Greetings from the Soweto township!
Our students are sleeping in their beds and staying warm and healthy as I type this email at 11pm Thursday night. We have had an action packed week filled with amazing community service, experiential education, fantastic meals, and a truly fabulous group. Let me recap the week with in a few short notes:
Monday
We drove 2 hours outside of Jo'burg to a town called Klerksdorp where we met with our contact Nancy. Our first stop was a "day care" type facility for children who have lost parents in the HIV/AIDs crisis. We played games and heard some amazing songs from kids mostly aged in the 4-8 age range. Our students instantly jumped in and were amazed at all the smiles they saw on children who have faced a great deal of challenges in their lives. The afternoon found us engaged in an amazing discussion and lecture with a South African doctor and United States MD/PHD involving Tuberculosis and HIV in South Africa. Sarah and I were both amazed at the breadth of knowledge your children already had about such a pressing issue and the amazing informative questions they asked. We all learned a great deal!
Tuesday
We visited the Constitution Museum in downtown Jo'burg and toured the prisons where political figures were held during the Apartheid era. During the afternoon we had a juggling workshop with one of our local contacts back at our hostel.
Wednesday
We woke up early, packed our bags and headed out to the Soweto Township. Soweto is the area where the beginnings of the youth resistance movement began which helped bring an end to Apartheid. It was also the home of Nelson and Winnie Mandela as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Wednesday morning we visited the Hector Pietersen museum and learned about the history of the youth resistance in the Orlando West neighborhood. Wednesday afternoon we worked at the Umbuyisa School of Art helping create art with a large group of children ranging from 5 all the way up to 15. Our students were the talk of the town as we worked with a giant group of local artists to help the kids create their own masterpieces.
Thursday
We woke up this morning and headed to Nelson Mandela's house to take a tour. We then took a walking tour of the township and saw Tutu's house as well. The weather was perfectly clear and warm throughout the day (it has been quite chilly at nights and in the AM). This afternoon we worked with the kids at the art school again and put on a giant poetry slam with several of our students performing their own poetry and songs!
Our group continues to amaze all those who we encounter. Sarah and I have each been pulled aside numerous times as people are shocked at the cohesiveness and talents of our group which has only been together for about a weeks time. We have endless energy and ideas and our students seem to feed off the energy of the young people we work with. Tomorrow we are wrapping up our time in Soweto as we screen print our own tee-shirts and help the younger children to create art work, then we'll have some sort of send off activity in the afternoon.
We are looking forward to heading to Swaziland on Saturday and hope all is well back in the States!
Much love from Soweto,
Bridge Southern Africa 2009
A Windsor Mountain International Student Travel Program. For more details go to www.WindsorMountain.org.
Windsor Mountain Website Information
Bridge Southern Africa is a Windsor Mountain Student Travel Program. For more details on our WMST programs or our International Summer Camp, go to www.WindsorMountain.org.
Blog Archive
Phone Call Schedule and Mail Stop Information
The Bridge Southern Africa campers will be calling home on these dates and times (Eastern Standard Time). Please make sure you are available to receive the calls - we don't want you to miss the chance to hear from them! Call times cannot be rescheduled.
July 4 between 10am and 12pm (quick check in call after arriving)
July 18 between 11am and 1pm
August 2 between 11am and 1pm (quick check in call before departing)
You can send mail to the Bridge Southern Africa group at:
Windsor Mountain Student Travel
c/o Karma Backpackers
P.O. Box 354
Kestell 9860
South Africa
The last day for mail pick up is July 23, please make sure your mail will arrive by then to ensure delivery. Families may send flat letters to the program particiants. Place student's name in the bottom right corner of the envelope. Please do not send packages or money.
July 4 between 10am and 12pm (quick check in call after arriving)
July 18 between 11am and 1pm
August 2 between 11am and 1pm (quick check in call before departing)
You can send mail to the Bridge Southern Africa group at:
Windsor Mountain Student Travel
c/o Karma Backpackers
P.O. Box 354
Kestell 9860
South Africa
The last day for mail pick up is July 23, please make sure your mail will arrive by then to ensure delivery. Families may send flat letters to the program particiants. Place student's name in the bottom right corner of the envelope. Please do not send packages or money.
Southern Africa Map
What Time Is It In Southern Africa
Meet Your Leaders
Sarah Foster
Sarah loves encountering and connecting new people, places, and ideas around the world, and she is thrilled to be leading her seventh Windsor Mountain travel program this summer. Sarah graduated from Brown University with a degree in literature with honors in creative writing in 2001, and from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in 2002. Since then, she has been teaching, performing, and traveling. She toured with a mask and puppet show across the United States in 2003, and then moved to Portland, Oregon, where she teaches physical theatre, playwriting and stilt walking all over town and, as Co-Artistic Director of the Nomadic Theatre Co, creates original shows and performs them around the Pacific Northwest. Sarah is an active member of Clowns Without Borders-USA, through which she has traveled several times to Haiti and to Southern Africa. Besides traveling and theatre, some of Sarah’s other favorite things in the world include biking around Portland, playing the trombone, ice cream, partner acrobatics, and jumping in the ocean. (New England Traveling Theatre `02 and `03, European Traveling Theatre `04 and `05, California Traveling Theater `06, Bridge Southern Africa `07).
Thatcher Glode
Thatcher currently lives in Jackson, Wyoming where he is a youth counselor in a group home for high school students. After growing up in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, Thatcher attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs. During his junior year he had the amazing opportunity to study abroad on Semester at Sea, visiting 16 different countries (including South Africa) over a span of 8 months. It was on this program that Thatcher fell in love with travel and education. He had the chance to hear Castro speak in Cuba, go on a safari in Tanzania, visit the Taj Mahal in India, and climb Mt. Fuji in Japan. This program has forever impacted Thatcher's life and greatly opened his eyes to the vast world around him. Thatcher is writing this biography from an internet cafe in Prague after visiting several countries in Europe and eagerly looking forward to leading Bridge South Africa 2009. When not traveling or working, Thatcher can be found fly-fishing the Snake River under the Tetons in Jackson, or skiing in the back country on Teton Pass. (Bridge Hawaii ’06 and ’07, Bridge South Africa ’08).
Sarah loves encountering and connecting new people, places, and ideas around the world, and she is thrilled to be leading her seventh Windsor Mountain travel program this summer. Sarah graduated from Brown University with a degree in literature with honors in creative writing in 2001, and from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in 2002. Since then, she has been teaching, performing, and traveling. She toured with a mask and puppet show across the United States in 2003, and then moved to Portland, Oregon, where she teaches physical theatre, playwriting and stilt walking all over town and, as Co-Artistic Director of the Nomadic Theatre Co, creates original shows and performs them around the Pacific Northwest. Sarah is an active member of Clowns Without Borders-USA, through which she has traveled several times to Haiti and to Southern Africa. Besides traveling and theatre, some of Sarah’s other favorite things in the world include biking around Portland, playing the trombone, ice cream, partner acrobatics, and jumping in the ocean. (New England Traveling Theatre `02 and `03, European Traveling Theatre `04 and `05, California Traveling Theater `06, Bridge Southern Africa `07).
Thatcher Glode
Thatcher currently lives in Jackson, Wyoming where he is a youth counselor in a group home for high school students. After growing up in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, Thatcher attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs. During his junior year he had the amazing opportunity to study abroad on Semester at Sea, visiting 16 different countries (including South Africa) over a span of 8 months. It was on this program that Thatcher fell in love with travel and education. He had the chance to hear Castro speak in Cuba, go on a safari in Tanzania, visit the Taj Mahal in India, and climb Mt. Fuji in Japan. This program has forever impacted Thatcher's life and greatly opened his eyes to the vast world around him. Thatcher is writing this biography from an internet cafe in Prague after visiting several countries in Europe and eagerly looking forward to leading Bridge South Africa 2009. When not traveling or working, Thatcher can be found fly-fishing the Snake River under the Tetons in Jackson, or skiing in the back country on Teton Pass. (Bridge Hawaii ’06 and ’07, Bridge South Africa ’08).
Followers
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New England Adventure
You can also check out our website www.WindsorMountain.org for details on our
International Summer Camp and Student Travel Programs.