Blogs from Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 80

We went to our first African wedding yesterday, what a treat! The bride, Nthabiseng, works in the office of the Bahá’í National Center. The groom, Mandla, is a young man she has known since childhood. We learned that African weddings don't require an invitation, you simply attend. The food at the reception was a combination of traditional African and Afrikaans. The wedding was a Bahá’í ceremony with many Christians attending, so the prayers came from both faiths. During the reception, it is quite common for a guest to beginning singing to the newlyweds and everybody joins in and begins to dance. There were songs to welcome the bride, honor the couple as they left the ceremony, again as they entered the reception hall, many during the reception and more as the couple left the reception hall. ... read more

Pioneering is not moving from one place to another. It is moving from your old self to a new self. (Horace Holley) Bahá’í pioneering is when a Bahá’í moves to a new place, makes it his or her home, and proceeds to serve the Faith there in whatever way possible. It is not missionary work in the traditional sense, because there are no paid missionaries in the Faith, nor paid clergy at all. It is more like emigrating with the purpose of serving God by serving humanity. Our goal is to be Bahá’í pioneers. All of this weekend the NSA of South Africa has been meeting here, and they have been very kind and of great assistance, making many wonderful suggestions as to where to settle and how to find work. As new people in Africa, ... read more

So apparently my infamous reputation beat me here...and my host mother was nowhere to be found the day we were all supposed to go to our homestays. So me and my homestay buddy Erica got split between two other houses. I ended up in Dobsonville, one of the sections of Soweto where about 12 of the 18 of us were. I lived with Winnie, a spunky 60 some year old woman and her 10 year old granddaughter Zuki. Thank god her name was Zuki, because I had no chance at being able to say any of the other names of people I met. Zuki's mom and 2 month old brother KK (they laughed out loud and then gave up when we tried to say his real name) also lived in a back seperate part of our ... read more

So it's go time. After a minor flight debable...realizing that my flight home was wrong and having to fed ex my paper tickets back to Canada on Wednesday...I now have my tickets in hand with 12 hours to spare. I leave earrly tomorrow morning...it would really just make more sense to stay awake if it weren't for the fact that I have to make two connections before I can peacefully sleep in my tiny chair for the 15 some hours to South Africa. right. I spend my first 10 days or so in and around Johannesburg and head to Namibia on the 6th of September where I'll be until the end of November. I should have pretty good internet once I'm in Windhoek...so keep those emails coming. And for those over ambitious few, here's my mailing ... read more

The bruised bums are beginning to recover and we've managed to get rid of the majority of the dust we collected along the way - it gets everywhere! Note to anyone intending to undertake a similar venture, don't take any white clothing with you, especially socks, ours will never be the same again! We've had a great week with Andrew & Ella, Phil has managed to get a couple of games of golf in and Laura and Ella spent the day at the Mangwanani health spa getting totally pampered. Laura deserved it after her ordeal last week. We also went to a Barnyard Theatre evening with a live band playing a rather eclectic selection of music. It's a great idea, you take along your own picnic (pizzas in our case), kick back and enjoy the evening. ... read more