aaron young

going into the trip i did not expect to be capturing video but once in south africa i realized that there was an amazing sound to the people that I wanted to record… this is the first of a few clips i grabbed thinking that the audio alone would make a great score for the slideshows from the trip. my canon g9 captures video at 1024×768, had i realized the quality i could expect i think i would have used it a lot more…

this clip is one of my favorite from the trip, partially because of the circumstance leading up to the moment. we had been asked to check up on a computer lab at st. paul’s church in the township of phillipi, we had finished some virus scans and basic training, waiting for our ride to arrive to pick us up when we were invited downstairs to attend a graduation ceremony for the church after school program. we were ushered to the front row just as the children began to sing, it was incredibly unexpected and i still get chills watching this clip…

St. Pauls Childrens Choir – Township of Phillipi, Cape Flats, South Africa from Aaron Young on Vimeo.

after months of training, preparation and fundraising we were finally at LAX, bags packed and on our way. we had all been up most (if not all) of the night before packing and preparing. with all of our clothes for two winter weeks, materials and donations packing just two 50 pounds bags was a challenge. all things considered we had made it to the day of departure with no major medical or life-subverting challenges to pull anyone off the trip.

two weeks before we left a staff member for Bridges of Hope had been robbed at gun point by a group of ten year old boys in the township of phillipi. they made off with 60 rand (~$8). needless to say, we were a little worried about our personal safety in south africa after hearing the news and everything else we had been told about carjackings and hate crimes. while a little scared we had hundreds of prayerful people behind us and were confident going into the trip, excited to meet the kids at the academy and get to work on everything we had been preparing for.

before we could get started we had to get there. the travel to cape flats from southern california is a real beast and really a major obstacle for me going into the trip. my sinuses hate flights, i dont sit still for more than a hour at a time and i get anxious in confined spaces – i was not looking forward to the flights.

i have been to hawaii a few times and flown back east over the years but with the exception of mexico i had never been outside the US and never on a plane for more than five hours. to get to south africa:

- 1 hour drive to LAX – 5 hour flight to dc – 19 hour flight to johannesburg – 2 hour flight to capetown – 1 hour drive to the farm

i left my house on friday morning at 430 am and arrived at the Bridges of Hope Academy in cape flats on Saturday night at 11:00 pm. with the exception of a few layovers we were on planes for most of that time.

crossing so many time zones is an interesting experience, when combined with such long flights it becomes very disorienting. about half way through the long flight i recall waking up from the half-sleep i get on planes in a state of complete confusion of what time it was an how long i had been on the plane. i eventually figured out that i had watched two movies and then slept for about 4 hours – which meant that i still had about 11 hours left on the flight. the hours eventually blend and you feel like you have lived most of your life in that seat…

passport check following arrival in johannesburg held us up and we missed our connecting flight to capetown. it was only about an hour wait to the next flight, just enough time to enjoy a random foreign airport restaurant meal and start trying to adjust to the time. most of us also put on some deodorant – the team odor was in full swing. the airports in south africa are undergoing a lot of construction to be ready for the world cup in 2010, its two years away but already a big deal, arriving in the terminal we passed a time square style countdown clock ticking away the seconds and minutes to the start of the games in two years.

i recall having some delirious (we were exhausted) fun with matt at the ATM as we were pulling out cash for the trip, we felt like ballers pulling out rand in the hundreds (the exchange rate is in our favor)..

i woke up at about 4AM after just a few hours sleep the first night. i had ben told that south africa was beautiful but the scenery surpassed my best expectations. the shot above is the first i took that morning at bridges. the academy is a retired vinyard in the middle of the cape flats wine country. its surrounded by rolling hills of grapes and mountains in the distance, much like santa barbara. it rained only once during our time there but every day the week before we arrived, it was 70 degrees in the sun on most days with little wind the some of the most amazing clouds i have ever seen.

the red room, named after is color, is a great little den. the kids lockers are along one wall.

this is the view off the courtyard to the lynx winery net door. the bridges property was once part of lynx but broke off some years ago before being sold.

more tomorrow…