They gave me a mirror, so it's time for reflection

I’ve read that the smile of a child gives happiness equivalent to eating thirty thousand chocolate bars. So what would the smile of a dozen children do? Two dozen children? I had no way to measure it, but the image of the flock of children laughing and playing with us makes me smile just remembering it. Children are the ones inheriting the future. When children have hope and joy, it is an indicator that there is a light ahead, no matter how dark the tunnel may seem.

The townships—sprawling neighborhoods of packed tin huts, each one the home of several people—do not comprise a small percentage of Cape Town’s people. These informal illegal settlements hold at a majority of the city’s population. They hold the poorest urban people, many of whom are unemployed or eking out a living in tiny businesses run out of shipping containers. The streets are tight and living room scarce. It is an image symbolic of the challenges of Cape Town, and, to some degree, the challenges of poverty facing all of Africa.

As young people with great resources at our disposal, probably more than we realize, we have the power to make a positive impact in the world, like on the places we’ve seen in Zambia and South Africa. The difficulty is in finding the most effective ways to make an impact. The members of YouthGive have made small impacts already, like giving hope and happiness to the children we’ve played with. These bits should not be underestimated, but nor should be they be mistaken for the solution. The solution lies in a sustainable change that will have an impact on the future generations to come.

One simple way to create focused change is simply to donate to long-term projects already in Africa. Many of these projects are working efficiently but simply lack the capital to expand their influence. Giving money may not be as emotionally rewarding as building a house and watching the family move in with smiles, but the impact can be just as great. Youth have access to more financial resources than immediately obvious, such as through relatives and friends. But working in a country in Africa, using your time and talent to make a difference, shouldn’t be marginalized. Working as an English teacher for a year can impact thirty students who may go on to create their own changes and spark a chain reaction to a better world.

The students of the YouthGive Africa Trip 2008 have come back specially equipped with having traveled to Zambia and South Africa and seeing a few of the challenges that are abstractly discussed in the United States. Not only have we seen the problems, we have seen some of the solutions at work. We have the tools to teach others and perhaps inspire them to take action to contribute to a better Africa and a better world in their own way. I’ve read that a small, dedicated group of people can make a difference in the world… and in fact, it is the only thing that ever has.

On the plane again, storytelling of the past

Yup, still on the plane, almost at JFK. Fortunately, I happen to have an entire four seat row to myself and a crew who doesn’t care if I put up the armchairs and create a full bed. Birthday luck, eh? (Quite a few South Africans seem to use “eh”, by the way.) Back to the story, where I left off.

The next day was a work day, where we worked on reflection, doing interviews of each other about our experience so far. Then we traveled to a village to do a tour set up by one of the villages. We knew it was a little bit canned and designed for tourists, but it was interesting nonetheless. The guide led us through the village and into a few huts, and we were able to take a seemingly realistic sample of what village life was like. We saw the inside of a few homes and some children grinding grain, as well as the general surroundings. Then the guide led us to the curio shops, which was a very new experience for me.

The curios are the small little trinkets usually carved by locals or other villages nearby. The vendors themselves were very up in your face, trying to draw you into their stalls with “hello, friend, what’s your name? Where from? Just a handshake. I just want you to see what I have here!” I did one run around the stalls, practicing giving a nod of acknowledgement then moving on. Then I chose a random stall and stopped there, just to be hit with the overwhelming new phenomenon of bargaining.

I am sad—okay, not really sad at all—to say that a combination of factors led to my subsequent shopping craze. One was the low price, once I got it down to it. In the U.S. the things there would be marked up maybe 200% or more for what we could get it for there in the village. The second factor was the act of bargaining. I’ve never bargained before, and the raw excitement was new to me. Trying to find a satisfactory price, usually more than half of what they originally asked is a battle and a game at the same time, as well as a mental challenge with real stakes (made especially hard and fun when bargaining in three currencies—rand, kwacha, and dollars—sometimes in multiple combinations.) I calculated it out afterwards and found that I spent somewhere around 70-80 dollars, but the return was worth it. Besides, I hate gift shopping, and now I have a solid stash for the future.

The last thing we did that day was go on a cruise on the Zambezi River. We were able to find the hippopotamuses (hippopotami? Spellcheck is telling me both are right) that we had sought. We also found a herd of elephants and crocodiles. The cruise was a good way to relax after packed days, as it we could sit back, laugh, and talk. And, once again without fail, the sunset was spectacularly vibrant.

Schools and falls

Again, the number of stories I need to tell is steadily increasing. But first off, it’s my birthday in Cape Town time! I am now 17 years old, at least according to my skewed sense of time.

Now that that’s over, to keep this chronologically intact, let’s turn back time to over a week ago to after we left Lusaka for Livingstone. We traveled via small bus first to St. Vincent De Paul Community School in the town of Monze. We only planned to drop of the insecticide treated bednets and maybe tour the school, since we informed them so last minute, but we were in for a surprise.

We met in a room with all the teachers. They were delighted to hear that we were partnering with the Malaria Foundation to supply the entire school with the bednets. Then they led us into their assembly hall where the entire school was waiting. Then we were treated to a song from the entire school that filled the entire room and completely impressed us. The chorus alone sang us another song about HIV/AIDS, malaria, and child trafficking, then a drama group did a small piece, and finally a culture group performed a dance for us. Not only were awestruck at the skill, they had put it together at a moment’s notice.

After presenting ourselves and the bednets, we traveled to a dwelling of a student (one of the drama students) to se the bednet hung. We played with the children there. Even though they were young enough to be in a U.S. preschool or even kindergarten, they seemed to be at home on a school day. I think they may have been there because there wasn’t a comprehensive preschool system in most of Zambia and there is also an older age for starting school. We also met the student’s grandmother. The parents had died, and the grandmother was raising the six children on her own. She couldn’t walk and could barely stand. When we met her, she was sitting under a tarp cooking a mix of chicken and fish in a pot.

The home itself was a small building made from mud (to the best of my knowledge), and a thatched roof. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the mosquito net put up, probably because the room was too messy. After that, we thanked them and departed with a mass of young children as an entourage flanking the sides of our bus.

After yet another seven hour drive and after a ridiculously potholed road requiring creative driving, we arrived at the Natural Mystic Lodge. We dropped off our packs then sped over to Victoria Falls before it closed. Victoria Falls was as indescribable as any of the other Seven Wonders of the World. We got there right as the sun was dropping over the horizon. And, as is fitting of any incomprehensibly powerful and majestic phenomenon, here’s a poem, courtesy of yours truly.

Sunset over Victoria Falls

Waterfall under sunfall,
Two titans colliding with
Raw elegance
A last farewell to the simplicity of day,
A prelude to the romance of night
Ruby wings shrouded in diamond sprays of mist
Heat and cool caress
Spouting breaths of
Eternal glory

After being completely soaked by the spray of Victoria Falls, we went to a private outdoor barbecue at one of the hotels nearby, where we dried and relaxed over a fire.