Unexpected Surprises

It was so wonderful to be back in Imago Dei church for a service and to see everyone! The congregation has grown a lot since March, they fill the whole sanctuary! They appear to be outgrowing their church building. Back in March, they had shared with us that there was a bigger building in the town they were looking at purchasing. I will have to ask the pastor about this tomorrow. They did a Christmas service today. I couldn’t understand the sermon because it was spoken in Afrikaans but it was a unique experience to attend a church service in a different language.

Spending time with the South Africans all day, I learned a lot of things I didn’t know. I asked why the white South Africans were so pale, that I would expect them to be tan due to the hot African sun. They said that in South Africa being pale is attractive and they see being tan as damage.

There are 11 languages in South Africa, due to all the different tribes. Sotho is a language spoken in Hennenman, that’s what the natives speak. Afrikaans is the most common in Hennenman. Some of the natives don’t know Afrikaans well, because it isn’t their first language. They don’t speak English normally, only some know English. Some South Africans know all 3, which is impressive.

“Domestic workers” are very common in South Africa. Domestic workers are often in the home working daily. They were surprised that I do my own laundry, yard work and house cleaning. I was surprised that they didn’t!

There’s no restaurants in Hennenman. They make all their meals and were surprised how often Americans go out to eat. I was invited over to my friend’s sister’s farm house for lunch and a “surprise” afterward. I wasn’t sure what would be appropriate to bring with me and she suggested I should buy chocolates, stating it would be an adequate way to say thank you.

At the store I saw they had Ferrero Rocher, so I grabbed a box. She tried to stop me, telling me that it was way too expensive and compared it to something that would only be bought as a Christmas gift. This really took me by surprise. Let me tell you, Ferrero Rocher chocolates didn’t compare to the unique surprise they had in store for me!

They use pumpkin in dishes like we use sweet potatoes. They put it in everything! They also eat the seeds in watermelons.. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I have always picked the seeds out. So today I followed their lead and ate watermelon with the seeds, it wasn’t that bad, just weird. They thought I was weird when they saw me picking them out.

While we were eating lunch outside on the farm, we heard a gunshot. I was alarmed but they told me people were hunting nearby. I asked what they were hunting and they told me warthogs! I was like what!?! This conversation led to me finding out they have porcupines, jackals, antelopes and small leopards that are often seen out at their farm. Back in March I learned that the wild animals have all been moved to reserves / lodges / sanctuaries, so I wasn’t expecting to hear this.

After lunch, they took me to their friend’s farm down the road. This family saves rhinos from being poached, which is a really serious problem in Africa right now. They found a baby rhino and have nursed it, giving it milk multiple times per day and they even hire workers to sleep with the rhino because it needs cuddled with at night or they will get ulcers from stress and die. My surprise included getting to feed this baby rhino milk!

On our drive down the road, I had another surprise seeing lions on the side of the road!