Katie's Travel blog: Not even close to everything. On Dial-up

I am here in Malawi. Finally, and all too soon. Internet is hard to come by here, so I am trying to type this post (pictures and all) into MWord and then post it to my blog by syncing the two. I'm not sure how it will work

To the left is Chalet 4A in the Manyane camp in Pilanesberg Game Reserve. The room was nice, a bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom, with a gorgeous view of the green hills to the west, and a prairie to the north. Jen and I stayed in the game reserve on our first night in South Africa.

The bed was AMAZING. And it was the last hot shower I would have for a loooong time.

This picture is representative of the first 3 days in South Africa. Driving in the rain.

It started raining when we arrived late on Wednesday night, and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon. We (at least most of us) weren't prepared for 60 degree wet weather.
I ended up borrowing Mrs. T's jeans one day. All my tanktops are still clean. Brrr.

But the rain made for BEAUtiful green landscapes.

One of my favorite animals sighted: a mommy warthog and her two baby Pumba's (Lion King, anyone?) Also, some giraffe.

January 10^th, we start touring MES, Metropolitan Evangelical Services. They are a huge community development organization with many, many branches. Among them: Aids clinic, homeless shelter, job creation projects, job training for men and women, preschool/daycare, etc.

The city of Johannesburg was heart breaking. As beautiful as the country is and the reserve, the city was as close to poverty and despair I have ever seen. Mes was a breath of fresh air in a desperate, dirty, crime-infested city. As disturbing as the things are that we saw that day, I feel in love with the mission and the people we met over those three days. Especially our tour guide, a native (350 years) white South African reformed pastor, who became like a grandfather to me. Also, Michael and Nicodemus from the Mes organization were very funny passionate guys that we loved spending time with.

A glimpse of one of many decrepit apartment buildings in Jo-burg. Many of these buildings get 'hijacked'. That is, taken over by Jo-burg gangsters. These people kick the owners out of their buildings illegally by force. However, because it is a civil suit and takes months in the courts, the gangsters make millions of rand (about 7Rand per US$1) from renting out rooms to many, many people for high prices before they are removed and start the same process over.

Here is an example of a repossessed hijacked building that Mes is renovating for their use.

All the building here have electric fences, security gates, barred windows and barbed wire. It was quite nerve-wracking at first, but I got used to it.

From "The Top of Africa"—Africa's equivalent of the Sear's tower…their tallest building; where I snapped my best sky photo so far, I think. The first time we saw the sun on the whole trip (Friday).

Spent Saturday in Soweto, which stands for South Western Townships. The city is much prettier and the people are happier. Everything was lively. It was very much like the African version our suburbs. We spent some time at the market, tried some exotic fruits that I can't pronounce and bought some trinkets. Spent most of our time learning about Nicodemus' church and it's outreach there. It isdecribed as reformed pentacostal. J

Girls on the side of the road in the poorer neighborhoods of Soweto. All the kids are so excited to see us and wave. Some see us white people and ask for money.