Greetings From Africa!!!

I have not had internet access until today, as some of you know...
We have been working like horses. Really. There is simply too much to tell about for right now, so let's get going, and I'll condense a bit. Or a lot.
On our first full day, we drove to Pretoria, which is the Captial of S. Africa. There, we presented to a women's conference, which was sponsored by a massive church conglomerate, which encompasses over 400 churches. There were supposed to be over 200 women at the conference; however, due to a strike at the university (the Tshwane University of Technology), we had only 35 or so women in attendance. This was actually good for us, as it made our job much more manageable. We broke up into teams of two each, and did 3 presentations total. The whole thing was made tougher by the fact that our supervisor, Dr. Campbell, was called away at the last minute to do some grief counseling. So, there we were, far away from anything familiar, in a completely foreign culture, in a room full of women looking for some empowerment and guidance. No sweat. Things went smoothly, and we actually felt good about it. Afterwards, we were able to do some one on one counseling with some of the women who elected to have it. This was remarkable, as psychology and mental health counseling are highly stigmatized in Africa, and we had been able to "convince" some of them to come forward and talk.
The most important aspect, in a way, of the first day was learning about their culture. Learning is sometimes a painful process, and this was no exception. My teammates and I each had a few foot in mouth moments as we tried to flex our acumen, only to find that we sometimes had no idea what we were talking about. These are diddicult to explain, and beyond the scip9e of this post. Just know that I just fired off a mea culpa and got on with it.
Day two: we go to a private parochial boarding school called Sedaven, in Binoni, which was about an hour west of Joburg. Before I go any further, it is important to note that this is in no way similar to any boarding school in the States. This school is very poor. Some students come from families with money, but they are the exception to the rule. One of my team members and I addressed the male half of the high school, about 100 of them. We addressed some of their concerns and questions. Whiler there are many differences between American and African students, there are also striking similarities. Indeed, the first issue we tackled was how to talk to and understand women. They are pretty much girl-crazy. Howerver, other, mroe serious issues were also addressed. I spent some time with a group of four preschoolers, none older than six, who told me of their parents' divorces, houses that were burned, attempted killings against family members, and one boy's loss of five uncles, who died in quick succession of one another, presumably of AIDS (as this is one of the leading causes of death in this part of the world). This was, again, the lot in life of FOUR students, each no older than SIX. Most of us do not suffer the tragedies of even one of them. It is truly heartbreaking, and yet these were the most positive, upbeat, and sweetest children you have ever met.
To end this post on a very positive note, our hosts in Joburg were nothing short of amazing. They treated us like family, truly. We were housed and fed and blessed (literally dozens of times) and amazed.
We just arrived here in Manzini, Swaziland, today, after many hours of travel. All is well with everyone.
Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to post everyday. Unfortunately, I am using the computer behind the check in counter to do this, and I have to pay 40 Rand (about $6.50...it's weird that this keyboard still has the dollar sign) per 1/2 hour, and I'll have to see about sneaking my flash drive around the back of this thing later to try and get some pics in. Until then...
Jennifer, I miss you very much, and I love you! Sorry, everyone else, you're just going to have to put up with that for now.