South Africa: A Sensory Experience

Joyful voices singing God’s praise to start each school day
Vibrant sunrises and magnificent sunsets
Eyes tearing from paraffin smoke filled rooms
The course touch of snot crusted hands
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! as you try to sleep
Fields ranging from dusty red/brown to shades of green
Extreme vulnerability to the unrelenting sun
Rain like gunfire on the metal roof
Roosters Rooster Roosters!
A heard of cows coming home from a busy day in the fields
Purple shadows formed by the fall of Jacaranda blossoms
Uneven dirt roads below your feet
The patchwork of lyric languages meeting your ear
Newly acquired words and clicks traveling from your lips
Unfamiliar (and sometimes painful) kitchen aromas
Children shyly stroking your skin and hair when they think you’re not looking
Melting garbage engulfed in flames
Deafening thunder and silent lightening in the cool afternoon sky
“Hallelujah! Praise Jesus!” in surround sound from the neighborhood revival tent
Branches tickling the tin roof
Kids spending more time on their hands then their feet
Cool water streaming down your skin
Throbbing hands and aching backs from scrubbing red dust out of clothing
The foul stench of rotten chicken eggs wafting through the kitchen window
Course texture of umratha on your tongue
Food mashing between your fingers at a celebratory brie
Unbelievably long days but surprisingly fast weeks
Harmonious lullabies sung from all of God’s creatures
Cheek pains from never-ending smiles
A fly by kiss on the arm