India

I don’t think anyone left India unchanged. I say this in all honesty because the poverty we were exposed to was like nothing I have ever seen. I can’t count how many people I saw lying in the streets, on carts, benches, and sidewalks. Walking through Chennai and Agra (where the Taj is) everywhere you turn there was trash strewn, or people going to the bathroom in the streets, shanty homes, and half naked children. Still a few days later I am having trouble sorting through everything I saw. You can’t imagine the sheer magnitude of the homeless and destitute here. People are so desperate for money and at times they overwhelm you. As soon as they see you are white, ten people crowd around you trying to sell you any number of things, while kids come running down the street in the hope that one of us can give them some food. Their persistence wears you down, but even then it is all-relative. These people have nothing, and you can see it in their eyes. They somehow look lost and worn down by so many years of living on the streets, begging for money. I went to two children’s homes while in India as well. These facilities catered to the disabled and even though these kids were the lucky ones, it was still heartbreaking that even these facilities really couldn’t cope with all the kids they had. Many of the teachers didn’t have the background to handle teaching these kids, and so made do with what they could. And then what is even more startling is even when you are surrounded and overwhelmed, you can see some of the most beautiful buildings you have seen in your life: the Taj, Agra Fort, the Abandoned City, and so many wonderful temples. These places are huge and even looking at my pictures, don’t seem real. But I can’t say I was ever satisfied when I left these places. Even though I was at times annoyed with being constantly bombarded, the Taj and other monuments had lost the same spirit of the streets of India. These places, seemed to me, impractical and almost unimportant when on the other side of that barrier were a thousand homeless and hungry people. Leaving these places put things in perspective because the everyday reality of India, isn’t a magnificent palace, it’s the children, men and women who are starving. I read in the newspaper that on the Global Hunger Index, India ranks 66 our of 88 developing countries, behind China, Brazil and many less developed, as well as war torn, areas. I can’t say that I am shocked because I saw that hunger, we all did. All In all India was incredibly humbling and was really an eye opening experience.

Sky diving!!!!

WE WENT SKYDIVING over cape town. That was the most insane thing i have ever done! It was terrifying and amazing all at once. I am so proud that Jocie did it even though she was soooo scarred. We had such an amazing view of cape town and table mountain and robben island. I still can't believe we did it, but we did!! Ah we dropped 9,000ft! The videos we have are so hillarious and I can't wait to show everyone, but i can't seem to email them so it will have to wait! Okay i leave for a safari in like 5 hours so i should get to sleep!

Cape Town

Cape town is my new favorite city! The waterfront is amazing! We pulled right into the harbor, so we can walk everywhere around the waterfront. There are tons of shops, restaurants, sailing, and great performances! This is a kind of like a prettier and more condensed version of the baltimore harbor actually! Its awesome pulling right into the harbor too because unlike our other ports you have to walk a bit or take a taxi to get anywhere, so its great to walk off the ship and be right there! Cape town is so beautiful with the ocean and Table mountain squeezing the city into a fairly small area. The most meaningful things we have done here are the township visits. I can't even describe the condition these 'flats' are in. roughly 10 million people still live in these shanty towns where they have nothing more than tin roofs and dirt floors. Over the past three days I went to three different townships, and it never got easier. The most amazing thing, however, was people of all ages were so happy to see us. Kids crowded around the busses and followed us as we visited various things, and loved any attention we gave them. But, what shocked me the most was how happy many adults were to see us. Here we are white americans rolling in on huge, ostentatious buses to observe their lives, and they couldn't be more open about it. In one of the towns, Kayelitsha (the biggest township in the cape town area), a woman has started a bed and breakfast through which she has now raised enough money to do many community projects. She was speaking to us and she couldn't thank us enough for coming. To her, our presence alone was helping the community and something she said realyl stuck with me. She said "come here not to stare at our poverty, but to learn." While we were driving in I felt so awkward because I was trying to imagine how I would react if people were coming to me neighborhood just to stare. but, she immediatley made me feel at home, and as we talked to more people I began to feel like our presence made a difference. We helped make the day for so many kids who we played with, and even the adults, one of which said he took white people coming into this area as a good luck sign, couldn't have been friendlier. I was so touched by everything i saw that day. I can't imagine how these people live with literally nothing, but beyond that these are the ones who were most affected by apartheid. They were marginalized for so many years, and it is heartbreaking to see how many are still in similar situations nearly 15 years after apartheid ended. I know it takes years and years to help these people improve their lives, but no one should have to live like that. I kept thinking how lucky i was because at the end of the day, i get to leave. I get on an an airconditioned bus, and I know I will be able to eat and relax in a clean, safe environment. Following this we had the most amazing lunch in another township, where this woman has turned her home into a resteraunt. Then we headed to Robben Island, where Mandela and so many others spent years as political prisoners. What is so amazing is that many of the political prisoners live and work on the island now. How strong these people have to be to return to the facilities where they were locked up, and were treated horribly. They had to live in cells with no glass in the windows, no warm clothing or anything except a few blankets. The whole tour was amazing and so surreal, you know to walk the same halls as nelson mandela and all the other leaders of the resistance movement here. Ah its just so humbling to think what they gave up for their country.