"You are a soul!" (and some other stuff)

A few things, then I'll tell you how church on Sunday went.

Each of these could probably be it's own post but I don't have that kinda time:

-There's tons of litter here. If you use a kleenex while out walking, it is common practice to throw it to the ground afterward. Even bagged up trash is then just thrown over the closest hill. I guess there's no real public sanitation in the poor areas?

-To send a letter, you have to go to the post office. This may make sending postcards more difficult than I thought...

-My homestay cousin (though he's treated more like a brother) was taught in school that condoms aren't always effective in preventing HIV/AIDS. He gave the impression that they don't always work, so why ever use them? Scary.

-Oh, even if I don't respond to all your comments, I do read all of them and I really appreciate it! Same generally goes for email. 

-Email me (allisonrpiper [at] gmail ) if you want my address to mail me something.

-Class takes place in a house. We have a pool, but it is of questionable cleanliness. My whole program is 22 women. We are in class all day, then I go home and do homework. High school all over again.

Okay. Church.

Mama was disappointed that I did not bring more skirts. She had me lay out all 3 that I brought, with some shirts, and she picked out my outfit for me. She said it was okay that I didn't wear all white, since I am a visitor. I wore a knee-length purple skirt and a long-sleeved pink shirt and shiny blue flip-flops. Not actually the most attractive outfit, but it covered my shoulders (that was a big concern), and I wasn't about to put up a fight. I bought a white shawl thing to wrap my head, but it ended up being really long, so I had like a tail... I looked pretty funny aside from being the only white person, but everyone was glad I was there. 

We walked for a while through the township to get to church, which is held in a school classroom.

When we get there, the room is packed and hot. Everyone was dressed in white, with various kinds of white head coverings. The whole room is singing.

(Okay, here I am picking up after a 2-day power outage at the place I take classes and having Blogger lose my post. Sorry for any discontinuity.)

I got my own personal sermon from the preacher, in English. I was really impressed he went so out of his way for me. He said I am a soul and can be saved and stuff... Um... yeah. But he was really nice!  Lots of praying, when one person finished another would pick up. There was crying and carrying on, and I was really curious what was happening but didn't want to interrupt for a translation. After all that, there were new members who were baptized. Each of the 5 (all about my age, plus one who had a baby), after being straightened and tidied by elders on their walk up, got a cross of water on their forehead. There was more singing then as communion was served. Only members could take it, and they came up to drink from the communal cup and took in their palms a small flat cracker of bread. More singing and preaching (I got my own English address again at the end) and we are done. The whole service lasted about 2 and a half hours, I think. 

At the end, everyone, while singing, filed out and lined up against the wall. As we snaked out, everyone shook hands of the people lined up, and then joined the line. Everyone was very welcoming of me. After that a lady (Sister someone, I don't remember her name) came over to tell me about Jesus. She was so enjoying explaining that I didn't have the heart to tell her I had a church at home, was baptized, etc. 

On the walk back Mama introduced me to a boy my age/a little younger to talked to me about the church and how they don't believe in a God up in the sky ("Up there is only clouds") but in the God inside of all of us. I thought that made a lot of sense. Then we talked about "ubuntu"- the Zulu concept, roughly translated, that means "Through other people, I live." Very interconnected, very warm. He talked about how you always have food to feed a stranger (though people here don't always have much food), and will always provide shelter or anything else to a stranger in need. It also means everyone greets everyone else, asks how they're doing, looks after one another. Sort of like an extended form of Southern hospitality. Anyway, I like all that.  "Ubuntu" is probably my favorite thing about the Zulu culture.