A letter from Sean Smith (tito)
Yay! I got a letter from South Africa today! I am going to type some of it into here, assuming that Sean wouldn't mind. Ahhh... the good work of a campus safety officer turned Peace Corps.
"I was never very good at letter writing, and now it seems strange that I've picked it up here because it's such a mission to mail letters here. It's 3 different treks to get the stamps envelopes and then go to the post office. In addition, going anywhere around here is a hassle in and of itself due to being hte only white person and I'm constantly being harassed. Not usually in a bad way, but people asking me what I'm doing here, asking me for money, or sometimes the typical pointing and laughing. It's getting better though as people are becoming familiar with me, but it's still a pain in the ass after putting up with it for the past 5 months.
"This are okay I suppose. I mean, they could be worse. Right now it's very, very hot. Like I mentioned earlier about heat stroke, I've never had anything like that happen to me before. The sun is brutal here. I don't know if it's a Southern hemisphere thing or what, but I feel energy just fly out of me in the sun.
"I hope I make it out of Africa unscathed. Everything here is out to kill you. The insects all carry some scary disease like tick-bite fever or malaria, the animals are all venemous or have huge teeth, and the plants look like nature's razor wire. The weather is not your friends either between super lightning storms and heat stroke. Then there is HIV/AIDS which is just dessimating the population. On top of that is the out-of-control crime rate and I basically look like a huge target to muggers... I'll stop, I'm making myself scared.
"So you know the saying 'you don't really know what you've got till it's gone?' That is so true for me. I miss America so much. Not only am I on the other side of the planet from my friends and family, but I miss western civilization. I miss being physically comfortable. I dont think I have been since I got here; I sweat when I'm trying to go to sleep. Yeah, that's it! I miss air conditioning. I miss TV, radio, internet, books (that I haven't read), basically all media. I miss reliable electricity, not having to share a toilet, and the ability to take a hot shower/bath; the bucket bath is such a pain in the ass. I miss going out at night (you can't cause of crime) and food with flavor (South African food is bland)... I just realized I could go on forever with this rant so I'll stop. I know I couldn't comprehend how nice I had it before this little adventure, but now I think I would be content with any job in America, knowing that no matter how much I was struggling, I am still better off than 90% of the people in Africa. I know I saw this all the time now and the words themselves don't mean much, but appreciate what you have now. To live in America is to be truly blessed, and once I realized how many people in the world lived in poverty, I can consider myself lucky."
Amen Sean. Thanks for reminding me (and all of us, since I share everything) of how lucky we are. Thank God for people like Sean who are willing to leave his entire life to try to make a little difference in those areas of suffering. What an amazing person and sacrifice to make.
If anyone would like to write to him or anything, he would LOVE to hear from people. Just let me know and I will send his address there.
"I was never very good at letter writing, and now it seems strange that I've picked it up here because it's such a mission to mail letters here. It's 3 different treks to get the stamps envelopes and then go to the post office. In addition, going anywhere around here is a hassle in and of itself due to being hte only white person and I'm constantly being harassed. Not usually in a bad way, but people asking me what I'm doing here, asking me for money, or sometimes the typical pointing and laughing. It's getting better though as people are becoming familiar with me, but it's still a pain in the ass after putting up with it for the past 5 months.
"This are okay I suppose. I mean, they could be worse. Right now it's very, very hot. Like I mentioned earlier about heat stroke, I've never had anything like that happen to me before. The sun is brutal here. I don't know if it's a Southern hemisphere thing or what, but I feel energy just fly out of me in the sun.
"I hope I make it out of Africa unscathed. Everything here is out to kill you. The insects all carry some scary disease like tick-bite fever or malaria, the animals are all venemous or have huge teeth, and the plants look like nature's razor wire. The weather is not your friends either between super lightning storms and heat stroke. Then there is HIV/AIDS which is just dessimating the population. On top of that is the out-of-control crime rate and I basically look like a huge target to muggers... I'll stop, I'm making myself scared.
"So you know the saying 'you don't really know what you've got till it's gone?' That is so true for me. I miss America so much. Not only am I on the other side of the planet from my friends and family, but I miss western civilization. I miss being physically comfortable. I dont think I have been since I got here; I sweat when I'm trying to go to sleep. Yeah, that's it! I miss air conditioning. I miss TV, radio, internet, books (that I haven't read), basically all media. I miss reliable electricity, not having to share a toilet, and the ability to take a hot shower/bath; the bucket bath is such a pain in the ass. I miss going out at night (you can't cause of crime) and food with flavor (South African food is bland)... I just realized I could go on forever with this rant so I'll stop. I know I couldn't comprehend how nice I had it before this little adventure, but now I think I would be content with any job in America, knowing that no matter how much I was struggling, I am still better off than 90% of the people in Africa. I know I saw this all the time now and the words themselves don't mean much, but appreciate what you have now. To live in America is to be truly blessed, and once I realized how many people in the world lived in poverty, I can consider myself lucky."
Amen Sean. Thanks for reminding me (and all of us, since I share everything) of how lucky we are. Thank God for people like Sean who are willing to leave his entire life to try to make a little difference in those areas of suffering. What an amazing person and sacrifice to make.
If anyone would like to write to him or anything, he would LOVE to hear from people. Just let me know and I will send his address there.
posted by Jennifer Q @ 5:02 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
I think someone needs to go and recue Sean. Which part of SA is he? He describes the surrounding like he is in a jungle... he'de have to be living in a zoo or national park to be in danger from the kind of animals he describes. And surely if he really wanted a hot-shower or any of the luxuries he sorely misses any small-town hotel/motel/bednbreakfast (yes we have those too) could provide them. I'm just trying to stress that I'm sure things are bad at least the poverty is frightening... but South Africa is not a jungle...Honest. And I know I speak for a lot of Africans when I say funny how I think American food is bland. And the size of everything!! It cannot be natural.
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