Many thanks for reading.
This blog is now closed though.
Overall
On leaving COTT and on my return to the UK I felt rather subdued as it was sad to say goodbye to many people I’d made friendships with who I may never see again and to leave behind certain aspects of life which I loved (African worship, the sunshine, being surrounded by nature, etc) but I’m now, almost completely, settled again back to life here.
Overall I had an excellent time. It really was a wonderful experience which I’ll always remember. I really have loved being in S.A. and my brothers and sisters I’ve met will remain in my heart, as will the Anglican Church out there.
So, I think all that’s left to say is Africa’s prayer (which we said each service and on other occasions):
Overall I had an excellent time. It really was a wonderful experience which I’ll always remember. I really have loved being in S.A. and my brothers and sisters I’ve met will remain in my heart, as will the Anglican Church out there.
So, I think all that’s left to say is Africa’s prayer (which we said each service and on other occasions):
‘God bless Africa, Guard her children, Guide her leaders, And give her peace, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen'
Anglican unity in diversity
1 major strength of Anglican as I see it is that we have a unity within our diversity. Indeed this goes right back within the history of the Anglican communion. Anglican Churches are meant to be, as I see it, cultural expressions of Christian faith. We are meant to take into account the culture and context the Church finds itself in and regard this in matters of faith, life and worship. We should be appropriate to our area and therefore indigenisation or enculturisation is a necessity otherwise we cease to be relevant and even accessible. So we should be locally adapted to the needs of the people.
We do of course have some things which keep us unified, i.e. our shared history, key theology (i.e. the Creeds), and our focus on tradition, scholarship and reason. So, though there are local differences, we are unified.
Unity in diversity is certainly not easy. So, as the accepted norms are V different in different cultures, this is currently held in tension in the Anglican communion.
Unfortunately, I feel that this strength of Anglicanism is currently being attempted to be stamped out. I am referring of course, to the current debate about homosexuality and gender. By taking into account all we are meant to when assessing situations (i.e. taking into account our tradition, scholarship and reason, while of course listening to God guiding us), our cultural context compels us to marry same sex couples in Christian services and to consecrate women and those in same sex relationships as Bishops. Unfortunately, S.An culture doesn’t currently feel the same and we should agree to disagree and so we should get on with living our lives, our faith, as we should, as God calls us to. If our African brothers and sisters choose to spilt from us, this is of course a sad thing, but is it not sadder to deny our context, our culture, what it means to be an Anglican, our beliefs, our way of life, and even our calling from God? For this is surely what we are doing when we fail to express our Christian faith and belief accurately and culturally by not moving forward with blessing same sex unions and consecrating women and those in same sex unions as Bishops.
How can we ignore our consciences by waiting any longer to do so? We are compelled to do so and by not doing so we should not be surprised that many people (and young people especially) in today’s modern society express their faith in their own way independent of the Anglican Church and Christianity. By not doing so, we have made, and are continuing to make, ourselves culturally inaccessible to many within the UK today. More than this, we are committing the sin of being hypocrites by preaching God's egalitarian love but failing to live up to this in practice.
The time to move forward is now. The Church needs to be a current expression of Christian faith in today’s current society. It needs to be a local expression of faith, belief and behaviour, within a wider diverse Christian faith. We have always been united in diversity, why now should we let people from other cultures manipulate us into thinking we can no longer have this unity in diversity? We can, and we should. And more importantly, we can and we should while moving forward with our culture, our beliefs, our faith and our mission from God.
We do of course have some things which keep us unified, i.e. our shared history, key theology (i.e. the Creeds), and our focus on tradition, scholarship and reason. So, though there are local differences, we are unified.
Unity in diversity is certainly not easy. So, as the accepted norms are V different in different cultures, this is currently held in tension in the Anglican communion.
Unfortunately, I feel that this strength of Anglicanism is currently being attempted to be stamped out. I am referring of course, to the current debate about homosexuality and gender. By taking into account all we are meant to when assessing situations (i.e. taking into account our tradition, scholarship and reason, while of course listening to God guiding us), our cultural context compels us to marry same sex couples in Christian services and to consecrate women and those in same sex relationships as Bishops. Unfortunately, S.An culture doesn’t currently feel the same and we should agree to disagree and so we should get on with living our lives, our faith, as we should, as God calls us to. If our African brothers and sisters choose to spilt from us, this is of course a sad thing, but is it not sadder to deny our context, our culture, what it means to be an Anglican, our beliefs, our way of life, and even our calling from God? For this is surely what we are doing when we fail to express our Christian faith and belief accurately and culturally by not moving forward with blessing same sex unions and consecrating women and those in same sex unions as Bishops.
How can we ignore our consciences by waiting any longer to do so? We are compelled to do so and by not doing so we should not be surprised that many people (and young people especially) in today’s modern society express their faith in their own way independent of the Anglican Church and Christianity. By not doing so, we have made, and are continuing to make, ourselves culturally inaccessible to many within the UK today. More than this, we are committing the sin of being hypocrites by preaching God's egalitarian love but failing to live up to this in practice.
The time to move forward is now. The Church needs to be a current expression of Christian faith in today’s current society. It needs to be a local expression of faith, belief and behaviour, within a wider diverse Christian faith. We have always been united in diversity, why now should we let people from other cultures manipulate us into thinking we can no longer have this unity in diversity? We can, and we should. And more importantly, we can and we should while moving forward with our culture, our beliefs, our faith and our mission from God.
CONTEXT
The world context and culture is used regularly at COTT. This is unsurprising as there’s 11 official languages of S.A. and so also just as many, if not more, different cultures. On passing it may seem there are 2 cultures, the white and coloured more Western people and the black more traditionally African people. This could not be further wrong though! Each of the black communities has its own distinct culture, different from one another, i.e. the Xhosa culture is different to Tswana culture, which is also different to Swazi culture, and so on. At COTT then, each student is encouraged to do theology from within their own context. I thought this was certainly a positive thing, as without doing so theology would face the danger of being irrelevant.
With this in mind then, I find it odd that S.Ans don’t want us English people to do theology in our context –see above post.
With this in mind then, I find it odd that S.Ans don’t want us English people to do theology in our context –see above post.
S.An culture and me
I fitted well into S.An culture in several ways. I loved the sunshine and I enjoyed being around positive, talkative, loud people who have music running through their veins! I didn’t like being in a culture who is still working out issues of equality though and I wasn’t overly keen on the food! Overall though, I feel in several ways I may more naturally be S.A. than English! I hope I hold some of the positive S.An ways of being and the English ways of being together within myself. As a whole, S.Ans appear to like noise and messing around, whereas English people like quiet, sensible people. Indeed, I’m always being told to grow up, but this is my natural personality and it’s been celebrated in S.A. and I will continue to celebrate this about myself and ignore those who try to compromise me into being something I am not.
Anglican Studies
An English retired Priest who lives in S.A. and ministered in S.A. was teaching 'Anglican Studies'. He was V funny as it felt to Dom and I like we were in primary school!! As he was just like an old fashioned English teacher. He even gave us a test every other week -but I'll keep our scores to myself! Often no-one would laugh when he said a joke as they didn't understand it, but then when he's say something serious they would all laugh and it would confuse him and when he said 'it wasn't a joke', then they would laugh more!!! To Dom and I observing the whole thing, it was hilarious! He soon got into the swing of things and they soon got used to him though (he only started teaching the term as the last lecture had been murdered on COTT's campus). As the level of teaching was V low, I actually learnt a great deal as it refreshed me on much at a slow pace so it stuck in your mind easier than being told 10 difficult facts in 1 hour!
3 for the price of 1 and Fungayi's jokes
On my final meeting with my Form G I found out that after I leave they are having 3 new guys in the group. They said it was because it takes 3 men to replace me!!!
Also I feel I must share a joke Fungayi said continually throughout our time in S.A., especially in the Form G -every time anyone said 'thank you very much', he said 'it's not march, it's April' or whatever month it is! In fact he said this to Dom and I as soon as we arrived at COTT and as he was 1 of the first people we met it was a bit odd, especially as we didn't understand the joke until he explained it to us over a month later!!
Also I feel I must share a joke Fungayi said continually throughout our time in S.A., especially in the Form G -every time anyone said 'thank you very much', he said 'it's not march, it's April' or whatever month it is! In fact he said this to Dom and I as soon as we arrived at COTT and as he was 1 of the first people we met it was a bit odd, especially as we didn't understand the joke until he explained it to us over a month later!!
Random Quotes
I don't know why but I wrote down some of the funnier quotes people said while I was in S.A. I realise they probably wont be as funny just written down out of context but here they are anyway!
From a student: Where is holiness in a mosquito?
Form a lecturer: Nothing you say is wrong. But not everything you say is right.
Nothing includes the Roman Catholic Church.
Fungayi: God doesn't own a photocopier.
This is the last time I'll prepare notes, unless the Spirit of the Lord comes upon me heavily.
Others: Defeated by a plate of chips!
From a student: Where is holiness in a mosquito?
Form a lecturer: Nothing you say is wrong. But not everything you say is right.
Nothing includes the Roman Catholic Church.
Fungayi: God doesn't own a photocopier.
This is the last time I'll prepare notes, unless the Spirit of the Lord comes upon me heavily.
Others: Defeated by a plate of chips!
Happy Birthday to You
When it's you birthday in S.A., they sing 'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear ........, happy birthday to you. How old are you know? How old are you know? How old are you know? How old are you know?' Haha!!! Excellent!!
1 Church even added a third verse of 'God bless you today, God bless you today, God bless you and keep you, Lord bless you always.'
1 Church even added a third verse of 'God bless you today, God bless you today, God bless you and keep you, Lord bless you always.'
Reading
I didn't actually get as much reading done as I'd hoped as I didn't have time in the end. I did read a few books though, which for those that know me well know that this is a minor miracle in itself! For anyone with the vaguest of interest, I read 'Tend my Flock: Sustaining Good Pastoral Care' by Kate Litchfield, 'What they don't Teach you at Theological College' by Malcolm Grundy, and 'Mission Shaped Youth: Rethinking Young People and Church' by Tim Sudworth. I also read the New Testament (with the exception of a couple of the Gospels which I'm now reading), and started on the Old Testament reading all of Genesis and Exodus, so you can see where I'm going with this!
Photo's
As you can see from below, most people at COTT liked having their photo taken, in contrast to several people in the UK who hide from cameras!. Indeed many asked for us to take a photo of them!
Interestingly though, naturally they didn't smile when a photo was taken of them, meaning we had to take several until we got 1 of them smiling and sometimes even with several we didn't!
Also on the subject, many had, of course, never used a digital camera before. And many didn't have any photo of themselves, meaning we took some of people and then emailed it to them and/or printed it off for them. Many also wanted a copy of the photo of them with us, so that they could show their families at home what their white English friends looked like!
Interestingly though, naturally they didn't smile when a photo was taken of them, meaning we had to take several until we got 1 of them smiling and sometimes even with several we didn't!
Also on the subject, many had, of course, never used a digital camera before. And many didn't have any photo of themselves, meaning we took some of people and then emailed it to them and/or printed it off for them. Many also wanted a copy of the photo of them with us, so that they could show their families at home what their white English friends looked like!
People
As you know if you’ve regularly read my blog, I met some wonderful people in S.A. and so feel the need here to include a photo of those who’ve particularly made an impression on me.
This is Mpilisi (pronounced 'm-pill-easy') who's room was next door to ours. He took quite a shine to me and always sat next to me and spoke to me. At first it was a bit weird really but I'm sure he meant it in the mood of hospitality. He really wanted a tonsure clerical collar shirt but they are £100 in S.A. and only £25 in the UK so I've ordered 1 for him and will post it when it arrives. Somewhat unexpectedly, he could play the drums!
This is me and Dom with Kholisile (pronounced 'collar-sea-lay') who nickname is Ma Thousand. He says it's his nickname because he has thousands of money (well not him, but his diocese) but others say it's because he had thousand stories!! The second is surely true as he continually told stories and made Dom and I laugh. He was actually V kind to us and became a friend, indeed one of my funnier friends!
This is Monde who was hilarious! He was in my Form G, and only had to open his mouth and we burst out laughing! He didnt appear to take much seriously at all!
This is Nonto who was quite sweet and often chatted to us. She was the assistant sacristan.
This is Mninawe (pronounced as 'min-are-way') who was also known as Gift. He was a V quiet person!
This is Brent who was also a V kind person who always took time to ask how we were. He is also 1 of the families who had us over for a wonderful English breakfast! 
This is Anthea and Jeannine. They were somewhat motherly, especially towards Dom at times!
This is Pinky who was lovely but somewhat unorganised! As you can also see, she is pretty stylish! Indeed,one the first week at COTT she nearly threw a fit when someone said she couldn't have a manicure before administering the chalice as he nails should be discreet!
This is Maria. She was V quiet with us but was quite a dominate figures in some ways as her and Gregory always had something loud to debate! She also had a nice singing voice.
This is Sanele. He was quite funny and was the main man behind the Friday evening action DVD's we watched.
This is Ashley, and Grant Walters. They were friends before they came to COTT and Grant particularly was a joker. They often watched the Friday evening films too.
This is Amos (pronounced 'Am-os'). He had some good insights to share and also included us often.
This is COTT's Rector Bill and his wife Shona. They were great people, kind and V interesting. They'd done so many amazing things in their lives and Bill really had a big heart for COTT and the students seemed grateful for the good work he was doing.
This is Zanele, she was in my Formation Group and was 1 of the more talkative women. We often laughed together in our Form G meetings. She had a wonderful singing voice.
This is Tshenolo (pronounced 't-no-la'). She was in charge of the chapel music.
This is Grant Damoes. He was the student chairperson and V occasionally brought his guitar in to chapel. He was a funny guy, always making a joke!
In this pic from left to right starting on the back row is: Vicente -a guy from Mozambique, Albert, Simphiwe -the Communications Officer at COTT, Fanafoot, Swazi's wife and boy, Onkabetse (also known as 'Edward') -a kind man who was the Kitchen Liaison Officer so he always got most food!, Luthando. And on the front row: Brent, Mpilisi, Dom, Lyand, me, Swazi, and Vernon.
Actually I've included pics of most of the people from COTT!
This is Mpilisi (pronounced 'm-pill-easy') who's room was next door to ours. He took quite a shine to me and always sat next to me and spoke to me. At first it was a bit weird really but I'm sure he meant it in the mood of hospitality. He really wanted a tonsure clerical collar shirt but they are £100 in S.A. and only £25 in the UK so I've ordered 1 for him and will post it when it arrives. Somewhat unexpectedly, he could play the drums!
This is me and Dom with Kholisile (pronounced 'collar-sea-lay') who nickname is Ma Thousand. He says it's his nickname because he has thousands of money (well not him, but his diocese) but others say it's because he had thousand stories!! The second is surely true as he continually told stories and made Dom and I laugh. He was actually V kind to us and became a friend, indeed one of my funnier friends! This is Nonto who was quite sweet and often chatted to us. She was the assistant sacristan. This is Mninawe (pronounced as 'min-are-way') who was also known as Gift. He was a V quiet person! This is Brent who was also a V kind person who always took time to ask how we were. He is also 1 of the families who had us over for a wonderful English breakfast! This is Anthea and Jeannine. They were somewhat motherly, especially towards Dom at times!This is James. He is V quiet. He was 1 who had never used a computer before, but he sure tried hard.
This is Sefularo and his wife Vivian. Sefularo was 1 of the marimba players.
This is Johannah who was V quiet with us, she also played in the marimba band.This is Sefularo and his wife Vivian. Sefularo was 1 of the marimba players. This is Jon and I with Lovington (pronounced Lavington) who was kind and 1 of the students in charge of the library.
This is Fungayi (pronounced 'fun-guy') and he is COTT's chaplain. He regularly wears this green cassock but also has a green shirt sometimes, and just occasionally wore 'normal' clothes! He wore green as that is the colour of the community he was/is a member of, the Community of the Holy Transfiguration. It's green to represent life, creation, nature. He wore white on Sundays, as they always celebrate the transfiguration on Sundays. He was a V funny man indeed and I spent much time with him as he was in my Formation Group. I got on well with him. He taught 'Christian Doctrines in Context' and to be honest it was more just Christian doctrines, but it was V interesting and V similar to our teachings at home. He was often challenging+some students found him V controversial. Often he would get excited when teaching and yell!
This is Titus, the chapel sacristan. As you know he became a friend of ours. He was funny and kind and included us a lot. This is Pinky who was lovely but somewhat unorganised! As you can also see, she is pretty stylish! Indeed,one the first week at COTT she nearly threw a fit when someone said she couldn't have a manicure before administering the chalice as he nails should be discreet!This is Maria. She was V quiet with us but was quite a dominate figures in some ways as her and Gregory always had something loud to debate! She also had a nice singing voice.This is Sanele. He was quite funny and was the main man behind the Friday evening action DVD's we watched.This is Fr.Isaias, his wife Hilda (or 'Ilda') and their children. They were kind and Fr.Isaias was funny but I dont think he meant to be! He had certain phrases he repeated regularly, and was the 1 in charge of the exchange programme at COTT's side of things. He taught 'Ethics of Sexuality' and 'Mission' (which I only did for a couple of weeks in the end as it kept clashing with other things). His teaching style was 1 of letting the students talk and I learnt most during my time in S.A. in the ethics classes as students would be talking about their experiences and cultural traditions in relation to issues of sex, gender, adulthood, childhood, procreation, etc etc. -A funny side comment: on our first lesson we had to say what we brought to the group, and everyone said I bring myself and my knowledge/experiences, etc, and then Titus said he brought condoms!!! It was so unexpected, I couldn't stop laughing!!
This is Ashley, and Grant Walters. They were friends before they came to COTT and Grant particularly was a joker. They often watched the Friday evening films too. This is Amos (pronounced 'Am-os'). He had some good insights to share and also included us often.This is Matsietso (pronoucned 'Mat-sea-et-so'). She's the 1st female ordinand to be sent from Lesotho. She's had a difficult life. When first at COTT she seemed V quiet but by the end of our time there she was V loud and always messing around in front of the group. She could sing really well too.
This is Vernon, Natasha and their 2 boys. Vernon was V talkative! He worked with computers in the past so was often helping others on them! Him and Natasha are expecting another baby, and the family had us round for an English breakfast 1 day which was fab. We got on quite well with them. In someways they seemed a V Western family, but in others I guess they weren't. 
This is Vernon, Natasha and their 2 boys. Vernon was V talkative! He worked with computers in the past so was often helping others on them! Him and Natasha are expecting another baby, and the family had us round for an English breakfast 1 day which was fab. We got on quite well with them. In someways they seemed a V Western family, but in others I guess they weren't. This is Albert, his wife and their boy Kenny. Albert sat next to me in Chapel and enjoyed banging a cushion during songs which I also enjoyed! Kenny was adorable and I loved having little interactions with him. He would sometimes come to chapel and would run around all over the place, even up the front in front of the Altar and I loved that they all just let him carry on running around and playing and having fun in chapel.
This is Zanele, she was in my Formation Group and was 1 of the more talkative women. We often laughed together in our Form G meetings. She had a wonderful singing voice. This is Gregory, or Bishop Gregory as his nickname at COTT was! He was someone I spent much time with and got to know V well. He was V kind to me and often organised things for us or checked how we were doing. He was in my Form G and was also funny! And he had an amazing, deep singing voice.
This is Grant Damoes. He was the student chairperson and V occasionally brought his guitar in to chapel. He was a funny guy, always making a joke! This is Fr.Percy who taught my 'Implementing Transformation in a Community Using Christian Principles' which I've referred to in a previous post and 'Christianity in Africa' where he was arguing that Christianity could be seen as an African religion. He was also studying for a Masters.
This is Swazi and his family. He was a nice, quiet man. He was in my Form G and was also the man I borrowed a cassock from!
This is Nkosikhona (pronounced 'co-sea-cone-a') or just Nkosi for short. He was a funny chap in an odd way! He also became quite a friend. He was always running around and making chicken noises and the like! In chapel we often sang 'Khosi Khosi' to the marimbas and as its said the same way as his name, Dom and I sang it when we saw him! He was V happy when we taught him 'If your Happy and you know it'! -In fact we later taught a group of students 'If you're happy and you know it' as they asked us for an English chorus and it was all we could think of!! Dom also began to sing to them 'If I was a fuzzy-wuzzy bear', at which point we fell about laughing!!
In this pic from left to right starting on the back row is: Vicente -a guy from Mozambique, Albert, Simphiwe -the Communications Officer at COTT, Fanafoot, Swazi's wife and boy, Onkabetse (also known as 'Edward') -a kind man who was the Kitchen Liaison Officer so he always got most food!, Luthando. And on the front row: Brent, Mpilisi, Dom, Lyand, me, Swazi, and Vernon.Goodbye comments
While still at COTT, I said when I had more time I’d write here people’s comments to us when we said out goodbyes. So here it is!
Dom, Jon and I left everyone at COTT a communal a thank you card saying it had been a privilege getting to know them+spending time in the life of COTT. We said we’d had a wonderful time+that they’d forever be in our hearts. We also thanked them for sharing and for the laughs.
Dom, Jon and I left everyone at COTT a communal a thank you card saying it had been a privilege getting to know them+spending time in the life of COTT. We said we’d had a wonderful time+that they’d forever be in our hearts. We also thanked them for sharing and for the laughs.
During the final service, which was the Easter morning Eucharist, we were brought to the front for prayer (see a previous post). At this time Grant the student chairperson said "we’d wrapped ourselves around their hearts" and that "they'd embraces us and we'd embraced them".
The rector Bill then said they’d learnt from us, particularly that Dom had taught them "that it's not disablled, it's differently abled", from Jon they’d learnt "how to support your spouse", and from me they’d learnt "that dynamite comes in small packages!"
COTT also gave me a COTT tracksuit as a gift, which was V kind of them.
Nonto who we made friends with, gave Dom and I a 2010 (i.e. soccer worldcup) pen with a note each. On mine she said ‘It was nice having a friend like you. I really enjoyed the things that we shared together. May the Lord bless you in your ministerial work.’
Titus, who was mt closest friend while out there, gave me 'An African Prayer Book' (see a previous post) and he gave a short book of his about conversion. Jon and I gave him a book of ours, 'Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained', a long poem about the creation and fall. It was particularly fitting as it had a picture of a huge snake on the front and we'd all spent one fun evening watching Snakes on a Plane and discussing snakes! In it we wrote: "Titus, This book is just a small gift from us to you. It's a poem based on parts of the Old Testament. We brought it from home to South Africa, and think it should stay here with you, especially because there is a snake on the cover! haha Love George and Jon x "
He also gave Dom,Jon and I a letter with a picture on (see below). He said many things including some serious and some funny. He said he’d had fun with us, that he would miss my laughter and that he’d learnt from us. He also wrote: ‘We need to come all over the world and worship together, love one another, live with compassion, care for each other, hold the cross together, share our experiences, culture, traditions and our differences.’ He then said he’d miss us and that we’d brought healing into this life and to other students at COTT. He signed off by giving us African (Tswana) names; George as ‘Tumelo’ (meaning ‘faith’), Dom as ‘Tshepo’ (meaning ‘hope’), and Jon as 'Mpho' (meaning ‘gift’).
I gave him a card back with a pic of the 2 of us on. I also included some serious and some funny stuff on. I said I felt blessed to have known him and that I’ll miss him also. I said he’d made me laugh and thanked him for ‘spending time with us, sharing with us, helping us, including us, +laughing with us.’ I included the Bible verse John 13.34-35 and ended saying I’d learnt much from him and that I’d never forget him or my time in S.A.
‘We don’t need no education’
What Pink Floyd immortalised in their classic Another Brick in the Wall, is just 1 of the problems within our current education system today, i.e. that children are all churned out the same being told the same facts etc etc. Do I need to mention any other problems? No, but I will! Homework for children aged 5!? What is wrong with the world?! Let them be children for goodness sake. We are obsessed as a nation with maturity and growing up, and why? I don’t know. I’m not and I for one think childhood should be celebrated and enjoyed. Furthermore, how useful is much of the stuff we’re told at school, e.g. at school we were always trying to find ‘X’, but has anyone in their adult life ever had to find X apart from people in finance and pirates!?!
Ok I’ll stop ranting and get on with my point, which is, that though there are problems with our current education system, at least all children get educated to the (supposedly) same standard, free of charge. In S.A. they are not so lucky and so those who can’t afford it do not go to school at all.
Because of this, the lectures we went to at COTT were V basic and more often than not were things we already knew. Interestingly though, there lectures weren’t in the same style as ours with the teacher imparting you their knowledge, but the whole class participated. Sometimes this meant the lecture went completely off the point! Dom and I also ended up in the role of helping others with their work, e.g. typing working for them, reading through essays, and checking essay plans. We also helped the teachers out, e.g. 1 time Fr.Percy was trying to explain overt investigations and pervert investigations, so we told him he meant ‘covert’ not pervert! Another time Fr.Isias thought transsexual meant beyond sex, i.e. they had transcended gender, and I helped another student explain this wasn’t was a transsexual was at all! And another time, after Fr.Percy spent ages trying to explain something to Gregory, I helped out and Gregory looked at Fr.Percy and said ‘why didn’t you say that to begin with’ and a separate time I helped a visiting lecturer out who got himself in a pickle explaining something and when I helped out he thanked me ‘for getting him out of that one!’
So, on reflection our education system doesn’t seem isn’t completely bad because at least we all learn something!
Ok I’ll stop ranting and get on with my point, which is, that though there are problems with our current education system, at least all children get educated to the (supposedly) same standard, free of charge. In S.A. they are not so lucky and so those who can’t afford it do not go to school at all.
Because of this, the lectures we went to at COTT were V basic and more often than not were things we already knew. Interestingly though, there lectures weren’t in the same style as ours with the teacher imparting you their knowledge, but the whole class participated. Sometimes this meant the lecture went completely off the point! Dom and I also ended up in the role of helping others with their work, e.g. typing working for them, reading through essays, and checking essay plans. We also helped the teachers out, e.g. 1 time Fr.Percy was trying to explain overt investigations and pervert investigations, so we told him he meant ‘covert’ not pervert! Another time Fr.Isias thought transsexual meant beyond sex, i.e. they had transcended gender, and I helped another student explain this wasn’t was a transsexual was at all! And another time, after Fr.Percy spent ages trying to explain something to Gregory, I helped out and Gregory looked at Fr.Percy and said ‘why didn’t you say that to begin with’ and a separate time I helped a visiting lecturer out who got himself in a pickle explaining something and when I helped out he thanked me ‘for getting him out of that one!’
So, on reflection our education system doesn’t seem isn’t completely bad because at least we all learn something!
Money doesn’t buy happiness
There’s 2 things I feel the need to say about money with regards S.A.
1) Money certainly doesn’t buy happiness,
2) Money could help towards some of S.As problems.
Back to the first point –The S.A. people I met and interacted with seemed vastly more happy than people in England. They laughed ALL the time. Honestly I’ve never laughed so much as when I was out there! At least once a day you’d be literally laughing out loud, whereas at home you can go well over a week without doing that! Furthermore, I’m sure we moan much more than they do!
Despite this cheerfulness S.Ans often display though, there did seem to be many problems in S.A. and I’m sure some of these could be helped by money. With regards health, there was a lack of hospitals and medication. With regards education, there’s a lack of free schools. With regards basic necessities, there’s a lack of availability of clean water. And so on, and so on. It really is shocking to me then that as a nation we’ve not sought to eradicate such problems. I know money won’t solve all problems but it really could do a start, and when we as a country spend our money on sending soldiers into other countries to kill, rather than sending money to help cure ill children, it really is a sad sad time.
1) Money certainly doesn’t buy happiness,
2) Money could help towards some of S.As problems.
Back to the first point –The S.A. people I met and interacted with seemed vastly more happy than people in England. They laughed ALL the time. Honestly I’ve never laughed so much as when I was out there! At least once a day you’d be literally laughing out loud, whereas at home you can go well over a week without doing that! Furthermore, I’m sure we moan much more than they do!
Despite this cheerfulness S.Ans often display though, there did seem to be many problems in S.A. and I’m sure some of these could be helped by money. With regards health, there was a lack of hospitals and medication. With regards education, there’s a lack of free schools. With regards basic necessities, there’s a lack of availability of clean water. And so on, and so on. It really is shocking to me then that as a nation we’ve not sought to eradicate such problems. I know money won’t solve all problems but it really could do a start, and when we as a country spend our money on sending soldiers into other countries to kill, rather than sending money to help cure ill children, it really is a sad sad time.
HIV/Aids
Unfortunately no blog on life in S.A. would be complete without an entry on HIV/Aids. I of course knew that HIV/Aids was widespread in S.A. but I hadn’t realised that this illness cut across racial and class boundaries, i.e. I was V surprised to hear that HIV/Aids was as prevalent within those who are educated as well as those who aren’t. I found this shocking because, if you know how to prevent getting such an illness, why wouldn’t you then do your best to prevent yourself from getting it –i.e. wearing a condom. It really is a battle in S.A. to educate people about the illness and how to prevent it spreading. I mean, there is such education out there in some circles, but it doesn’t seem to be having as such a huge impact on the problem as you would expect and hope.
It really can’t help when powerful people, such as the their President Jacob Zuma, openly admit they don’t wear condoms when they sleep with people who they know have it –recently he openly stated that he slept with a prostitute who he knew had the illness and he didn’t use a condom but he did have a shower afterwards! What an idiot! And I don’t mean just what an idiot because he could be spreading the illness personally, but what an idiot because as president he is a leading, influential powerful man who others may imitate and (by saying what he did) he doesn’t seem to have any care for that and so is basically encouraging others to do the same and therefore probably catch and spread the disease too. (Interestingly, Zuma wont admit publically if he has HIV/Aids or not, leading me to suspect he has)
The other main problem is that there is still such a stigma related to the disease so people don’t want to talk about it at all. The Anglican Church out there is trying to work against this and so encouraging their ministers to teach about how to prevent catching it and also to encourage others not to discriminate against those who do have it. There is currently an effort within the Church called ‘Know your Status’, encouraging Christians to know their status with regards HIV/Aids as many people don’t even know if they have it or not. The Church is creating days where people can be tested freely and there are pictures up of such days with people like Bishops being tested. Sadly though, some Christians do not want to talk about the illness, condoms or sex at all within the Church.
(Another problem which wasn’t talked about but which I suspect (after witnessing life out there, especially beliefs and values) happens out there, is that some from more traditional cultures still carry an old-fashioned sexist view of sexual relationships –i.e. that the sexual part of a relationship is purely for procreation and/or the male to enjoy at the woman’s expense, so, for a woman in a relationship to rejected the offer of sex or to ask the man to wear a condom, is virtually unthinkable. Some women I met from more traditional African cultures were adamant that they never wanted to get married and I suspect this was because they knew marriage would mean an expectation of a subservient and domestic role in all aspects of their life.
This is a generalisation though and by no means do all feel like that.)
So it is of course good that education about HIV/Aids is happening, though of course this needs to continue and much more needs to be done. I also hope though, that something is being done to empower young people, particularly women related to issues of sex and sexuality.
Thankfully the Church, at least, recognises it’s not too late to start reducing the amount of people who contract such a disease and so are doing their best and working towards real changes. Let hope this continues.
It really can’t help when powerful people, such as the their President Jacob Zuma, openly admit they don’t wear condoms when they sleep with people who they know have it –recently he openly stated that he slept with a prostitute who he knew had the illness and he didn’t use a condom but he did have a shower afterwards! What an idiot! And I don’t mean just what an idiot because he could be spreading the illness personally, but what an idiot because as president he is a leading, influential powerful man who others may imitate and (by saying what he did) he doesn’t seem to have any care for that and so is basically encouraging others to do the same and therefore probably catch and spread the disease too. (Interestingly, Zuma wont admit publically if he has HIV/Aids or not, leading me to suspect he has)
The other main problem is that there is still such a stigma related to the disease so people don’t want to talk about it at all. The Anglican Church out there is trying to work against this and so encouraging their ministers to teach about how to prevent catching it and also to encourage others not to discriminate against those who do have it. There is currently an effort within the Church called ‘Know your Status’, encouraging Christians to know their status with regards HIV/Aids as many people don’t even know if they have it or not. The Church is creating days where people can be tested freely and there are pictures up of such days with people like Bishops being tested. Sadly though, some Christians do not want to talk about the illness, condoms or sex at all within the Church.
(Another problem which wasn’t talked about but which I suspect (after witnessing life out there, especially beliefs and values) happens out there, is that some from more traditional cultures still carry an old-fashioned sexist view of sexual relationships –i.e. that the sexual part of a relationship is purely for procreation and/or the male to enjoy at the woman’s expense, so, for a woman in a relationship to rejected the offer of sex or to ask the man to wear a condom, is virtually unthinkable. Some women I met from more traditional African cultures were adamant that they never wanted to get married and I suspect this was because they knew marriage would mean an expectation of a subservient and domestic role in all aspects of their life.
This is a generalisation though and by no means do all feel like that.)
So it is of course good that education about HIV/Aids is happening, though of course this needs to continue and much more needs to be done. I also hope though, that something is being done to empower young people, particularly women related to issues of sex and sexuality.
Thankfully the Church, at least, recognises it’s not too late to start reducing the amount of people who contract such a disease and so are doing their best and working towards real changes. Let hope this continues.
Hotel Rwanda
During the HOPE Africa week we watched the film Hotel Rwanda. If you’ve not seen it, it’s based on the true life story of a hotel manager during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 who tried to save people's lives and give them shelter in his hotel. During the Rwandan Genocide, an estimated 800,000 people, mainly Tutsi, were killed by the Hutu extremists.-The situation was slightly more complicated than this but I'm having to simplify it to fit it in a short post here.
It was one of the hardest films I’ve ever had to watch and England as a nation didn’t come off V well in it so I felt somewhat awkward at times sat there –not that anyone said anything though. It really reminded me more strongly how awful it is when we positively discriminate ourselves, i.e. the English government sent people in to save the English but left the Tutsi's, including many childnre, and others there to die horribly.
It’s like, when a news story says something like ‘100 people died in the earthquake, including 6 English people’. I hate that! As if the English people are somehow worth more than the other people and are more important than them. Honestly I really hate it, I would rather they just said ‘100 people died in the earthquake.’ We are all people at the end of the day, all God’s creation, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, English or African, heterosexual or homosexual, small or tall, academic or industrial, or even those in-between such as transsexual, English Africans, bisexuals, medium built people, etc...I think you get the point!
It was one of the hardest films I’ve ever had to watch and England as a nation didn’t come off V well in it so I felt somewhat awkward at times sat there –not that anyone said anything though. It really reminded me more strongly how awful it is when we positively discriminate ourselves, i.e. the English government sent people in to save the English but left the Tutsi's, including many childnre, and others there to die horribly.
It’s like, when a news story says something like ‘100 people died in the earthquake, including 6 English people’. I hate that! As if the English people are somehow worth more than the other people and are more important than them. Honestly I really hate it, I would rather they just said ‘100 people died in the earthquake.’ We are all people at the end of the day, all God’s creation, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, English or African, heterosexual or homosexual, small or tall, academic or industrial, or even those in-between such as transsexual, English Africans, bisexuals, medium built people, etc...I think you get the point!
Random observations
A few other random observations in S.A.:
Their animals are not penned in, so that cows + donkeys (like their cats + dogs) wander around anywhere without any people/farmers with them.
People wear their best clothes to Church, some of which look like they cost as much as their houses.
People walk along the road, even when there is a free path next to them.
S.Ans don't seem to understand sarcasm.
S.Ans often don't wear shoes, even when playing sport, in chapel and sometimes when going out!
Lots of people were small, especially the guys. You can see this if you look at my pics of me and Jon with some of the people we spent time with, such as Titus, Swazi, and Sefularo (see photos in an above post).
People drive V close to pedestrians. As many pedestrians are on the road or the side of the road, we often drove past people at great speeds only missing them by less than a foot, without anyone jumping or even appearing to notice!
The weather changes quickly, so that one day it can be 18oC and the next day be 38oC!
Many towns had English names, such as Colchester, Newcastle, and even, an apparently small place, called George!
The radio played old English songs from the 90’s!
People often have Christian messages on their T-Shirts or cars (see below)
Their animals are not penned in, so that cows + donkeys (like their cats + dogs) wander around anywhere without any people/farmers with them.
People wear their best clothes to Church, some of which look like they cost as much as their houses.
People walk along the road, even when there is a free path next to them.
S.Ans don't seem to understand sarcasm.
S.Ans often don't wear shoes, even when playing sport, in chapel and sometimes when going out!
Lots of people were small, especially the guys. You can see this if you look at my pics of me and Jon with some of the people we spent time with, such as Titus, Swazi, and Sefularo (see photos in an above post).
People drive V close to pedestrians. As many pedestrians are on the road or the side of the road, we often drove past people at great speeds only missing them by less than a foot, without anyone jumping or even appearing to notice!
The weather changes quickly, so that one day it can be 18oC and the next day be 38oC!
Many towns had English names, such as Colchester, Newcastle, and even, an apparently small place, called George!
The radio played old English songs from the 90’s!
People often have Christian messages on their T-Shirts or cars (see below)
Friendliness
People in S.A. are generally more friendly than we are in the UK! This is of course a major generalisation. But the people we interacted with, and I don’t just mean the people we met, but those we spoke to in passing or walked past in the street, were V helpful. E.G.in cafes they would happily change any meal to fit your requirements and acted as if this was common place rather than considering you to be awkward, and if looking at a map then people would come up to you and give you directions to where you wanted to go, etc. A minority wanted a tip for this (between 5-40p) but most did not. Another example, is that once Jon+I were looking around and a lady came and asked if she could help, we said we wanted a bus, she told us there wasn’t a bus but she’d find out about a shuttle (taxi) and she then went and spoke to a shuttle driver who rang someone and then came to us and told us he had another fare to meet in 5mins but he’d rang him and asked if he minded sharing the shuttle with us and he didn’t, so we got in! I was surprised at how these people we’d never met went out of their way to help us, especially as you’re rarely offered help in the UK unless you ask and even then you may not get the help you want!
Travelling, trains and cars
S.A.’s travel system isn’t as advanced as ours. There aren’t as many roads and roads, apart from those in cities and towns, aren’t as well made/serviced as ours. There are much less cars though so the roads are used much less, again apart from those in cities though. There are also many many car accidents in S.A. and they are often V serious. In fact, S.A’s moto for driving is ‘Arrive alive’ as so many don’t. We met many people who had either survived a major car accident or who knew someone who had died in one. There were so many that the car accident I was in at home some years ago, which by UK standards was serious and not all that common, was just another in a long list of similar stories. They are common because there are so few cars on the roads that those driving don’t expect to see another car and as a result end up hitting one another or swerving out of the way and hitting something else such as a cliff.
The public transport isn’t as available as ours either, so there are few busses and trains. The buses aren’t overly reliable either and we heard stories about buses on long journeys turning up hours late and stopping on route for a toilet stop only to drive off leaving some passengers there!! The trains are generally thought to be V dangerous too and most people we met wont travel on them for fear of dying! All this means that many people hitchhike or walk long distances as it’s there only way to get where they want, and often the only way they can afford to get where they want too. Indeed, on the last day of term several people hitchhiked home, such as Mpilisi and Gregory –despite the fact you also hear stories about people being attacked as hitchhikers or by hitchhikers, so it isn’t 100% safe either!
Jon and I actually got a train at Cape Town after seeing the train station and that it all looked ok, we got a first class ticket (called ‘MetroPlus) for less than £2.50 each and I’m glad we did as the first class was like our London tube! There was graffiti and rubbish on the seats, etc (see pic). We were also treated to some entertainment during the journey, which seemed to be common place. E.G. various people walked down the carriages singing or playing the guitar and collecting money for this, others were preaching, and others were selling things such as food, drink and also, weirdly, glue!! One comical moment was when a lady was preaching and suddenly the train stopped and mid flow she asked what stop it was and hopped off, it was like ‘you must turn to Jesus and repent. Oh this is my stop, I’ve got to go, but keep thinking about Jesus!’.
The public transport isn’t as available as ours either, so there are few busses and trains. The buses aren’t overly reliable either and we heard stories about buses on long journeys turning up hours late and stopping on route for a toilet stop only to drive off leaving some passengers there!! The trains are generally thought to be V dangerous too and most people we met wont travel on them for fear of dying! All this means that many people hitchhike or walk long distances as it’s there only way to get where they want, and often the only way they can afford to get where they want too. Indeed, on the last day of term several people hitchhiked home, such as Mpilisi and Gregory –despite the fact you also hear stories about people being attacked as hitchhikers or by hitchhikers, so it isn’t 100% safe either!
Jon and I actually got a train at Cape Town after seeing the train station and that it all looked ok, we got a first class ticket (called ‘MetroPlus) for less than £2.50 each and I’m glad we did as the first class was like our London tube! There was graffiti and rubbish on the seats, etc (see pic). We were also treated to some entertainment during the journey, which seemed to be common place. E.G. various people walked down the carriages singing or playing the guitar and collecting money for this, others were preaching, and others were selling things such as food, drink and also, weirdly, glue!! One comical moment was when a lady was preaching and suddenly the train stopped and mid flow she asked what stop it was and hopped off, it was like ‘you must turn to Jesus and repent. Oh this is my stop, I’ve got to go, but keep thinking about Jesus!’.
African cultural religion
African cultural religion is still prevalent in Africa –and I don’t say that as a bad thing. Due to this there’s been a mixing of more traditional views and Christianity. In some respects this has worked well, in others it hasn’t. In some respects it means a traditional view has been rejected and in other respects it means a basic Western Christian value has been rejected. In some regards it means 2 views are held simultaneously in tension. i.e. many who get married have 2 weddings, a traditional African wedding and a ‘white wedding’ which is basically the English wedding service and celebrations as we know it. We also heard much talk of witch doctors which was all V interesting indeed.
Transformation and Development
We were interested to find out that positive transformation and development of communities is mainly instigated by Christian groups and charities in S.A. I am talking about things such as building and maintaining hospitals and schools, educating about sexual health and illness such as Aids, etc. Consequently, in S.A. students at COTT are in small groups who have to develop a project to positively transform a community, i.e. one group was to teach children in a local school how to use computers, and another group was to work on the buildings within an old people home (e.g. paint, put up shelves, etc). So the students and staff at COTT were interested to hear that such things are mainly done by the government in the UK as they are mainly responsible for such things and so charities and Christian individuals or groups often come alongside already existing structures/projects to help. So again we have just another difference in the way both our communities work.
Communal vs. Individual
The people we met at COTT seemed more community minded than individualistic. This meant their whole way for viewing life and living was different from most of us in the West. I came to realise that there are merits in both ways of thinking and that actually, perhaps, we should consider both when making any decisions.
Due to this different way of viewing life though, I felt some of the hymns they use from the UK didn’t actually fit well into this context. E.G. We sang, several times, ‘My Jesus, My Saviour’ and to me it seemed V misplaced with its emphasis on ‘my’ rather than ‘our’.
Due to this different way of viewing life though, I felt some of the hymns they use from the UK didn’t actually fit well into this context. E.G. We sang, several times, ‘My Jesus, My Saviour’ and to me it seemed V misplaced with its emphasis on ‘my’ rather than ‘our’.
TV
S.An TV is just the same as ours!! Most of it is in English and they even have ‘S.A’s Got Talent’, ‘The Wombels’, and soappes! Soappes are what we called soaps, are they are just the same as ours with V similar storylines!
Rape
More than unfortunately, there is a V high rate of rape in S.A. There isn’t a lot to say about this, apart from of course how dreadful that is. Obv. it’s not a topic often talked about, but once it was and within a group of 5, 2 men admitted there daughters had been raped and I actually wondered how many more within that group had experienced rape but who chose to remain silent about it at that time. This is of course a shockingly high amount, 2 in 5. One of these men spoke movingly about how he wanted to hurt the man who’d done it, but instead did the right thing by making sure he was brought to justice the legal way and therefore was imprisoned. The man had, among other things, moved house and left his job, in order to carry out his own investigation into it and when he found the man encouraged him to admit what he’d done. Both the men who talked about their daughters experiences said, unsurprisingly, that they were suicidal after the event. Thankfully both young women are beginning to continue with their lives.
Marriage and kids
Again, many from the traditional side of S.A. (and, to be clear, whenever I say this I mean the black S.Ans rather than the whites or coloureds who live in the urban areas) have the view that all adults should get married and have children. As a result, during our stay, Dom was often asked about if he was to marry before he was to be ordained (as they all were!) and I was often asked about my children as they assumed I had them. When I said I didn’t have children, I was asked how long I’d been married and many were surprised when I said nearly 4years. I thought they were surprised in the same way that people are at home as I’m so darn beautiful and youthful looking! But actually they were surprised as it’s a long time for them to be married and to not have children. In fact, Fr.Isaias told us that when he was a parish Priest, after about 4years of marriage and no children, several members of his congregation asked if there was anything they could do to help!!! Thankfully no such offers were made to Jon or I!
It is all linked though to their strong views of community and their high regard for their ancestors. To not find anyone who wants to marry you is like being rejected from the community, and if you have no children then when you die there is no–one to remember you and therefore you have really died unlike the ancestors who are remembered and therefore who still live. To remain unmarried or without children then is an awful punishment.
It is all linked though to their strong views of community and their high regard for their ancestors. To not find anyone who wants to marry you is like being rejected from the community, and if you have no children then when you die there is no–one to remember you and therefore you have really died unlike the ancestors who are remembered and therefore who still live. To remain unmarried or without children then is an awful punishment.
Noise and quietness!
Apart from the silent meditation we had a couple of times a week, the chapel was rarely quiet. So, in a quiet part within a service, students would spontaneously start to sing a song which all then joined in with. At first I thought it was wonderful that they all liked singing this much, but later I wondered if it was actually because they hate/fear silence so they feel the need to always fill it. As you know, I love to make a noise and I particularly don’t like silence! However, I actually welcome periods of silence within Church services so that you have time to add your own individual prayers and simply to sit with God and try to listen to Him.
Sport
Sport is regarded V highly indeed by my S.Ans, to the extent that sport is part of the formation process for Priests in training at COTT. It came as a shock then when Jon arrived and announced, not only did he not like soccer (i.e. football), but also he didn’t even loosely support a team or even know the rules!!
Church organisation
Unfortunately, as you’d expect though, the Church, like the rest of S.An culture, isn’t as organised as ours. Two examples show this, 1) is that curacies for new curates are sorted V late indeed, so that you’ll only have a months notice of where you and your family are moving to, if you’re lucky, and you don’t have any say in it at all either, and 2) a young man, Vuzi, was told he was going to go to COTT to train to be a Priest and the day before he was to leave his Bishop had a less than 5min meeting telling him he wasn’t anymore! Poor Vuzi didn’t know what to do, as you can imagine he’d already left his job and so had no money as he was expecting the Church to pay for this training and therefore also living expenses. He came to COTT anyway in the hope the Bishop would change his mind, or at least tell him why he changed his mind, but after a few days the Bishop insisted he left COTT as he was not to train. Thankfully we had a collection for him to help get him back on his feet at home. This was a really sad time, especially as I had begun to get to know him and especially as he seemed a V spiritual and kind man indeed. We all felt for him so, and so I’m still continuing to remember him in my prayers.
Here is a pic of Dom and I with him, taken at the end of the first week -this was the last time we saw him as he left the next day.
Here is a pic of Dom and I with him, taken at the end of the first week -this was the last time we saw him as he left the next day.
JZ
Jacob Zuma, or ‘J.Z.’ as he’s known, is S.As President. He was, among those we spent time with, a laughing stock! He has 5 wives, openly admits to sleeping with prostitutes, has sex with those with HIV/Aids without wearing condoms and even went through a trial for raping a cousin of his (though he wasn’t found guilty, many still question that). All in all, you can see it’s his personal life which many question and disagree with. He was constantly joked about with regards these aspects and I never once heard about how he ruled the country!
However, we did hear from someone that they, and others, liked the white government they had before though they didn’t like the apartheid. They said that they wish everything else kept the same as the white government had ruled, apart from just removing the apartheid.
However, we did hear from someone that they, and others, liked the white government they had before though they didn’t like the apartheid. They said that they wish everything else kept the same as the white government had ruled, apart from just removing the apartheid.
Good health
Interestingly, I had incredibly good health throughout my time in S.A. I felt V positive most of the time and never got a cold or anything. I think this is all linked to the fact of the enormous amount of sunshine present each day. Not only this, but others seemed quite well too. E.G. During Church of lectures at home, you constantly hear people coughing, but at COTT you generally went through a lecture of Church service without hearing any one cough at all.
Health and safety and cleanliness
Going to S.A. you take your life into your hands and I don’t mean because of the high crime rate or illnesses, but mainly because of the lack of health, safety and cleanliness! For instance, in cars, it is common place for them to have chips or cracks in the windscreen and one of the cars we regularly went in even had a crack half the size of the windscreen across it, most talk on their mobiles while driving (though its illegal there I don’t think much is done about it), many cars have no ‘safety belts’ (i.e. seat belts), and more often than not we drove with 4 adults squashed into the back! If I was going to die in S.A., it certainly would be in a car. Other examples of a lack of health and safety concern, are that people hung off the back of trucks as they drove along, and construction work (which actually happened remarkably quickly, i.e. we saw whole roads and buildings built during our time there rather than them taking months or years!) on roads had no tape blocking it off or other safety devises so that you could, or in some cases had to, walk literally a few inches from a guy with a pneumatic drill drilling into the concrete or using a massive saw type thing cutting the pavement in half!
The second issue slightly related to this is the lack of cleanliness which I found quite worrying indeed! When we moved into the little flat at COTT, though the bedsheets were clean, I’m not sure much else had been cleaned! E.G. See the close up pic of my bedside table below. Also the bath was yellow inside instead of white and when you filled it with water and sat in it,it smelled really quite bad! Dom and I found some bathroom cleaner from Pick ‘n’ Pay, it took literally ages of really hard scrubbing to get it off, leaving me to wander if the bath had ever been cleaned at all! Finally, with regards our flat, it was never cleaned during the 3months we were there, while of course we could now clean the bathroom, we couldn’t hoover as we didn’t have a hoover despite trying our best to find one. This lack of cleanliness was also present in individuals as several of them smelt quite bad and many wore the same clothes all week despite the incredible heat and therefore sweating.
I guess it just goes to show that what is important to us, is not as important to others.
The second issue slightly related to this is the lack of cleanliness which I found quite worrying indeed! When we moved into the little flat at COTT, though the bedsheets were clean, I’m not sure much else had been cleaned! E.G. See the close up pic of my bedside table below. Also the bath was yellow inside instead of white and when you filled it with water and sat in it,it smelled really quite bad! Dom and I found some bathroom cleaner from Pick ‘n’ Pay, it took literally ages of really hard scrubbing to get it off, leaving me to wander if the bath had ever been cleaned at all! Finally, with regards our flat, it was never cleaned during the 3months we were there, while of course we could now clean the bathroom, we couldn’t hoover as we didn’t have a hoover despite trying our best to find one. This lack of cleanliness was also present in individuals as several of them smelt quite bad and many wore the same clothes all week despite the incredible heat and therefore sweating.
I guess it just goes to show that what is important to us, is not as important to others.
3 Point Stoles
The stoles they use in S.A. are different to the ones we use. They are called ‘3 point stoles’ and have a section at the back. This is so a chasuble doesn’t have to be worn, which I expect is to do with the fact it’s too hot to wear one! I bought a double-sided one as a fitting souvenir of my time in S.A. It’s purple on one side with traditional Christian African symbols on (which are the same we use at home), such as grapes, wheat, the Alpha symbol, the Omega symbol, etc. The other side is green and has traditional pictures of African on, such as a lady carrying a baby, the aloe plant, and a traditional African house, etc. It really is wonderful and I’m very pleased with it. I look forward to wearing it when I’m ordained and to remembering my African brothers and sisters when I do so.
England is primitive!
1 thing which regularly made me laugh while in S.A., was that sometimes I would say things and Titus would comment “That’s because you’re primitive in England!’ He was of course joking, but he would often tell me we were primitive when I mentioned things they did in S.A., which we don’t do, E.G. S.Ans often have steak on their braii’s and I said we don’t as we have burgers instead.
No panto! Oh yes there is! Oh no there isn't!
There are several things we have in the UK which they don’t have in S.A., and some things they were lacking I felt more disappointed about than others, especially when I realised they don’t have, or even know, what panto is!!
Meat and Vegetarianism
Linked with the below post about food, vegetarianism is virtually unknown in the more traditional areas of S.A. Hence, vegetarians aren’t catered for at all at COTT, so when Jon came he just had vegetables and rice! Not only is it not catered for, but it is considered V strange indeed! Most students were shocked when they found out Jon was veggie and wanted to know why, how long he had been and importantly, when he would start eating meat again!! The fact he’s been veggie long before he knew me, and for all of his adult life to date and will be in the future, was something many of them just couldn’t comprehend. Though I love my meat, especially bacon sandwiches, I came to his defence trying to explain that there were many vegetarians in England, and they seemed able to cope with the thought of it better when they realised it was a cultural things we did!
As for meat, it was the staple diet of those from the more traditional S.As cultures and so they did not consider a vegetarian meal to be a full meal at all. Also linked to cultural views, was the fact that some of them wouldn’t eat certain meats. I can’t remember who ate what, but some cultures wouldn’t eat pork, whereas others wouldn’t eat beef, and some wouldn’t eat pork or beef! So there was always a chicken alternative to cater for these. At first I thought this as odd and wanted to know why they wouldn’t eat certain meat, but found most unable to answer this question. I later realised it wasn’t that odd at all, as we don’t eat, for example, donkey, but there is no reason why we don’t. However, if I went to a place where they did eat donkey, then I too would, whereas these people wouldn’t ever eat pork or beef.
Most meat was served on the bone and was eaten with fingers. All the meat was eaten. E.G. If you had a chicken drumstick, just 2 completely clean bones would be left on the plate, with the rest being eaten, the ends, the cartilage, the pink bits of meat, the grey bits of meat, ALL of it! The bones were also sucked and some even gnawed on them, therefore eating much of the bones as well.
As for meat, it was the staple diet of those from the more traditional S.As cultures and so they did not consider a vegetarian meal to be a full meal at all. Also linked to cultural views, was the fact that some of them wouldn’t eat certain meats. I can’t remember who ate what, but some cultures wouldn’t eat pork, whereas others wouldn’t eat beef, and some wouldn’t eat pork or beef! So there was always a chicken alternative to cater for these. At first I thought this as odd and wanted to know why they wouldn’t eat certain meat, but found most unable to answer this question. I later realised it wasn’t that odd at all, as we don’t eat, for example, donkey, but there is no reason why we don’t. However, if I went to a place where they did eat donkey, then I too would, whereas these people wouldn’t ever eat pork or beef.
Most meat was served on the bone and was eaten with fingers. All the meat was eaten. E.G. If you had a chicken drumstick, just 2 completely clean bones would be left on the plate, with the rest being eaten, the ends, the cartilage, the pink bits of meat, the grey bits of meat, ALL of it! The bones were also sucked and some even gnawed on them, therefore eating much of the bones as well.
Food!!!
The food at COTT was similar in many ways to our food. We often ate rice and stew, but when I say often I mean we regularly ate rice for every lunch+dinner,+the portions of stew were incredibly small. Unsurprisingly I lost a few pounds while out there. As well as this we often ate all sorts of different kinds of squashes (which they boiled to death!), their version of ‘porridge’ for breakfast which looked like yogurt but tasted like porridge and cold baked beans mixed with runner beans!! Bread was also offered with every meal. Interestingly, bread in S.A. is something of a status symbol as those without money apparently eat porridge but those with more money eat both porridge and bread. So I think it was for this reason, as well as to fill people up, that people ate much bread, and I mean much, most had between 3-6 slices a meal! Another reason its important to S.Ans to fill up with food if they can, is because HIV/Aids is a debilitating illness+so they don’t want to look thin as they worry people would think they had it. Also, many made peanut butter sandwiches which they had with their meal! Finally, loads of salt and tomato ketchup was had with literally everything. They put loads of salt on everything and there salt wasn’t white like ours, but a browny colour and tasted like curry power! The ketchup, they mixed it with rice, curry, anything!! It looked disgusting!
Other food they all loved is pap, braiis, ‘cooldrinks’ (i.e. fizzy drinks), samp (a kind of milky ricey thing, see pic!) and fat cookies which were like sweet bread rolls and were really nice but we only had them twice!!
Much S.An food was made from ‘mielie-meal’ which is sweet-corn but not as we know it! Its a white variety of sweet-corn and was made into a coarse flour which was then made into all sorts of things, including pap, samp, +porridge.
Other common or interesting foods eaten in S.A. were Twizza (a fizzy drink), pineapple fanta, Symba’s crisps and nuts, and different Cadburys chocolate including Whispers which are Cadbury’s maltersers! Spurs and Steers were 2 places I loved to eat at, Steers as it had the delicious (and cheap!) ice-cream (see below pic!) and Spur as it did excellent (and also quite cheap) burgers and ribs, yum yum!! 
Other food they all loved is pap, braiis, ‘cooldrinks’ (i.e. fizzy drinks), samp (a kind of milky ricey thing, see pic!) and fat cookies which were like sweet bread rolls and were really nice but we only had them twice!!
Much S.An food was made from ‘mielie-meal’ which is sweet-corn but not as we know it! Its a white variety of sweet-corn and was made into a coarse flour which was then made into all sorts of things, including pap, samp, +porridge.
Other common or interesting foods eaten in S.A. were Twizza (a fizzy drink), pineapple fanta, Symba’s crisps and nuts, and different Cadburys chocolate including Whispers which are Cadbury’s maltersers! Spurs and Steers were 2 places I loved to eat at, Steers as it had the delicious (and cheap!) ice-cream (see below pic!) and Spur as it did excellent (and also quite cheap) burgers and ribs, yum yum!!
Pics: 1) Me with samp! 2) Steers ice-cream! 3) Steers logo!
English exchange
Fr.Isias told us that the college exchange between Cuddesdon and COTT has been going on for years, at least 10yrs, +he was keen to note that though other exchanges sometimes fail, this exchange never fails.
Interestingly, Titus also told me on a couple of occasions that English people seem to always fit in S.A. life quickly, whereas American’s don’t!
Interestingly, Titus also told me on a couple of occasions that English people seem to always fit in S.A. life quickly, whereas American’s don’t!
The UK
The vast majority of S.Ans we met wanted to come to visit the UK. I think this was linked to 2 things; 1) that they consider it the home of Anglican Christianity, and 2) that they consider it to be a decent society in the way that it is developed and they think it is based on Christianity. I guess I can see their point but at first I thought many of them would be disappointed if they did come to the UK, but then I realised they wouldn’t because compared to many of the places they live in, our developed society is wonderful, e.g. we don’t run out of water, all get decent health care, we have regular public transport, all get a minimum wage, etc etc. This is summed up in the fact that, of those who had been to the UK, all said they liked it, and I only asked a few people what they liked about it (I only asked a few as only a few had been) and 2 of these said they liked the London tube!!! Also, when we first got to COTT, a student told Dom he wanted to go to England, and when Dom asked him what he thought England was like, he said ‘Heaven’! Though we was partly saying it jokingly, there was some truth to this thought.
I guess, all in all, we don’t realise how lucky we are.
I guess, all in all, we don’t realise how lucky we are.
Greetings
The people we knew at COTT greeted one another every time they saw them. They would never walk past you without greeting you, and mainly greeted you simply by saying your name rather than saying hello or something similar. As a result I’m sure I heard my name said in S.A. more than I’ve ever heard it! E.G. Leaving my room and walking down the corridor, I would hear ‘George’ as a greeting by one student, then ‘George’ said by another, and then ‘George’ said by another, etc etc!!
COTT's facilities
COTT’s facilities were mixed in their quality. For instance, the library was so big it was being moved to another building but it wasn’t electronic so you had to look through cards to find what you wanted, the computer room had 30 computers in all linked to the internet but the internet regularly crashed and couldn’t be used, the classrooms didn’t have enough chairs and tables (which of course didn’t match) and so were moved from room to room at the start of lessons to make sure there were enough for the class, etc. 
Pics below: 1) St Peter's classroom, 2) the media classroom, 3) the computer room, 4) the social room..and Jon!
Reading
The way they select the Bible reader for the chapel at COTT is different to how we do. Instead of having a rota so that everyone gets a chance, the student leading the service asks 2 people to do the readings. I didn’t think this was a great idea as someone may end up being left out. It was nice though to be asked and Dom, Jon and I were all asked to read in a service at least once.
Rural and Urban
In S.A. the rural areas are mainly locations and townships, and the urban areas are the developed area. So the rural areas are the poor areas and the wealthy areas are the towns and cities. As well as this, the vast majority living in the rural areas were black, and they also held more traditional African cultural views. The locations are sometimes right next door to developed and relatively wealthy towns or sometimes, literally, in the middle of nowhere. Locations also often have shops, churches, and taverns (bars/pubs). The urban areas were mainly lived in by the white or coloured S.Ans and in their culture were rather Western.
Landscape
One thing I am missing much being back here in the UK, is the beautiful S.An landscape. I took some pics of it but they don’t do justice to it in reality. It really is awesome to be able to look and see nothing but Gods creation, no buildings, no cars, not even any people apart from who you’re with, and just nature for as far as the eye can see in all directions –beautiful. And you drive like this for hours before coming across any civilisation or development. The journey from G’town to Queenstown was particularly wonderful as we drove for hours on a windy ‘road’ (the roads aren’t as obviously, big and black as ours anyway) through mountains and it was just like one of those car adverts where there’s literally just the one car for miles and miles and miles and just mountains, fields, and one small road. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of this, but I can still see it clearly in my mind.
Below is the view taken from the P.E. to C.T. plane
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