Green Expo and more Zulu lessons

Been a busy few days in AYO-land.

Green Expo

Saturday was the Isthmus's Green Expo, at which AYO had a booth. I helped out for the last half of the expo, having missed the beginning in favor of running Crazylegs (a local 5 mile run that starts at the state capitol and ends in Camp Randall stadium) because apparently I'm a masochist. Once I got there my job was basically just talking to anyone who visited us and explaining about the items we had for sale.

We get a lot of items from programs from all over Africa through programs like Global Mamas, which is a program that helps woman-owned businesses in Africa, thus negating some of the steep gender inequality they face. Many of our products came from Ghana and they were all pretty neat. Some of the bags and little coin purses were made out of recycled water bags (water there isn't bottled, it's bagged), and scraps from the clothing they made went into making pot holders and the like. There were also some adorable puppets and sweet recycled glass figurines. (All of which you can buy through AYO... contact them or me if you're interested!)

So in the end I hear AYO made some money off of the booth, all of which goes to buy things like supplies for our camp. All in all, definitely a good day.


Today -- flyers and Zulu

Annie (another volunteer, one traveling this summer to De Wildt) dropped off some flyers and the like for me this afternoon. After my classes I visited State Street to try and drum up (get it?) a bit of support for our next event, Drumming For Hope. I visited a whole bunch of shops on State and asked them if I could put the flyers up. Some said no, but a lot more than I expected said yes, mostly comprising of locally owned stores. Franchises (I'm looking at you, Chipotle!) turned me down for the most part. Either way, hopefully a few more people show up at what is promising to be a pretty interesting event.

In between doing this I had to run up to Van Hise for a Zulu lesson, though thankfully not literally, as Francis' office is on the fourteenth floor. I soaked up a bit more of the native language, including some grammar, which I think is fascinating. After my lifetime of English and five years of Spanish, to learn a language that has such a radically different grammar is really interesting. I've been looking it up online, too. Hopefully in the next few weeks before we leave I'll get a bit of a handle on the basics. I learned how to say that I'm going to Africa in June: Ngiya eMzantsi ngoJune. And that I'll be returning in July: Ngibuya eMerika ngoJuly. By the way, I think the fact that they spell it "Merika" is pretty awesome. Looks way sweeter.

Hamba kahle! (Go well!)