Getting Started
Di Sterba
Yes, we are in Zululand of South Africa. It is an amazing experience! A land of contrasts-Beautiful green hills, the Indian Ocean, modern Durban incredible tropical rain and thunderstorms, lush smelling flowers. And then there is the unbelievable poverty in the homelands on our way to Inanda Seminary where we are staying. The shanty towns are everything you hear about. And then ---we are sending this from the largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere-complete with surf machines, food malls and designer clothes.
Definitely a land of contrasts!!!
We are happily settled at the school, many thanks to Scott and Susan our Global Ministry contacts here. They have been wonderful and their children Madeline and Micah are a delight. Susan is the chaplain at the school and we have chapel every morning before classes. There is a picture of Will playing at our first chapel. The Zulu singing before he sang was glorious! The school was recently renovated, thanks to a company called Sappi. Nelson Mandala was at the rededication ceremony a year and a half ago to honor this historic site- the first formal school for black females in South Africa.
We are staying in the Stanwood House which housed some of the first missionaries-built in 1906. It is very comfortable and beautiful, as is the campus. There is a photo of Susan taking girls around on an orientation by the bust of the founding "mah" of the school- Mary Edwards, she started the school in 1869. It is warm here a nice change from our departure day shown in the photo. Yes we did lug all that stuff across the continent, but a lot of it was computer technology to help share this experience with all of you back home. And for that we are truly grateful to Jim and & Cheryl Smeja and to them we dedicate our web page. They have been so super supportive in buying all the equipment needed and letting us use it here. To be able to share this experience with all of you is great. We are sorry it is taking us so long to get new stuff on the website. The school connections are not running-we hope it will be repaired soon. We know you were all tired of seeing Cheryl's cat and Will's feet. We send our love and thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of this life changing experience!
So what are we doing here? I am happy to say that at the last minute they found an English teacher so I get to be the Librarian at the school. It is a nice space-but was rather neglected-so Katrina and I have been scrubbing and sorting and getting things ready. Some girls are starting to some in and it's fun to meet them. Will is getting his feet into some fund raising projects for the school (e-mail appears to be cut off)
