Dear South Africa,

I want you to take responsibility for your poverty. I want to hold you responsible for your incomprehensible levels of rape, HIV, and abuse. I am disenchanted and angry. I'm mad that you have so much money, that your tourist attractions are so well kept, that you are so beautiful, and yet you move so slowly to make change for the least of your citizens. I'm mad that your politicians are just as corrupt as those in the united states. I'm mad that for all your idealism in your revolution, for all your promises of a new dispensation, your leaders are human after all. I'm frustrated that your citizens remind me of the people on the north side of town, your churches remind me of New Harvest.

Dear America,
how can you expect the rest of the world to develop when your Native people live on destitute reservations or promote the poverty of others through casinos? That's an unfair generalization, but its an important point to make. The situation of white/black/hispanic/asian in America is a whole nother ball game than that of black/white in South Africa. Dear America, please look at how divided your society is, and work for equality and an end to poverty inside your borders. Dear America, please look at your trade policies and how you regulate the human rights ethics of your corporations. Dear America, please control the CIA and Homeland Security. Please be more humane. Dear America, please give California more money for education and water for farmers, you get so much of our taxes. we're the seventh biggest economy of the world, and yet we have so many hungry families right now. Dear American churches, love your neighbors, love one another, remember the poverty of your cities as you pray for the poverty across the world. Ministering to people across the world is just as hard and frustrating as the little rude buggers who you don't want your kids to be friends with.

Dear South Africa,
I love you. You're beautiful and full of hope. You have so many smiling children and shacks that have starred in many idealistic YouTube fundraising efforts and many church recruitment videos. I could fit here. I could serve here. I could give more and more of my time. I could develop curriculum and support an afterschool program. I do have something to offer here. I do have skills, love, and prayers. I've wanted to come here for so long, and here I am South Africa. here I am. I love it here. I just have the same depressed moments, the same money stresses, and the same inability to keep my normal life on schedule. It makes me want to go home and start over again. I'm sure I'll miss you so much when I'm home again, but I think I'm being called home now.

Dear America,
I can't believe I love you enough to call you home.
Dear California,
I do believe I love you enough to call you my state.
Dear Fresno,
I love you always and forever. I miss you and I'll see you soon. Keep trying to get better! I'll be home to support your economy soon! no chains, just family businesses like Bertos and Paradise Cafe.