Thursday 6/5/08

Thursday we went to a Presbyterian church to learn about the Zimbabwe refugees and their struggle presently. The church we visited is housing over 100 refugees, feeding them, and finding places for them to stay. We toured the hall where over 70 people sleep at night and met some of the volunteers that are helping collect food, clothing, and other needed supplies for the refugees. The church even created "waterproof sleeping bags" for the homeless in their community. The winter in South Africa is rainy so the homeless need a way to stay dry. They covered newspaper in plastic and folded it like a sleeping bag so they can put blankets inside them to keep them warm and dry at night. The minister at the church even said that some of the homeless in the area have jobs and some money, but prefer to live on the streets because it is more economical for them.

We had our last big dinner with our host families Thursday night. They decided for dinner that they would have a more traditional option to choose from as well as chicken (which I stuck to) - a smiley. In this case, it was a pig smiley. They call it a smiley because the mouth curls a smile when it is cooked. Erin, Nate, and Aaron decided to try the eyeball and the snout. Aaron had the hardest time getting it down and claimed that the hair from the snout was stuck in his teeth all night. The look on his face was priceless. Dinner was followed by this amazing homemade cake and custard....oh I could have lived on just that and been thrilled.



After dinner we all danced together one last time. Then we all sat together and thanked our families individually and the families thanked us individually. It was a great way to end the home-stays. Everyone was hugging and taking pictures, and we went home to spend our last nights together in Guguletu.