Newport, Rhode Island

It's getting close to time to start university again. I honestly don't particularly want to start again, but I'm glad that the end is in sight.

Yesterday our church group went on a trip to Newport, Rhode Island. It's a beautiful place, the ocean is really shiny. It's famous for having a lot of huge mansions, and Americans (and tourists) go to Newport just to drive past. Above are some pictures.

We saw a Llama. That was pretty cool. There was a stage when my brother kept bombarding me with Llama pictures (actually, as my desktop background) and I didn't really appreciate them as a species for this reason. But they are growing on me. We also went for a cycle around the area.

I'm reading The Idiot, by Dostoyevsky, right now. I'm not very good at going into details on books but by mentioning them here I might get better. The book is amazing because there are a thousand different ways to interpret the characters, particularly the Prince (the Idiot himself). I imagine there are people who have spent their whole careers understanding the characters-- for me I appreciate the fact that it is so subtle. The characters have a life of their own.

I was really impressed by an organization called Cradles to Crayons, based in Quincy, Massachusetts. I went for an orientation for our organization to partner with them and I was blown away by the simple effectiveness of the concept. They have a warehouse and a lot of credibility amongst large rich companies and also just regular families in Mass. With this, they field a massive number of donations for everything children may need-- clothes, shoes, school supplies, toys. They use volunteers to sort the stuff very efficiently, then they take orders online from partner organizations who work specifically with children who may need help. I imagine there are similar organizations in South Africa, but if not I think the possibilities are really amazing for imitating their model to fit the specific context of Durban or Cape Town, etc.