As many of you know some of our dearest friends and family are in Johannesburg, South Africa right now, spending as much time as they can with the students of the University of Witswatersrand. A lot of this time is spent just talking about life, building friendships, and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with these students and hopefully being able to draw them into the Campus Outreach community that already exists on the campus. You may have also heard about the riots that began in Joburg a week or two ago and have now spread to other major cities in the country. 42 people are dead and hundreds of thousands displaced because of the burning of the “shanty” towns in which they were living. At the heart of these riots is the long-festering ill will towards immigrants primarily from Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique.
There are about 4 million of them who have come into South Africa seeking jobs because of the state of their own countries (the unemployment in Zimbabwe is up to 80% and they have been in between leaders for a few months now and are still awaiting run-off elections for the next president, so nothing is getting done). Unemployment in South Africa is between 30-40% and there is a strain on all resources-food, water, housing, etc. Thus the “xenophobia” towards those who have come into the country and been taking whatever jobs they can get for lower salaries than the South Africans. Basically, the state of things is not good, but there is not necessarily any reason to fear for our friends from the U.S.
I do want to ask that you all be praying for this situation, and of course for their safety. On the team are David, Jenny, and Julie(my brother and sisters-in-law), Katherine Tarwater, Amber Sansbury, Elisa Carluccio, Lindsey Clark, Robert Binion, Josh Hensley, Kirk Stafford, and Peter Swanson. They also have a blog you can check out: ccpsouthafrica.blogspot.com
We’ve definitely felt the same attitude as this among Argentines toward Paraguayans, Bolivians, Chileans, and others. And, of course, we can all see how it relates to the influx of Mexicans and other Latin Americans to the U.S. I think one of the most valuable things the Lord is showing us through these things we’ve seen and heard is that we so easily dehumanize people by placing them under the most familiar labels of nationality and news and statistics. It’s very difficult for us to remember without first hand encounters with people that they are in fact the same as us. Their love for each other is the same, the value of their families is just as sweet, and their need for food, clean water, and a roof over their heads is no different than our own. They are also created and dearly loved by the same God as each of us.
In an article I was reading on CNN.com, a South African professor was quoted saying, “It’s as if we need to protect our resources. When we talk about a better life for all it was meant for us, not for other people.” This, to me, shines a light on a way of thinking that is pervasive in our world-that national borders are the ultimate definition of unity among our own country’s citizens and division from the rest of the world. I want to ask that all of you join us in praying that we would know more and more our God as a God who is over all the nations, and that we would think of and pray for all human beings as the same as us: with the same hearts created for God and the same basic needs.
Our church here in Buenos Aires has been such an incredible picture of the healing and unity among nationalities and races that knowing Jesus Christ can bring. Each Sunday we worship the Lord and pray with Argentines, Chileans, Colombians, Paraguayans, and Puerto Ricans (these are just the people we’ve met) who have all found salvation in the same God and community in this church. This is the vision for the Kingdom of God that we are laboring for in South America along with our friend Brad Cox (Costa Rica), what the team of our friends is laboring for in South Africa, what our friend Julie is laboring for in China, and the reason our friend Katie is heading to Kosovo. Please pray with us for these people and so many others and the work God is doing through them to bring about eternal peace, joy, and unity in Christ for all of His people of all the nations.
We love you all and are praying for you.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
looking back this is once again way more detail than any of you wants...sorry, I have a rambling problem... Just skim it.
So Iguazu was really incredible! We felt like we were in a fantasy world at some points. The falls span 2 km and have many different sections. On the Argentine side, there are three different viewing trails you can take. The first afternoon we were there, we walked the trail to Garganta del Diablo(Devil's throat). This is the highest of all the falls...it was high-there really is no good way to describe what it feels like to be standing on a platform at the edge of this thing: having to yell over the rush of the tons of water falling full speed and force over the rocky edge, feeling the mist of water hitting water at a point so far down you can't even see it...all the while knowing that the week before a woman had jumped off this very platform to her death. I just recommend seeing it for yourself : )
That night we were wandering the incredibly small and dead town of Puerto Iguazu after dinner and stumbled upon an open-front pool hall. Lexi got really excited because she likes pool, so we went in...don't worry it wasn't nearly as sketchy as it sounds. The owner and the locals who were clearly the only people that ever came in this place got a big kick out of us. We played a few games and had a great time. Then we went back to our hotel, Casa Blanca(yes, we chose it for the name), which actually had less comfortable beds than what we sleep on in Buenos Aires...this was impressive, but not particularly amusing.
The next day we got up bright and early to head back to the National Park. We walked the Upper trail which goes around the rim of the falls-tons of beautiful vistas! It was on this trail that we looked up and saw two little monkeys playing right above our heads! We stood and watched them for a while thinking how cool it was that we were seeing monkeys in their natural habitat and not in a zoo(Later, when I talked to Hillary she reminded me of all the wildlife they saw in South Africa, and the story no longer seemed so exciting...however I did buy a little wooden carved monkey from a craftsman to remember it by).
After this was the lower trail, that runs just above the water at the bottom of the falls. This was when the sun really came out and we were seeing three different full rainbows, tropical vegetation, huge rock formations, and lots of really big waterfalls...at this point with hardly any people on the trail with us. That was when I really felt like I was in Never Never Land or something. At the end of this trail you can walk out to a point where you're about 10 feet from the base of one of the falls, and you can feel the force of it...not to mention you're getting soaked in spite of the high-quality Iguazu ponchos. Then we descended all the way down to the water's edge where we got in a boat and loaded our valuables into water-proof bags(except for Lexi's super-cool, waterproof digital camera which everyone else was sooo jealous of b/c they were going to have to pay 15 pesos a picture from the guy on the boat). Then we got completely soaked by getting as close as possible to the base of a few different falls and zooming around in the river...then it was time to go home : )
The next morning, Caitlin donned her oh-so-cute "BRAZIL" tee shirt (compliments of Katuschka) and she and Johanna(our friend from Sweden) left at the crack of dawn to go try to get to the Brazil side of the falls before we had to leave that afternoon. Lexi and I weren't even going to try because I didn't have my Argentina student visa with me and my passport was clearly stamped from over 3 months ago, and I wasn't in the mood to get arrested(I don't speak Portuguese). Well, Caitlin was back to the hotel before Lexi and I had even gotten out of bed. Because they love Americans so much, you are required to get a visa even to go into the country for just a couple of hours and it's going to cost you a whopping one hundred DOLLARS...not pesos...US dollars, just for a few pretty pictures. Also, even if you are willing to shell out the dough, you can't do it at the border. You have to obtain the visa at Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, which is a good 30 km from the border...because that makes so much sense! So Caitlin got her picture taken at border control in her tee shirt in honor of Katuschka, and headed back to Casa Blanca. Meanwhile, Johanna went on in free of charge with her Swedish passport that gets her anywhere in the world she wants to go...good thing she had the nicest camera of all of us.
That afternoon, we headed out of Puerto Iguazu on our 18 hour bus ride home that turned into 20 hours when we got stopped along the way, drug dogs boarded the bus, and apparently found something. We got the scoop from one of the bus crew that Lexi had of course already befriended(we love traveling with her). We knew which guy it was and that he had been caught with a small amount of drugs, and we also knew that he was still on the bus when we finally got on our way again. When we consulted Eugenia(our room mate/Argentine law student who speaks perfect English) she informed us that possession of drugs in an amount that is clearly just for personal use is legal. It is only illegal if you are selling or suspected of intending to sell...once again, because that makes sooo much sense.
Love from Argentina!
That night we were wandering the incredibly small and dead town of Puerto Iguazu after dinner and stumbled upon an open-front pool hall. Lexi got really excited because she likes pool, so we went in...don't worry it wasn't nearly as sketchy as it sounds. The owner and the locals who were clearly the only people that ever came in this place got a big kick out of us. We played a few games and had a great time. Then we went back to our hotel, Casa Blanca(yes, we chose it for the name), which actually had less comfortable beds than what we sleep on in Buenos Aires...this was impressive, but not particularly amusing.
The next day we got up bright and early to head back to the National Park. We walked the Upper trail which goes around the rim of the falls-tons of beautiful vistas! It was on this trail that we looked up and saw two little monkeys playing right above our heads! We stood and watched them for a while thinking how cool it was that we were seeing monkeys in their natural habitat and not in a zoo(Later, when I talked to Hillary she reminded me of all the wildlife they saw in South Africa, and the story no longer seemed so exciting...however I did buy a little wooden carved monkey from a craftsman to remember it by).
After this was the lower trail, that runs just above the water at the bottom of the falls. This was when the sun really came out and we were seeing three different full rainbows, tropical vegetation, huge rock formations, and lots of really big waterfalls...at this point with hardly any people on the trail with us. That was when I really felt like I was in Never Never Land or something. At the end of this trail you can walk out to a point where you're about 10 feet from the base of one of the falls, and you can feel the force of it...not to mention you're getting soaked in spite of the high-quality Iguazu ponchos. Then we descended all the way down to the water's edge where we got in a boat and loaded our valuables into water-proof bags(except for Lexi's super-cool, waterproof digital camera which everyone else was sooo jealous of b/c they were going to have to pay 15 pesos a picture from the guy on the boat). Then we got completely soaked by getting as close as possible to the base of a few different falls and zooming around in the river...then it was time to go home : )
The next morning, Caitlin donned her oh-so-cute "BRAZIL" tee shirt (compliments of Katuschka) and she and Johanna(our friend from Sweden) left at the crack of dawn to go try to get to the Brazil side of the falls before we had to leave that afternoon. Lexi and I weren't even going to try because I didn't have my Argentina student visa with me and my passport was clearly stamped from over 3 months ago, and I wasn't in the mood to get arrested(I don't speak Portuguese). Well, Caitlin was back to the hotel before Lexi and I had even gotten out of bed. Because they love Americans so much, you are required to get a visa even to go into the country for just a couple of hours and it's going to cost you a whopping one hundred DOLLARS...not pesos...US dollars, just for a few pretty pictures. Also, even if you are willing to shell out the dough, you can't do it at the border. You have to obtain the visa at Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, which is a good 30 km from the border...because that makes so much sense! So Caitlin got her picture taken at border control in her tee shirt in honor of Katuschka, and headed back to Casa Blanca. Meanwhile, Johanna went on in free of charge with her Swedish passport that gets her anywhere in the world she wants to go...good thing she had the nicest camera of all of us.
That afternoon, we headed out of Puerto Iguazu on our 18 hour bus ride home that turned into 20 hours when we got stopped along the way, drug dogs boarded the bus, and apparently found something. We got the scoop from one of the bus crew that Lexi had of course already befriended(we love traveling with her). We knew which guy it was and that he had been caught with a small amount of drugs, and we also knew that he was still on the bus when we finally got on our way again. When we consulted Eugenia(our room mate/Argentine law student who speaks perfect English) she informed us that possession of drugs in an amount that is clearly just for personal use is legal. It is only illegal if you are selling or suspected of intending to sell...once again, because that makes sooo much sense.
Love from Argentina!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
where to begin?...
It’s been a while…a long while. April has flown by and a lot has happened…so this post might end up as just a bunch of bullet points…I dunno.
We are becoming more Argentine all the time. I have fallen into the skinny jeans and converse fad and Darrah is rockin’ the cute scarf and Argentine hair clip. I might get a mullet before I come home, so brace yourselves.
We’ve also ventured out into the Argentine nightlife…which is insane. I remain mystified by the Argentines’ amazing party endurance; I’m pooped and ready to go to bed by 2:00. Their schedule is something like this: 10:00 dinner, 1:00 drinks at a bar, 4:00 hit the club. We have now officially survived two nights of this madness and I think we’re in for more…
Other fun times…
• Seeing the Olympic torch pass by our university
• The farmers are burning fields somewhere. We haven’t been able to get a straight answer from anyone as to why they are burning the fields, but there have been many days in the past month when I’ve checked weather.com and it has listed the forecast as 75 degrees and smoke.
• We’ve finally taken all the touristy photos at the Casa Rosada and Plaza de Mayo. You can view all our photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlin.ruth.cornwell
• More mate dates with our friend Lexi
• We found a store called Jumbo that is about as close as we’re going to get to Wal-Mart without finding the real deal.
• Oh so random…we met Austin Scarlett from Project Runway in a tango restaurant. He was very nice…asked us what we were doing here, etc. and let us take a photo with him.
• Someone legitimately called us “Ché”. For those not familiar with this term, it is what Argentines use to greet each other. Example: “What’s up Ché? How are you?” We were really excited.
The Lord continues to be SO good to us. He has provided some awesome opportunities for us to continue to get to know the people at our church. Or cellular group is going well (we got two new members this month!) and we had a wonderful time getting to know people last weekend at a church retreat. It’s been so cool for us to see the Lord at work in and through this body of believers. They are incredibly unified and God is doing big things. Two weeks ago the church had its first meeting for the new church plant in the center of the city. They are starting out with just prayer meetings and trying to spread the word, but we are hoping that they will begin to have actual services soon. It is SO exciting to be here to witness everything that’s going on. We are truly fortunate.
We’re off to the Iguazú waterfalls this weekend so maybe (if we’re so motivated) y'all will get another blog post when we return.
Love y’all!
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