Midsouthmoma

Dec 11, 2013

Wordless Wednesday

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Dec 10, 2013

My Privileged Trip To South Africa Years After Apartheid

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During the summer of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, I was a 14 year old in South Africa on a mission trip. Learning more about Nelson Mandela from the news after his death, has given me a renewed sense of gratitude about my trip. During my nearly month long trip, I was completely unaware of the correlation to some of the places and cities I visited to the then President Nelson Mandela.

The first and last city I visited was Johannesburg, a place where I wish I was at now to help celebrate Mandela's death. Johannesburg is the city to where Mandela ran out of protest during his early twenties and it is also the city where he increased in his political activism. In Johannesburg I stayed about a week at the University of Witwatersrand. It was at this university that Nelson Mandela studied law. In Johannanburg I also played soccer with other South Africans at Ellis Park Stadium. I was unaware that a year before my trip to South Africa that the Rugby World Cup was held at that very same stadium and Nelson Mandela was able to promote national unity and racial reconciliation.

Soweto was the most memorable city that I visited and it was also the place where I had first learned about Apartheid and experienced true poverty. I also was able to see the home that belonged to Nelson Mandela and his family for many decades. The home is now a museum that Mandela donated to the Soweto Heritage Trust, but it was not a museum at the time of my visit.

I also visited Durban for about a week and experienced my first and only beach trip, with beautiful blue water. This city is where Mandela was determaned to promote peace by speaking to African National Congress supporters. Over 10,000 people attended his rally and he requested the supporters to throw away their weapons and stand against their oppressors peacefully.

I visited Cape Town as well and this was the city where Nelson Mandela gave his famous speach after his release 1990 from jail. In his speech he called Cape Town his home for three decades and thanked all those in Cape Town who advocated for his release. Mandela had spent 27 years in jail right off the coast of Cape Town.

Pretoria was one of the final cities that I visited. It was in Pretoria that Nelson Mandela was tried and sentenced to five years of prison for incitement and legally fleeing the country in 1962. This was the beginning of his long 27 year internment in jail.

I also visited the city of Victoria but I could not find any history online between Nelson Mandela and Victoria. Again I am very thankful for the rare opportunity to have experienced South Africa. My only regret is that I was completely unaware of most of the history concerning Nelson Mandela that I just mentioned above while I was there. I hope that I will have another chance to visit South Africa again and that I can go along with my husband and children.

Dec 9, 2013

Teaching Our Kids During Christmas

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Photos courtesy of www.123rf.com

My daughter, 5 years old, was asked by her grandmother about what she wanted for Christmas and her first response was I don't know. After her grandmother pressured her some more about what she wanted she replied that she wanted a hat. Well I was not present during the incident and when my mother in-law retold this story to me she seemed a little confused by my daughter's response. I told my mother-in-law that our kids really do not have many wants, but that was only partially true. If my kids where looking at a toy magizine or seeing a TV commercial they would say that they wanted everything that they had seen.

To avoid a conflict that my husband and I have had in the past with my mother-in-law I did not go into the full explaination that I am about to share. My husband and I teach our kids during this time about giving. We have never asked our kids the question of "What do you want for Christmas?" Instead, we ask them each time during this year, "What do you want to give for Christmas this year?" We as parents have always focused our kids attention on giving and never receiving.

My kids are aware that they will receive Christmas gifts each year but what we are going to get has never been a priority in our home. Therefore it confuses our kids when asked about what do they want for Christmas. Their little minds are focused on giving and they do not think about what they want. The element of surprise is enough for them on Christmas Day and each year they end up enjoying everything that they have received no matter how small or big even without thinking about a Christmas list each year.

With my mother-in-law, she grew up not having much, so in the past she has been upset about my husband and I not giving much to our kids and choosing to teach our kids more about being the givers during this time of year instead of recivers. This is a desion that we as parents have agreed about concerning child raising and I know that others may not agree with us either and that is fine with me. I feel that there is too much of a pressure on kids to get during this year and on parents to try to give what their kids want. This pressure can cause either high joys or real lows on Christmas day if kids do not get what they want or parents can't afford to pay for what their kids want.

Focusing our family on giving and thankfulness during this time of year keeps this season stress free for my husband and I and keeps my kids joyful no matter what. Christmas time is always joyful each year and never a financial pain that my family has to live with through the beginning of the new year.