Running into the ocean!
Enjoying a comfortable bed
Our group
Supper at SpurOn Friday at 6am we drove up to Itipini in our two 10 passenger vans to pick up our choir that we were bringing to Grahamstown to record a CD. What an exciting day! Many of the children and young people from Itipini were gathered to see us off, clapping and cheering as the young ladies who were in the choir came strutting down the dirt road in glamorous clothes. There may as well have been a red carpet laid out for the event, and compared to these girls I was quite underdressed!
One of my favourite memories of the drive out to Grahamstown was the singing in the van. I can’t even describe what it feels like to be driving through the beautiful hills of South Africa listening to 8 girls with such rich voices sing at full volume. Let’s just say it’s a whole lot better than listening to the radio! We sang “How Great Thou Art” together, and the words to this hymn seemed so fitting and have taken on new meaning for me.
Being at the recording studio was also a lot of fun. I loved watching our choir director, Mkuseli, light up as he directed the joint choir of girls from a school in Grahamstown and his Itipini choir. He must have been in his glory standing in front of such an incredible group of singers, 4 times the size he was used to. Another neat moment was when the choir was able to listen to the recording of themselves—it was nice to see in their faces that they could be proud of the work they did.
Food was one of the highlights of the trip! We took them out for supper, and they were thrilled with the huge plates of food in front of them, and requested many photos to be taken. During breakfast at our B&B, it was confusing to them why they were not suppose to take a bunch of extra fruit and muffins home with them, or why they were not allowed to get their own container to stock up on yoghurt for later. I couldn’t help but think that these girls would make good Mennonites in their desire to take advantage of anything free!
Our last stop of the trip was at the beach in East London, and it was the first time that many of them had been to the ocean, even though Mthatha is only an hour drive from the coast. But I may have had even more fun then them, as the ocean is also novel to me, and I was very excited to be jumping in the waves! Even though the wind coming off of the water was a bit cool, the water was surprisingly warm and I had a lot of fun. Ziyanda and I even pretend to be going across the ocean to Canada—unfortunately we didn’t make it past waist deep, so I guess I’ll have to wait for my airplane to Canada after all…
Being the neurotically practical person that I am, I sometimes questioned the use of money on this trip. After all, think of all the people at Itipini we could have fed, or kids we could have sent to school instead of having luxuries like french fries and ice cream. But then I remind myself that 1) a large donation was made specifically for the making of this CD, 2) even poor people deserve to be spoiled! and 3) making memories is priceless. (sorry for the cheesy MasterCard slogan, but in this case it’s true!) I think that the memories made on this trip will last a very long time, and the joy that those memories will provide is worth a lot, especially in a depressing place like Itipini. For 30 hours, these girls were able to leave their children and other worries and responsibilities at home and have some fun! Being in South Africa for 2 months now has made me realize that daydreaming about past memories brings me a lot of happiness and excitement for the future. I have a lot of good things to remember about life back home and can rely on these thoughts during tough times. I imagine that the people of Itipini have a lot fewer of these happy moments to draw from, and it is my hope that memories of Grahamstown can be something that continues to bring joy in the future.
One of my favourite memories of the drive out to Grahamstown was the singing in the van. I can’t even describe what it feels like to be driving through the beautiful hills of South Africa listening to 8 girls with such rich voices sing at full volume. Let’s just say it’s a whole lot better than listening to the radio! We sang “How Great Thou Art” together, and the words to this hymn seemed so fitting and have taken on new meaning for me.
Being at the recording studio was also a lot of fun. I loved watching our choir director, Mkuseli, light up as he directed the joint choir of girls from a school in Grahamstown and his Itipini choir. He must have been in his glory standing in front of such an incredible group of singers, 4 times the size he was used to. Another neat moment was when the choir was able to listen to the recording of themselves—it was nice to see in their faces that they could be proud of the work they did.
Food was one of the highlights of the trip! We took them out for supper, and they were thrilled with the huge plates of food in front of them, and requested many photos to be taken. During breakfast at our B&B, it was confusing to them why they were not suppose to take a bunch of extra fruit and muffins home with them, or why they were not allowed to get their own container to stock up on yoghurt for later. I couldn’t help but think that these girls would make good Mennonites in their desire to take advantage of anything free!
Our last stop of the trip was at the beach in East London, and it was the first time that many of them had been to the ocean, even though Mthatha is only an hour drive from the coast. But I may have had even more fun then them, as the ocean is also novel to me, and I was very excited to be jumping in the waves! Even though the wind coming off of the water was a bit cool, the water was surprisingly warm and I had a lot of fun. Ziyanda and I even pretend to be going across the ocean to Canada—unfortunately we didn’t make it past waist deep, so I guess I’ll have to wait for my airplane to Canada after all…
Being the neurotically practical person that I am, I sometimes questioned the use of money on this trip. After all, think of all the people at Itipini we could have fed, or kids we could have sent to school instead of having luxuries like french fries and ice cream. But then I remind myself that 1) a large donation was made specifically for the making of this CD, 2) even poor people deserve to be spoiled! and 3) making memories is priceless. (sorry for the cheesy MasterCard slogan, but in this case it’s true!) I think that the memories made on this trip will last a very long time, and the joy that those memories will provide is worth a lot, especially in a depressing place like Itipini. For 30 hours, these girls were able to leave their children and other worries and responsibilities at home and have some fun! Being in South Africa for 2 months now has made me realize that daydreaming about past memories brings me a lot of happiness and excitement for the future. I have a lot of good things to remember about life back home and can rely on these thoughts during tough times. I imagine that the people of Itipini have a lot fewer of these happy moments to draw from, and it is my hope that memories of Grahamstown can be something that continues to bring joy in the future.
2 comments:
The trip sounded so wonderful! The pictures were great too. And you are right, those girls have that memory to tuck into their hearts. Who knows what kind of impact that will make in their lives later on.
A quote from my favourite film, "Life is Beautiful," comes to mind: Nothing is more necessary than the unnecessary. What a wonderful memory, for you and the women in the choir! Thanks for sharing. Hope you are well! :)
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