Emotional Beatdown and Uplift? No problem.

Sometimes I procrastinate. Want to know the biggest reason I procrastinate? Ok, maybe the 2nd biggest reason. Money.

I finally got these pictures back from Africa. If you are looking for an emotional beat down/uplift, there are not many places you can find that. But Africa is one of them. Well Swaziland. South Africa was the beat down and Swaziland had both.

Emotional Beat Down

Excerpt from my journal from our tour of Soweto in South Africa.

"Our tour guide was an older white man. Josh said that the last year he had a black man giving the tour- he said they were very different experiences. I could see that. We went to some of the squatter villages- 60-80 people per bathroom. And in Provo we complain about sharing a bathroom with 4 other girls.

They were horrible and they made me sick. Our guide kept telling us not to feel bad for them. He kept saying they are fine and happy there. its crazy because the apartheid ended in the early 90's- less then 20 years ago. Our guide was there for it all- you can tell he still lacks understanding...

No one deserves that life. Every human has the right to land, a home, hygiene, space, choice, food and freedom. Choice and Freedom."

Journal Excerpt from Swaziland.

"As I looked around the school I remembered the things we have learned since we have been here. 50% of the children I was looking at were infected with HIV or AIDS. 50% of them will not live past the age of 15. Some of them can't afford school uniforms. Some are barefoot. A lot of them come to school on an empty stomach.

I cried as they told us their stories. We all did. Its hard for me to write some of their stories down. Recalling them out loud makes me sick. But they deserve to be remembered. At the very least. They deserve to have their stories told. My heart hurts so bad for them. Its hard not to feel selfish. Its hard not to resent the world for letting others live like this. Its hard not to resent myself for not taking advantage of the things I have at home. I wanted to help. How important is it for me to be self-reliant so that I one day could!"

Emotional Uplift

"Today we went to go have our PB and J picnic. Josh new of a spot we could go by a stream and sit on a hill and eat. We drove through this village waving and smiling at the most genuine people. We parked on top of this hill. Then, in the distance, coming from the direction of the stream we saw about 15 children running for us. They sprinted over the hills and the closer they got the faster we learned they were naked, and all boys.

They crowded together about 20 ft from us. We decided to offer them a PB and J. I walked one over- one snatched it out of my hands and ran back towards the group. Before we knew it we had 15 naked African boys lined up for PB and J. We decided the least we could do was sacrifice our lunch. What childhood is complete without experiencing a PB and J sandwich!"