WALKER WEATHERLY| guest writer
How long does it take to travel to a completely new world? Twenty-six hours. Twenty-six hours on a plane from New York City to Johannesburg is all it takes to go from riches to rags; from prince to pauper.
“South Africa has 1st world elements meshed with 3rd world tragedy,” Ryan Birch (Junior, Christian Ministries) said.
And once you land in Jo’burg (as it is called), it takes about five minutes to see why.
I was privileged to be part of the first Azusa Pacific International semester in South Africa. I found out about the semester two weeks after starting APU as a freshman and I was sold instantly. For me, this was exciting because I would be returning to a country that captured my heart two years before on a mission trip in 2005. It meant that I would be able to see parts of the country I had never seen before and do things I had never done before. My excitement grew weekly and by the end of December I was ready to go.
For me and the twenty-eight other APU students that were going, the journey started in the beginning months of 2007. We had mandatory meetings and we began to get to know each other as a group. Several people knew each other before but I, on the other hand, knew no one. I connected with some of the people early on and we shared our excitement together as spring semester drew to a close and we began counting down the days to our departure. In classic APU style, community became a centerpiece in our first meetings as an entire group. We were told from the beginning culture shock would hit hard once we arrived and we would find in each other support and strength, a point we learned well in our first few days in Cape Town.
Culture shock: the condition in which a traveler has ZERO idea of what is happening around him or her. From language to hand-shakes, sheep’s head to boerevors (Afrikaans sausage), it seems like EVERYTHING is different. It doesn’t take long to realize we are a long way from home, about 9,951 mi. or 16,014 km. My previous experience in South Africa prepared me well for what I knew we would see. I listened to my peers talk about, among other things, their shock at seeing the intense poverty that pervades the townships. I listened and I was supportive; after all, I had been in the same situation two years before. Our mutual vulnerability ended up strengthening us and drawing us together, but not initially to the level we wanted.
Because of the crime problems in South Africa, it wasn’t a good idea for us to travel anywhere alone. We always had to be in a group if we wanted to leave the places we were staying in. We had classes together, ate together, and sat in cramped buses almost every day of the week. Alone time was virtually out of the question in Cape Town. All of the different personalities in the group obviously made it difficult for some people to get along with others. In one of our classes we discussed a lot of social justice issues which led to arguments and disagreements. The situation got more tense and strained as the first month ended.
Not until we arrived in Pietermaritzburg did our community really come together. Around mid-October, we had been stretched far beyond the breaking point. Twenty-eight people had been mentally, physically, and emotionally challenged in numerous ways in a country different from their own. Tempers flared, some people were lonely, and it looked like it would be a long two months unless something changed soon. Being the introvert I am, I didn’t realize things were so bad until one of the students took a radical step.
The student became so angry about the way the group was functioning she got up in front of everyone and called us out on our hypocrisy. She expressed her anger and hurt to all of us and then left the floor open for conversation. One by one, students began to express how they were feeling. Like Bishop Desmond Tutu after the downfall of Apartheid, we had a Truth and Reconciliation meeting that afternoon. As we went on, we could literally feel the tension in the group melt away. We were honest with ourselves and with each other, exposing our emotions and hurts for all to see. God really used this moment to draw us together in His Name and saved us from a self-destructive situation.
After that afternoon things were different in our group. People were getting along again and reconciliation happened between people who had been hurt. Everyone began participating in the community events we put together and the camaraderie was good. This is not to say that we didn’t still have some disagreements or conflicts, but everyone came together in a way that we hadn’t done before.
With two and a half months of time for reflection since leaving South Africa, I look back on that afternoon as the defining moment of the semester. Last week I expressed my gratitude again to the student who stood up in front of us that day. She doesn’t view it as an act of courage or even as something that needed to be done. But I do. If she hadn’t spoken that afternoon, I sincerely feel that we would have failed miserably as a community. After that day things were different in our group. Some of us still make a point of getting together even for just a few hours. Inside jokes are just as funny now as they were three months ago. By the way, we are all jealous of the students who are there now. But we had our time there and we have all been changed.
How have I changed? I don’t know for sure yet. Even after two and a half months I am still trying to figure out everything. But something about you changes when you go to Africa. Something changes when you stand on a mountain overlooking Cape Town, watching the most beautiful sunset you can imagine. Something changes when you sing songs in strange languages with people who love God just the same as you. Something changes when you get to preach to a church alongside a Zulu translator. Something changes when you wake up in the middle of the night because you heard a hyena and a lion. Something changes when a young woman dies only half an hour after you visited her. Yes, Africa changes you.
“My perspective, my heart, my purpose in life was redefined. I learned how to genuinely love and establish relationships centered on Christ, and based on the depth of who each person is,” Christa Bixby (Junior, Liberal Studies) said.
Reg Codrington, our South African program director put it best when he said, “Once you taste the waters of Africa, you will always return for more.”
I know in my heart that I will return some day, but when and why are up to God to decide. 
Although growth has been important there is something that is more rewarding for Barreto. “If I could share the gospel day in and day out I would love to do that.” Barreto said. “The business is just a way that makes it possible to do that”
