Kayla recognizing she has much to smile about

It’s been a little less than two weeks since I first landed in Cape Town. Since my last blog post I have experienced many new things such as the townships, a local church service, and visiting several NGO’s my group will be interning with. I’ve found these experiences to be much more meaningful than the tourist activities like Boulder’s Beach that we did at the beginning of our orientation. After experiencing all of these new things, I can safely say that the culture in Cape Town is far different than the culture in the United States. To be quite honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to going to the church service since I myself am not very religious. However, I was really surprised and actually found that to be my favorite experience thus far. The church was located in one of the poorest townships but all the churchgoers seemed so genuinely happy. I have never been at a church with so much singing and dancing but it was an amazing experience. I was very moved to see people with such unwavering faith even while they are in the midst of such difficult circumstances. During the service a pastor turned to one of my fellow classmates who was smiling and said, “That smile was a gift from God. Some people can’t remember the last time they smiled because they ain’t got nothing to smile about.” This quote really stuck with me because even on my absolute worst days I have always smiled. That’s because even though I have experienced hardships in my life, they are miniscule in comparison to all the blessings I have. The pastor saying this and all the churchgoers being so full of life really made me realize how thankful I should be for all the privileges I do have that I do not necessarily always appreciate.