Driving to Swaziland, 03/02/2012

The next morning, we prepared ourselves for a long drive. It's about 5 hours from Johannesburg to Swaziland, and being piled into small cars filled with teenage boys for that long seemed a little daunting.

The drive was GORGEOUS. I kept telling Chris "This doesn't feel like Africa!" Everything was so green and lush. From all my years watching The Lion King, I guess I was expecting savannas, grasslands, and the serengeti. 

These photos are blurry because I was taking them from inside the moving car. I wish we'd stopped to take some good photos. 

We made it across the border into Swaziland pretty quickly, we avoided the Friday afternoon rush of Swazi citizens who work just across the South African border. About an hour later, we were at the Moya Centre meeting Jane and some of her staff, Lina and Julie. They are all amazing women.

Jane Cox, a native of Swaziland, runs the Moya Centre, a community healing center focused on the well-being of Swazi children, particularly those who have lost their parents to AIDS.  

After meeting with Jane, we drove to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, where we would be staying for the remainder of the trip. These are the offices for Mlilwane, where we checked into a backpacker's lodge called Sondzela. 

After checking in, we made the drive through the park to get to Sondzela. It was so surreal seeing zebras in the wild, not fenced in or caged in a zoo. It finally felt like Africa to me. 

We also saw plenty of warthogs on our drive. I just had to laugh every time I saw one, they're so silly looking.

That night, after eating an awesome dinner with the rest of the campers, the staff performed a traditional Swazi Sibhaca dance for us. 

The face on their robes is King Mswati III. He has reigned in Swaziland since 1986, and is considered to be one of the last "absolute monarchs" in the world (meaning he has the power and authority to choose the Prime Minister, members of the cabinet and judiciary, etc. He doesn't, however, have the power to choose his own heir.)

After the show, we went back to Sondzela to plan some workshops for the morning, and get caught up on some much needed sleep! 

Johannesburg, 02/29/2012 - 03/01/2012

After we left Paris, we jumped on a 10 hour flight to Johannesburg. When we landed, we stayed in the airport for about 8 hours while we waited for the rest of our group: 8 other adults and 13 teenage boys from a school in Orem called Telos Academy. Amazingly enough, no bags got lost in transit! A miracle if I've ever seen one. We loaded all our stuff into 5 small rental cars and drove just outside the city to a B&B called The Woodpecker's Inn, owned by a lovely South African lady named Marnie. We got settled in, Marnie made an awesome South African meal for us, and we went to bed!

The view from our room to the street. SO GREEN! 

Overlooking the pool at The Woodpecker's Inn. 

Morning came EARLY. South Africa is about 9 hours ahead of us (prior to the Daylight Savings Time adjustment) and so we woke at about 5am, not bad at all really. Marnie made us an awesome breakfast, while we waited for our tour vans to take us to see the sites. 

The Orlando Towers in Soweto are a decomissioned coal-power station which used to power Johannesburg for over 50 years!

We stepped off the tour bus to go into a museum and saw a man selling things at a small market. On his table was a copy of the Book of Mormon. We asked if it was his own copy, or if he was trying to sell it. He said it was his and that he was getting baptized on Friday. Small world.  (Photo by Joe Reynolds)

These were at a little market outside of the Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector Pieterson was 13 years old when he was shot and killed in the 1978 student uprising in Soweto during Apartheid. Unfortunately, they didn't allow photos on the museum premises. The museum was both amazing and terrifying. They had multiple televisions playing actual footage of the uprisings.  I was so upset at one point that I almost ran through the museum with my eyes on the ground. So, so sad. 

After leaving the Hector Pieterson Museum, we made a stop at Nelson Mandela's home on Vilakazi Street-- the only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace Prize winners: Mandela and Desmond Tutu. 

The group of boys that went with us, and the tour guide at the Mandela House. 

Photo by Joe Reynolds

In the backyard, there is an awesome little garden. This photo holds a lot of symbolism for me. I just love the juxtaposition of the harsh iron bars and the cheerfulness of the yellow flower. 

After the Mandela House, we visited the Regina Mundi church. This is Desmond Tutu's church where the youth would meet to plan their uprisings against Apartheid. 

The gorgeous stained glass windows depicting various moments during Apartheid. The one in the middle portrays the day Mandela was released from prison. 

Messages of love and peace adorn the walls upstairs. 

The Madonna and Child of Soweto. The symbolism behind the eye at the bottom is actually quite moving. The pupil of the eye represents the Regina Mundi church, and the hope that it gave the people during times of hardship. The two forks directed toward the pupil from the sides represent the violence that was used during the apartheid era. The black shapes at the bottom is the skyline of the city, and the zig-zags are the matchbox houses in Soweto Township. Also represented are the two soccer fields in Soweto. Soccer is a big deal there.  

We left the church and continued our Johannesburg tour. This is the soccer stadium where the world cup was played in 2010. 

We ended the day with a visit to a sqatter's village in the slums of Johannesburg where we were able to see first hand the extreme level of poverty in this area.  The houses are just PACKED into this one street, and about 36 houses will share one bathroom and water-pump. 

This little boy ran up the entire road to come say hi to us. 

The smiles, hope, and resistance that these children have is astounding. 

I instantly made friends with these two little boys.

My heart aches to think of the love that these kids need, that most of them don't get. Looking at these photos over and over again just makes me so anxious to go back.

We went back to the guesthouse where we were treated to a South African Braii, or barbecue, with every kind of meat imaginable. Wildebeest, warthog, impala. All of it delicious, however it was hard for me to enjoy such huge overabundance of food after the things we witnessed earlier in the day. I was caught between a desire to share with the children, and an obligation to our hostess to eat my fill of what she'd spent all day preparing. Uncomfortable encounters like this happened frequently throughout the trip. I just took so much of what I had for granted before I came here. It was really overwhelming at times to realize just how ungrateful I've been for a majority of my life.

This experience continues to be life altering for me. Every single day.  Thank you to everyone who donated and took part in this amazing opportunity.

Stay tuned for our drive to the beautiful kingdom of Swaziland! Hopefully I'll be more quick about posting these. 

Paris Layover, 02/28/2012

On our way to Johannesburg, we had a 12-hour layover in Paris, and decided to make the best of it. After landing in Charles De Gaulle Airport, we immediately jumped on the RER train system and headed into the city. We hopped off the train, ran up the stairs, and posed for a quick photo in front of the Seine.

We look like such tourists.

Once we crossed the river, I got my first glimpse of the Notre-Dame Cathedral! 

It was absolutely breathtaking. It felt so surreal finally seeing this building after so many years of dreaming about it. I'll admit, I got a little silly about it. Like a kid in a candy store.  Chris had been to Paris before, and wasn't as star-struck as I was, but I think he enjoyed seeing me get so excited about it. 

After walking through the Cathedral, we decided to take a boat tour so we could see the city from the river.  I didn't want to miss the whole city by taking the underground train! 

Our next stop was the Musee de Louvre! We had decided beforehand that there wouldn't be enough time to tour the museum. And it's a good thing, because we got there and it was closed for renovation! Evidently Tuesday is the cleaning day.

Seriously. Kid in a candy store.

We walked from the Louvre down the Champs-Elysees, and stopped at a little crepe stand. It was the most delicious lunch. Probably because we were so hungry.

At the end of the Champs-Elysees, right in the middle of the Place de l'Etoile, stands the Arc de Triomphe! I wanted to stand underneath it, but the idea of crossing that traffic scared me...

I did plenty of dorky thumbs-up poses in Paris. 

From the Arc de Triomphe, we had time for one last landmark-- la Tour Eiffel!

We took the elevator down and had time for one last mushy picture before taking the train back to the airport, and catching our flight to Africa!