Final Day of Kid's Club

First of all, we would like to apologize for neglecting the blog yesterday. In our defense, it was the 4th of July, and we were all diligently reading the Declaration of Independence pretty worn out from a busy day that concluded with John and Avril Thomas coming over to the Team House for dinner (what an amazing experience). The Thomases had so many incredible stories that I can't wait to share when I get back to B'ham...they are two of the most awesome people I have ever met.

Today truly was bittersweet. It has been such a blessing to work with the Living Hope staff at the Holiday Kid's Camps this week, and I think that I speak for the whole group when I say that we are really sad that today was our last day (I may or may not have cried). Over the past four days, we have experienced so many different emotions: joy as we spent time with the children and teenagers, heartbreak as we heard the stories of their daily struggles, hope as we witnessed firsthand how God is working here, and frustration as we asked ourselves how we could return to our comfortable lives when we have seen what life is like for the people living in Capricorn and Overcome.

This week, I have had the joy of working in Capricorn in the mornings and Overcome in the afternoons. As you can tell from the earlier posts, both groups have had amazing experiences. One of my favorite things about Capricorn is the praise and worship times we have had each morning with the kids. It has been so encouraging to watch them sing their hearts out every day, completely joyful and uninhibited as they praise God. I am 100% confident that if I took a poll and asked the kids which song was their favorite, they would all say "the coconut song" (more commonly known as the "Fruits of the Spirit song"). Thanks to Garner, it quickly became one of the most entertaining parts of the kids' camp. For us, it has been so much fun to learn new songs from the kids (and they have found our attempts at trying to sing and speak in Afrikaans totally hilarious).

At Overcome (where my group does the teen camp), we have done everything from jewelry making, to cricket playing, to group dancing, to spray painting, to carpentering (I'm pretty sure it should be "carpentry," but I really wanted it to fit in with the other -ing words--nerd alert!). And I am fairly certain that at any given time, someone in our group (typically Kinsey) is singing and/or dancing to "Waka Waka."

It has been so awesome getting to build relationships with the kids and teens at Capricorn and Overcome this past week. I feel like I have known them so much longer than just four days, and I will miss each of them so much. Saying goodbye today was so difficult, especially at Overcome, because we are going to church in Capricorn on Sunday and will hopefully see many of the kids from camp one more time. Several of us keep saying that if we could we would stay another week if we could (Mom and Dad, please don't take it personally).

Tomorrow morning, we are going on the full tour of Living Hope with Natasha (the fabulous volunteer coordinator), and tomorrow night we are going to Youth Night at Capricorn. I feel certain that it will be another wonderful day in Cape Town! I hope that everything is going well at home and that y'all are staying cool (it's so weird to say that when most of us have our heaters on full blast in our rooms).

-Sarah

P.S. Hannah wanted me to add that she forgot to say that Katherine Thomas came over for dinner on Tuesday night. Not surprisingly, we had a blast.

Oh and I just realized that I forgot to talk about the "Arctic Plunge" that took place today. Over half of the group (myself not included) went swimming in the ocean right outside the house. Pure insanity. That's all I have to say about that.

Kids Club Day 2!!

Day Two of kids camp was another early start with the breakfast bell at the Team House ringing at 7 AM. After some delicious french toast made by our talented chef Nadine, it was off to Capricorn for the entire BBC crew.  Allison started our morning with an encouraging devotion reminding each of us to take heart in the Lord.  After we prayed, we split into our two site teams to start kids club.

I have the honor to be in Overcome in the mornings.  Unfortunately today, the staff leader (Stacy) for our site was sick, yet we managed to keep the kids highly entertained.  Please keep Stacy in your prayers so that she may be healed and back with us tomorrow! We danced our hearts out in Overcome with "Waka Waka" being a crowd favorite and endured more hair braiding sessions while the Capricorn team also played endlessly and spent some powerful time praying with their children.  Bible story skits were performed and memory verse chants were shouted out again today at both sites as we continued to help the Life Skill Leaders of Living Hope teach their lessons.

For lunch, we ate under the sunshine at False Bay while watching surfers catch some waves then we all hit the coffee shop, Knead, to fulfill our daily coffee and pastry cravings.  Today we did better about waiting outside for our lattes and macchiatos instead of clogging up the front counter. What can we say? Rookie mistake.

From our discussion at night during the BBC team devotional, it was evident that teen camps at both sites ran just as smoothly as the first day, which all of us were thrilled about.  In Capricorn, we spent the last hour of teen club with Connor doing a wonderful job sharing his testimony and Anne Galloway (who has decided to tell everyone in Capetown that her name is Annie) followed with a moving devotional. And boy, can a couple of the youth at our site sing! Apparently we have a special surprise in store for us tomorrow with it being the Fourth of July that involves some vocal talent, so keep your eyes peeled to read more about that on the next blog post.

Much talk once we were back at the Team House for the day consisted of the Brookwood Beach Retreat coming up this month, so parents, watch out- you might be getting either personal texts from Caleb or emails from your kids asking if they are allowed to bind themselves to this awesome upcoming event.  Also, I think I finally found the best time to take a shower, but there's no way I'm letting the cat out of the bag on the blog, sorry guys! After several days in the house it has become apparent that Rebekah is the target of Will and David's bullying so don't be surprised if you continue to see embarrassing photos of her on twitter or instagram.  Another fun fact for the day, wind at night is not by any means a light breeze. It can definitely be more accurately compared to the sound of a tsunami and we are easily distracted during dinner conversations in fear that the house is about to fall apart. But no worries, we were forewarned that the house is rock solid.

All joking aside, it is safe to say that our eyes were truly opened today. Day One at the camps was SO much fun getting to meet all the joyful kids and teens, but today we grasped a deeper understanding of the darkness they all live in.  After many of the club attendees opened up to us, we realized all of them battle one or more of the following: drugs, alcoholism, gangsterism, or neglect.  Most have family members that expose them to these difficulties and they come to clubs in order to stay out of the trouble that runs rampant in the townships of Overcome and Capricorn.  This caused our hearts to break even more for the youth of Capetown.  We know they are safe when they are with us at camps and we are blessed to be a part of their safe havens for the day, but we ask that you pray for their safety and well-being when they are not with us at the Living Hope facilities.  We also ask that you will pray they continue to be the light in their poverty stricken communities and that all 24 of us on this mission trip will continue to be an outlet of encouragement to them.

No pictures again today due to Living Hope's rule of photography restricted the first couple days of camp.  This rule is in place in order to prevent barriers being built up between the kids and us workers; after much opening up from the kids today, we are all in agreement that this rule is very wise and are glad that we have not wasted any time with the children.

Thanks for reading,
Your Overcome celebrity- Hannah Montana

First Days of Kids Club!

Today we all had the privilege to meet and hang out with the kids that we will be hanging out with all week. We have been split into two groups for the two different sites: Capricorn and Overcome. Last night, we got together in our groups to prepare for the skit we would be doing for the Bible story and the games we would play. So although we were a little tired heading into today, we were also excited to finally start our mission work.

My group went first to Capricorn. Capricorn is a community center run by Living Hope that has a basketball court type area to play rec games, and a relatively nice inside area with offices and a big open space to worship, eat, etc. Meagan is the head Living Hope counselor there, and she is awesome. She pours a ton of energy into her job and can relate better than any of us to all the kids. After Deanna led us in a devotion before the kids came, the day began.

There was an onslaught of kids in the first hour, which was pretty much designated as a time for them to get energy out outside. They were climbing all over us, playing a "catch your nose" game where they tried to grab our noses (ouch), and playing with all sorts of hula hoops and basketballs. It was a great way to start the day because we didn't have to control the kids or anything; just straight crazy fun and games. After that, we led a skit about Jesus healing the blind man, Garner did a great job leading worship, and we just got to know the kids.

The other group spent the morning doing similar things at Overcome, the other site. Alex DeVilliers gave a wonderful testimony and Hannah Patterson gave the lesson. We all met up for lunch at the beach and went and got coffee at a small shop, where we were reprimanded multiple times for being in the way of everyone. Being in people's way in public places is becoming a theme of the trip. 24 people will inevitably do that.

My group's afternoon was at Overcome. Overcome is in a worse part of town and is just a small shipping container with a small dirt space outside for playing games. It is surrounded with the slums that are sadly all over Capetown. Despite the conditions, the kids are joyful. It was less structures; we just played with them and let them feel our hair (props to Anne Pell for enduring a long "braiding" session from several girls) and climb all over us. Best part of the afternoon: when one of the kids, about age eight, lip-synched an Adele song in dramatic fashion with serious hand motions. Great fun.

Other highlights of the day:
--the kids at both places seem to think that we are celebrities. Jennifer Terch=Jennifer Lopez, Alec is a "movie star", they call me (Will Hightower) Justin Beiber.
--Several of us jumped in the ocean today. It was horrendously cold.
--The group at Overcome this morning helped someone push their car from their house after it broke down in the road today.
--There's constant talk about when the best time is to shower. The showers quickly lose hot water, and therefore everyone is trying to find the best time to take a hot shower. No one has found a sure solution yet...

It really has been an incredibly fun and funny trip. My sides hurt from laughing so much, especially at our group's attempt at rehearsing our skit for tomorrow. Garner playing the role of Pilate is hilarious. And Capetown is the most beautiful place I've ever seen, especially the coastline.

I've been asked to clarify that David Foster bought the Zulu spear, not Garner.

Also, we weren't allowed to take pictures today so we don't have any for tonight's blog.

--Will Hightower

WARNING

This is an excessively long blog post because a lot has happened in the past 48 hours. Annnnd we're kinda playing catch up because we neglected our blogging duties last night. So where to begin...

Yesterday, Saturday (also known as Day 2), was filled to the brim with adventuring all over the Cape Town area in our two white passenger vans chaperoned by our fearless leaders, Gordon and Cedric. We arose somewhat well rested after our 35 hours of traveling ("well rested" being used very loosely; slightly cognsant jet-lagged would be a more adequate term) and first went to the District 6 museum. For those of you who need some brushing up on your South African history, it was an area somewhat similar to a Soho or Harlem-esc melting pot of cultures in the 1950's that was cleared of most black or coloured residents after the apartheid was established. One of the workers there was actually born into the district and was relocated himself! It was prime time for the history buffs of the group. After, we went to an open market to do some souvenir acquisition and practice our negotiating abilities. Some of us were pros in this area, scoring major deals but unfortunately coming off as slightly abrasive to the vendors. Others, however, couldn't handle the heat of the action and got two pencils for 50 rand (ANNE GALLOWAY). But it's okay because "y'all, they were so nice to me!" Some items collected were rugby and soccer jerseys and scarves, coffee mugs, assorted bracelets, scarves, tribal masks, key chains, and one Zulu spears. Start wondering now which one of you lucky parents get to unpack these gems in a week! One downside of this experience was that now our team expects that we should be able to bargain with all other stores in Cape Town. I'll even admit to looking at a price of lunch and thinking of what an appropriate counter offer would be.

Now the highlight of my day personally, the Old Biscuit Mill. Think of a large area, filled with literally every single type of European/African hipster-ish cuisine and retail in booths with prime people-watching, and you have the Old Biscuit Mill. We ate smoothies, tea, ice cream, sandwiches, burgers, and the single best waffles on the face of the planet. I literally found myself thinking that I would fly to South Africa again just to go back. I realized that was ridiculous but you catch my drift. We followed our 2 hours in market bliss with a casual stroll in the gardens to view the former President's residence, and some other Cape Town sights. Other Saturday afternoon leisure activities included pigeon feeding/disturbance, and squirrel observance. Fun fact: the squirrels in South Africa are HUGE and will come right up to you! I kid you not they rival the ones on the Quad at Alabama, and they don't even attack you! Our afternoon concluded with heading to the top of Signal Hill where we harassed even more pigeons but couldn't really see any spectacular sights due to the blanket of fog. No worries though, we had plenty of entertainment between the local fauna and rain jacket fashion show. 

Dinner was at Marco's where we all got the sampler African platter, complete with chips (fries), and small portions of ostrich, kudu, and springbox (antelopes). I still can't determine which was which, but they all basically tasted like steak. We worked off all the red meat by dancing and playing the xylophone with the African band and were more than likely a greater source of entertainment to the other local diners. Can you say Americans requesting "Waka Waka" to be played and then Wobbling to the beat? Get on our level.

Today's morning (Sunday, Day 3) was spent at King of King's Baptist Church and a local kosi church. Clearly some of the team was still suffering from jet-lag and pure exhaustion due to some of the late night bedtimes, and so we had some stragglers throughout the first service. But we genuinely loved seeing a church in a completely different part of the world, worshipping so similarly to us. At the next church in one of the settlements was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Not only was it unlike anything we have ever experienced, but it was literally impossible to fall asleep, or even remain seated for more than 30 seconds. We clapped, we danced along, we tried to sing but didn't understand a lick of the language, we sat down and stood up, then sat down again, then stood up, then repeated the whole sequence again followed by a big "AAAAA-MEN".

Lunch was at a cluster of restaurants nearby that were absolutely precious and had warm bread from the bakery that we may have or may have not purchased a bottle of olive oil to dip into. We ate paninis, pizza, and individual chicken pot pies with a heart on them! AKA chick food at it's finest. Some ate at one restaurant that had the most beautiful view, or so I heard. I was at front paying and never got to see it myself but apparently it was desktop background worthy. We then hiked up to Cape Point and saw the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean AT THE SAME TIME. A plethora of pictures were taken (surprise, surprise) and we stayed on our toes keeping an eye out for baboons. While none were sighted, we walked in constant fear that they would dart out and attack the peanut butter crackers stashed in Mark's backpack...wait that was just me. Other animal sightings include a 2000lb antelope (the largest in Africa), and ostriches. Oops, we ate your relatives for dinner last night. #awkward. And we thought we saw a whale. Turns out everyone except me knew it wasn't a whale, just a large rock, but I was convinced there was a giant blue whale stationary on the edge of the Atlantic ocean for 45 minutes. Talk about a major buzz kill. We also climbed down to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western most point of Africa. NBD. More rocks were climbed and mermaids were imitated. Get up, South Africa.

We came home for some much needed down time spent napping, reading, and beach time. Some of our more fearless friends went on a hike with our chef, Nadine. They returned at 6:45, sweaty and slightly physically and emotionally exhausted, due to the fact that the hike turned into a "scale the mountain" type thing after the sun set early. The day ended with a delicious dinner (beware, we might come home slightly pudgier because all the food down here is the bomb), and devotion time completed by prep time for tomorrow. Because guess what...

CAMP STARTS TOMORROW!

Estactic is an understatement. Keep us in your prayers that we have the energy and the humility to give these kids and staff members the experience that they deserve. Capricorn and Overcome, prepare yourselves. We're comin' for ya.

Finally, thanks parents for sending us on this experience. I know this is uber cliche, but this really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we appreciate every single second. Love y'all, mean it.

Your Brookwood Team

(Blogger de jour: Allison)