Zim Refugees

My dad sent me an article this evening from the LA Times (sorry I don't have the link) entitled "Zimbabwe migrants flood South Africa". Every day this is becoming a bigger and bigger "problem" for South Africa. I have been lucky enough to have met a lot of people from Zim, and while I haven't asked them specifically when or why they left, it's kind of understood that Zimbabwe is not the safest or healthiest place to be at the moment. I feel like a third of the people I meet are from Zim at UCT. This makes sense considering it's not that far away and UCT is the best school on the continent. However, some have insinuated to me that going to varsity (college) came at an opportune time. A lot of people in Zim are scavenging for food. It seems like there is very little hope for those who cannot afford to buy food, clothing, and shelter.

This article really reminded me of where I am in the world. I am SO physically close to Zimbabwe (compared to Seattle and LA at least). This story would be so easy for me or anyone else to sort of brush off, but it's RIGHT HERE. Woah. I am in Africa, ya'll!


On another note, I went to voluteering tonight despite my severe case of the mondays. Sometimes I am amazed I learned to read and to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It's so hard to try to explain to these kids. But they're still cute. Josie showed me everyone's picture in the rec room. Half the kids in the house are sisters. There's one group of four sisters, and a couple groups of three. Josie has a sister at St. Georges too. I am curious to know what happened/ why these girls are here, but I feel uncomfortable asking them. I think it's not fair to them somehow.

Jammie was perfect today. I didn't have to wait more that 5 minutes all three times I took it. Success!

Love,

Katy