As I sit down to write my last blog I am humbled that this month in SA has come and gone so quickly. This blog, although a bit inaccessible and even bothersome at times, has been an incredible outlet to share the thoughts and experiences of SA with myself and all of you! So once again, thank you all for your constant support and interest in our journey.

We don't slow down. Why would we? We are in South Africa. The Rainbow Nation, the land of Contrast, so much to see, learn and feel. AN experience of a lifetime.

Greetings one and all. We are settled into the Backpacker's Ritz our final hostel and accommodation for our trip. We in the northern suburb of Johannesburg called Hyde Park. Sounds a little British and snotty to me (and it's shows).

First of all, thank you all for your wonderful comments and words of inspiration. It is the attention that you have all paid writing that keeps me coming back.

We have been on a bit of an internet hiatus as we spent the last three nights in an Anglican Monastary in Grahamstown (home of Rhodes U). We spent little time with the Monks(brothers) during our stay but fortunately had opportunity to sit out with them under the Southern Hemisphere stars and watch the comet (name escapes me).

Our Sunday morning of leisure began with the group taking a trip to the beautiful Nature Valley beach in Tsitsikamma and sharing in a few hours of bathing and body-surfing. The afternoon's activities took a bit different of a turn. Today is our only official goof-off day of the entire trip. We are staying around Tsitsikamma National Park along the Garden Route of South Africa (the famous highway that goes from the Western cape to the Eastern). As such, we all had the opportunity to pick our adventure sport of the day. Five of the 22 chose to bungee jump.

The values of the SA culture are quite diverse to say the least. On January 18, 2007 this group got the privelege to see one side of African culture that is all too often miscontrued and abused throughout international media. In short, our view on the global community has changed.

After meeting with Charles Villavicencio of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation I was quite moved by his description of the southern African principle ubuntu. This life-guiding moral, although not easily translated to western thought (especially that of individualistic US), says that 'people find their being through other people.' As such, our interconnection with others is present when we are our most happy and most sad. Charles discussion of this topic came about when he described to us the state of SA following apartheid.

January 14, 2007
Moloweni!

We are settled into our lodgings "Soetwater Enviro Camp" just outside Cape Town South Africa. We unfortunately do not have the internet capabilities we thought we would but hey I guess that means we'll just have to remove ourselves from the facebook drama for a while.

In my time as a communication and global studies major, I have been exposed to a plethora of academic readings that reiterate the imminent nature of conflict. As such, I am excited to explore the different institutions or communities that have promoted peace following apartheid in South Africa. It is quite encouraging on the whole-for international conflict resolution-that these organizations have been paramount in pursuing peace and social justice. Moreover, we as students of this globalized generation and university have the opportunity to share the South African’s histories and messages with our own discoveries as our exposure to new perspectives begins.