I Love Africa

Every day I fall more in love with this place. I am completely smitten with the bush and the animals and how amazing they are. The city is another story. I am not a city girl and living in the heart of it for the past 6 weeks is getting old! HA, but to live here is to experience the people and the culture and the way of life. Amy and I did the Robben Island Tour yesterday. For those who don't know it is where Nelson Mandela spent about 18 years in prison, in a tiny cell, crushing limestone everyday damaging his eyes, for wanting nothing more than his people to be free. For everyone to be equally free.

I am completely amazed at how this country has forgiven those who so cruelly and evily oppressed them so. The face of this country was completely changed and now people, as a result, are living in tin shacks and living with an extremely high crime rate, living with the pain of such a traumatic past that was just so recent. The tour guides we have had are people who have personally suffered. Have been in political prisoners for wanting freedom, were torn from there homes as they watched them demolished, they were chased and beaten by police for no reason other than evil decended upon South Africa.

But the evil was defeated and a new unity and hope conquered. The people here now forgive and are educated and are looking forward to a new future, a future of a beautiful country, a future of a World Cup. They see there is no future in hate. The singing can be heard through the city and up to the heavens as they sing for joy of a new day.

I love the people here and the culture. The kids at Bap LOVE to sing and dance. It's such a blessing to get the opportunity to live here for any amount of time and witness the power of forgiveness on such a grand scale and take that and hopefully tell others about it and maybe, we can all learn a great lesson.

What a beautiful country. The ocean is magical, the mountains are humbling as they stand guard over thier city. The elephants protect, the leapord eludes, the rhino grazes and the giraffe browses. The lions play, the birds sing, the snake basks, and the spider weaves. The children dance and laugh and the wind blows. It's all a miracle of God and I, a simple girl, have gotten the great, great honor to witness this, to take it into my heart, and do all I can to spread it as far as my small being can possible go.

This trip on so many levels has changed me and no words could ever describe the wonders I have seen. I am in awe of this amazing world. Thanks be to God because when you see the horrors of the world and all the pain and suffering, and how deeply horrible it all is, God is bigger. If humans have the ability to fall so deeply into evil acts, just IMAGINE the capacity for good that we all have! Good really does win, in the end, as we all know. We just need to open our eyes a bit wider past the evil we see everyday and realize and SEARCH for the good that we sometimes miss. There really is more good than bad! :) Happy searching my friends!
-Amanda