One week to go:

Our last week in Port Elizabeth came quicker than I anticipated. I couldn’t believe it when I had only five days left! I mean, time really does fly by! But I had so many wonderful experiences while in South Africa. I spent Monday and Wednesday at my placement site, Missionville School.  These were exciting days because Geraldine (see photos below) wanted us to make soup for the children.   

Geraldine and I before making soup

Enough soup for ~180 students and 20 staff; note that each student gets about half a cup :(

Donovan and I (Missionville Do it all man!)

She had never done this before but wanted to since I mentioned healthier, more nutritious options for the students (plus they have their own garden, so the resources are there). I was so excited! We peeled and chopped vegetables for hours then threw it in a huge pot (see photo above), adding spices, water, stock, etc. We didn’t have a recipe, we just went with what we felt. It turned out amazing! Cooking soup for nearly 175 people is hard work! But the students loved it, so we repeated this again on Wednesday.  When I left (Wednesday was my last day) she told me she doesn’t know how she is going to repeat Sop Dag (that is Soup Day in Afrikaans) when I am not there to help. It is a lot of work for two people, we don’t stop from 8:30 until noon. I don’t know how she will do it without me. It was at this moment when I was no longer frustrated with my experiences at Missionville; the entire time I was there I was aggravated with the time I was spending cooking, rather than educating others (what I intended/thought I would be doing while there); I never voiced my frustration with Pastor Russell or Geraldine and I was glad that I hadn’t. It was little things like cutting out butter and adding peanut butter to sandwiches, getting rid of the sugary Kool-Aid like mixture (kinda looked like a yellow highlighter exploded in water) that was most likely contributing to the rotting of the kid’s teeth, or having a vegetable soup day that enriched my experiences at Missionville.  I was able to help make these changes in their nutrition program and hopefully (fingers crossed) will continue even after I leave.  All is well. J

On Wednesday, Bradley fetched me to go to yet another high school, this time with 90 seniors! WOW! Bradley said we might as well get a few more before you leave! I was so excited because this put me well over my target sample of n = 130; the principal of St. Thomas High School allowed us to come in after the seniors’ written exam because all of them would be in the same place; it’s funny how some things just work out so nicely! We didn’t even have to read the survey to these students because they were proficient in English.  They flew through the survey and helped contribute to my final number of n = 286! That is over double of my target sample size! I am one step closer to graduating, folks (just have to write and defend the dissertation)! Thanks to Dr. Pillay and all the NMMU facility for all their support and resources for my study!

So our last few days in Port Elizabeth were bittersweet; after awhile, you kinda want to get out of the same area; your ready for something new, even if that new, is something that is quite usual to you (like home). I wasn’t ready to leave, per say, but I was ready for something else. Needless to say, each night we ventured out to try some restaurants that we had been putting off trying, I had ostrridge one night, and kudu another; we went to Cape Town Fish Market on Sushi, buy one get one night! Perfect timing! On Thursday, Dr. Pillay and I went to three of the organizations to give them my donation for allowing me to do my research at their facilities (Missionville, House of Resurrection, and GrassRoot Soccer); they were overjoyed and so very grateful for the gift and it made me feel so happy to help contribute to their good causes.  I also got to say goodbye to Geraldine and Donovan (Donovan is the amazing Missionville fix-it man who helped me gather a lot of participants at Missionville; see photo) a HotHands Hand Warmer; they were so impressed! Donovan said, “Man, America makes everything!” After Dr. Pillay dropped me off at Beacon Lodge, I began to feel really sick; all of a sudden, I had shooting pains in my abdomen and couldn’t move; I already had a cold, but these were not cold like symptoms. Needless to say, I had the start of a viral infection and spent my last night sick in bed; travel home was not fun, as I didn’t eat for almost two days; spells made me sick, people and their eating habits made me sick; it wasn’t until my flight from London to Chicago that I was able to eat a few bites of breakfast on the plane. I hope all is good and well for me to go to Mexico!