Saturday, June 6

New pen pals-Philani and Thobisi

Courtney commented in the car that today's experience left her less onfused than any other outing we've had this week, I think that would be the general consensus from the group. We all felt good after visiting Agape, the personal experience was positive. 6 hours of bonding time with the buddy of our choosing was more than enough time to exchange some good loving, some lunch, some outdoor games, and a Saturday with children who don't have anone to come get them on a Saturday. And it really is true, these youth sing all the time, have beautiful voices, and bright spirits. Their new establishment was quite an imporbement over the last one, although still not nearly large enough to accomodate the need of the community, and definately not sponsored by FIFA like SOSA was.
It was a little like meeting rock stars, because we just saw these children in the movie, and they're hung out with Sean Paul and Alicia Keys, but they were still as humble as any parent could ask, and thankful for the space and opportunities they had. I hope their presentations were as sincere as they sounded, I believe they were. Sometimes I find myself questioning people's sincerity at the strangest times, and I know it's the analytical portion of my mind playing the devil's advocate, but that is not always necessary.
In the movie there was a little boy. 4 or 5 years old who provided the comic relief as well as the sober honest emotion of a child. I met Thobisi as an eleven year old today, and he definately inherited the music from his sisters. He loved playing the mandolin almost as much as he liked playing football, which is saying something. I guess he stayed at Agape this weekend because he had a rugby match that he lost 15-17, but he was ok with his level of effort, and just like in the film OK not seeing his sisters for a weekend. The charachter that took him under his wing was named
philani, who after I heard him try out a hip-hop song on me, gifted me with a Zulu-English dictionary that will be very useful in the upcoming weeks.
We're still listening to kanye on the radio.