You Are My African Queen, The Girl Of My Dreams...

Greetings from Tanzania (which you'll hear about in the next blog post) and mambo? ("what's up?" in Swahili)...

Since Ayla & I returned from our (belated) Spring break trip a couple of weeks ago, we spent our last week at Botshabelo alternating between states of freezing to death and emotional break-downs. Apparently Autumn has begun in South Africa and that means temperatures in the lower 40s and upper 50s. SO not prepared for that! Not only did I have on five shirts, a pair of pants, and two pairs of socks AT THE SAME TIME one night, but I was also under my blanket and Ayla's! In recent days, we've given up our own rooms and have been bunking up for the body warmth...we even stooped so low as to bring our hot plate into my room and crank it up to full blast in order to have a little heat in the place. Uhhh, sorry electricity bill...

BUUUURRRROONIIES!!!


On the other hand, while our nights were filled with chattering teeth and purple lips, our days were spent working with Shanna and Leigh (two of the Cloete daughters) & Marion on what she calls our "Biographies." A Biography is a counseling modality that Marion learned from her mentor in Australia that basically instructs a person to look back on their lives and re-experience it through drawing, painting, feeling, moving, dancing, and sounding. Not only has my creativity reached new heights, but I have also bawled my eyes out, laughed until I peed in my pants, and translated my name into sound. Overall: Will I use it in my future Social Work practice with clients? Check. Was it therapeutic? Check. Cathartic? Check. Transformative? Double-check.

My biography: my life through painting


Other fun activities over the last week that took place included our last promised traditional South African meal of fried chicken intestines, chicken necks, and spinach & peanut butter, all accompanying our favorite South African staple: pap. I'll be honest, the whole vegetarian thing will definitely resume once I return home...but I couldn't pass up at least trying South African meats and the various chicken body parts over the course of the semester.

Check out the face Ayla made with our "last supper"


Enjoying chicken necks with Ayla & Lebo, the fastest fried chicken intestine maker in all of South Africa


We also managed to play volleyball and have coffee with the Cloete daughters almost every night this week, and snuggle up with some of the little ones to watch movies before they went to bed. On Friday night, a local TV station actually aired the documentary about Botshabelo. Ayla & I watched with Shanna and some of the older kids. Now that we have actually met and know most of those kids, watching "Angels in the Dust" touched me at such a deep level that it is hard to explain...these kids are honestly the most incredible souls I have ever met; some of the most resilient, inspiring, and dynamic people I know. Better watch the documentary for yourself.

It is hard to imagine that my internship is officially over and that I had to say goodbye to everyone at Botshabelo before departing for the next few weeks for some fun-filled travel-time. I'm in Tanzania meeting up with a friend from USY (my Jewish youth group from high school) and a friend from my Social Work program who are both working in Tanzania for the semester for a little over a week. Then I'm meeting Ayla in Cape Town for a few days then we're going to hit up the Garden Route (along the coast in South Africa). Luckily, Ayla & I will be back to Botshabelo for at least one night afterward, before we head home to the States...so I didn't have to say goodbye, goodbye yet---just a "see you soon." Geez, even that was hard for me to do! But I did get to take a few friends and some of my favorite kids with me to the airport. We piled 12 people into a 5 passenger car--don't ask. It was amazing to see the kid's faces when we pulled up to the airport as none of them had ever seen an airplane up close and personal before, neither had they stepped foot into an airport. Watching the wheels turn in their heads when I explained the checking-in process, where my bags go, how people use aviation as a form of transportation, terminals, the airport food court, escalators (weren't you ever scared of them when you were a little kid? Boy, I was!!) along with planting some seeds that one day...they'll be able to fly anywhere and everywhere they want to go; that the sky is truly the limit for them...well, it just truly warmed my heart.

More to come on the flip side.

A favorite photo taken last week. Nthabise is one of the youngest at Botshabelo--8 months old and is just a beautiful little girl.
Hands: Me & Nthabise




Lyrics to my new FAVORITE song: African Queen by 2 Face (hence the title of this blog)

Yeah, yeah, you are my African queen, oooh lord, oooh lord
Just like the sun, light up the earth, you light up my life
The only one, I've ever seen with a smile so bright
And just yesterday, you came around my way
And changed my whole scenery with your astonishing beauty
oh You coulda make a brother sin, no ordinary thing
A supernatural being, and ooh... you are just brighter than the moon
Brighter than the star, I love you just the way you are.

CHORUS
and you are my African Queen, the girl of my dreams.
you take me where I've never been
you make my heart go ding-a-ling-a-ling, oh ahh
you are my African Queen, the girl of my dreams
And you remind me of a thing
And that is the African beauty yahhh

yahh yahh oooo, you are my African queen, oh lord, oo lord hmm
Out of a million u stand as one
the outstanding one
I look into your eyes, girl what I see
is paradise yeah
you captivated my soul
now everyday I want you more o o oo
how can I deny this feeling am feeling inside ey
oh no one can never take your place
can never take your space
that's a fact I cannot erase
and you, you are the one dat makes me smile
make me float like a boat upon d nile.

(CHORUS)

oooo ooooo yaahhh yahhh hu hu hu

you are my African Queen and I know, oh yes I know hhn
you are my African Queen and I know, see I know
See I know what I am feeling in my heart and in my soul
oh I know that it is love
And I know that this love was surely sent from up above
Cause you're the only one I think of
You are my African Queen
And I know that this means that you're the only one that I will serve
I'll give you my heart, my love, my body and my money
Every other thing you think of
Who could think of anything better than you
Who could think of ever hurting you
Sacrifice my all, I'll give it all to you
you are my African Queen
For REAL

(CHORUS)