First of all I want to say sorry it has taken me so long to write up my time in After about 3 and half hours of sleep I woke up at 6 to try and watch the sun rise and us pull into Once the diplomatic briefing was over the girls and I got off the ship to eat lunch and go to an ATM. Courtney and I had a township visit planned for the afternoon and the rest of the girls were going on the city orientation. We had a nice lunch inside the port looking out over the water and at all the ships. Right inside the port it felt as though you were in I wasn’t really sure what the rest of the day would hold, I had heard plenty about the townships but none of it could really prepare me. A group of about 40 of us all got on a bus to visit the As we first started driving through the township I was at a loss of words. Courtney and I kept looking at each other and my heart sank. Jimmy our tour guide told us that all together in South Africa there were a total of 9 townships the largest one being ½ a million people and the smallest 18.000 people. The numbers upon numbers of shacks I could see for the bus was unreal; I had never seen poverty like this before in my life. I wanted to cry but couldn’t. I also wanted to get out and give them all the money I had and stay for the rest of my trip to help them as much as I could. We stopped first at a preschool and a craft center. Here we got to meet people who lived in the township and they sold us trinkets, bracelets, bags, and other things they had made from things they found around the township. I bought two paintings from a man. Since I wasn’t there to help build houses or do operation hunger, the least I could do was a buy a few things. Although I really wanted to buy everything to help this man but I had to stop thinking about saving them from their poverty but to get to know them. So I went across the street to the preschool. Most of the kids were still sleeping and all looked so peaceful. The few that were awake sang a song for us. The song was about having no land, money, or anything but that their education was going to get them somewhere and things would get better. Their optimism was refreshing and once the kids started singing it woke up the rest of them and parents started coming around to pick the kids up from school. A few of the girls started handing out stickers and got attacked the little kids just wanted stickers all over the place. I sat back watching the scene and enjoying the kids smiling faces. I watched as 9 young kids got into a car that should fit 5. We asked Jimmy about it and he said yes it was illegal but everyone in the townships helps everyone if they can. So this man was doing his neighbors a favor but taking all the kids home from school. The kids also wore uniforms to make them all feel equal which seems to be very important when living in an area such as theirs. Because while yes there are shacks some of the people have housing that have been built for them by projects like habitat for humanity or such. There is about a ten year waiting list for one of these homes. Most of the homes don’t have running water or a toilet, so the government has provided portable toilets placed on the street corners. Despite all that I could see around me the smiles on the kids faces made the feeling of sadness go away. It took us about 10 minutes to get back on the bus because the kids still wanted to play, take pictures, and get more stickers. After finally getting on the bus we continued driving through the township. All the people waved and seemed happy we were there. This is not how it used to be though the township people used to not be welcoming to tourists as they would drive by and didn’t seem to truly care about the people. But things have sense changed and the more and more they talk to tourists they realize that we are there to learn and be able to help them in any way we can. Whether through buying artwork, donating our time or supplies, or just having a friendly conversation and walk. We then stopped at Vicky’s B and B. Vicky runs a bed and breakfast in the township that she runs to help her neighbors with money and other such things from the visitors she gets to stay in her B and B. The B and B was very nice which you wouldn’t have been able to tell from the outside. Again we played with the kids and passed out stickers I also gave Vicky the few pencils I had with him for the kids she was very grateful and I wished I had more to give her. It again took us another twenty minutes to get back on the bus because of the kids. We then made it to our next stop, which was a center in the township where women made painting, rugs, bags, and other such things to sell to tourists in effort to help the township community. I bought a small rug that the women showed me how to make and explained it took about a week or so to make one slightly larger than the one I bought. It was really very pretty and I enjoyed talking to the women. We had one more stop before our tour was over. We stopped at one final B and B where we had tea and got to talk to the owner. She then took us on a walking tour of the township with her four guides. The little kids again followed grabbed our hands and just wanted to show us around and laugh and giggle. By the end of our walking tour I didn’t want to leave. As we drove away the bus was silent and I think everyone the entire way back to the ship was just taking in what we just saw and experienced. I knew that this day would stay with me forever and has taught me so much about the world and even the way I view things. As bad as it sounds I knew dwelling on the problems of the world wouldn’t help and that I needed to enjoy the rest of my time in When I got back to the ship, I went on the ship to meet up with Kelly, Erica, Dylan, Jeff, Brandon and the two Ryans. We had dinner reservations at a restaurant called Mamma Africa which we were told had amazing authentic African food. Courntey, Anna, and Abby were going to meet up with us later after an FDP they had to go to. Our reservations were at 9:45 but at around 7:45 we were ready to go. So we found taxi to take us to Longstreet, the main street in We sat down and looked at the menu. We all agreed that we had to try and platter of all the typed of meat offered. Since Dylan and I weren’t really hungry we decided to split one. Oh and keep in mind Dylan for the past two years has been a vegetarian and decided that because she was in Africa she would try all the meats. We had an amazing dinner that last two hours. Now let me tell you the meats we ate; crocodile (my favorite), ostrich (second), kudu, springbok and game sausage. The kudu and springbok just tasted like an average steak and I couldn’t really tell the difference. Although the crocodile and ostrich were amazing and I wish we had more. After dinner we all decided to come back to the ship because most of us had an early wake up call to leave for our safari trips or other trips across When Dylan and I walked on the ship we ran into Heidi who was going to hang out with her brothers. We weren’t really tired yet so we decided to tag along. We assumed they were going to hang out in someone’s room and followed. Although Heidi was heading off the ship and so we went along and met up with a bunch of kids at a bar right inside the port called Mitchell’s. There weren’t too many people in there but I did finally meet the boy who slept underneath me my hostel in Luckily Beau was coming back at the same time so I didn’t have to wake her up and was able to pack with the lights on for my Safari tomorrow!!!!!!
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