Maria values her first hand experiece

I’m not really sure how to handle reality right now realizing how little time I have left here in Cape Town. It crazy to think about getting here in January and talking about how far away excursion was and here I am reflecting after I have returned from excursion. We attended so many meaningful places during our time spent in Johannesburg but I was absolutely blown away by the Sharpeville memorial and the talk we had with Alice. As I was sitting there listening to her tell her story I have never been more engaged in something, I wanted her to keep talking and to keep telling us things that she experienced. The graveyard was so powerful and its moments like that, that really hit you and makes you realize how good we have it and how the things that these people fought for are slowly coming forward. I am so happy we got to go to these types of places because it is no comparison seeing them for myself versus reading and talking about them in class.

Besides Sharpville I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Soweto. The boys and girls club was an amazing day and I think everyone can say the same. You could see the appreciation in the eyes of these children every time you gave them a high five or even smiled at them. I played basketball with Bernie, Christina, and Julia for 2 hours straight and probably could have played for 2 more if it wasn’t lunchtime. Between working with the Firefighters and volunteering at the boys and girls club I think it made me realize that I absolutely will be spending some of my summer volunteering at the boys and girls club near me and will continue to do so throughout my life because it truly does make such a large impact for everyone involved. The picture here is of Bernie, Christina, Julia and myself with some of the kids we played basketball with.

         

As the our time in Johannesburg came to a close it was now time to get super excited about the next 3 days that would be spent in Kruger National Park. I grew up seeing elephants, giraffes, and lions on television and seeing some in the when I was younger but like most things, nothing compares to the real thing. I loved the fact that we were in the wild and most of these animals had no human contact and survived based on what they were able to do for themselves. The safaris we went on were beautiful including all of the animals, the terrain, the sky and stars that were above us. The show the sky put on for the 3 days we were there was impeccable; from sunset to sunrise to the sky spewing with stars it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed. The safari guides we had were so knowledgeable and knew the answer to almost every question we asked which I was extremely appreciative of.  The picture here is a herd of elephants that walked right by our truck, there must’ve been 20 elephants and it was definitely the coolest thing I have ever seen as the sun set in the background.