We’ve Arrived!

[Written on Friday 6/24]

Kathrin (Coleader), Me, and Kate (Logistics)

Oh hi, I’m in Africa! Again. I’m not quite sure what I did to deserve this life, but I hope I can keep it up.

Kathrin (my coleader) and I arrived safely and with all bags (if you’ve been following any of my recent international travel, this was a new and fun surprise for me). The students will join us in the village on Tuesday and we head there today (Friday) to get some initial preparations in place. While we were happy to arrive safely and with all belongings, at least 3/4 of our things were soaked from a rainstorm in Atlanta before we left. Apparently Delta had our bags sitting in a storm drain until they loaded them on the plane…so we rapidly draped every surface in our room with damp clothes before we went to the hotel casino for dinner.

Much like one defaults to the foreign language they know best in a new travel situation, I default to the place on that continent that made the biggest first impression on me when I arrive again. For Europe, London and Rome are my go to comparisons. For Africa, it is Rwanda. While my brain knows that east Africa and southern Africa, most especially South Africa with its inclusion in the BRICS countries and relatively booming economy, are vastly different, somehow both times I’ve arrived in South Africa there is a small amount of…”Really? This is Africa?”

Kathrin and I were discussing yesterday as we walked through the overly thematic Emperor’s Casino what development can look like in different places. We are working this summer on building businesses in partnership with rural communities, but to what end? What will they want their development to look like? In Cape Town, I felt like I was in San Francisco, and in the hotel last night, Las Vegas came to mind. While I don’t love the idea of African development growing communities to look more “American,” it is not really up to me. It is more up to me not to make comparisons at all, but to just accept what I see. At the same time, I hope that during my time here through the way that I live in the village, I can help to convey what I hope my life and my communities can become and hope that some of those ideas jive with the local view or that the local view can help influence my ideas.

Anyway, we start our homestays tonight and today we travel through gorgeous farmland, mountains and valleys. Can’t wait to let you know how it is!

P.S. For a more program oriented post check out the ThinkImpact blog where we will be posting about our training.