Blogs

April, 2001:

The Heart of Worship ~

I will now begin filling in the gaps from my summer travels. I was only able to post four times during my three months in southern Africa.

My travels began in the South African capital city of Johannesburg and took me to a community development project (which became an official non-profit organization (NPO) this summer) in an informal settlement known as Zonkizizwe. Shortened to Zonke, the settlement was started during the apartheid years as a place for people commuting to live closer to their mostly inadequate jobs as farm hands, domestic workers, miners, and other menial jobs. The settlement is surrounded by farmland from which it owes its birth. The former Afrikaner farmland now houses close between 150,000 - 200,000 people (estimates are not clear). There are now other Zonkizizwe areas known as extensions. Where I was is called Zonkizizwe Proper as opposed to the five other extensions just nearby.

Following are my immediate reactions to Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention last night as I watched it on CNN.com. I literally jot down my thoughts as I listened. These notes have been edited; I'm trying to forgo with my usual mock-exasperated tone.

My throat is burning like a piece of black pavement on a 100 degree day. Ouch. But you know what is (morbidly) exciting? I've realized I have mastered the art of silent puking. I always wondered how people could get away with it, while I always seemed to get caught. Then, I realized, sound is everything.

I cannot hold a grudge. It absolutely amazes me that people have the capacity to maintain a friendship and then, the moment the other person messes up, they suddenly cut them out of their life forever.

I take this opportunity now to be the one of many, many, many posts in regards to Obama's acceptance speech this evening. Regardless of affiliation, it is safe to say it was a spectacle with the hundreds of gallons of confetti, enough fireworks to make the Chinese raise a furtive brow, and (what I enjoyed most) the disappearing podium.