Ubuntu, Life and the Way Home

The past few weeks have been full. Full of premature goodbyes, squeezing in last minute bucket list items, and trying to make the most of the few precious days we have left in South Africa. I titled this blog "Adventures in Cape Town," and that is certainly what this trip has been: an adventure. In fact, I have been calling this last week "Katie and Alena's adventure week" because we have done a different hike/bike ride/outdoor activity every day, which has proved to be a very rewarding way to spend our last week in one of mother nature's most beautiful cities.

I don’t know how to begin to say goodbye to this place. Cape Town has become my home, and the nineteen people I have shared a house with for these past five months have become my family. That is something interesting about this experience—I might not have chosen these people as friends under any other circumstances. We don’t all have an abundance of things in common besides our desire to step outside the confines of ordinary life and our passion for service. But we have shared such a significance experience with one another, and no one else could possibly know what it feels like to say goodbye to a place that I will forever remember as the place where I fell in love with life.  I will never forget our traditional Sunday night dinners, where all twenty of us squeezed into the dining room table to enjoy a fabulous meal cooked by a different pair of roommates each week, the mountains we climbed (both literally and metaphorically), our movie marathon nights spent in the living room eating popcorn and drinking hot cocoa, our crazy adventures that rarely took us where we planned on going but always led us somewhere spectacular, and the love and support that I felt every time I walked into the Kimberly House. Without the nineteen other people who tolerated all my shenanigans, who listened to me when I needed an ear, who lent their shoulder when I needed one to cry on, and who laughed with me until we both shed tears of happiness, I would be nothing. I owe so much of what I have learned here to them, and the words “thank you” only begin to express the deep sense of gratitude and appreciation I have for each and every one of them. Saying goodbye to them will without a doubt be one of the hardest things I will ever do, but I will do it with the intention of seeing them all again one day and being able to reminisce about the months we spent taking Cape Town by storm. Until then, I have the memories of them and all of our crazy adventures and all the lessons I have learned from each and every one of them. As Herman Hesse once said, “If I know what love is, it is because of you.” All of you.

My roommates are not the only ones I have to thank, though. So many people have shaped my experience in South Africa, and they too deserve my eternal gratitude. Thank you to Chris Ahrends, my theology professor, for teaching me that it is possible to have faith without ever stepping foot in a church, and the importance of the word surrender. Thank you to Sharon Penderis, my Leaders in Grassroots Organizations professor, for teaching me that leadership doesn’t have one definition, and that it really does take a village. Thank you to Liesl Theron and all the people at Gender DynamiX for teaching me that gender and sexuality aren’t things we should have to fight to protect, though many people do every day. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to express exactly who they were without fear of persecution from either their government or their fellow human beings, but as I have found both in the US and South Africa, this is not a perfect world. And it may never be, but if this trip has taught me anything it is that I am called to spend the rest of my life trying to make it as close to perfect as it can get. I didn’t come to South Africa expecting to find my life path, or to uncover some secret of life that would allow me to be happier than I’ve ever been, but I guess in a way that is exactly what I found. As Martin Buber said, “all journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” For me, this couldn’t be more true.

I am not the same person as the girl who stepped onto that plane by herself back in January. I have grown as a friend, as a woman, as a student, as a volunteer, and most of all as a human. The idea of a common humanity, or “Ubuntu,” is a very important idea in South Africa. It is said that South Africa is the origin of the human species, that we all are derived from a single source that was located in Sub-Saharan Africa—the heart of humanity. We are all, in some way, African. But as Chris often talked about in our theology class, a community is only as strong as the individuals who live in it. So that humanity, that Ubuntu spirit that we all hold in our hearts, only means something if we use it. And to use it, we have to show up every day and resist being the victim of circumstances outside of our control. I’m not saying this is easy—it’s a goal. Chris said one class that the journey to the true self isn’t without anxiety, but it is the way home, and I think that’s something worth remembering. If every single person showed up every day with the intention of making a difference, and left behind all the preconceived notions they have about other people, maybe we could all find the way home together.

If I had to sum up my experience here in one word, it would be life. Before I came to South Africa, I didn’t understand what people meant when they said “live life to the fullest.” It was the cause of great anxiety for me for years, because I didn’t know how to do it, what “fullest” even meant or if I would ever be able to fulfill this infamous idiom. I now know that the word “fullest” is relative, and when you are living life to the fullest you just know it. You can feel it in your mind, heart, body and soul. I can feel it, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to hold on to that feeling. It would be impossible for me to fully explain what this trip has meant to me, but I have tried my best through this blog, and for those of you have read it I hope you have been able to get a glimpse into the past five months of my life. It hasn’t said everything, but as promised it has been honest and (usually) frequent. After this post my blogging career will probably not end, but will definitely take a long hiatus—I just don’t know what I will have to write about when there are no mountains or bridges to jump off of! Until next time though, or until I see all of you (hopefully sooner rather than later) I will leave you with this poem by one of my heroes that has a special place in my heart after especially after this trip.

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."
— Mother Teresa

Goodbye for now, Cape Town!

June Already?!?

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! Almost a whole month has gone by since my last post, and I am now a mere 17 days away from my departure from Cape Town. Looking back on these past five months, I can divide my trip pretty clearly into three phases; doing, experiencing, and reflecting. The first month or so we just did as many things as possible, going from place to place, spending whatever money we had somewhat wrecklessly, and enjoying life to the fullest. The next few months were somewhat more meaningful--the spring break trip allowed us to experience the true South Africa, far from any tourist destinations or hot spots. We were exploring the country as it was meant to be explored, and I gained a lot from my travels around this beautiful land. Instead of just doing, I was thinking about what each experience meant to me. These past few months have been more of a reflecting phase for me. Having crossed off so many items off my bucket list already, I have been able to just live my life in Cape Town and enjoy the little things this city has to offer. Being able to fully emmerse yourself in a culture is a true gift, and for that reason I appreciate the timeline of this trip. I feel like I have had enough time to not just do the city, but to be in it. To live in it. That being said, I have not just been sitting around reflecting all day--we have still managed to get out and do lots of fun things, even in the midst of all the final exams and projects looming overhead.

On Friday, a group of us hiked Devil’s Peak, a mountain that is part of the Table Mountain range, and the closest mountain to Obz. Devil’s Peak is the mountain whose tip I can see from our frot door, but up until last weekend had yet to climb. After hearing that our Friday Marquette classes were cancelled, we geared up and walked from our house to the Rhode’s Memorial, the starting point of the hike. The memorial was created for Cecil Rhodes, an important South African politician.

Rhodes Memorial

After checking out the awesome view from the memorial, we headed uphill. We didn’t really know the way, nor did we have a map, so we made a few wrong turns and found our fair share of dead ends before we finally got on the right path. It was definitely one of the toughest hikes I have ever been on, but the views were spectacular. The higher we got, the more of the city we could see, while keeping our house in view the whole time. The view was much different than the one from Table Mountain and Lion’s Head because it allowed us to see the suburbs and other areas that were on the other side of Devil’s Peak, usually blocked by it when atop the other mountains. As we got higher, we could see both sides of the Cape Peninsula, and we had views of both Flse Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Panorama from Rhodes Memorial

checking out the view

Just when we thought we were reaching the top, we realized that we were actually seeing a false face, the real top of the mountain was much higher, and behind the place we had reached. We continued upward, finally reaching the top after about 3 hours of uphill hiking, but the views were incredible. It was a beautifully clear day and we had perfect views of the entire city. After a quick rest, we began the hike down, we were exhausted but it was a much easier trip down, and though we took a different way back, we made it home safely with no wrong turns. The day turned out to be much more exciting than a regular day of Friday classes!

Another new and fun experience was going with my roomate Hanna to her service site last Sunday. She volunteers at Place of Hope, a shelter for abused women and their children, and works primarily with the kids and in the soup kitchen which runs every Thursday. We spent two exhausting hours chasing the kids around, giving piggy back rides, holding newborn babies, and trying our best to contain the chaos to one room. The kids were so full of life and energy, and became immediately attached to us. It was such a fun day, and it brought a whole lot of sunshine to the rainy weekend.  Hope everyone is doing well, I'll try and write one last post before I leave!

"Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills."

--William Arthur Ward