Over the past few weeks I’ve talked to a lot of people about my experiences over the past year and what’s planned for the future. There seem to be some reoccuring questions…so, I figured this would be a good place to answer some of them. Thus, this begins a week of my FAQs.

Today’s Question…
Why South Africa?
Almost two years ago, I went to South Africa on vacation with friends. My best friend works at a South African restaurant in Orlando and met quite a few people from Southern Africa [mostly South Africa, but Botswana and Namibia too], so it seemed natural to visit them when they returned home at the end of their contract with Disney.

We had an amazing experience and I knew I wanted to go back. There are a lot of things that draw me to the Country, here are just a few:

• People: I feel like that’s a little bit of a cop-out answer…anytime you ask someone why they do anything they say “oh, the people are great”. But, it’s true. South Africans are an interesting bunch. Especially when travelling [the first time 2 years ago and the first couple weeks in December] we’ve had some crazy experiences. And still, I’m a big fan of South Africans. There is a level of buoyancy or resilience I think is unique and admirable.
• It’s so Beautiful: This is a total perk-South Africa is probably the most beautiful country I’ve been to. It continues to amazes me. There are 9 provinces, I’ve been to 8…I love that within a day’s drive you can see so much different topography [check out my pictures to see what I'm talking about].
• There’s a need: South Africa is the country with the most cases of HIV in the world. Depending on where you get your statistics, it’s estimated that either 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 people have HIV. Nearly 1000 people are dying daily from the disease. Something needs to be done, and I think that Thrive Africa has the right idea. By training next-generation leaders, we’re building up leaders that will make sustainable change in the Country and the Continent.
• I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be: Sometimes I wish it was more tangible than that. It’s can be difficult to explain that, as hard as it is sometimes, or as much as there are moments that I would rather be somewhere else, it’s where I feel like I should be. Overall, I have a deep sense of peace that South Africa is where God wants me. So, for now, that’s where I will be.

If you have anything to add, or a question you think I should answer, shoot me an email. I’ll be happy to add them to the list!

Tags: faq

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 4:37 pm and is filed under just me, random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.