Students at 8 am waiting for the doors to open for registration.
Some of the crew that were “How 2” leaders with us.
This is Justin. Through “How 2” week he became a very fast friend of ours. This guy has absolutely no fear of people and really knows how to make people feel welcome. Currently he is on practical this semester but hopefully when he’s back next semester he’ll be joining us at One.Life. This kid alone could set the campus on fire for Jesus.
Thursday
Thursday was our big day as "How 2" leaders. This was the main day where we partnered up with one or two other “How 2” leaders to lead a group of about 35 students into the “ins and outs” of campus life. From a campus tour to the new challenges of college to what a first-year can expect in their first-year and everything else in between we talked on. I worked with two other guys (Mmako & Lucky) who were supposed to be the main leaders for the group and I was the quality control and assistance person for them....mostly I ran the games and helped re-explain things so people would understand what they were trying to get at. One of the guys in particular, Lucky, is the sweetest guy but his communication skills are awful...so there was a lot to help with. This day was tough. We had 35 students in a very hot, sticky room....teaching them from 8 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon. Besides the games it was a drag, not only for us but the students as well. The day’s material and activities are a fairly recent development that the school put into place to help convert a new environment into a new home for first-years. It’s a good idea and with efforts to make it as engaging as possible it still was a bore for the students. Shame. We played one game called Two Truths and a Lie. I had the group guess mine, which were: 1) I studied finance in school 2) I had an eyebrow ring for 2 years 3) I lived in London for 6 months. Other than 2 people they thought the last two were the lie...haha...especially the eyebrow ring. Even though the day was very long we got to know quite a few new people. Stephen's group was just as big, so even though it was a hard day it was still worth it.
To give you a perspective of the size of our groups.
These two pictures are some of the students that were in my group.
Friday
Friday was great. We went for a hike with at least 200 of the first-years. It was about 8 miles round trip. We stopped at this one spot they call the Pepsi Pools. They call it this because the water looks like Pepsi due to the high acidic level. According to them, it's safe to drink in small amounts and to swim in. It's right next to large rocks and a small waterfall. Quiet a few students went for a swim and jumped from the rocks. It was a lovely time.
The beginning of the day hike.
I mostly followed at the back here and got to know a girl named Nonfundu. She is now one of our students with One.Life.
As you can see here the water is the color of Pepsi.
Here’s the huge rocks they were jumping from.
Then in the evening the school had a braai for everyone and we got to witness the "Freshman Initiation" where basically all the Seniors come out of nowhere in hoards chanting and carrying on. They round up all the first-year guys and have them strip down to their underwear, run across campus and then go running into this mucky pond. Then they sing some kind of chant about being Saaveld men. It was a real hoot. I've never seen so many people be so open to stripping down to their underwear and go prancing around. We have noticed though that is more of a cultural norm....people being quite liberal about the lack of clothing they wear....then again it is Africa... After the boys were done with their chanting, yelling at each other, and roughing each other up, the freshman boys had to catch the freshman girls and drag them into the pool. The whole thing was hilarious.
Saturday
Saturday the school took the students to Mossel Bay where everyone got to go on a trip out to Seal Island. The boat was a very large sail boat that held about 35 people. We sat up at the front and that was quiet the adventure. The waves were HUGE nothing like I've been on before. On the way out to the island was not so fun...it was hot and we were going over these huge waves sideways....I was starting to feel sick....I just kept looking at the land and tried not to pay attention to the swaying people in front of me. Seal Island was really something. They say there's close to 3,000 seals....I think and you could see all the pups on the island. We were disappointed to not see any great white sharks. For this is their main feeding ground. I have to say the seals rank right up there with chicken farms as far as smell goes. It was difficult breathing. The way back was a much better ride. We had a lot more wind and the boat went right over the waves properly. I have to say though that some of the waves were so big that you felt like you were on a roller coaster when the front came back down.
We ended our time there with lunch and walking the beach. We probably didn't get back till around 4 in the afternoon.
Mossel Bay Harbor
To give you an idea of the landscape.
The sail boat we rode on.
Queeny is our new society advisor while the other is away on maternity leave. We love having Queeny around.
Seal Island
(Left to Right) Stephen, Justin, Melinda, & Desire. This group has caught fire of trying to make One.Life like the church intends us to be…multicultural and multiracial. We are so thankful for them and their hearts for the Lord.
Thandi who is just to the left of me is another one of our students who has the same perspective.
That same evening some of the Afrikaans students invited us to come have dinner and "Sukkie" with them. I have no idea about how that’s spelt but that's what it sounds like. It's an Afrikaans dance....basically a really fast 2 step / ballroom dancing but all done to technoish music. It was a TON of fun. I even got Stephen out there. Since it's a partner-based dance a few of the guys danced with me to teach me how to do it. I'm not used to partner dancing so it was totally different than anything I've done. Most of the time I felt like I was running backwards. haha.
Sunday was a world wind. We had church in the morning. Then went running around town trying to get food for this opportunity that came up last minute. We were offered to sell hot dogs and cool drinks for a cycling race on campus. We did it in order to raise money for our camp that's coming up in March. The money will be used for students who can't afford to go. We sold from about 1 to 4 and it was a success. We made R550 so about 80 bucks. We'll do it again when they have everyone together to give out prizes for the race. Then we ran from there back home and frantically tried to get things together for our Sunday Service at 7. It went well. This service was our first attempt at trying to do the service in all English. The singing turned out to be a challenge but other than that everything else went really well. Honestly the singing is the biggest hurdle for us. The black and colored students are very proud of their cultures, therefore it has been difficult to change the service to all English songs. We're finding that when they sing in say Zulu the white students feel excluded from what’s going on because they can’t understand. Our chairman Mnoqboi came to us last night with encouraging news on this matter. He said he could play the guitar and that he would like to lead us all in worship to be able to attract more white students. To say the least we are so glad to have him as our committee leader and for his heart for all people to be a part of what’s going on at One.Life.
The crowd on Sunday evening. We were so happy with the show up.
(Left to Right) Swie and Mnoqobi They did an amazing duet. Swie has the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard.
