Sunday, January 10, 2010

Morning Sweat

It's almost 9:30 in the morning here in South Africa and going to be in the low 80's today.
I sat outside on the steps of the house we're staying in for a few days eating a bowl of fresh fruit. My body has not adjusted to the heat and I decided since I was already sweating from eating breakfast, I may as well try and get a workout in before taking a shower. I wish there was a pool at this place, but no such luck.
I went for a quick jog and except for a few stares from some of the locals, who I don't think we're used to seeing a half-naked white man running through their streets, it was a quiet run. But when I got back to the house, I was admonished by the head of our group with Gareth standing by his side giving me a glare. Apparently a local gang has a "Kill a Tourist" initiation going on right now and I put a bit of a scare into the house when they found my empty bowl sitting on the stairs and me nowhere to be found.
After being smacked in the back of the head by Gareth, I am now confined to the backyard of the house. Yesterday, Gareth took me to meet some children who have been orphaned and are being helped by a local orphanage. I taught some of the children how to play the game of kickball. Today we're going to visit some orphaned children that are being treated for AIDS at a clinic. I'm very nervous, not sure what to expect. I'll post again when we get back.

5 comments:

Pedders said...

I have a very good friend in Angola who's a teacher and things like "kill a tourist" are quite common. Gareth or the head of the group should have told you in the first place to keep you warned. Just be careful.
Visiting children who are being treated for AIDS is emotionally heavy and being nervous for that is the most natural thing - let us know how it went.

cheers

ps: you are quite lucky for having access to the internet in a regular basis there.

Anonymous said...

Im glad nothing happened to you, wow......what an adventure you are on....I look forward to hearing more;)

Anonymous said...

Stephen I can only imagine how heart breaking it will be to visit the children.

Anonymous said...

warm weather would be nice right now.

American Irish said...

Pedders, they did tell me, but I didn't listen. The area looked safe enough, but apparently I'm naive as Gareth told me.