CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Carson-Newman softball's All-America utility infielder Elayna Siebert is spending the first part of her summer break on a missions trip to South Africa. This is a blog of her experiences.
We began working yesterday with an organization called Living Hope, where we helped run the "Kid Camps" and "Teen Camps" at their Ocean View and Mountain View sites. Each camp lasted for an hour with games, socialization time, and crafts. Throughout the camps, we introduced ourselves to the kids and teens (who ranged from three to sixteen years old), played futball (commonly known to Americans as soccer) or "Ninja" or ran around on the playground, told each other interesting facts about ourselves, and made posters for the upcoming South African Child Protection Week
As one of the assignments we were given for this trip is to keep a journal in which we are to reflect on our daily activities and thoughts, I would like to share my journal entry from yesterday. Here is what I wrote:
Even though we had two lectures today from Dr. Ballard and Dr. Crutchley (and they were wonderful!), I just can't write about anything other than what I saw and experienced through Living Hope. We took a tour of 3 Living Hope sites around our area (Ocean View, Mountain View, and Masiphumelele) as well as the main headquarters. Masiphumelele was shocking to see. Karen, our team coordinator and tour guide, told us that Masi was estimated to hold about 5,000 people, but its population is actually 50,000 people! Not only was this incredible and shocking to hear, but I was even more awestruck by what I saw. Small tin homes that aren't even the size of half of one of our Carson-Newman classrooms…entire families, large and small, live in these tiny rooms. The stores (groceries, hair salons, etc.) were this size as well. I've only ever seen pictures of communities like this before, so to see them in person, to walk in the streets where these people walk, to imagine myself in their shoes…it was mentally exhausting. It was so real after this experience, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be here and experience it all. I'm also so thankful for all of the material things I have. I try not to take all of it for granted, but after all I saw today, I have gotten an all-new perspective about what I own and where I live. The Lord truly has blessed me far beyond what I deserve.
After our tour, we went to the Mountain View site to spend time with the kids, and my heart was so overwhelmed. What really got to me was watching and hearing the little ones say the Lord's Prayer before they ate in their Afrikaans language. I looked at their faces and they prayed together, and there was so much emotion in their expressions. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, I feel like it's become methodical, automatic, and emotionless, like we've lost the full comprehension of what the prayer means. But these kids were feeling every word, and you could tell. It was so beautiful.
Another story that I never want to forget is how I received a beautiful gift. The younger children were leaving, and a boy maybe 7 or 8 years old came up to me while I wasn't looking and gave me a hug. His arms reached around my sides and I jumped in surprise, but he kept holding onto me and buried his face in my stomach. I hadn't met this little boy during the hour we spent with the kids, but he hugged me and then looked at me with big eyes and a soft smile. It was such a beautiful moment for me…to receive such a warm embrace from a beautiful little child who I'd never met before and who had a life I knew nothing about. I wish I'd had the chance to talk with him, but he ran out before I could. I hope I can see him on Wednesday.
This is my first ever mission trip experience. And spending time with others (my new friends and professors) and with the little kids and teens who live in these less fortunate areas in Cape Town, South Africa, has opened my eyes much more than I ever could've imagined. When I was back in the States before this trip, I knew there were people living like this. I knew there were people who had so very little and needed so very much. I knew that death, abuse, disease, and poverty were a large part of Africa's past and is still a large part of the present. But actually being here, seeing how real all of this is, spending time with all of these people, it is indescribable. The world isn't just me and my comfortable American life. The world is so much more. Today showed me that I'm beginning to see this "new" world finally. I thank God for this and I pray that the Lord gives me the opportunities, courage, and resources to be able to go out and not only see and experience more of this world, but to make some kind of positive difference in it.
