Confused by the time change, I woke up an hour earlier than I meant to on our first morning in Cape Town. But I was grateful for extra time to listen to the sounds of the sea and reread a portion of Tutu's No Future Without Forgiveness, the book all our classes are reading in common. Tutu's image of South Africa as a place for "all God's rainbow people" seemed to take shape for those of us on Belmont study abroad today.
We began our morning at Living Hope Community Centre standing under a red bottle brush tree and beside a vegetable garden that produces vegetables for the health care patients living with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and cancer. At the Noordhoek Private School and the school at Masiphumelele, our students taught today's "life skills" course (required of all South African children by government law) and talked about growing into adulthood. They answered tough questions about peer pressure and war--and not-so-tough questions about Justin Timberlake and Dolly Parton.
Later, at Ocean View, we all came together to play with an afternoon kids' club. Dr. Overby, Assistant Professor of Business, fretted over which shade of crayola crayon best matched his auburn hair. We sang for each other and shared images just taken on digital cameras with lots of eager kids. Now it's evening, and several of the students have taken walks on the beach, and the smell of onions and olive oil calls us to dinner. What a full and beautiful first full day in South Africa!
Dr. Bonnie Smith - Belmont University English Department