Perspective vs reality in South Africa

Some days here in South Africa it really comes down to my perspective of how I believe things will go verse the reality of how things will actually go. NEWS FLASH, Kate!! This is Africa. Back in America things are so easy. You can pick up your phone whenever you want and call friends or family or boyfriends/girlfriends. You can just get in your car and run to the grocery store if you run out of something. Everything is practically at your finger tips.

I know how America works and I’m so use to how everything is there.

Honestly I thought I was prepared to be away for a month. I though that I would just come here and jump right in. I thought I’d call my parents once or twice and I’d be perfectly fine! I didn’t think that i would miss my family and boyfriend as much I actually do. Silly Kate. Maybe this is how God tested my patients.

First of all training camp for me felt like a whole week but in reality it was only 2 and a half days. I have never missed my loved ones more than I missed them that weekend! Not having that access to just call them when I needed them was rough for me. Everyday was so packed at training camp and yet everyday went so slow. It definitely was rough and I would not want to do that again but I’m so glad I had to endure it. At that place, that’s definitely where I started some friendships with my team.

Traveling here to Africa was just another moment of me being very impatient and just wanting to get here! I was so exhausted. On top of that I was so sick of waiting! I was just so ready to share God’s love and I was so ready to just jump right in. (Another moment God was testing my patients). But finally after 50ish hours of traveling to get here we arrived in Durban, South Africa. Waiting for us were our hosts and I was just so happy to finally arrive here. To think I was actually in South Africa finally set in.

I thought I knew what South Africa was like because of what the Internet said. I never realized how nieve I was until I actually got here. Wow! What a surprise God had in store for me! He knew exactly what he was doing. I honestly thought South Africa would be very run down. I thought poverty was the only thing they had here. Now, to be clear there is of course poverty here but beyond that, it is so unbelievably beautiful.
After we finally arrived to Ingane Yami  things just started to really set in. I thought I’d be staying in some hut in the middle of no where. Reality is, it isn’t like that at all. I am living in a real home. Very small and the roof is some kind of aluminum foil but it’s a house. There are no huts here guys. Not in this village at least. It’s actually developed more than most of us Americans think.

The view outside my home is more than words could even express. All I can say is that God is SO amazing and he makes real masterpieces.

THE REAL WAITING HAS BEGUN
When I was first here, the homesickness set in and harder than it ever has. All I needed was to talk to my parents and my boyfriend and I couldn’t. I definitely wasn’t prepared at first. I mean dang! I’ve been here for almost 3 weeks now. Last week I got SO sick. I was throwing up all night long and all I needed was my mom but that wasn’t an options. Some days I really just need a hug from my dad or a good laugh with my boyfriend but these aren’t options.

It’s times like those where your team truly becomes FAMILY. At first it was a little rough for me to be close to these people because they were complete strangers! It’s pretty crazy that I’ve been living with these people for almost a month, I just met them yet they’re apart of my family.

The first day that I was able to FaceTime my family and my boyfriend was totally a perspective vs reality day. I thought we’d go and easily find a coffee shop and have a great conversation and I would just be great for the rest of the week. News flash again. There aren’t any Starbucks around here people. Reality is we actually couldn’t even find a coffee shop. It was a complete let down and I felt so crushed. Thankfully my leaders are bomb and let me call them later in the night after we got back since they had promised us that was our day to call. Honestly since that day everything has been uphill. My relationships with people have been so much stronger than ever! These girls are SO amazing. The people here at Ingane Yami are family too. These children are so amazing and I absolutely love everyone here. Bheki is the pastor at Giba Harvest Church. He is truly like a dad to me here in South Africa.

So many things at first were my perspective of how I thought things would go verse how things actually are. God has opened my eyes to so much. He has opened so many doors. He has brought me to meet people that will forever be family to me. To think that I’m leaving here in 7 days and 17 hours is actually heart breaking. Thinking about leaving these people here in South Africa that I’ve bonded with so much. To think I’m leaving my team and going back to New York to go back to my everyday usual life seems unreal. A piece of my heart will always be here in Africa.