Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika 

Malupnakanyisw udumo lwayo 

Yizwa imthandazo yethu 

nkosi sikelela 

Thina lusapho lwayo 

this is my last post in Africa and what a journey it has been. i'm not the same girl that left five months ago. something has been awakened. its bittersweet. to know that i am leaving and coming yet still there are no words for the way this heart will feel upon arrival. heres to south africa for breaking me and building me. to the hidden and reveled. to you and me. and to her, Mama Africa 

God bless Africa 

May her spirit rise up

Hear our prayers 

God bless us. 

We your children.

happiness in all its colors

in the wide open air. its opener there. 
dancing nights away with the girls
love. love. abdul-raheem. 


walking the streets of stellenbosch
what john cristiani captures. 

perfect day...

kayamandi pre-primary 

sheeps head

kids at kayamandi

obama for your momma

our president elect is pretty much amazing. 

im looking foward to the next four years.

catch and release...

Again, the past couple of days have been unreal. I’ve gotten a chance to talk to friends from back home, family and friends who also decided to study around the world. I said goodbye to friends going home early.  I’ve made new friends with less than twenty days left here. It’s unbelievable. The other international students (dutch, german, etc.) have been walking around with little ‘autograph’ books for everyone to sign. So of course I also jumped on the bandwagon with my own little going away book haha. I’m waiting to read it when I get home… It’s so strange. To feel that there are so many and yet so few days left here. I find myself flowing between people and places, photographing the reverberating melody of sounds and recording a symphony of pictures. A wine glass from our first wine festival. A bracelet from the garden route. A rock from Cederburg. I have yet to have a day when my I’m not holding my sides from laughing or singing at the top of my lungs to the songs of goodbye’s and see-ya-laters. I’ve met movement makers and soul shakers and all along I’ve been scared I wouldn’t be able to keep them all. The reality, as we come closer and closer to leaving, that no, I can’t keep them, is both crushing and comforting. It’s kind of like the first time you jump in the pool, all the water rushes around you, everything outside is muted and for a moment all you hear is the sound of water until you hit the bottom, push up and break the surface again. Above surface, for a few seconds, everything hits with a different vibration and a new intensity. That’s what it feels like and through it all whether it's 20 days or a few hours I'm praising God.  For the significant and insignificant. For the ability to catch and release. For this and that and all of it.  

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. 

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

how about me enjoying the moment for once...

thank you India.

thank you terror

thank you disillusionment

thank you frailty.

thank you consequence.

thank you, thank you silence.

(driving back to Stellie)

(Athule, Portia and Boniswa at the playground)

(sunset on the winefarm)

(playing at the beach in Sommerset West)

(Athule, Christina, and Noluvo at Kayamandi)

(the sixth graders and their tutors)

(actvity time: Kayamandi)

(art)

thank you Africa.

thank you Providence.

thank you disillusionment

thank you nothingness.

thank you clarity

thank you, thank you silence.

bits and pieces....

...from the past two weeks. I seem to have fallen in love with lists. but i don't think i'm going about it in the right way....

-im done with school! 

-but no one else seems to be

-so im left to my devices

-which is DEFINITELY not a good thing

-I got a postcard from Courtney 

-she's in spain

-i took several yearbook pictures 

-from three different decades.

-i used these as my profile pics 

-i drank way way way to much juice. 

-i liked it

-my housemate bought 4 puppies

-i've been educating them in the ways of the world 

-this is a problem because i have a 5 second attention span

-so do they 

-i voted. 

-my moms birthday was on wednesday! 

-i love my mom. 

-speaking of love

-i've recently discovered the joys of trance, techno, and house music

-i enjoy blasting these at various hours of the day. 

-i love the Dutch

-and the Finnish 

-and most everyone else as well 

-i'm almost home

-thats weird 

-i might or might not have a sunburn 

-i cant tell 

-but it feels like it

-and it hurts. 

-i attempted to construct a schedule for next semester

-went for a bike ride instead 

-not my fault

-it was a nice day

-wrote a poem

-puppy ate it 

-i fell up some stairs

-because im oh.so. graceful. 

-ate an entire jar of nutella. 

-it was delicious. 

-took alot of strange pictures. 

-i liked those too. 

-woke up at six am

-immediatly fell back to sleep.

-four hours later. 

-danced my little heart out

-every night.

-talked to my advisors. 

-very very fun people :) 

-dressed up in 80s clothes

-rocked out in the living room

-been very very constructive 

-in that i've readjusted my room no lesss than five times now. 

i think that pretty much covers the important things. post some pictures soon! 

as always 

peace. love. grace