB is reported to have no cure and is completely fatal

·         Africa really is a sunny country; there are never any clouds in the sky

·         Russell Peters is right; there ARE a lot of Indians here, and from once upon a time being brought in as slaves, they now own a lot of the businesses here

·         There are no Asians; I appear to be the only one everywhere I’ve been

·         Races are broken down to blacks, whites, Indians & coloured; Coloured being halfies (white and black parents); yep, again no Asians

I’m not sure what’s going on tomorrow; I’d originally heard that I’d been down to spend some time with the volunteer co-ordinator, am also hoping to get a bit of time to myself too (to wander into town and perhaps grab a few things) because on Friday I get carted off to L’Abri until God knows when :S

So much for easing into things, and I know I’ve maintained that I’ll get to rest all I want when I die, but this is a little crazy...

Day 2

Sat through a staff meeting with the rest of the L’Abri staff today; One white dude (Rod, who happens to be the guy in charge, one asian/aus, and ~20 zulus :S Finally got home @ about 10:30pm exhausted, not being able to totally shut out the knowledge that it would have been 8:30am in Oz...

Observations from today...

·         Was 5 degrees at about 10:30pm

·         Guard wearing a shot gun outside casino, all black staff with predominately white patrons

·         Vehicles unable to leave casino without a visual inspection from a guard

·         Even in post-apartheid South Africa, there are still overt classes, ‘black’ & ‘white’, to which I am accordingly considered as ‘white’ (which I don’t doubt will amuse mikey no end :P)

·         As a foreigner, I will be (incorrectly or not) seen as someone who is vastly wealthy and as a possible means by which some try and escape the worlds they are confined too

·         As exotic as Africa is, and as developed as South Africa is, a South Africa this far out from apartheid is still a very seriously screwed up place for blacks

·         HIV is such a real issue here; huge campaigns to urge people to go in for testing (“test one, bring five”), it’s quite bizar to be in a society where a rather demonised virus (for us in Oz) is extremely common place

·         Everyone keeps remarking at how quickly my time here will go, even though my body (feeling the ravages of time (zone) travel) at the moment still feels every minute passing

Blogging in SA!!

G’day from SA! No, not South Australia :/

 

Will be blogging in a very limited capacity where I can; there isn’t a ‘net connection here per se, only access to an e-mail address (not even my own one), so I’ll be mailing in my entries from there…

 

Hope you’re all well, and having your own adventures back in Oz J

 

More entries to follow in the next few days… stay tuned!!

Get me outta here!! :(

Am approaching the 9 hour mark of time spent in Singapore, and am pretty thoroughly over it :(

All the excitement of travel has been truly wiped, and I really just want to get there now... I've been catching 20min naps on chairs around the airport, which ain't really enough :( The saving grace has been a shower I bought for $SG8.40 (includes bottle of water), and at least feel a little refreshed :)

I'll get to board soon for the middle (and longest) flying portion of the journey, the trip from Singapore to Jo'burg, and as much as flying bugs the hell out of me, I just wanna get outta here!! :P

Just tracked through the previous two (travel) posts, and it's funny to note the obvious decline in enthusiasm; catch you readers on the flip side (SA?)!!

Argh... damn it...

I just bothered to check my boarding pass, and it's not 3hrs remaining, but 6!! What am I going to do for another 6 hours?! The flight leaves here @ 2am Singaporean time, which makes it 4AM Aus time :( Blehhh... time to find somewhere to have a looooonnnnggg nap or something...

asian limbo :P

Have made it thus for to Singapore!! Flying wasn't nearly as bad as I'd over thought it to be, and I managed to watch two movies I'd missed in Melbourne (Happyness & Rocky), and start Because I Said So!!

I'd been sorta dreading the stopover here, as there was a gap of seven hours to kill, but after taking part of the free (free!!) city tour, I don't think there are that many more to go!! Another 3? But because the terminal is so huge here, I'm sure I'll find enough to keep me busy...

It really does feel like a bit of a pause on the way to adventure... as pretty as it was to see Singapore from a bus, I don't really have any urge to spend any more time than I need to here, and my excitement has slowly started to really grow about South Africa!!

Time to check NBA scores, discover the rest of the terminal and let one of the many people waiting for this booth have their turn...

Split personalities?

Due to my flickr being full, I've started to host all my photos on multiply; I'm trying to hold off from migrating fully (i.e. the blog too) to multiply as yet, as I'm pretty sentimental about this blogger site :)

But for pics and other content, feel free to check out (or add me as a contact) my multiply site @ nateleung.multiply.com

What the bleep?! South Africa?! Where'd that come from?!

I've been slow in getting onto a post about it all, but here it is!! 10:05am this Sunday I'll be flying off to South Africa for the next 2.5mths as a volunteer with TEAR/YFC

It's been my desire to go overseas and experience, imbibe and be a part of (however small) God's work in the developing world, and I've been lucky enough to have an opportunity to do so in South Africa

Most of the time I'll be at L'Abri, just helping out wherever (leading weekly bible studies, site maintenance, basic computer tutoring and assisting with the camps); the times where the camp is not active, I'll be spending with the Khayalethu street team :)

Since confirmation (in the last two weeks) it's been a non-stop organisational thing, arranging flights, vaccinations, travel insurance and all the like, and there's still so much to do!!

---

The concept behind L'Abri was birthed out of the disunity of apartheid South Africa. A youth worker back in 1984 had a vision to bring young people back to the simplicity of a natural, balanced environment and guide them in a reconciliation process, bridging cultural and social boundaries.


L'Abri is situated in the Karkloof Mountain range, 50 Km North of Pietermaritzburg where the indigenous forest, scenic trails and waterfalls form the backdrop for people to discover themselves, and the potential of group productivity and companionship. 80% of the property is covered with indigenous mist belt forest, and has 5 waterfalls cascading down the Mshwathi River Valley.


AND the


Khayalethu Project serves homeless children in and around the city of Pietermaritzburg by:

• Providing street based outreach through Street Work teams with the intention of building trust with children and young people, encouraging them to return home or to move into temporary residential care



• Running a holistic, short term residential-based programme that provides for the basic needs of a child, giving opportunity for personal development and intervention with the family that serves towards reunification



• Providing aftercare services on agreed upon expectations with families who have been reunited with their child to provide support and monitor their stability after reunification



• Developing community based prevention programmes in communities where children are at high risk of moving onto the streets on a temporary or permanent basis, via drop-in centre programmes and direct family intervention with families in need of support and care

Sydney daze :P

Fun lovin' away from it all :D Got to spend three days (Fri-Sun) trapsing around Sydney with the vikstar, and we were really blessed with the weather; was absolutely gorgeous :D

Was fun to get away, spend a huge bunch of quality time with her, prepare for the oncoming South Africa trip (by taking a relatively short flight!!) and to simply just be somewhere where I could reclaim some headspace...

beer in a bottle? Brilliant! :D

In the midst of a bustling city

I don't know about you, but the city for all it's glamour, glitz and parties, for all it's culture and couture, can seem a starkly empty and hollow place to me; tall, high-rise buildings towering above people rushing from one place to another, in the struggle to stay afloat and keep up in a rat race that relentlessly gets faster and faster

But right in the midst of the all the meaningless striving, there's a place that's different; a place hidden deep in the recesses of a dingy laneway. Perhaps apt, as I've always contended that Melbourne's true treasures are found down laneways (or at the end of two)

For the last two days of my self-imposed sabbatical of sorts, I've been @ Urban Seed helping out with some IT stuff. I'm still a little puzzled at how a place can still feel so much like home, even after four months removed and so much movement in my own life since

I found myself walking down the laneway, pressing buzzers and walking stairs so familiarly; but surely it was more than the stones and improperly-attached-to-the-wall elevator doors that beckoned once again




I don't think it's normal to leave somewhere for that long, and to be included again so seamlessly and effortlessly; conversations picking up right in the middle, without the hint of the 4 months of blank space between

Not a slick, well-oiled machine producing off-handed polite remarks, but rather the gathering of unlikely and seemingly divergent people...

There was Mark, continuing to helm such a bizar grouping using nothing but awful pastoral jokes (wonderfully awful :D), completely black attire and a quiet manner that never belies the heart of a creative worship guru

Brent, with his yacht-club playboy demeanor, Kate who seems to always be dressed for funerals (darkly; but yes, always hot), Sue that almost-seems-scattered-in-a-brilliant-way, thought-she-was-scary-but-is-actually-funky gin & jihad jeff, i-have-a-wife-and-three-kids socialist marcus, almost-out-of-control-i-have-that-much-spunk mel, keyser sorze luke, my cynically-beautiful (or beautifully-cynical?) banterer Sammy and the most precious hobbit Toms... how could I even describe the personality pot that is that space?! I can't

Perhaps it's because so much of me is still there, is there in the '06 resies that still call central-house home, the huge part of my heart that will belong always to christop-'nomes-ray (and bio-diesel ali), always

A newspaper once used the term for the open-lunches of "soul food" (would that be what edith sprigg eats?); I left today, until who knows again, walked out of the heart-place of the laneway into the comparatively desolate city, but restored incredibly in soul and resolve