What a Week!

What a week!! We spent the week doing service in Sir Lowry’s Pass but it never felt like service. It was so fun! I met so many interesting people and made some really close bonds with a few. The most intriguing person that I met was 14-year-old Samantha. She was my soup mom’s neighbor and she would always come over when we were there but she never really talked to us. I would always make small talk with her but she was super shy. By the third day we were sitting on this grassy hill and she was starting to open up to me. She was telling me that she wants to go to college and become a teacher. She wants to move out of Sir Lowry’s Pass and into a big house with two dogs that will stand out by the gate to protect her, two cats that will stand by the door to protect her, and two snakes in her attic to protect her. Everything was about protection. It made me wonder what she is scared of…

Then I asked her who would live in the house with her and she said nobody. So I asked her if she wanted to get married and have kids one day. She said no. She doesn’t want to ever get married and she never wants to bring children into this world. It was so jarring because she is not like anyone else I have met in this community. Everyone else I have met is full of such joy, love, and thankfulness that it was shocking to meet Sam. Surprisingly though, it was refreshing because I think it is easy to fall into a false sense of happiness in Sir Lowry’s Pass. I do think that the people here are happier than most people, given their situation, so it’s easy to forget that their lives are far from what we would consider acceptable. There’s real fear and sadness in everyday life here that we will never understand. I swapped mailing addresses with Sam though because I would like to try to understand her life more and keep in touch because I think she is an amazing person

It feels weird to juxtapose this next to what I was just talking about, but we went to a rugby game yesterday and it was so much fun! It was the Cape Town Stormers vs. the Vodacom Bulls. We had our own little area roped off to pregame and have a Braai (South African BBQ). It was so good to have all the Bafana Bafanas back from adventure week. It was the first time we’ve been all together in two weeks! So everyone had a good time catching up and sharing highs and lows from adventure week and service week. Everyone had such inspirational stories to share and it was the perfect atmosphere for us to be reunited. The beer was cold and the Braai was delicious and even though the Stormers lost it was a fantastic time! And sleeping in this morning only made things better!! And now we are getting ready to go to Kristenbosch National Botanical Gardens. There is so much to do here and so many beautiful things to see!

Tessa Jensen