Our Adventure Continues!

Monday, September, 3rd, 2007

Day #3 in South Africa and still NO LUGGAGE, but Praise the Lord, we awoke in St. Francis Bay to CLEAN, but “wet” clothes (our only set)!! The team’s excitement to find a washing machine the night before was quickly diminished upon recognizing that “uh-oh”; we still don’t have anything to wear. Thankfully, our hostess for the day, Pauline Scheepers, President of the Jeffreys Bay Rotary Club, came quickly to our rescue and informed us that tumble dryers were available in Jeffreys Bay at Mouses Laundromat. Just one catch; we were one hour away from Jeffreys Bay with lots of scenes/attractions to view along our route!!

So, all packed up and clothed in our “Mr. Price” attire that was purchased upon arrival to Port Elizabeth, we completed our Sunday morning prayer time and loaded up for our daily adventure. The weather was cool, the skies cloudy, and the combi was packed with excitement. We toured the beautiful and quaint area of St. Francis Bay, Cape St. Francis &, Port St. Francis. We visited the “Wild Side” of Jeffreys Bay and took some wonderful photos before proceeding to the St. Francis Bay Light House (the 2nd most Southern point in South Africa) and visited the Penguin rescue facility.

Upon arriving into the town of Jeffreys Bay, we quickly learned that Mouses Laundromat had closed at 12:30pm. You guessed it; we didn’t arrive until a quarter past 1:0pm! Here we go again…

Hope returned upon arriving at Leanné’s as we discovered that she had a tumble dryer in her home!! YIPPEE, HOORAY!! We enjoyed fellowship and an informal lunch with several members of the Jeffreys Bay Rotary Club, and although hesitant upon my prompting, the team finally agreed to an informal practice of our presentation.

The presentation was well received and the Jeffreys Bay Rotarians asked many questions. After the presentation, we headed off to walk and collect shells on the beach of beautiful Jeffreys Bay, home of the international Billabong surf competitions. All in all, our first Rotarian meeting experience, although informal, was considered a huge success by all. The South African cuisine was delicious, the fellowship was entertaining and educational, and the thought of clean dry clothes was exhilarating!!

After our walk on the beach, we headed back to Leanne’s to find Andy Crowe, District 9320 Outgoing GSE Team Leader to Colorado (March 2008) and Bob Derbyshire, Rotary President, Port Elizabeth East anxiously awaiting us. We loaded up our carry-on luggage (ha, ha) and headed to Port Elizabeth to meet our first host families. For the first time in four days, we all headed our separate ways and put our training to the test!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The application of everything learned…VOCATIONAL DAY #1. Dr. Smith headed off to the African township to teach lessons to 3rd graders and then visited the Missionvalle AIDS Haven; Will to The Collegiate High School for Girls and the Herbert Hurd Primary School; Loretta to Stepping Stones (American Juvenile Court); Andrea to the school for autistic children; and I headed off to the “House of Resurrection”, an AIDS Haven for infants, children, and adults.
The House of Resurrection, operated by Matron Agnes, better known as “Aggi” to the children, gave me a wonderful tour of the facility, introduced me to all of the staff, and allowed me to interact and play with the infants, toddlers, and children. The facility was immaculately clean and the staff was delightful. I had a wonderful time loving on all of the infants and they were absolutely amazed by my ability to take their digital picture and immediately show it to them. So of course, I had to take an individual picture of every baby in the nursery because they were not only amazed, they were all reaching out for me to hold them!! The House of Resurrection has a beautiful chapel and a lovely “Memory Garden” where several of their previous patients’ ashes have been buried.

Annie Geddings, Team Member (GSE South Africa)