hands of hope.

the last day that shan and i were in harare, we finally were able to carve out a bit of time to serve at an orphanage. it was something that i had set aside to do, but with christmas and victoria falls and days and days of travel, it just got put off. there are many in the city, and with a couple of inside connections and the kindness of shan's parents, we were able to make an appointment to pop in. that's why, on a humid, rainy afternoon we made our way to the Hands of Hope orphanage, only a couple minutes away from her home. 

all of the children, nine girls and two little boys, were abandoned on the streets of harare, zimbabwe. due to widespread ignorance birth control and the violent oppression of women bred by the shona culture, it has become increasingly difficult for families to support the excessive influx of children. many try to self-abort, which results either in the mother's death or retardation of the child, and babies are abandoned as early as minutes after birth in many different places around the city. as heartbreaking as it is to find a little one, it's just as difficult to think of the painful choices that mother's are forced to make to keep their large families afloat. 

in all honesty? i wish that we had been able to come to this special place much earlier. i would have loved to spend more time with those sweet little baby faces, to make the guarded looks of the older girls melt into smiles and give more than i received. while we were there, the girls put on a barbie cartoon entitled, "Barbie as the Island Princess" {you can see them watching above}. they were so excited. they sang along to the whole of the pirated dvd's soundtrack, lyrics twisting around the theme of a lost home, and a quest for family. the irony of video, and their rapt attention, piqued a sense of understanding and hope that i didn't expect to find. 

these are little girls, little boys, that have big dreams. i asked them each their names, what they wanted to be when they grew up. one, blessing, wanted to be a "big manager". leona dreamt of being a lawyer, another of a teaching profession and one simply desires to be a mom. hands of hope truly does breed home within the hearts of their children, they give each the leg up that they need and attempt to provide them with a home and sense of community that would have otherwise been lacking. God has a plan for this teeny orphanage, and each of the precious lives within.

"Give justice to the weak and fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute"

 Psalm 82:3

africa update.

 

i can hardly believe it's 2013. the years seem to pass so fast, leaving little trails of broken memories behind. usually, i get all nostalgic and moody around the 31st. but here? there was really no time. i guess africa just wrings that out of you. i was too busy seeing my FIRST wonder of the world {victoria falls}, getting a wicked sunburn, playing with lions, taking pictures of baby monkeys, laughing with my best friend and enjoying the sweet hospitality of her family. i must say, 2012. you sure went out with a bang.

 

2013 has quite a few promises, as well. living in nashville, leasing yet another apartment {but much cheaper than LA, thank heavens!}, being near my family again, beginning graduate school, applying to MFA programs, maybe seeing my first country music star ;) i can't wait to hang out with my mama, find a new job and write my heart out until my best friend moves to tennessee in may. {i know, i know. i'm pretty lucky.} alright, 2013. last year left some big shoes to fill. you ready? 

{mindblowing.}

 

{nyasha, two months old and cute as ever!}

{sunset cruise on the great zambezi river}

 

 {taking pictures. of everything.}

 

{no guard rails. 354 feet down.}

 

{where did 2012 take you?}

 

thoughts of africa.

it's been awhile since my last post {i feel like i am always saying that...}, but there's a reason. as always.

i'm currently in harare, zimbabwe, with my best friend and her sweet family. it's strange. my first time out of the country has also coincided with a trip to africa, a place that i never thought i would visit. in all honesty, i'm a bit excited that this was my first experience on my own. i didn't go to london or paris or rome. i didn't take on the beauty of another first-world country, didn't pace the streets of italy or switzerland, but went somewhere that's different. real. i ran straight into the fire {as everyone here keeps saying}. part of me, even now, can't believe i actually did it. i always thought africa was too exotic, too strange and far-fetched. i thought that life was so radically different that there was no way a born and bred california girl would ever be able to relate.

ah, yes. isn't it great when our preconceived notions are smashed to little bits and pieces? today marks my tenth day on an entirely different continent, and i must say.

wow.

sorry for the lack of embellishment. putting 'africa' into a string of sentences and jumbled up letters is proving to be one of my most difficult assignments. it's as if the paper is insatiable, it eats up my words with a ravenous, gaping mouth that always waits, ready for more. there aren't enough words to explain the poverty and the pain, the huge smiles and sweet baby faces. food prices that are sky high and yet glean so little, and the strangeness of a country whose government, quite simply, doesn't work.

africa isn't just 'the lion king' or, 'cry, the beloved country.' it's green and huge and the skies stretch for miles. the dirt pathways along the roads are packed with children and businessmen and mothers holding laundry and babies on their backs, wrapped up snug and tight. africa is a sprawling flea market and smells that make me wrinkle my nose and pirated dvd's that make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. handcarved everything, mismatched clothes and checkers games played with a few odd coke bottle tops.

it's strange to come from america and realize how blessed my family is. just because of a life lottery, i was born to parents in one of the most beautiful states in the land of the free. i have always been taught to dream, and to fight. don't have the money? get another job. want to go to college? work hard, get a scholarship. in zim, there is no opportunity in your work. there is no chance. your life is determined by your parents and your place of birth, both of which are extremely stringent. you are either white or black. rich or poor. you take the lot that you're handed and make the most of it. sell fruit in the streets, fake a disability. beg for money that will put food in your children's mouths, if just for one more night.

just this afternoon, i was watching a young girl, maybe five or six, lead her mother along the dangerous meridian of a busy road. the woman was {supposedly} blind, and they were begging for money, next to a man with cell phone airtime stuck in the papery bark of a tree branch. i asked my best friend {shannon} how people could live like this. with no hope for something better, no dream for a life beyond zimbabwe. i felt claustrophobic, almost, and my heart broke for this sweet little one, working when she should be painting pictures and laughing on the playground. shan told me, quietly, 'megs, this is their life. you don't have to hurt over it, because they aren't. this is their life, they work their job, they struggle and overcome, and they're happy. just because it's not your life, or the life that people have in the states, doesn't mean that it's not a good one.'

africa is family, pain, love, anger. it's high fences and no electricity. distrust, hard work, a lack of hope and sense of closeness. africa is abstract and ugly and beautiful and heartbreaking. it's someplace i couldn't create any expectations for, because it simply supercedes them all.

africa is.
africa, isn't that different.

it's autumn in LA!!

 {there's a storm a'brewin over my pretty city}

los angeles is a very sunny city. It's bright and big and crazy, wacky and hysterical and eclectic...and it also finally welcomed autumn in december. crazy, hey? as you can tell from this post, i was a little frustrated way back when because it was much too hot. well, november just had to die a slow, heated death to give way to the pretty-ness that is: december. 

is it still fall in your neck of the woods? i'm seeing pictures with snow/christmas trees, and i can hardly believe it. time really does fly. i have nine days to soak up some rain, some pretty la sunsets and hollywood crazies, before my life gives way to summer again, all the way over in africa. a bbq for christmas? bring it on.

 {leaves}

 {love love loving the dark clouds}

{proof of the rain in the 'ol 90210}

i'm baaack....

oh my heavens. oh wow. i haven't blogged in two weeks...and it feels sad. there's nothing up on this little piece of the internet other than a picture of my hands on a keyboard.

um, not fun.

that's why i've planned a bunch of neat posts for the rest of december. (can you believe it's december?!?!) there's going to be some dreaming, a little DIY, packing heart attacks and an impending trip to africa. christmas is coming and i'm leaving the country for the first time and leaving my pretty little california. needless to say, there's so so much going on in my life. you're going to hear lots, so get ready! ;)

i can't wait to revive my teeny-tiny place that i love.
see you tomorrow!!

east bay baby.

i am actually kind of in love with this picture. it's a neat way to view san francisco from the shores of the east bay {this is in alameda}. i've always been a huge fan of city skylines, but this one just takes the cake. it's san francisco, for heavens sake! until i set eyes on nyc, i think this beautiful city by the bay might just win. LA just isn't as excruciatingly beautiful through all the smog. 

the best friend and got some advice from my sweet aunt and uncle, and decided to forgo the BART train for the alameda ferry. it's a quick little trip across the bay, and absolutely gorgeous. it's cheap, easy, and super fast. so, naturally. since i was in the middle of the bay, i had to take a bunch of pictures of the shoreline/city. i might have taken a bit too many, but hey. they're pretty and fun to take.

this area really is stunning, so i hope you enjoy all the crazy/random photos.
makes me proud to be a bay area baby.

recuperation.

my lovely followers {and amazing guests!},

i know i usually post a little DIY for a little monday inspiration, but i'm absolutely exhausted. the best friend and i just got home from some family time in san francisco, and five hours in the car? really drains you. honestly, if i did try to scrape out a post it would would sound a bit like this: lkdjagliewh'agiha

so. i'll spare you the trouble. make sure to check back tomorrow and later this week to read about a beautiful weekend in the city!!

'wuthering heights' bites.

in my humble opinion: "wuthering heights" is one of the most beautiful literary classics ever written, and the author emily bronte is an absolute genius. she creates a separate world out of excessive emotion and obsession, and it's just amazing. i may have reread it every single december since i was thirteen...maybe.

that being said.

do not ever, in your whole entire life, watch this version.
it was base, awful, painfully long, and doesn't even manage to tell the true story {as bronte intended it}.  the film focuses on cathy and heathcliff in their childhood, and continues with quite a few disturbing and just downright weird twists. the acting is sub-par  and the movie makes you feel raw and chapped as the wind whistles and rushes by the camera {much too often, at that}.

 a couple of girlfriends from work and i made our way down to the nuart theater this past week, which is one of the best indie theaters in los angeles. we stopped by sweet rose creamery in brentwood, laughed about boys/work/celebrities, and then took big brown bags of popcorn into the theater with high expectations.

it was a sweet night with some pretty amazing ladies, but the movie fell short. if any of you are indie film/wuthering heights fans like me, spare yourself the time and the money. it was as if the director was bashing us over the head with random metaphors and lack of dialogue, trying {in vain} to create something artistic. if you're looking for a good version, you don't have to look any farther than this one from 1992. it's heathcliff and cathy the way they're supposed to be, in a movie that i have never been able to leave behind.

 {loved this place!!}

 {salted caramel ice cream, with coarse sea salt}

{excuse the blurriness, friends!}

solvang.

last week, i was serving at church in the children's worship band, when one of our members came in with little donut-hole shaped pastries with powdered sugar and jam. he called them...aebleskivers.

funny word, hey? i thought so too.

he said they're what the little town of solvang is known for, and due to the fact i hadn't been there, i needed to go. solvang is a tiny town about a half an hour outside of santa barbara, and it serves as a little piece of denmark in california. there are quite a few tiny shops filled with yummy, calorie-laden pastries and pretty buildings that look like they're straight out of a storybook.

we got to try the aebleskiver pastry here, and walk around on streets where fall leaves were already rustling on the ground. there were statues and book rooms dedicated to hans christian andersen, people who smiled and waved and shops that smelled sweet with homemade soaps and perfumes. it was such a sweet saturday, one filled with winding roads and lots of laughter. there's nothing like driving along highway 1, and enjoying the beauty of the ocean and the oak and pine trees in the mountains on the same day.

have you been to solvang? or am i missing out on another hidden gem in this gorgeous state?