Juxtaposition

2-06-09
So now my South Africa experience is finally feeling a bit more structured and real. Over the past couple of days I have learned so much about the town that I am living and the school that I am attending. NMMU is a beautiful campus covered in palms and other tropical vegetation with signs all over the place saying not to feed the monkeys, but we haven’t even really seen one yet. Maybe that is because we have only been on campus twice. Port Elizabeth is just unbelievably beautiful. With waves crashing on sea rocks and break walls and beautiful African skies, there is no better backdrop for a night out while eating amazing food and having a few drinks with great people.
I know it sounds like I am living in paradise (which I sort of am), but I just had my first big serving of reality, which kindly reminded me of the problems South Africa faces today. Yesterday we had our first visit to New Brighton township just outside of PE. Our destination was a brand new, beautiful museum that was constructed to teach others about what township life is really like and to honor those who fought so hard against apartheid. The juxtaposition between the modern architecture of the building surrounded by the heaps of trash that some people call home, was astonishing. I can’t really grasp it still. After the tour of the township, and as we began to see a new face of South Africa, the tour company quickly moved us along to the largest shopping center in the developed area, Green Acres, where we were told to eat fast food and go shopping. Bizarre!
Now today we visited our first volunteer destination, the House of Resurrection AIDS Haven. First we met with the director, who is wonderfully spirited woman that has passion like I have never seen before. This woman who stands no more than 5 feet tall has the presence of someone twice her size. This became very clear when she began to tell stories about how she has told off every basically every major official in South Africa that has stood in the way of providing the children a good life. After a tour of the ground and living facilities, we had a chance to met the kids. I know it’s a bit cliché, but African children are probably the cutest kids in the world. As we tried to get past broken English and heavy accents, we attempted to learn as much about these kids as we could in 15 minutes. The only big problem is that they are pretty big tricksters. I would ask one kid how old he was and he would tell me five. Then a minute later he would tell some else he was two. I have clue who he was telling the truth to, but it didn’t matter, he was just too cute! Anyway, it was lots of fun to met the kids and see the place where some of us will be working. The hardest part though is realizing that 90% of these kids are HIV positive. They are so full of life, and thinking that they are sick is almost impossible.
To close this post I want to leave you with one world that sums up my feelings about South Africa so far: Juxtaposition
In the past couple of days we have been constantly dragged back and forth from resort life on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been on to the scene of some of the most tragic poverty in the world. I go from eating at some of the nicest restaurants in South Africa where $7 US dollars can buy me anything to watching a mother and child digging through fields of trash to find food. I go from a building that is incredibly modern and comparable to new buildings found in the big cities of the US and then I walk out the front door and cannot see past the miles of shacks and garbage.
I guess this is Africa.