So I was finally able to finish uploading that photo album. Check it out:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569297299ZLkwsX
The last few days have been great in that I've been able to get some rest, relax and do a little reflection. I'll let you know the results at a later date. But for now I'm enjoying the slower life I thought I'd have when I got here... that probably won't last past tomorrow, ha. But yesterday I got a chance to do some reading in my house, and in the midst of watching a big storm out my window came across this verse:
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world." - Psalm 19:1-4
Between the storm and that verse I couldn't help but think: what an awesome God we worship. Everyday he provides reasons to sing his praises.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas from South Africa! The day is wrapping up for us here, but I know its just getting into full gear for others back in the States.
Us volunteers had a big feast last night and tonight as well as a nice pancake brunch this morning as we tried combining some of our Christmas traditions. I even read the first chapter of John to candlelight last night, pretending I was my dad during his Christmas sermon. We also did secret santas so that we all got gifts from each other which we opened last night and this morning. Germans apparently celebrate everything on the 24th, weird! We spent most of the day holed up in the girls house just trying to relax and enjoy the day. We had heard it would be a quiet day at Lily, but the kids were out in full force, running around, being rowdy and trying to bang down the door. While those acts weren't always condusive to my plans to relax, it was a nice day nonethless. It even cooled off enough around that we took a late afternoon walk in jeans and a sweatshirt! Definitely not a white christmas, but it could have been California Christmas weather.
One of the most memorable experiences was playing santa last night and bringing the bags full of gifts to each of the kids' houses. The youngest kids gave the best reactions as many of them started freaking out, screaming, running around the house and giving us all big hugs. What a highlight.
There were definitely times when I missed home and times when it didn't feel like Christmas at all, but overall it was a good day. It is a Christmas that I will never forget and I am so thankful for my "family" here that I got to enjoy it with. God is good.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14
Us volunteers had a big feast last night and tonight as well as a nice pancake brunch this morning as we tried combining some of our Christmas traditions. I even read the first chapter of John to candlelight last night, pretending I was my dad during his Christmas sermon. We also did secret santas so that we all got gifts from each other which we opened last night and this morning. Germans apparently celebrate everything on the 24th, weird! We spent most of the day holed up in the girls house just trying to relax and enjoy the day. We had heard it would be a quiet day at Lily, but the kids were out in full force, running around, being rowdy and trying to bang down the door. While those acts weren't always condusive to my plans to relax, it was a nice day nonethless. It even cooled off enough around that we took a late afternoon walk in jeans and a sweatshirt! Definitely not a white christmas, but it could have been California Christmas weather.
One of the most memorable experiences was playing santa last night and bringing the bags full of gifts to each of the kids' houses. The youngest kids gave the best reactions as many of them started freaking out, screaming, running around the house and giving us all big hugs. What a highlight.
There were definitely times when I missed home and times when it didn't feel like Christmas at all, but overall it was a good day. It is a Christmas that I will never forget and I am so thankful for my "family" here that I got to enjoy it with. God is good.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14
Monday, December 22, 2008
HOT HOT HOT
Haibo, it has been smoldering out here. I really wish I had air conditioning, or even some more fans. I might have to take care of that last one as the one working fan in our house broke. But really, the fans don't do much for the humidity and you can't leave the windows open at night cause we don't have screens and a million mosquitoes rush in (seriously, i might have to make some ghetto makeshift screens by buying and cutting up a mosquito net).
Anyway, I heard it was 38 degrees Celsius today, which is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Add in the humidity and it feels likes its 130 at times, I swear. At one point this afternoon when I walked out of the office, I noticed that all of the kids under the age of 10 were running around in only their underwear, it was quite the hilarious site. At this point Warren decided that we all needed to have a water fight, so I ran and grabbed a bucket and everyone else grabbed their weapon of choice and all the volunteers and kids broke out into the largest water fight I think I've ever been a part of. It was certainly a lot of fun. At least for that hour we were able to keep the mob of children entertained.
Oh yeah, and the sunset was beautiful today. That's one of the things I love about this place, that and the lighting that started soon after. Next time I talk about the sunsets though I'll try to have a picture, sorry.
Anyway, I heard it was 38 degrees Celsius today, which is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Add in the humidity and it feels likes its 130 at times, I swear. At one point this afternoon when I walked out of the office, I noticed that all of the kids under the age of 10 were running around in only their underwear, it was quite the hilarious site. At this point Warren decided that we all needed to have a water fight, so I ran and grabbed a bucket and everyone else grabbed their weapon of choice and all the volunteers and kids broke out into the largest water fight I think I've ever been a part of. It was certainly a lot of fun. At least for that hour we were able to keep the mob of children entertained.
Oh yeah, and the sunset was beautiful today. That's one of the things I love about this place, that and the lighting that started soon after. Next time I talk about the sunsets though I'll try to have a picture, sorry.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Christmas and some pictures
So I tried to post some of the pictures from the Christmas party I talked about the other day, but the internet cafe I was using at the mall was terribly slow and expensive, so i got frustrated and gave up just under half way through. Here is the partial album though and hopefully I'll get the rest up soon: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569297299ZLkwsX
Furthermore, I just got back from church tonight which was a carol service. It was nice to finally have some Christmas focus and cheer, but it still just didn't seem right. I mean, it was muggy hot still, they sing all the songs different, and there were no decorations up. About half-way through the service the whole thing just made me homesick for I think really the first time since I got here, as I'm not a person who gets too emotional or homesick. I just realized that for my entire life, Christmas has been spent with my immediate family, going to my Dad's church service and also hanging out with friends. My parents moved this year, so things were going to have to change a little anyway, but Africa is definitely a much bigger change. As I sat down here tonight though, I got a chance to catch up on my Dad's blog and read an article called No Christmas Trees? that he wrote last week. Check it out. The blog hit me personally cause it talks about how we often link a good Christmas with things like decorations and family and food and all the fun, and not about the struggles that Mary and Joseph went through in bringing us the greatest gift of all. I have been blessed with a great family and friends back home and I will certainly miss them this holiday season, but I also thank God for the family he has provided me here at Lily as I look forward to Christmas with them, and finally I am most thankful that Christmas was, is and always will be about Jesus Christ. Here's wishing you many blessings this holiday season, and may you be truly touched by the love of God.
Furthermore, I just got back from church tonight which was a carol service. It was nice to finally have some Christmas focus and cheer, but it still just didn't seem right. I mean, it was muggy hot still, they sing all the songs different, and there were no decorations up. About half-way through the service the whole thing just made me homesick for I think really the first time since I got here, as I'm not a person who gets too emotional or homesick. I just realized that for my entire life, Christmas has been spent with my immediate family, going to my Dad's church service and also hanging out with friends. My parents moved this year, so things were going to have to change a little anyway, but Africa is definitely a much bigger change. As I sat down here tonight though, I got a chance to catch up on my Dad's blog and read an article called No Christmas Trees? that he wrote last week. Check it out. The blog hit me personally cause it talks about how we often link a good Christmas with things like decorations and family and food and all the fun, and not about the struggles that Mary and Joseph went through in bringing us the greatest gift of all. I have been blessed with a great family and friends back home and I will certainly miss them this holiday season, but I also thank God for the family he has provided me here at Lily as I look forward to Christmas with them, and finally I am most thankful that Christmas was, is and always will be about Jesus Christ. Here's wishing you many blessings this holiday season, and may you be truly touched by the love of God.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Quick update
So everyone survived the craziness of yesterday, barely. Just thought you should know. Thanks for your prayers. By the time I made it back to Lily in the late afternoon the rest of the volunteers were completely wiped out. It didn't help that it was in teh 90s and really humid. One volunteer just stood by a water spigot outside and sprayed down kids. The strategy ended up being that we locked all the houses and the kids weren't allowed in them, only outside and in our big common rooms. Grumpy little toddlers were crying everyone, overwhelmed at what was going on and not being able to retreat to their own home for a nap. Even in my shortened day with them I was worn out. But all turned out fine.
As for the hospital that morning one really cool thing happened: before starting there actual work day, all the nurses in the clinic i was at came out into the hallway waiting area and everyone stood up and sang praise songs and then prayed together. When people pray here, they just all pray outloud at the same time, its crazy and I still feel very uncomfortable doing it. It was an awesome experience and just cool to see, definitely something I could only experience here and not back in the States.
Finally, please pray for the finances of Lily. While God has blessed me personally through all of you, Lily is still in a bit of a tight spot. We are sure God will provide though. Keeps us in your prayers.
As for the hospital that morning one really cool thing happened: before starting there actual work day, all the nurses in the clinic i was at came out into the hallway waiting area and everyone stood up and sang praise songs and then prayed together. When people pray here, they just all pray outloud at the same time, its crazy and I still feel very uncomfortable doing it. It was an awesome experience and just cool to see, definitely something I could only experience here and not back in the States.
Finally, please pray for the finances of Lily. While God has blessed me personally through all of you, Lily is still in a bit of a tight spot. We are sure God will provide though. Keeps us in your prayers.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A season of goodbyes
Wow, this last 2 weeks has been crazy. In the last 13 days I've seen 5 of our 11 volunteers leave Lily to go back home, and we'll lose another on Saturday. That's right, we'll be down to 5. Carissa left on the 3rd, Katie on the 9th, Aislinn on the 12th, Jonny on the 15th (the Big 3 in House 21 have been broken up, tear), Sarah today (the 16th), and Lani will leave Saturday. It has definitely been hard to say goodbye to people. We developed such a family of volunteers here and had so much fun together that it's hard to imagine it ever being the same with the next group. Praise the Lord though that he provides and that we will have a new crop coming in January. It's weird to think that the people that showed me the ropes will all be gone and I'll be one of the vets showing the new kids around. Anyway, the last few weeks have been filled up with just trying to hang out with all the volunteers and really cherish our last times together. They are definitely friends for life and I'll miss them all.
Oh yeah, and the craziest part is that this big drop in numbers comes right before the staff holiday party. All the paid staff will be off tomorrow, the 17th, and us volunteers will have to watch all the kids ourselves... that means all 19 house moms, the nursery teacher and the managers are gone, leaving us with about 100 kids (some go to homes for christmas, so our numbers are down) including babies! It's going to be a handful. Somewhat thankfully I got the job of going to the hospital all day to get medicine. It will be really boring, but it gets me away from this craziness I guess, although I do feel bad about leaving the other volunteers to do it. Please pray for them!
Seriously, the thought of taking care of all the kids seems so much worse now that I've experienced the last few weeks of them being on summer holiday from school. When all the kids are around all day it is hectic here. I mean, there are 114 kids in total , which means they pretty much run this place. I really do worry sometimes about the kids (and us) because it seems like there are too many here for us to meet there needs. I've mentioned before how I think many of them should probably be seeing counselors, but beyond that, we just dont have the time or resources to administer proper discipline or teaching for the kids we have, and I think you can see that manifesting in the way the kids behave. Its sad too because it seems like some of the more poorly behaved kids are starting to influence the better kids, as the former seem to run this place. I hope this perception is wrong. Please pray that we can find a way to reach these kids and put them on the right path, and that we can maintain control here. What's tough is that there is so much need in this world, that it seems to be the right thing to continue to grow projects like Lily, however there is so much more to raising these kids than just filling their stomachs. Without proper care, love and guidance, I'm afraid these kids wont be much better off in the long run. I could go on for a while, but I'll leave it at that. Pray.
Oh yeah, the Christmas parties have started... these kids are spoiled compared to the kids in the community around them. Many of the parties consist of groups coming in for just a few hours, feeding the kids and handing them small gifts or sweets. I've already become numb to it and I haven't been here long. It just doesn't seem too fruitful, but the kids have fun, although I worry that everytime they see someone they don't recognize they just expect that person to give them something... not a good mentality. One of the Christmas parties though was last tuesday and involved us taking EVERYONE about 30 minutes away to a big all day party. There wasn't enough room for all the volunteers to go in our vehicles so only the ones who had to drive went. I was picked to drive which I was not happy about at first, cause I would have liked the mellow day off to recoup, but then when I got there I had so much fun. There was a petting zoo, bounce house (which was complete trouble), face painting, pony riding and just hanging out in this park. Santa also came and the kids got there big gift of the season, which tended to be watches, make up, soccer cleats, and even a few RC cars and skateboards. The day after wasn't as much fun as I heard my name yelled about a thousand times by kids wanting me to set their watches or fix the toys they'd already broke. But yeah, overall it was a fun day simply because the kids were
having fun and were absolutely adorable. I'll hopefully post some of the pictures soon, but for now I'll leave you with this one on the left... aren't those kids adorable? I love them.
Well, I'll leave you with that and I hope to blog more soon. Here's hoping you are all enjoying the Christmas lead up. It's weird cause there seems to be about no focus on Christmas here... we did the nativity play a week and a half ago, but yet the church we go to still doesn't have any Christmas decorations up, hasn't really talked about the holiday, and certainly doesn't do Advent... weird. At least House 21 (my house) and House 10 (Lauren, Palmer and Rosa) have a little Christmas decoration contest going on... House 21 rules!!! Peace out.
Oh yeah, and the craziest part is that this big drop in numbers comes right before the staff holiday party. All the paid staff will be off tomorrow, the 17th, and us volunteers will have to watch all the kids ourselves... that means all 19 house moms, the nursery teacher and the managers are gone, leaving us with about 100 kids (some go to homes for christmas, so our numbers are down) including babies! It's going to be a handful. Somewhat thankfully I got the job of going to the hospital all day to get medicine. It will be really boring, but it gets me away from this craziness I guess, although I do feel bad about leaving the other volunteers to do it. Please pray for them!
Seriously, the thought of taking care of all the kids seems so much worse now that I've experienced the last few weeks of them being on summer holiday from school. When all the kids are around all day it is hectic here. I mean, there are 114 kids in total , which means they pretty much run this place. I really do worry sometimes about the kids (and us) because it seems like there are too many here for us to meet there needs. I've mentioned before how I think many of them should probably be seeing counselors, but beyond that, we just dont have the time or resources to administer proper discipline or teaching for the kids we have, and I think you can see that manifesting in the way the kids behave. Its sad too because it seems like some of the more poorly behaved kids are starting to influence the better kids, as the former seem to run this place. I hope this perception is wrong. Please pray that we can find a way to reach these kids and put them on the right path, and that we can maintain control here. What's tough is that there is so much need in this world, that it seems to be the right thing to continue to grow projects like Lily, however there is so much more to raising these kids than just filling their stomachs. Without proper care, love and guidance, I'm afraid these kids wont be much better off in the long run. I could go on for a while, but I'll leave it at that. Pray.
Oh yeah, the Christmas parties have started... these kids are spoiled compared to the kids in the community around them. Many of the parties consist of groups coming in for just a few hours, feeding the kids and handing them small gifts or sweets. I've already become numb to it and I haven't been here long. It just doesn't seem too fruitful, but the kids have fun, although I worry that everytime they see someone they don't recognize they just expect that person to give them something... not a good mentality. One of the Christmas parties though was last tuesday and involved us taking EVERYONE about 30 minutes away to a big all day party. There wasn't enough room for all the volunteers to go in our vehicles so only the ones who had to drive went. I was picked to drive which I was not happy about at first, cause I would have liked the mellow day off to recoup, but then when I got there I had so much fun. There was a petting zoo, bounce house (which was complete trouble), face painting, pony riding and just hanging out in this park. Santa also came and the kids got there big gift of the season, which tended to be watches, make up, soccer cleats, and even a few RC cars and skateboards. The day after wasn't as much fun as I heard my name yelled about a thousand times by kids wanting me to set their watches or fix the toys they'd already broke. But yeah, overall it was a fun day simply because the kids were
having fun and were absolutely adorable. I'll hopefully post some of the pictures soon, but for now I'll leave you with this one on the left... aren't those kids adorable? I love them.Well, I'll leave you with that and I hope to blog more soon. Here's hoping you are all enjoying the Christmas lead up. It's weird cause there seems to be about no focus on Christmas here... we did the nativity play a week and a half ago, but yet the church we go to still doesn't have any Christmas decorations up, hasn't really talked about the holiday, and certainly doesn't do Advent... weird. At least House 21 (my house) and House 10 (Lauren, Palmer and Rosa) have a little Christmas decoration contest going on... House 21 rules!!! Peace out.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Hospital Trip
So today I went on a hospital trip, which normally isn't much fun. Well I wouldn't say today was too much fun either, but I'm kind of laughing now...
I was in charge of taking a 3 year old boy in to get an EEG, which is some sort of brain scan. We got there at 8:30 am and were suprisingly called in to see the doctor just after 9. The scan was supposed to take 20 minutes, but you have to stay still for the thing, which just wasn't going to happen with this kid. After a short failed attempt, they sent me down to Pediatrics to have him sedated. Well when I got to Pediatrics, they handed ME the vile of liquid to sedate him... yep, TIA. They are supposed to have me sign some consent form too I guess, but that didn't happen, which is good cause I wouldn't have been legally allowed to sign anyway. Well, the boy did not want to swallow the liquid and the process was going slow. Finally, I got the last bit of liquid in his mouth and... he choked on it when refusing to swallow and threw up all over me. At this point, it's 9:30, the boy and I both have vomit on us and he doesn't have any of the medicine in him. The nurses refuse to give a second dose though and just tell me that we'll have to rebook the appointment if we can't get him to stay still. At this point I'm pretty annoyed at the whole process, and feel terrible (and slightly to blame) if we have to reschedule since its taken a while to get this appointment in the first place. Well, I hung out with the kid for the next hour and he was climbing all over me... clearly not sedated. Finally though, he wore himself out and passed out on my shoulder... of course this was only after crying and screaming for a bit, during which multiple people said he needed his mother...I tried to assure them I was up to the task. I quickly attempted to find the nurse to try the test again, but she was busy with another appointment. Finally, 30 minutes later she called us in and I was afraid we'd missed our chance when the boy started to wake up and fuss as they were putting the equipment on him. Thankfully though, he went right back to sleep and we were able to get the test done successfully. Hooray! I was very relieved at this point, and didn't care that I had some throw up stains.
Well, at this point it was 11:15 and we had to wait for the rest of our group over by the pharmacy. The boy was still deep in sleep (an hour in) and so I found a seat and he continued to sleep sitting in my lap with his head on my chest, just like the girl yesterday... Yep, you guessed it, at 11:30 the kid peed all over me. Thankfully I felt it start and held him away from me while he kept going, but the damage was done. He slept through the whole thing, including me holding him an arms length away as I walked down the hallway to find a nurse with some cloth. Cloth in hand, I went back to my seat (well, a few seats down from the scene of the crime), put the cloth inbetween me and him and he continued to sleep. So that makes 2 days in a row getting urinated on... lets hope the streak doesn't continue. Unfortunately, this time around I was not able to run straight home and change, but instead had to wait until just after 1 pm till I was back home. I have a load of laundry desperately needing to get done once it stops raining...
Oh, and the manager left something cooking on his stove and took off for nativity practice for a few hours. Someone reported the burning smell, and my roommates and I found a key to his house to get in and shut it off. The damage was done though... the house was filled with smoke, which in only a few minutes contaminated the clean clothes I had just changed into... seriously they stink, right now even as I write this blog. Add those clothes to the laundry badly needing to be done...
Ay, what a day. Oh well, it happens... hope you enjoyed the story. God bless.
I was in charge of taking a 3 year old boy in to get an EEG, which is some sort of brain scan. We got there at 8:30 am and were suprisingly called in to see the doctor just after 9. The scan was supposed to take 20 minutes, but you have to stay still for the thing, which just wasn't going to happen with this kid. After a short failed attempt, they sent me down to Pediatrics to have him sedated. Well when I got to Pediatrics, they handed ME the vile of liquid to sedate him... yep, TIA. They are supposed to have me sign some consent form too I guess, but that didn't happen, which is good cause I wouldn't have been legally allowed to sign anyway. Well, the boy did not want to swallow the liquid and the process was going slow. Finally, I got the last bit of liquid in his mouth and... he choked on it when refusing to swallow and threw up all over me. At this point, it's 9:30, the boy and I both have vomit on us and he doesn't have any of the medicine in him. The nurses refuse to give a second dose though and just tell me that we'll have to rebook the appointment if we can't get him to stay still. At this point I'm pretty annoyed at the whole process, and feel terrible (and slightly to blame) if we have to reschedule since its taken a while to get this appointment in the first place. Well, I hung out with the kid for the next hour and he was climbing all over me... clearly not sedated. Finally though, he wore himself out and passed out on my shoulder... of course this was only after crying and screaming for a bit, during which multiple people said he needed his mother...I tried to assure them I was up to the task. I quickly attempted to find the nurse to try the test again, but she was busy with another appointment. Finally, 30 minutes later she called us in and I was afraid we'd missed our chance when the boy started to wake up and fuss as they were putting the equipment on him. Thankfully though, he went right back to sleep and we were able to get the test done successfully. Hooray! I was very relieved at this point, and didn't care that I had some throw up stains.
Well, at this point it was 11:15 and we had to wait for the rest of our group over by the pharmacy. The boy was still deep in sleep (an hour in) and so I found a seat and he continued to sleep sitting in my lap with his head on my chest, just like the girl yesterday... Yep, you guessed it, at 11:30 the kid peed all over me. Thankfully I felt it start and held him away from me while he kept going, but the damage was done. He slept through the whole thing, including me holding him an arms length away as I walked down the hallway to find a nurse with some cloth. Cloth in hand, I went back to my seat (well, a few seats down from the scene of the crime), put the cloth inbetween me and him and he continued to sleep. So that makes 2 days in a row getting urinated on... lets hope the streak doesn't continue. Unfortunately, this time around I was not able to run straight home and change, but instead had to wait until just after 1 pm till I was back home. I have a load of laundry desperately needing to get done once it stops raining...
Oh, and the manager left something cooking on his stove and took off for nativity practice for a few hours. Someone reported the burning smell, and my roommates and I found a key to his house to get in and shut it off. The damage was done though... the house was filled with smoke, which in only a few minutes contaminated the clean clothes I had just changed into... seriously they stink, right now even as I write this blog. Add those clothes to the laundry badly needing to be done...
Ay, what a day. Oh well, it happens... hope you enjoyed the story. God bless.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
South Africa – not America
Every day I’m reminded that South Africa is not American. In fact, we even have a little saying – “TIA” or “This is Africa” when we are slightly shocked or confused by something. I could probably make a whole list, but I’ll just tell of a couple things.
First off, someone stole the phone line (the actual cable) a few miles away over a month ago, so the phones were down. Well, that was almost 5 weeks ago and we STILL don’t have a working phone. Nobody has been out to fix it. The manager kind of likes it at times cause he doesn’t have to deal with people as much, but of course there has been a fair amount of missed communication and we’ve been burning through expensive cell phone air time.
Secondly, driving around here is a bit crazy. The taxi drivers jam about 25 people into a van made for 15, and then do whatever they want on the road, cutting me off or pushing me to the shoulder. Sometimes people just drive in the shoulder as another lane to let people pass, which is kind of nice sometimes, but also weird, especially when they continue to drive in the shoulder with nobody nearby. Also, the only seatbelt law is that the driver and front passenger have to wear one, leaving trucks driving down the freeway with 15 people in the truck bed… I thought this was a developed country…
Finally, the school system in this community is shocking. My first experience a month ago heading to the school left me in shock as one of the teachers (the headmaster at that) couldn't tell me and the manager what he was teaching the kids at the time. Well, now my shock continues as we near the holiday break. The kids are technically not done with school for another week and a half, but basically they’ve been done for the past 2 weeks. The teachers give them exams really early and the last 3 weeks to a month are just hanging out. They don’t do anything; apparently the teachers don’t even show up some times. Many of the kids stay at home and when I ask them why, they tell me it’s because there is nothing to do at school now, you only go if you want to hang out. This is on top of the fact that during the rest of the school year, everytime I drive by the school the kids are out playing in the yard, no matter what time of day, or they are walking down the road in town. Seriously, I don’t think they ever have those kids in school. Also, they close school for the most random reasons, including that one day the teacher forgot the keys, so they just sent all the kids home. Not only is it shocking, but it’s very sad and frustrating as you see how much help the kids need that they just aren’t getting at school. They are way way behind grade levels in the states, and much of it seems to have to do with this lackadaisical approach; a change needs to start in the schools and the community.
Side note… I got urinated on for the first time today. I was sitting in our little clinic at the village and I had a girl sitting on my lap, facing me, asleep with her head on my chest.
The girl is adorable and I thought it was the sweetest thing ever until she unloaded in her sleep and urinated all over my lap. Gross. I quickly went and washed up. Children, they keep things interesting…
As I was writing this blog, one of the kids was sitting next to me, so I’ll leave you with a note from him:
“Sandile Phnuguia love uncle ben. Uncle ben is crazy. God bless you so much. Have a nice Christmas.”
First off, someone stole the phone line (the actual cable) a few miles away over a month ago, so the phones were down. Well, that was almost 5 weeks ago and we STILL don’t have a working phone. Nobody has been out to fix it. The manager kind of likes it at times cause he doesn’t have to deal with people as much, but of course there has been a fair amount of missed communication and we’ve been burning through expensive cell phone air time.
Secondly, driving around here is a bit crazy. The taxi drivers jam about 25 people into a van made for 15, and then do whatever they want on the road, cutting me off or pushing me to the shoulder. Sometimes people just drive in the shoulder as another lane to let people pass, which is kind of nice sometimes, but also weird, especially when they continue to drive in the shoulder with nobody nearby. Also, the only seatbelt law is that the driver and front passenger have to wear one, leaving trucks driving down the freeway with 15 people in the truck bed… I thought this was a developed country…
Finally, the school system in this community is shocking. My first experience a month ago heading to the school left me in shock as one of the teachers (the headmaster at that) couldn't tell me and the manager what he was teaching the kids at the time. Well, now my shock continues as we near the holiday break. The kids are technically not done with school for another week and a half, but basically they’ve been done for the past 2 weeks. The teachers give them exams really early and the last 3 weeks to a month are just hanging out. They don’t do anything; apparently the teachers don’t even show up some times. Many of the kids stay at home and when I ask them why, they tell me it’s because there is nothing to do at school now, you only go if you want to hang out. This is on top of the fact that during the rest of the school year, everytime I drive by the school the kids are out playing in the yard, no matter what time of day, or they are walking down the road in town. Seriously, I don’t think they ever have those kids in school. Also, they close school for the most random reasons, including that one day the teacher forgot the keys, so they just sent all the kids home. Not only is it shocking, but it’s very sad and frustrating as you see how much help the kids need that they just aren’t getting at school. They are way way behind grade levels in the states, and much of it seems to have to do with this lackadaisical approach; a change needs to start in the schools and the community.
Side note… I got urinated on for the first time today. I was sitting in our little clinic at the village and I had a girl sitting on my lap, facing me, asleep with her head on my chest.
The girl is adorable and I thought it was the sweetest thing ever until she unloaded in her sleep and urinated all over my lap. Gross. I quickly went and washed up. Children, they keep things interesting…
As I was writing this blog, one of the kids was sitting next to me, so I’ll leave you with a note from him:
“Sandile Phnuguia love uncle ben. Uncle ben is crazy. God bless you so much. Have a nice Christmas.”
An American Thanksgiving in Africa
With 5 volunteers from the Children’s Village being from the US, the Christensen family of 7 from the US and an American doctor we decided we should have a proper Thanksgiving celebration. We didn’t limit it to just the Americans though and invited everyone else – the Germans, South Africans, Brit and Canadian. My roommates were especially thrilled to be participating in their first true Thanksgiving. My German roommate Michael had to bite his hand to contain his excitement for all the food he was about to eat, and insisted that it should be a contest between us for who could eat the most. Meanwhile, my British roommate, Jonny, was so pumped on the idea that he even volunteered to make a proper English turkey, covered with bacon and filled with a pork and onion stuffing… yum, it turned out amazing.
All in all, we ended up with 25 or so people at our feast and 3 turkeys. Many of the girls took the day off to cook and treated us to some amazing dishes. We ended up with a wide variety of side dishes as everyone cooked their different family favorites. It really was a treat, and I ate so much I felt too sick to even attempt desert, which was a shame cause that was delicious too.
It was certainly weird not being home for the holiday, but I am grateful to have such a great group of people to share it with here. As we were hanging out that morning in my house as people cooked, Jonny asked if this felt like a real thanksgiving. We all kind of said no, since we were missing family and football and it was about 90 degrees outside, plus I had to work all day. As the day rolled on though, the wind and clouds came in and cooled things down and the feast and good fellowship made for a great Thanksgiving.
I have so much to be thankful for here. I thank God for giving me this opportunity and bringing me over here. I’m thankful for all of you who made this possible and continue to support me with your prayers as well as financially. I’m thankful to have been blessed with such a great family, community and friends back in the States. I’m thankful that the Lord has kept me and the other volunteers safe thus far. I’m thankful for my relationship with the kids, volunteers and managers here. I’m thankful for all of those who are being touched by the Spirit in this community. I praise God for the many blessings he poured out on me in the States, of which I was never fully aware till I got here. And finally I give thanks to God for sending his Son as the ultimate gift and sign of love to us.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying the start of the holiday season. God Bless.
All in all, we ended up with 25 or so people at our feast and 3 turkeys. Many of the girls took the day off to cook and treated us to some amazing dishes. We ended up with a wide variety of side dishes as everyone cooked their different family favorites. It really was a treat, and I ate so much I felt too sick to even attempt desert, which was a shame cause that was delicious too.
It was certainly weird not being home for the holiday, but I am grateful to have such a great group of people to share it with here. As we were hanging out that morning in my house as people cooked, Jonny asked if this felt like a real thanksgiving. We all kind of said no, since we were missing family and football and it was about 90 degrees outside, plus I had to work all day. As the day rolled on though, the wind and clouds came in and cooled things down and the feast and good fellowship made for a great Thanksgiving.
I have so much to be thankful for here. I thank God for giving me this opportunity and bringing me over here. I’m thankful for all of you who made this possible and continue to support me with your prayers as well as financially. I’m thankful to have been blessed with such a great family, community and friends back in the States. I’m thankful that the Lord has kept me and the other volunteers safe thus far. I’m thankful for my relationship with the kids, volunteers and managers here. I’m thankful for all of those who are being touched by the Spirit in this community. I praise God for the many blessings he poured out on me in the States, of which I was never fully aware till I got here. And finally I give thanks to God for sending his Son as the ultimate gift and sign of love to us.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying the start of the holiday season. God Bless.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Support the Christensens
I have mentioned the Christensens a few times in my blog, but I just wanted to take a minute to talk a little more about them. Dave and Krysta are the parents of 5 children aged 14 to 5: Jordan, Vienna, Dayne, Judah, and Marley. A year and a half ago they left a comfortable life in Thousand Oaks, CA to pursue a life in missions. Feeling that God was calling them here to Lily first, they left their jobs and sold their house to move here site-unseen. They live in a house at the Community Center and pretty much run all the projects going on there, somehow managing to balance raising 5 kids in a foreign environment as well. How God gives them energy for all that is beyond me.
The Christensens, and specifically Dave, have already been a huge blessing to me in my time here. The family’s focus is truly on following God’s call, not man’s, and nothing will sway them from that. Dave is an awesome man of God that I really respect and has provided me with some great male fellowship, something that I lack somewhat here. He is very supportive and encouraging no matter what he is going through. Some tough life lessons have strengthened his resolve, helped him relate with community here, and just given him a rock solid faith. Along with having to run all the day to day projects here, he is very passionate about winning souls and has taken every chance possible to develop relationships with people in the community, quickly earning their respect.
Among the many hardships they face as missionaries, they have lately only been getting half of their support to live off. Instead of freaking out like I and many others would, they calmly have full trust in the Lord that he will provide. On the first of December the whole family is heading back to Los Angeles for 6 weeks to rest (hopefully) and see their families, but also to share their story and raise much needed support. Please join me in praying for them. If you feel so led, below is the information for sending them financial support.
Here is the process for supporting them through LoVE (Lily of the Valley Endeavors). This could change in January, so I will let you know if it does.
For now:
1. go to http://www.lilyvalleyusa.org/
2. click on "ways to help"
3. click on "donate online using a credit card" (to the right) (note: there is also the option of printing out a form and mailing in support)
4. Click on "give now" (note: you can also choose to create an account on the site, to view payment history, etc.)
5. Fill in Billing Address
6. Scroll down to "categories and funds"
7. Select Christensen / Africa Project and enter amount you wish to donate
8. Scroll to payment options and select if you want the payment to be recurring
9. Enter card info and comments and then click next and follow the remaining steps
If you have any trouble setting this up, please contact Lee Kennedy at: leekennedy@sbcglobal.net and he can assist. From time to time, they have a glitch in the system, so it's good to monitor what's going on. You can always email Lee to make sure that transactions have gone through and that the money is going to their support.
Thanks and God bless.
The Christensens, and specifically Dave, have already been a huge blessing to me in my time here. The family’s focus is truly on following God’s call, not man’s, and nothing will sway them from that. Dave is an awesome man of God that I really respect and has provided me with some great male fellowship, something that I lack somewhat here. He is very supportive and encouraging no matter what he is going through. Some tough life lessons have strengthened his resolve, helped him relate with community here, and just given him a rock solid faith. Along with having to run all the day to day projects here, he is very passionate about winning souls and has taken every chance possible to develop relationships with people in the community, quickly earning their respect.
Among the many hardships they face as missionaries, they have lately only been getting half of their support to live off. Instead of freaking out like I and many others would, they calmly have full trust in the Lord that he will provide. On the first of December the whole family is heading back to Los Angeles for 6 weeks to rest (hopefully) and see their families, but also to share their story and raise much needed support. Please join me in praying for them. If you feel so led, below is the information for sending them financial support.
Here is the process for supporting them through LoVE (Lily of the Valley Endeavors). This could change in January, so I will let you know if it does.
For now:
1. go to http://www.lilyvalleyusa.org/
2. click on "ways to help"
3. click on "donate online using a credit card" (to the right) (note: there is also the option of printing out a form and mailing in support)
4. Click on "give now" (note: you can also choose to create an account on the site, to view payment history, etc.)
5. Fill in Billing Address
6. Scroll down to "categories and funds"
7. Select Christensen / Africa Project and enter amount you wish to donate
8. Scroll to payment options and select if you want the payment to be recurring
9. Enter card info and comments and then click next and follow the remaining steps
If you have any trouble setting this up, please contact Lee Kennedy at: leekennedy@sbcglobal.net and he can assist. From time to time, they have a glitch in the system, so it's good to monitor what's going on. You can always email Lee to make sure that transactions have gone through and that the money is going to their support.
Thanks and God bless.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Vacation… or as they call it here “Holiday”
This past weekend I went to St Lucia with Lauren, Aislinn and Katie (my best friend in the world… no she didn’t pay me to write that). We left Lily Thursday after lunch and drove 3 hours north up the coast to the little tourist town of St Lucia. St Lucia is right on the coast and is blocked in by a little estuary river, making it a great place for hippos and crocodiles and lots of other animals. On Friday morning we all got up at the frightful hour of 3:30 am to drive to Imfolozi-Hluhluwe Park about 45 minutes from St Lucia so that we could get there when the gates opened at 5. The trek started out on a high note as we saw a hippo walking down the street in St Lucia at 4:15am on our way out of town; such a huge animal to be just strolling down a road in the middle of town. Once in the park there was much more excitement as we had a beautiful big female lion strut just 10 feet in front of our car. We didn’t see her coming and it caught us all off guard and got the adrenaline flowing for sure! The adrenaline picked back up a few more times that day when we had some close encounters with the giant creatures that are Elephants. I mean, you don’t really understand how big and scary those things can be until you’ve had to 
pop the car in reverse and back away from one walking straight at you down the road (pictured on the left, no zoom, that thing is only a few feet in front of the car and not happy)… I’m just glad my stick-shift driving skills have improved enough that I didn’t stall at that point. Overall it was a great day driving around the beautiful park and we saw lots of elephant, giraffe, rhino, water buffalo, impala, the one lion and much more. The only bummer was that we didn’t get to see a leopard and therefore fell one animal short of seeing the “Big 5.”
In St Lucia we stayed at a very nice little bed and breakfast where they really took care of us. On Saturday they provided us with beach chairs, towels, snorkel gear and a cooler for a beach day. We drove a short way up the coast to Cape Vidal, a beautiful beach. Unfortunately there were high winds which made it slightly less enjoyable and the swells were too big for snorkeling, but we hung out there and enjoyed the sun for a long time. We then found a picnic spot and stopped at Mission Rocks on the way back to St Lucia. Mission Rocks is a rocky beach with a bunch of tide pools. It too was gorgeous and really made me miss Northern California… big shout out to everyone in the Bay.
Finally, on Sunday, our last day, Lauren and I took a hippo cruise on the river and enjoyed watching some hippos and hanging out on the top deck of the boat. Overall it was a great weekend. It was nice even just relaxing and playing cards at the bed and breakfast. I didn’t really realize how worn out I was by everything at Lily and the vacation was a welcome respite, even if it went by too fast. It is fun though being back with the kids at Lily, and I even got a few of them to admit they missed us while we were gone. Please pray that God gives me the energy, strength and wisdom for the daily activities here.
pop the car in reverse and back away from one walking straight at you down the road (pictured on the left, no zoom, that thing is only a few feet in front of the car and not happy)… I’m just glad my stick-shift driving skills have improved enough that I didn’t stall at that point. Overall it was a great day driving around the beautiful park and we saw lots of elephant, giraffe, rhino, water buffalo, impala, the one lion and much more. The only bummer was that we didn’t get to see a leopard and therefore fell one animal short of seeing the “Big 5.”In St Lucia we stayed at a very nice little bed and breakfast where they really took care of us. On Saturday they provided us with beach chairs, towels, snorkel gear and a cooler for a beach day. We drove a short way up the coast to Cape Vidal, a beautiful beach. Unfortunately there were high winds which made it slightly less enjoyable and the swells were too big for snorkeling, but we hung out there and enjoyed the sun for a long time. We then found a picnic spot and stopped at Mission Rocks on the way back to St Lucia. Mission Rocks is a rocky beach with a bunch of tide pools. It too was gorgeous and really made me miss Northern California… big shout out to everyone in the Bay.
Finally, on Sunday, our last day, Lauren and I took a hippo cruise on the river and enjoyed watching some hippos and hanging out on the top deck of the boat. Overall it was a great weekend. It was nice even just relaxing and playing cards at the bed and breakfast. I didn’t really realize how worn out I was by everything at Lily and the vacation was a welcome respite, even if it went by too fast. It is fun though being back with the kids at Lily, and I even got a few of them to admit they missed us while we were gone. Please pray that God gives me the energy, strength and wisdom for the daily activities here.
For my parents
Seriously, anytime I talk to them they say that I haven’t updated my blog enough. So this is for them. I’ll try to be a better son…
So right after writing my last blog about wanting to do something in the community, I did just that. There was a group of missionaries from OM here for a week; they were from the US, Germany, Holland and Korea. On Friday the 14th, Dave Christensen and I took the group to some clinics in the neighboring town of Mpumalanga. At these clinics there were anywhere from 60 to well over 100 people waiting to be seen by the nurses and doctors. This group of missionaries got up in front of everyone and just started singing songs and putting on short skits, entertaining everyone and sharing the gospel at the same time. It was awesome to see them work, filled with such a joy and excited to serve. I can’t say I have that same unashamed spirit to go out and do that for anyone willing to listen, and it definitely pushed me and I was thankful I was with them. After the songs and skits, a translator that came with us (and just an amazing guy with such a great heart) gave a message. People were definitely moved and we prayed with some for salvation. We then simply prayed with people who wanted prayer, mainly for their illnesses. The people we prayed for couldn’t even understand what we were saying, but you could feel the Spirit at work and it was incredibly powerful. I prayed over people sick with HIV and many broke down into tears during the prayer. I might never know the full effect of what happened there, but I believe many hearts were touched and pray that God continues to work in the hearts of those people.
One thing about this culture is that people are far more receptive to the spiritual world than in the States. Almost everyone believes there is a higher power and are very willing to pray with you (like in the clinic), and believers here are definitely more aware of the presence of evil spirits. The problem is that I think many people still don’t fully understand what it means to be a follower of Christ (not that most of us do in the States either). They may claim to be a Christian but at the same time still try to mix it with witchcraft and ancestor worship and other things, not realizing that Jesus is the only true way. In general though, it seems different from the problems of indifference and atheism in the States. Please pray that God continues to work in the hearts of his people here and that we can help bring the true gospel to them. I’ve spent much of my life being timid about sharing the gospel; I pray that I can be unashamed of the gospel, bolder in sharing it, and not miss chances to share, knowing that God has not put anyone into my life without reason.
That same night I then agreed to help at a sleepover with some boys from the community. It was me and 9 boys, and I’ll just say that it was crazy. I think they were all between 11 and 16 or so, and they were so excited to be having a sleepover that they couldn’t contain their energy. They ran crazy all night and I think maybe slept for only an hour. I was able to get a few hours myself, but I just tried to remember that they’re young and don’t get a chance to do that stuff too often. They were also all part of a little dance crew they had formed to perform in a contest we hosted at the community center the next day…
That Saturday the 15th, the community volunteers that I teach the business class to, put on a concert and dance contest at the little amphitheater we have at the community center. People from the community signed up to perform anything from gospel music to rap and compete in the hip-hop/pantsula dance contest. Interspersed into the day were a few pastors who gave messages. The event was a lot of fun and it was cool to see people from the community get into something they could relate with, and show them that rap and hip-hop dance could be done well and be clean at the same time. I really enjoyed it and we also took some of the kids from Lily, many who couldn’t stop dancing to the music all day themselves. I think some hearts were touched there as well. We also capped it off by serving free hotdogs, soup and juice to any kids who were there, and there were a lot. The plan is to hold maybe one event a month here to help reach out to the community. Last month’s event was the Nick Vujicic visit, so they will vary greatly.
That was a busy weekend as on Sunday a few other volunteers and I took some of our third graders to Tala, the small game reserve that borders Lily. This was their reward for passing the times table test that we gave them in homework club and they were super excited. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them, especially cause they are such goofs. They are trouble though too, and they got a hold of my phone and called my mom without me even knowing it. It wasn’t till a few days later when my parents reached me that I found out some of the boys had called my mom’s cell at 4:30 am pacific time and left her a 2 minute message in Zulu. At least my mom said it was cute, ha.
Speaking of homework club, we are done for the year! The kids are going into exams and about to head into summer break, so we won’t pick back up till January or February. As for the next few weeks though, we will be very busy preparing the kids for a nativity play they will be putting on at our church in Pietermaritzburg. We are working very hard to get them ready and hope they won’t be too scared by the large audience. I think its going to be very cute, but it is really hard work getting little kids to concentrate long enough to practice; they don’t really get the concept.
Well that’s it for now on that front… onto the next set of adventures.
So right after writing my last blog about wanting to do something in the community, I did just that. There was a group of missionaries from OM here for a week; they were from the US, Germany, Holland and Korea. On Friday the 14th, Dave Christensen and I took the group to some clinics in the neighboring town of Mpumalanga. At these clinics there were anywhere from 60 to well over 100 people waiting to be seen by the nurses and doctors. This group of missionaries got up in front of everyone and just started singing songs and putting on short skits, entertaining everyone and sharing the gospel at the same time. It was awesome to see them work, filled with such a joy and excited to serve. I can’t say I have that same unashamed spirit to go out and do that for anyone willing to listen, and it definitely pushed me and I was thankful I was with them. After the songs and skits, a translator that came with us (and just an amazing guy with such a great heart) gave a message. People were definitely moved and we prayed with some for salvation. We then simply prayed with people who wanted prayer, mainly for their illnesses. The people we prayed for couldn’t even understand what we were saying, but you could feel the Spirit at work and it was incredibly powerful. I prayed over people sick with HIV and many broke down into tears during the prayer. I might never know the full effect of what happened there, but I believe many hearts were touched and pray that God continues to work in the hearts of those people.
One thing about this culture is that people are far more receptive to the spiritual world than in the States. Almost everyone believes there is a higher power and are very willing to pray with you (like in the clinic), and believers here are definitely more aware of the presence of evil spirits. The problem is that I think many people still don’t fully understand what it means to be a follower of Christ (not that most of us do in the States either). They may claim to be a Christian but at the same time still try to mix it with witchcraft and ancestor worship and other things, not realizing that Jesus is the only true way. In general though, it seems different from the problems of indifference and atheism in the States. Please pray that God continues to work in the hearts of his people here and that we can help bring the true gospel to them. I’ve spent much of my life being timid about sharing the gospel; I pray that I can be unashamed of the gospel, bolder in sharing it, and not miss chances to share, knowing that God has not put anyone into my life without reason.
That same night I then agreed to help at a sleepover with some boys from the community. It was me and 9 boys, and I’ll just say that it was crazy. I think they were all between 11 and 16 or so, and they were so excited to be having a sleepover that they couldn’t contain their energy. They ran crazy all night and I think maybe slept for only an hour. I was able to get a few hours myself, but I just tried to remember that they’re young and don’t get a chance to do that stuff too often. They were also all part of a little dance crew they had formed to perform in a contest we hosted at the community center the next day…
That Saturday the 15th, the community volunteers that I teach the business class to, put on a concert and dance contest at the little amphitheater we have at the community center. People from the community signed up to perform anything from gospel music to rap and compete in the hip-hop/pantsula dance contest. Interspersed into the day were a few pastors who gave messages. The event was a lot of fun and it was cool to see people from the community get into something they could relate with, and show them that rap and hip-hop dance could be done well and be clean at the same time. I really enjoyed it and we also took some of the kids from Lily, many who couldn’t stop dancing to the music all day themselves. I think some hearts were touched there as well. We also capped it off by serving free hotdogs, soup and juice to any kids who were there, and there were a lot. The plan is to hold maybe one event a month here to help reach out to the community. Last month’s event was the Nick Vujicic visit, so they will vary greatly.
That was a busy weekend as on Sunday a few other volunteers and I took some of our third graders to Tala, the small game reserve that borders Lily. This was their reward for passing the times table test that we gave them in homework club and they were super excited. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them, especially cause they are such goofs. They are trouble though too, and they got a hold of my phone and called my mom without me even knowing it. It wasn’t till a few days later when my parents reached me that I found out some of the boys had called my mom’s cell at 4:30 am pacific time and left her a 2 minute message in Zulu. At least my mom said it was cute, ha.
Speaking of homework club, we are done for the year! The kids are going into exams and about to head into summer break, so we won’t pick back up till January or February. As for the next few weeks though, we will be very busy preparing the kids for a nativity play they will be putting on at our church in Pietermaritzburg. We are working very hard to get them ready and hope they won’t be too scared by the large audience. I think its going to be very cute, but it is really hard work getting little kids to concentrate long enough to practice; they don’t really get the concept.
Well that’s it for now on that front… onto the next set of adventures.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
It's raining and I'm in the mall again on my day off...boo
Hey all. Hope everyone is well. Sorry the blogs have slowed down, I'll do my best to get better at it. I need to start writing down stories as they happen during the week again, cause by the time the weekend comes I forget about most of them, I guess just cause I'm so immersed in life here at this point that at times things blur together and I've also become more used to the funny ways things work in this country. Lauren has a good blog today though on an awesome experience she had this week, so check that out. It has to do with some doctors from London that are here for 2 weeks. She got the chance to get out into the local community, which is one thing I definitely would like to do and am bummed i haven't made it happen yet. I get so caught up in the bubble that is the children's village that I don't really know what's going on as much in the community at large. Every thursday we have to do a huge grocery shop for the week's groceries for all the houses at the orphanage and this week I helped out with it again. It was me and my two roomates and as we drove back from the store to the children's village through Mophela we watched as many people stared at us driving past or made comments and hand gestures about wanting some of the food. As we drove the three of us discussed how weird it must be for these people to see 3 white boys driving this truckload full of food through. Even though I knew it was food for the whole orphanage I still felt a little bad about it.
Speaking of the community, I'm still struggling to figure out what to do with my business class. I'm going to stop calling it a business class at this point cause I'm not teaching a whole lot of business. I think it's mainly going to be just getting them a good working resume and some interview skills, with a few other things thrown in. I mean, we tried to teach them how to write a proffesional business letter the other day and are going to have to end up working on their basic english writing skills instead... I'm just not prepared for this and don't relate. It's really hard in general with education around here. I'm not sure I've mentioned it before, but we have 14 year old kids in 5th or 6th grade that can't read. I'm helping teach homework club for the 1st through 3rd graders and we're now using lesson plans out of an American Kindergarten book. It's just tough sometimes and wears on me, especially when I just wonder if I have enough time with them in that role to really make a difference. I think back to living with my old roomate Aaron Torchio and the struggle he had teaching kids in Los Angeles who were in 6th/7th grade and often at first grade level... I feel for you even more now buddy.
One fun thing we did this past week though was invite over a couple of community guys for a bbq. One works for the Lily Community center next door and the other is a volunteer there and in my class, although he now has another part time job. It was a lot of fun having them over and hearing a little more about their life story and just making some friends from the area. They are really cool guys and I can learn a lot from them as well. Plus we have just been so blessed and it is nice to be able to have some people over to share that with. I hope we get the chance to do that again.
Another thing I started doing this week was wrestling with some of the boys on the trampoline. The last few days have been me verses 6 to 10 kids at a time... my body aches! Seriously, even though many are small, you get that many kids hanging around you and its a serious workout. I just popped 3 more advil for my back. It's a fun way to hangout with the kids though and they love it. A week or so ago a kid came up to me and said he had taken down "one of the big 3." I didn't understand him, so asked what he meant. He was saying that he had taken down my roommate Jon while wrestling. Apparently the boys have nicknamed me and my roommates the Big 3... I like that, haha.
There are so many basic things I miss about the states... like 24 grocery stores or even orange tic-tacs being orange, I mean I bought some orange tic-tacs the other day and they taste the same but they are white. Does that make any sense? why are orange tic-tacs here different than in the states? And why do the oreo's taste different? I mean, come on people, its the same product, just in a different country/continent. Anyway, enough of that ramble. But onto a similar point, you can't pump your own gas in this country, and when you tell someone to fill up the tank, they try to let the pump run as long as possible, even after the tank is full and the gas is spilling onto the ground... I mean, I gotta tip these people and watch them the whole time to make sure they don't pull stuff like that, it's just not worth it.
My roommates just left for a 10 day trip to cape town, so please pray for their safety and fun. It will probably be a crazy week as I'll have to probably do even more of the handy man and driving errands. Seriously it's crazy how much time we spend driving places since the village is so far out of the way. It will also be nice though to have an empty house to relax in at times. Please pray for my energy and strength this next week.
Alright gotta run without looking this over. Take care all. Hope all is well.
Speaking of the community, I'm still struggling to figure out what to do with my business class. I'm going to stop calling it a business class at this point cause I'm not teaching a whole lot of business. I think it's mainly going to be just getting them a good working resume and some interview skills, with a few other things thrown in. I mean, we tried to teach them how to write a proffesional business letter the other day and are going to have to end up working on their basic english writing skills instead... I'm just not prepared for this and don't relate. It's really hard in general with education around here. I'm not sure I've mentioned it before, but we have 14 year old kids in 5th or 6th grade that can't read. I'm helping teach homework club for the 1st through 3rd graders and we're now using lesson plans out of an American Kindergarten book. It's just tough sometimes and wears on me, especially when I just wonder if I have enough time with them in that role to really make a difference. I think back to living with my old roomate Aaron Torchio and the struggle he had teaching kids in Los Angeles who were in 6th/7th grade and often at first grade level... I feel for you even more now buddy.
One fun thing we did this past week though was invite over a couple of community guys for a bbq. One works for the Lily Community center next door and the other is a volunteer there and in my class, although he now has another part time job. It was a lot of fun having them over and hearing a little more about their life story and just making some friends from the area. They are really cool guys and I can learn a lot from them as well. Plus we have just been so blessed and it is nice to be able to have some people over to share that with. I hope we get the chance to do that again.
Another thing I started doing this week was wrestling with some of the boys on the trampoline. The last few days have been me verses 6 to 10 kids at a time... my body aches! Seriously, even though many are small, you get that many kids hanging around you and its a serious workout. I just popped 3 more advil for my back. It's a fun way to hangout with the kids though and they love it. A week or so ago a kid came up to me and said he had taken down "one of the big 3." I didn't understand him, so asked what he meant. He was saying that he had taken down my roommate Jon while wrestling. Apparently the boys have nicknamed me and my roommates the Big 3... I like that, haha.
There are so many basic things I miss about the states... like 24 grocery stores or even orange tic-tacs being orange, I mean I bought some orange tic-tacs the other day and they taste the same but they are white. Does that make any sense? why are orange tic-tacs here different than in the states? And why do the oreo's taste different? I mean, come on people, its the same product, just in a different country/continent. Anyway, enough of that ramble. But onto a similar point, you can't pump your own gas in this country, and when you tell someone to fill up the tank, they try to let the pump run as long as possible, even after the tank is full and the gas is spilling onto the ground... I mean, I gotta tip these people and watch them the whole time to make sure they don't pull stuff like that, it's just not worth it.
My roommates just left for a 10 day trip to cape town, so please pray for their safety and fun. It will probably be a crazy week as I'll have to probably do even more of the handy man and driving errands. Seriously it's crazy how much time we spend driving places since the village is so far out of the way. It will also be nice though to have an empty house to relax in at times. Please pray for my energy and strength this next week.
Alright gotta run without looking this over. Take care all. Hope all is well.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Ministry update
So I just wrote this long blog and then the internet died and lost all of it, so yeah, slightly (very)frustrated, but I'll try to recreate...
For the most part its been much of the same stuff I wrote about a few weeks ago, although things are always slightly different. One new thing I did though was drive on a hospital run last week. There are a lot of hospital trips with this group and a lot of different hospitals, so thankfully i got to go to one of the nicer ones. For the most part it was a long day of waiting in the hospital and entertaining the boy we took for his appointment. It was kind of fun hanging out with the kid though. We also had to pick up 4 big boxes of medication for the kids, which is only half of the medicine the kids take here... its crazy. I went on the trip with Sarah, who is nurse by trade and another one of the volunteers. She will be missed when she leaves in December, I'm not sure how we are going to handle her work as none of us have any medical background. Also, we lose 6 volunteers in December, so it will be a crazy time.
I guess the first interview/business class went alright, because they asked me to come back the next week and teach some of the interview skills to a different group that is taking a Life Skills class at the community center. But from that lesson on I feel like my teaching skills are struggling a little bit. This includes 2 more business skills class and also a lesson on self-discipline and self-esteem to the Life Skills class last week. Much of it is probably because along with never having done anything like this before, I’m struggling to relate to where these people are in life, they don’t understand all my English (especially the Life Skills class), and South African and Zulu culture is very last minute so I’ve been given very little notice for the Life Skills classes I’ve taught (like a few hours before or the night before) which leads to basically no prep on my part. So yeah, I need to figure out what works, prep a little more and probably make lessons more interactive so I get less bored eyes staring at the wall behind me. So please pray for that. Also, Lauren had dinner with her German roommates and some of the Zulu volunteers in our class and it seems that Germans and Zulu people can't understand me, even though they understand other people's English. Nobody else can figure it out, and it's kind of become a joke that has me a little frustrated and self conscious! ha.
Now to jump around some as these posts seem to be a random collection of thoughts and events... the other day one of the nursery kids came into the office during our devotion and gave everyone high-fives and it was adorable, after he left though one of the other volunteers said that a few months ago that never would have happened as he was affected by nightmares and scary visions during the day. Praise God for the healing in his life and many of the other changes He's had a hand in here. That being said, a lot of these kids have been through awful events before coming here that surely have left them deeply scared. Many could probably use counseling, but please pray that God continues to work on their hearts and uses this loving environment to help them grow and heal.
I continue to say how much I love things around here, and that is definitely true, but like any "workplace" we have our problems and tensions. Please pray that we make communication a priority. Pray that regardless of differences and varying ideas on how things are run/handled, that we can put relationships first. Pray that we can be open to changes and improvements where necessary. Pray that in all things God's will is sought first. And finally, please pray that the staff can continue to grow together.
One last event to comment on is that Nick Vujicic was here on Saturday for an event which the kids seemed to really enjoy. If you are interested in learning more about his ministry, check out http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
Miss all of you back in the States. Hope all is well. Many blessings.
For the most part its been much of the same stuff I wrote about a few weeks ago, although things are always slightly different. One new thing I did though was drive on a hospital run last week. There are a lot of hospital trips with this group and a lot of different hospitals, so thankfully i got to go to one of the nicer ones. For the most part it was a long day of waiting in the hospital and entertaining the boy we took for his appointment. It was kind of fun hanging out with the kid though. We also had to pick up 4 big boxes of medication for the kids, which is only half of the medicine the kids take here... its crazy. I went on the trip with Sarah, who is nurse by trade and another one of the volunteers. She will be missed when she leaves in December, I'm not sure how we are going to handle her work as none of us have any medical background. Also, we lose 6 volunteers in December, so it will be a crazy time.
I guess the first interview/business class went alright, because they asked me to come back the next week and teach some of the interview skills to a different group that is taking a Life Skills class at the community center. But from that lesson on I feel like my teaching skills are struggling a little bit. This includes 2 more business skills class and also a lesson on self-discipline and self-esteem to the Life Skills class last week. Much of it is probably because along with never having done anything like this before, I’m struggling to relate to where these people are in life, they don’t understand all my English (especially the Life Skills class), and South African and Zulu culture is very last minute so I’ve been given very little notice for the Life Skills classes I’ve taught (like a few hours before or the night before) which leads to basically no prep on my part. So yeah, I need to figure out what works, prep a little more and probably make lessons more interactive so I get less bored eyes staring at the wall behind me. So please pray for that. Also, Lauren had dinner with her German roommates and some of the Zulu volunteers in our class and it seems that Germans and Zulu people can't understand me, even though they understand other people's English. Nobody else can figure it out, and it's kind of become a joke that has me a little frustrated and self conscious! ha.
Now to jump around some as these posts seem to be a random collection of thoughts and events... the other day one of the nursery kids came into the office during our devotion and gave everyone high-fives and it was adorable, after he left though one of the other volunteers said that a few months ago that never would have happened as he was affected by nightmares and scary visions during the day. Praise God for the healing in his life and many of the other changes He's had a hand in here. That being said, a lot of these kids have been through awful events before coming here that surely have left them deeply scared. Many could probably use counseling, but please pray that God continues to work on their hearts and uses this loving environment to help them grow and heal.
I continue to say how much I love things around here, and that is definitely true, but like any "workplace" we have our problems and tensions. Please pray that we make communication a priority. Pray that regardless of differences and varying ideas on how things are run/handled, that we can put relationships first. Pray that we can be open to changes and improvements where necessary. Pray that in all things God's will is sought first. And finally, please pray that the staff can continue to grow together.
One last event to comment on is that Nick Vujicic was here on Saturday for an event which the kids seemed to really enjoy. If you are interested in learning more about his ministry, check out http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
Miss all of you back in the States. Hope all is well. Many blessings.
Back Again - the fun stuff
Sorry for the lack of posts folks. I meant to update on my being here a month and then just never got around to it. For one thing I'm just pretty busy and exhausted. Things are going well, but just the energy to learn new things, being around so many kids and just the complete life change have wiped me out. Hopefully after resting up a little my body will have adjusted to it all. It would probably be easier to rest though if it wasn't for the roosters crowing all through the night, dogs barking at ridiculous hours, tons of mosquitos, hundreds of frogs, oh and the water heater that makes noises like a machine gun going off. Seriously, if my roomate Mike hadn't warned me of the water heater noise the first night I was here, I probably would have woken up in a panic thinking someone had been shot. As for the mosquitos, all I have to say is thank God there is no Malaria here. I've always been a mosquito magnet, I'm going to need to get a net or start burning 15 citranela candles in my room...
Another reason for my lack of posting is simply that I've been spending a lot of my free time getting to know the other volunteers better. We have a great group and I feel like I've known them all for much longer than a month and a half. I've mentioned a few names before but here's the list: my roommates are Jonny from the UK and Michael from Germany, while the female volunteers at the children’s village are Sarah from Mississippi, Katie from Illinois, Aislin from Florida, Palmer from Tennessee, Carissa from Winnipeg, Rosa from Germany and Lani from Cape-Town. There are also 5 more German girls that live with Lauren and work at the Community center, as well as the Christensen family. Lauren and I had the chance to have dinner with the Christensen's last night and it was great to hear about their mission and how they gave up everything back in LA to go into missions for good. I only hope I have the boldness to follow God's call like that in my life.
So yeah, I'm really enjoying everyone, which is a blessing since we spend so much time together! A few of the volunteers have had birthdays this month so all of us went out to dinner twice, which was a lot of fun. Both times we went to restaurants in Ushaka which is their marine world out here. They were definitely touristy, but fun. The first restaurant had Zulu dancing and everyone got their face painted, and the second one looked in on one of their big shark tanks and was supposed to feel like you were underwater. Most of our days off are unfortunately just spent going to the mall to run errands and use internet, not to mention there is not much else to do when it's raining and you kind of need to get out of the orphanage and unwind. There is a bowling alley and movie theater in the mall though, so i've used those. One fun thing we did the other night though was go to the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic concert. Most other patrons there were dressed up and I felt a little out of place in my grungy clothes, but oh well, it was a fun night out and turned out to be the 25th anniversary for them, so that meant a live band and dancing afterwards! It was weird though again just seeing how different things are here. For one, nobody scanned or even looked at my ticket, I could have walked right in. Also, everything just seems a bit second rate to what I'm used to in the States and LA. That second rate feel was seen again when we went to a restaurant on Saturday to watch the South African Rugby championship. We had a lot of fun, but this is the most watched sports event in the country every year, and it had a local channel feel, weird. The local Shark's won though, so we celebrated with a very excited Warren (lily's manager) and other locals as I ran around waving a Sharks flag!
Another reason for my lack of posting is simply that I've been spending a lot of my free time getting to know the other volunteers better. We have a great group and I feel like I've known them all for much longer than a month and a half. I've mentioned a few names before but here's the list: my roommates are Jonny from the UK and Michael from Germany, while the female volunteers at the children’s village are Sarah from Mississippi, Katie from Illinois, Aislin from Florida, Palmer from Tennessee, Carissa from Winnipeg, Rosa from Germany and Lani from Cape-Town. There are also 5 more German girls that live with Lauren and work at the Community center, as well as the Christensen family. Lauren and I had the chance to have dinner with the Christensen's last night and it was great to hear about their mission and how they gave up everything back in LA to go into missions for good. I only hope I have the boldness to follow God's call like that in my life.
So yeah, I'm really enjoying everyone, which is a blessing since we spend so much time together! A few of the volunteers have had birthdays this month so all of us went out to dinner twice, which was a lot of fun. Both times we went to restaurants in Ushaka which is their marine world out here. They were definitely touristy, but fun. The first restaurant had Zulu dancing and everyone got their face painted, and the second one looked in on one of their big shark tanks and was supposed to feel like you were underwater. Most of our days off are unfortunately just spent going to the mall to run errands and use internet, not to mention there is not much else to do when it's raining and you kind of need to get out of the orphanage and unwind. There is a bowling alley and movie theater in the mall though, so i've used those. One fun thing we did the other night though was go to the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic concert. Most other patrons there were dressed up and I felt a little out of place in my grungy clothes, but oh well, it was a fun night out and turned out to be the 25th anniversary for them, so that meant a live band and dancing afterwards! It was weird though again just seeing how different things are here. For one, nobody scanned or even looked at my ticket, I could have walked right in. Also, everything just seems a bit second rate to what I'm used to in the States and LA. That second rate feel was seen again when we went to a restaurant on Saturday to watch the South African Rugby championship. We had a lot of fun, but this is the most watched sports event in the country every year, and it had a local channel feel, weird. The local Shark's won though, so we celebrated with a very excited Warren (lily's manager) and other locals as I ran around waving a Sharks flag!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Mexican food, Bible Study, and adorable little kids
The other night I went over to one of the female volunteer houses (there are 3 girl houses and our one guy house… highly outnumbered) where we had a Mexican feast of burritos. They even made their own tortillas from scratch; it was so good and made me feel at home. Mexican food in South Africa, who’d a thunk it. For all those who were worried about me losing weight here… don’t. My roommates and I find it hard to keep our fridge and pantry stocked cause we eat so much. Seriously, it must be being on my feet all the time, but I’m always hungry. We went out to eat on Sunday night after church and I ordered and finished 2 meals. Also on Wednesday nights for our volunteer Bible study we have a ‘bring-n-share’ dinner, which is basically just an unorganized pot luck, and it’s a feast every time. In fact, I started running in the morning to stay in shape. But I still need recipes…
In the last paragraph I mentioned 2 things I haven’t talked about before: church Sunday night and Bible study Wednesday night. First off, we take about 12 of the older kids to a Church of England service in Pietermaritzburg every Sunday night. It feels kind of like a church I would go to in the States, which is nice, but I’ve still been meaning to get to the local church in Mophela here. I hear the Mophela church breaks it down into dance mid worship… I’ll fit right in. I’ve also heard that any white male that shows up is expected to preach on the spot that day. Soooo, I’ll need to think of something I could talk about, I hear you don’t have to talk long though. Maybe I’ll just use the material from our Bible study the previous Wednesday, as we’re going over the best sermon ever given… Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have the Bible study with all of us volunteers here and the manager of the orphanage. It’s a great time of fellowship. We start out by singing a few worship songs, which probably isn’t the most pleasant sounding thing. We have a few girls trying to learn guitar for the occasion, and they do their best, but are still pretty new to it, and then with only 13 people in a small living room, my terrible singing voice brings us down a few notches. After that we study the scripture and then pray for each other. I’ve heard the Sermon on the Mount a bunch of times, but it’s still a great read and spiritual health check. One verse I never really noticed before, but that blew me out of the water this time was Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Wow! Talk about intense, what a call. That’s what God desires for us; thank goodness we have such a savior in Jesus Christ for all the times we fail and the Holy Spirit to work through us so we can be reaching for that goal. Please pray for the spiritual walk of each of the kids and volunteers here, including one of my roommates who isn’t a Christian but has been forced to be totally immersed in that culture. May the experience bring him to know Christ.
One thing I’m really excited about here is that on Monday we started taking Zulu classes! Some people from the community who have been touched by some of our projects and classes decided that in return they would like to help us out and teach us volunteers some Zulu. So yeah, I’ll be doing that 2 nights a week. It’s tough stuff! I hope to pick up on some useful words though. At least I can say hello now… Sanibona (that’s the plural variety)! I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pronounce everything properly though with the weird clicks they sometimes use. Oh and its getting to that awkward time where I’ve been here long enough that when kids test me on their names, I feel terrible when I don’t know… it’s so hard, there are so many of them (114 to be exact)!
Alright, one more story to finish us off, and its one of my favorite moments so far. The other day I was hanging out in the office and Uncle John (oh yeah, male volunteers are called Uncle, so I’m Uncle Ben, and girls are Miss ____) came in with 6 of the little kids (age 3-5 prob). The kids are ridiculously cute, but like any little kids you have to watch them closely cause they want to pick up everything. Anyway, after a while John left and called the kids to come with him. All of the kids ran to the door except for one who hung back and stared at me. He then came up to me and held his thumb up. It’s a common thing in Zulu culture to rub thumbs together while in a ‘thumbs up’ position, or at the end of a handshake. So we did the little thumb tap and he still stood there, but this time puckered up cause he wanted a kiss. So I gave him a kiss and when all of the other kids saw this they came running back in to get their kisses. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Oh, also, side note, almost every kid under the age of twelve has asked me what my leg and arm hair and my Adam’s apple is… I tell the boys they’ll hit puberty eventually.
Please pray for the direction of Lily as they are in the midst of a lot of changes right now, especially with some changes in management at the top levels and also a desire to grow across South Africa and beyond.
In the last paragraph I mentioned 2 things I haven’t talked about before: church Sunday night and Bible study Wednesday night. First off, we take about 12 of the older kids to a Church of England service in Pietermaritzburg every Sunday night. It feels kind of like a church I would go to in the States, which is nice, but I’ve still been meaning to get to the local church in Mophela here. I hear the Mophela church breaks it down into dance mid worship… I’ll fit right in. I’ve also heard that any white male that shows up is expected to preach on the spot that day. Soooo, I’ll need to think of something I could talk about, I hear you don’t have to talk long though. Maybe I’ll just use the material from our Bible study the previous Wednesday, as we’re going over the best sermon ever given… Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have the Bible study with all of us volunteers here and the manager of the orphanage. It’s a great time of fellowship. We start out by singing a few worship songs, which probably isn’t the most pleasant sounding thing. We have a few girls trying to learn guitar for the occasion, and they do their best, but are still pretty new to it, and then with only 13 people in a small living room, my terrible singing voice brings us down a few notches. After that we study the scripture and then pray for each other. I’ve heard the Sermon on the Mount a bunch of times, but it’s still a great read and spiritual health check. One verse I never really noticed before, but that blew me out of the water this time was Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Wow! Talk about intense, what a call. That’s what God desires for us; thank goodness we have such a savior in Jesus Christ for all the times we fail and the Holy Spirit to work through us so we can be reaching for that goal. Please pray for the spiritual walk of each of the kids and volunteers here, including one of my roommates who isn’t a Christian but has been forced to be totally immersed in that culture. May the experience bring him to know Christ.
One thing I’m really excited about here is that on Monday we started taking Zulu classes! Some people from the community who have been touched by some of our projects and classes decided that in return they would like to help us out and teach us volunteers some Zulu. So yeah, I’ll be doing that 2 nights a week. It’s tough stuff! I hope to pick up on some useful words though. At least I can say hello now… Sanibona (that’s the plural variety)! I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pronounce everything properly though with the weird clicks they sometimes use. Oh and its getting to that awkward time where I’ve been here long enough that when kids test me on their names, I feel terrible when I don’t know… it’s so hard, there are so many of them (114 to be exact)!
Alright, one more story to finish us off, and its one of my favorite moments so far. The other day I was hanging out in the office and Uncle John (oh yeah, male volunteers are called Uncle, so I’m Uncle Ben, and girls are Miss ____) came in with 6 of the little kids (age 3-5 prob). The kids are ridiculously cute, but like any little kids you have to watch them closely cause they want to pick up everything. Anyway, after a while John left and called the kids to come with him. All of the kids ran to the door except for one who hung back and stared at me. He then came up to me and held his thumb up. It’s a common thing in Zulu culture to rub thumbs together while in a ‘thumbs up’ position, or at the end of a handshake. So we did the little thumb tap and he still stood there, but this time puckered up cause he wanted a kiss. So I gave him a kiss and when all of the other kids saw this they came running back in to get their kisses. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Oh, also, side note, almost every kid under the age of twelve has asked me what my leg and arm hair and my Adam’s apple is… I tell the boys they’ll hit puberty eventually.
Please pray for the direction of Lily as they are in the midst of a lot of changes right now, especially with some changes in management at the top levels and also a desire to grow across South Africa and beyond.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Pictures
First set of pictures are up... the internet is soooo slow. My camera isn't working, so I took some photos from other volunteers. Enjoy
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567737408cGJEbv
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567737408cGJEbv
Beach and Business
So I just posted a blog I wrote a few days ago saying that it's been raining all week... well today it was nice and sunny and we headed to the beach. It was beautiful and just a nice relaxing way to spend most of the day, lounging around and recharging. Winter just ended here so it will be warming up and I plan on going back a few more times. One thing we noticed though when we drove to the beach is that unlike much of California where beach towns are areas of affluence, here the poverty went right down to the beaches, although the beach we went to was pretty nice.
So I had mentioned earlier that I would be helping to teach some business skills to some people from the community... well it turns out I'll actually be leading it, just me and Lauren. So definitely pray for us in that. We were a little nervous going into the first meeting yesterday as we didn't really know what to except. We're also nervous as we weren't sure how much of our experience would carry over to here as the culture is different and also when it comes down to it we're just kids at 24 years old. It went pretty well though and as it went along we gained confidence. Also, right after we left we thought of a bunch of things we could have done... I think that will be happening ever week, so this first set of classes (3 months long) will definitely be a learning period for us as well. We'll mainly be going over writing resumes and interview skills and then leading some sort of business game of which I've yet to figure out. We're meeting with a guy who has the materials for the game this week, but they were written for businessmen in the US and we're working with people at a pretty low level, so I'm going to have to do a lot of tweaking - we'll see how hard that is. Our first session was mainly a meet and greet and then we started talking about the basics of what is expected in an interview, like how to look, act and basic things to say. They need a lot of work, but everyone opened up and participated which was a great sign as that doesn't always happen in Zulu culture. We lasted an hour this Friday, but from now on we're supposed to lead the class from 1-4 every Friday afternoon. 3 hours is a long time! So yeah, please pray for the people in our group and for us leading it.
One other thing I started doing this week was giving chest physios to some of the kids who have lung damage, mostly caused by TB that went untreated for a while. The volunteer nurse here is really busy and needed some help so she trained the rest of us volunteers on how to do the physios. It mainly involves getting the kids to jump on a small trampoline in the clinic to get them a little winded, then having them do some breathing workouts like blowing up balloons, then finally having them lay belly down on your lap while patting their back to break up some of the buildup in their lungs. Its pretty easy, but is probably the most medical thing I'll do in my life, ha. Oh, and when I did one yesterday the kid wanted to pat my back for a while in return after, it was really funny and cute and it felt almost like a mini massage, haha. The kids have so much personality and I get a good laugh everyday. Of course I get frustrated everyday too, but I'm having a great time here so far. Can't believe it's been 3 weeks. It's flown by, but at the same time I feel like I've been here for a while now, just in that I'm more comfortable here and feel like I've known the people longer than 3 weeks since we live in such close quarters and spend so much time together.
So I had mentioned earlier that I would be helping to teach some business skills to some people from the community... well it turns out I'll actually be leading it, just me and Lauren. So definitely pray for us in that. We were a little nervous going into the first meeting yesterday as we didn't really know what to except. We're also nervous as we weren't sure how much of our experience would carry over to here as the culture is different and also when it comes down to it we're just kids at 24 years old. It went pretty well though and as it went along we gained confidence. Also, right after we left we thought of a bunch of things we could have done... I think that will be happening ever week, so this first set of classes (3 months long) will definitely be a learning period for us as well. We'll mainly be going over writing resumes and interview skills and then leading some sort of business game of which I've yet to figure out. We're meeting with a guy who has the materials for the game this week, but they were written for businessmen in the US and we're working with people at a pretty low level, so I'm going to have to do a lot of tweaking - we'll see how hard that is. Our first session was mainly a meet and greet and then we started talking about the basics of what is expected in an interview, like how to look, act and basic things to say. They need a lot of work, but everyone opened up and participated which was a great sign as that doesn't always happen in Zulu culture. We lasted an hour this Friday, but from now on we're supposed to lead the class from 1-4 every Friday afternoon. 3 hours is a long time! So yeah, please pray for the people in our group and for us leading it.
One other thing I started doing this week was giving chest physios to some of the kids who have lung damage, mostly caused by TB that went untreated for a while. The volunteer nurse here is really busy and needed some help so she trained the rest of us volunteers on how to do the physios. It mainly involves getting the kids to jump on a small trampoline in the clinic to get them a little winded, then having them do some breathing workouts like blowing up balloons, then finally having them lay belly down on your lap while patting their back to break up some of the buildup in their lungs. Its pretty easy, but is probably the most medical thing I'll do in my life, ha. Oh, and when I did one yesterday the kid wanted to pat my back for a while in return after, it was really funny and cute and it felt almost like a mini massage, haha. The kids have so much personality and I get a good laugh everyday. Of course I get frustrated everyday too, but I'm having a great time here so far. Can't believe it's been 3 weeks. It's flown by, but at the same time I feel like I've been here for a while now, just in that I'm more comfortable here and feel like I've known the people longer than 3 weeks since we live in such close quarters and spend so much time together.
The week - lots of new things
Well, the thunder storms have rolled in this week…might as well be living in the Midwest, sheesh. While the rapid shifts from hot to cold are getting annoying, as is not being able to dry my laundry, it has been really cool to watch the lighting strike over the hills behind us. It is beautiful and I love the rain and how it turns the hills green, something LA was lacking most of the time. Whoa, thunder just shook the house (yep, I’m definitely a California boy who gets excited the few times he gets to be in a thunder storm). Enough about the weather though.
Last weekend 3 of the kids left the orphanage to move onto different homes. These are some of the brighter kids here that another organization chooses to take on to help develop them more than they would be able to here. The kids get placed with a family in areas where they have access to better education. While it’s definitely exciting that these kids have such a great opportunity, it’s also sad to see them go. I’ve definitely started to get attached to the kids already and it’s only been a few weeks… leaving in 9 months is going to be tough. Another cool thing was seeing how much the house mothers care about these kids. When I first got here I had no idea if the house moms took there role as more of a job or if they cared deeply for the kids, and I got my answer when I saw the house moms sobbing as they said bye to the kids. Please pray for the kids as they make their move.
All of the kids were back in school this week and that means we had homework club. I am now helping out with the 1st through 3rd grades kids, although many of the children are much older than we would have in our 1st through 3rd grade classes in the states. Many kids got a very late start into school or just struggle a lot. Monday through Thursday we have 8 kids at a time for 30 minutes and we either help them with their homework or teach them an English or Math lesson. This week has consisted of reviewing English phonics with the kids and many have struggled, but you can already see improvements. There are 2 sets of 1st graders, one at 2:30 and one at 3 and these kids can be either adorable or complete rascals; they are definitely a handful, even now that we have 4 volunteers for 8 kids. They only have to be there for 30 minutes, but they can’t sit still for more than 3. Then at 3:30 are the second graders who can also be a handful. Finally at 4 we have the third graders who are thankfully pretty cooperative. The kids go to two different schools, so half the third graders had homework on fractions, and the other half we just taught the phonics to. All in all I’d say it was a successful first week of homework club for me, but the kids definitely need a lot more than 30 minutes of work a day. Please pray that they may become willing learners and make great strides this term, and that I can handle them and do a decent job teaching. Thankfully we’ll rotate actually leading the sessions even though all 4 of us volunteers will always be there.
Last Sunday was also the first time I led Sunday school. From now on I will be leading the fourth through sixth grade boys Sunday school on my own. We’re currently finishing the Ten Commandments and last week’s lesson on not stealing went really well. The kids were great and their knowledge of the bible often surprised me. In fact, they went off on tangents and started asking me about the final judgment and Revelations… they definitely asked some difficult questions that I couldn’t always answer. Sometimes I’m not sure they understand me or take all the stuff to heart, but for the most part they were willing participants. Please pray that the Lord speaks through me every Sunday and that he works on the kid’s hearts.
Some of the kids performed as a choir at a wedding at Tala (the game reserve right next to us) last week and between that and Sunday school I now have all of their songs stuck in my head. Yeah, get excited for me to come back to the states singing kids Christian songs complete with hand motions. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Jesus, sweet Jesus, what a wonder you are…
Other jobs in the last week or so have also included some painting as well as grocery shopping for the orphanage (that’s a LOT of food for a week). One thing about the kids is that they always want to help, from the painting to helping unload the food off the truck, they get really excited. It’s awesome to see their attitudes, but a lot of the time they ended up causing more work and more of a headache than if the volunteers just did it on their own. So I just try to remind myself that it’s more important to foster their serving spirit and just spend time doing anything with them, then trying to rush through it on my own, and also just be thankful for the help. So yeah, please pray that my heart is right in those times and that I can maintain some sense of sanity over a hoard of kids running around.
Another fun story from last weekend was that we had no water for a bit. I guess it happens decently regularly, so we all have water jugs saved up in our houses for those times, and you better believe we bought even more for our house. It’s just tough when you’re in a house and are used to things being normal and then suddenly you can’t wash dishes, do much cooking, shower, wash your hands or use the toilet in a regular manner. Luckily there is a small pool here for the kids (which we haven’t been able to clean and get working… hopefully by summer), so everyone gets buckets and uses that water as toilet bowl water. There were literally like 20 kids around the pool the other day scooping out water. Thankfully it was a short outage, and hopefully we don’t have many more as it’s not much fun for anyone. Some of the older youth were complaining about having no water, so on the way to church Sunday night Warren (the orphanage manager) told them to pray about it, and when we got back there was water. It was pretty cool watching the amazement on some of their faces, I’m not saying God for sure specifically answered that prayer, but maybe he did…
When I get back from this trip I’m definitely going to be a much better cook than before. Figuring out what to cook every night and then actually doing it is a tough job. Much respect to my mother for doing that my whole life… I did break down the other day and get a cheap bbq which is my one cooking talent, so I’m pretty excited about being able to use that, we just need it to stop raining! Speaking of barbequing, Warren was telling us the other night that his family used to have a barbeque (a Braii they call it here) and play cricket on Christmas day since it’s during summer time here. I’m picturing a 4th of July type Christmas… weird. It’s definitely going to be strange being here for the holidays.
Siyabonga (that’s thanks in Zulu) for all the comments, emails and continued prayers. Hope all is well; let me know if there is anything I can be praying about for you as well.
Last weekend 3 of the kids left the orphanage to move onto different homes. These are some of the brighter kids here that another organization chooses to take on to help develop them more than they would be able to here. The kids get placed with a family in areas where they have access to better education. While it’s definitely exciting that these kids have such a great opportunity, it’s also sad to see them go. I’ve definitely started to get attached to the kids already and it’s only been a few weeks… leaving in 9 months is going to be tough. Another cool thing was seeing how much the house mothers care about these kids. When I first got here I had no idea if the house moms took there role as more of a job or if they cared deeply for the kids, and I got my answer when I saw the house moms sobbing as they said bye to the kids. Please pray for the kids as they make their move.
All of the kids were back in school this week and that means we had homework club. I am now helping out with the 1st through 3rd grades kids, although many of the children are much older than we would have in our 1st through 3rd grade classes in the states. Many kids got a very late start into school or just struggle a lot. Monday through Thursday we have 8 kids at a time for 30 minutes and we either help them with their homework or teach them an English or Math lesson. This week has consisted of reviewing English phonics with the kids and many have struggled, but you can already see improvements. There are 2 sets of 1st graders, one at 2:30 and one at 3 and these kids can be either adorable or complete rascals; they are definitely a handful, even now that we have 4 volunteers for 8 kids. They only have to be there for 30 minutes, but they can’t sit still for more than 3. Then at 3:30 are the second graders who can also be a handful. Finally at 4 we have the third graders who are thankfully pretty cooperative. The kids go to two different schools, so half the third graders had homework on fractions, and the other half we just taught the phonics to. All in all I’d say it was a successful first week of homework club for me, but the kids definitely need a lot more than 30 minutes of work a day. Please pray that they may become willing learners and make great strides this term, and that I can handle them and do a decent job teaching. Thankfully we’ll rotate actually leading the sessions even though all 4 of us volunteers will always be there.
Last Sunday was also the first time I led Sunday school. From now on I will be leading the fourth through sixth grade boys Sunday school on my own. We’re currently finishing the Ten Commandments and last week’s lesson on not stealing went really well. The kids were great and their knowledge of the bible often surprised me. In fact, they went off on tangents and started asking me about the final judgment and Revelations… they definitely asked some difficult questions that I couldn’t always answer. Sometimes I’m not sure they understand me or take all the stuff to heart, but for the most part they were willing participants. Please pray that the Lord speaks through me every Sunday and that he works on the kid’s hearts.
Some of the kids performed as a choir at a wedding at Tala (the game reserve right next to us) last week and between that and Sunday school I now have all of their songs stuck in my head. Yeah, get excited for me to come back to the states singing kids Christian songs complete with hand motions. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Jesus, sweet Jesus, what a wonder you are…
Other jobs in the last week or so have also included some painting as well as grocery shopping for the orphanage (that’s a LOT of food for a week). One thing about the kids is that they always want to help, from the painting to helping unload the food off the truck, they get really excited. It’s awesome to see their attitudes, but a lot of the time they ended up causing more work and more of a headache than if the volunteers just did it on their own. So I just try to remind myself that it’s more important to foster their serving spirit and just spend time doing anything with them, then trying to rush through it on my own, and also just be thankful for the help. So yeah, please pray that my heart is right in those times and that I can maintain some sense of sanity over a hoard of kids running around.
Another fun story from last weekend was that we had no water for a bit. I guess it happens decently regularly, so we all have water jugs saved up in our houses for those times, and you better believe we bought even more for our house. It’s just tough when you’re in a house and are used to things being normal and then suddenly you can’t wash dishes, do much cooking, shower, wash your hands or use the toilet in a regular manner. Luckily there is a small pool here for the kids (which we haven’t been able to clean and get working… hopefully by summer), so everyone gets buckets and uses that water as toilet bowl water. There were literally like 20 kids around the pool the other day scooping out water. Thankfully it was a short outage, and hopefully we don’t have many more as it’s not much fun for anyone. Some of the older youth were complaining about having no water, so on the way to church Sunday night Warren (the orphanage manager) told them to pray about it, and when we got back there was water. It was pretty cool watching the amazement on some of their faces, I’m not saying God for sure specifically answered that prayer, but maybe he did…
When I get back from this trip I’m definitely going to be a much better cook than before. Figuring out what to cook every night and then actually doing it is a tough job. Much respect to my mother for doing that my whole life… I did break down the other day and get a cheap bbq which is my one cooking talent, so I’m pretty excited about being able to use that, we just need it to stop raining! Speaking of barbequing, Warren was telling us the other night that his family used to have a barbeque (a Braii they call it here) and play cricket on Christmas day since it’s during summer time here. I’m picturing a 4th of July type Christmas… weird. It’s definitely going to be strange being here for the holidays.
Siyabonga (that’s thanks in Zulu) for all the comments, emails and continued prayers. Hope all is well; let me know if there is anything I can be praying about for you as well.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Weather, day off and the community
Seriously I don't understand the weather out here. Yesterday it was really cold and rainy, but the day before it was in the high 80s at least, so hot the kids didn't want to play outside until we pulled out a tarp and set up a little slip-n-slide (so much fun, my roomies and I were slingshoting kids down, they loved it). The weather really just changes suddenly without warning. I guess its' spring now and the start of the rainy season, so I'll be preparing for that.
Today is a day off so a few of us headed down towards durban to a shopping mall to use the internet and hang out. I was thinking I might just stay in the house today and relax, but you kind of have to get off site on your days off cause the kids were already banging down our door this morning before we left. I'm here for the kids and want to hang with them when I can, but everyone here has warned us how important taking your off day is or else you'll get burned out quick, and I definitely see that already.
There are many aspects to Lily besides just the orphanage, and those include many projects around the community. One project they are tryin to add is one where they take in volunteers from the community, give them jobs with Lily in the community for 3 months and use it to give them experience to hopefully make them more employable. Unemployement is high in the area and most people apply everywhere saying they will do anything. Our hope is to equip people with more specific skills so they have a better chance at a job. Along with the job they'll have for 3 months we'll be teaching them some basic skills. This is where I may come in, as I might be setting up a game that teaches business and accounting skills as well as doing mock interviews with them and helping write resumes. I would do this one day a week and be at the orphanage the rest of the time. I'm kind of excited about this opportunity as it would allow me to use some of my other God given gifts. Please pray that we can get the program going and get some enthusiatic people in from the community. It'll be trial and error for this first run, so pray for our guidance as well.
Speaking of the community, it's kind of crazy because at night you look out and see all the lights and think it's a normal town, but in the day more of the poverty becomes visible as the houses are pretty much just shacks. Also, people just hang out everywhere, mostly in the streets. They walk in the middle of the road which makes driving an interesting experience, I'll have to learn to use my horn more. People also walk on the side of the freeway which is crazy.
Alright, I'm off for now! The UCLA Bruins are playing football tonight, lets hope they finally get win number 2! Wish I could see the game (or maybe not)...
Today is a day off so a few of us headed down towards durban to a shopping mall to use the internet and hang out. I was thinking I might just stay in the house today and relax, but you kind of have to get off site on your days off cause the kids were already banging down our door this morning before we left. I'm here for the kids and want to hang with them when I can, but everyone here has warned us how important taking your off day is or else you'll get burned out quick, and I definitely see that already.
There are many aspects to Lily besides just the orphanage, and those include many projects around the community. One project they are tryin to add is one where they take in volunteers from the community, give them jobs with Lily in the community for 3 months and use it to give them experience to hopefully make them more employable. Unemployement is high in the area and most people apply everywhere saying they will do anything. Our hope is to equip people with more specific skills so they have a better chance at a job. Along with the job they'll have for 3 months we'll be teaching them some basic skills. This is where I may come in, as I might be setting up a game that teaches business and accounting skills as well as doing mock interviews with them and helping write resumes. I would do this one day a week and be at the orphanage the rest of the time. I'm kind of excited about this opportunity as it would allow me to use some of my other God given gifts. Please pray that we can get the program going and get some enthusiatic people in from the community. It'll be trial and error for this first run, so pray for our guidance as well.
Speaking of the community, it's kind of crazy because at night you look out and see all the lights and think it's a normal town, but in the day more of the poverty becomes visible as the houses are pretty much just shacks. Also, people just hang out everywhere, mostly in the streets. They walk in the middle of the road which makes driving an interesting experience, I'll have to learn to use my horn more. People also walk on the side of the freeway which is crazy.
Alright, I'm off for now! The UCLA Bruins are playing football tonight, lets hope they finally get win number 2! Wish I could see the game (or maybe not)...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Old
I forgot to tell my other favorite story about my roommates... On the first night I got in I was up talking with my German roommate and eventually he randomly asked me if I knew how to clean. Somewhat bewildered I told him that I did in fact know how to clean a house, to which he responded with great excitement, "so you've lived on your own before?" yep... for about 6 years kid. For 3 boys and no dishwasher, I'd say we've kept a pretty clean house even with the lack of experience. On our first big cleaning day though I got assigned the bathroom as neither of my roommates had ever cleaned a toilet before... baby steps.
Keeping in line with me feeling old, today a kid asked me how old I was. This has been a pretty common occurrence and so I just responded "24." This kid however seemed very shocked and proceeded to say, "No! You look like you're 30." Yep, I thought it was kind of funny coming from a 7 year old. I'm used to being told I look more mid to late 20s though, 30 is a bit of stretch...
I probably looked younger a couple days ago though when I had my mohawk. Hopefully I'll get you some pictures soon and that will be one of them. I thought it was fun and the kids loved it, but according to house rules I had to cut it off and I can see why, within the first hour a couple of kids asked if I would cut their hair the same way. oh well. I guess in the past kids have tried to imitate volunteers who have tattoos or piercings which leads down a more dangerous path filled with sharp objects... at least hairstyles are a little more harmless. It does make you realize how much of a role model we are to these kids, even in such a short amount of time. It's something I take very seriously and I pray that with God's help I can be a good example everyday.
Keeping in line with me feeling old, today a kid asked me how old I was. This has been a pretty common occurrence and so I just responded "24." This kid however seemed very shocked and proceeded to say, "No! You look like you're 30." Yep, I thought it was kind of funny coming from a 7 year old. I'm used to being told I look more mid to late 20s though, 30 is a bit of stretch...
I probably looked younger a couple days ago though when I had my mohawk. Hopefully I'll get you some pictures soon and that will be one of them. I thought it was fun and the kids loved it, but according to house rules I had to cut it off and I can see why, within the first hour a couple of kids asked if I would cut their hair the same way. oh well. I guess in the past kids have tried to imitate volunteers who have tattoos or piercings which leads down a more dangerous path filled with sharp objects... at least hairstyles are a little more harmless. It does make you realize how much of a role model we are to these kids, even in such a short amount of time. It's something I take very seriously and I pray that with God's help I can be a good example everyday.
Contact Info
For letters ONLY: (I've been told nothing else would actually make it to me)
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 508
Cato Ridge, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
For packages: (this is the main Lily administrative office in a bigger town)
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 185
Gillitts, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
I also got a local cell phone on which I get free incoming calls. So if you feel like calling me sometime, email me for the number as I don't really feel like posting it for the world, and remember its a 9 hour time difference right now for you folks back in Cali.
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 508
Cato Ridge, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
For packages: (this is the main Lily administrative office in a bigger town)
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 185
Gillitts, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
I also got a local cell phone on which I get free incoming calls. So if you feel like calling me sometime, email me for the number as I don't really feel like posting it for the world, and remember its a 9 hour time difference right now for you folks back in Cali.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Adventures
Really everything is an adventure so far, but I'll just tell a few stories now.
First off, I've learned how to drive stick shift (yes Corey, I'm rounding out my manhood). This was no small feat as I am learning how to drive stick while sitting on the right side of the car (shifting with my left hand) and driving on the left side of the road. It's all very confusing, but I drove a group of us around doing errands today and didn't stall once or drive into oncoming traffic by forgetting I had to drive on the opposite side of the road. So yeah, great success. And we got a new vehicle today for volunteers courtesy of Lily of the Valley Endeavor USA!! I'm excited about that, and many thanks to them!
Lily is bordered by the Tala game reserve (which makes for beautiful sunsets over the undeveloped hills) and on Friday a few of us got the chance to drive through it. You drive your own car through and we saw rhinos, hippos, zebra, warthogs, water buffalo, a bunch of different elk and antelope and the like, and giraffe all really close. It was pretty cool and the giraffe was even larger than i had anticipated. I hope to eventually get to a bigger park and see some lions and elephants, but it was a great day close by at Tala and a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get you a few pictures soon. I'm on the orphanage's computer and the data is limited per month and always runs out so we can't upload or download anything here, as last month we ran out of internet with about 5 days left, which is why I'm on now on the first! We can check email and whatnot occasionally, but its mainly for the manager who runs the place as he actually has important stuff to take care of on the computer. Internet will still be limited, but at least i get a little here.
Finally, my last story of the night and definitely the craziest. I feel like some of you might not be surprised that it took my only 9 days on a MISSION trip before I was in handcuffs in the back of a police car... seriously I think cop trouble just follows me. This has to top the list as one of the stupidest moves ever though. So we were on an errand the other day and my roommate was driving on the freeway when all of a sudden a cop runs into the road (yeah, the highway!) and waves us down. Turns out the guy was speeding. Well we almost run this cop over as we slam on the breaks to stop and pass only a few feet from the cop... which means he's had a clear view of the driver and me in the passenger seat. Well after stopping about 150 yards down the road the driver freaks out cause he doesn't have an international drivers license and jumps out of the drivers seat into the back seat! Well now there is an open driver's seat and I have to slide over into it in complete shock as I don't really comprehend what is going on, I'm so bewildered I can hardly think and tell the kid to stay put, I just move. It takes a minute for the cop to reach the car and you can bet he's surprised to see a different guy in the drivers seat and nobody in the passenger seat! so he makes me and the other kid get out of the car and asks if we think he is stupid and why we switched. we have no good answer of course. he then tells us that we have committed fraud by switching drivers and that we're going to jail. I quickly throw my phone to Lauren and tell her to call the orphanage manager. Meanwhile the cop's partner walks up and they put both me and the other kid in cuffs and take us back to the cop car. The female cop then asks me if I've ever heard of Westville jail and when I say no she proceeds to laugh in a sinister way and tells me that I'll be telling her tomorrow about Westville jail and that I'll have boyfriends that night. she even tells me that rape is legal in jail!!! needless to say I'm freaking out at this point. I try to explain to her that I don't deserve to get raped, to which she agrees but says "what you did is very very bad and you deserve jail" (all in an accent). The cops continue to stall and talk to us and it is clear they are now just looking for a bribe. The other guy and I are thinking we're about to oblige and pay them off to avoiding getting raped when Lauren walks up... she has the orphanage manager on the phone who tells us that if we bribe the cops he's sending us home immediately. He gets on the phone with the cops and we talk with them as well and after a very long time they end up taking off the cuffs and just booking us for the speeding ticket... phew. Turns out the other kid didn't even need an international drivers license, and freaked out for no reason. And the best part was that in the back seat of the cop car we ended up having a very delightful conversation with the lady cop for the last 10 minutes about south africa, zulu words, politics, the states, and orphanage work. She was a very sweet lady when not threatening me with jail rape... So another dumb funny story in hindsight but let's hope I got that out of the way.
I probably didn't do those stories justice by writing them quickly in a blog, but hopefully you got the idea. Hope all is well with everyone back in the states! God Bless.
First off, I've learned how to drive stick shift (yes Corey, I'm rounding out my manhood). This was no small feat as I am learning how to drive stick while sitting on the right side of the car (shifting with my left hand) and driving on the left side of the road. It's all very confusing, but I drove a group of us around doing errands today and didn't stall once or drive into oncoming traffic by forgetting I had to drive on the opposite side of the road. So yeah, great success. And we got a new vehicle today for volunteers courtesy of Lily of the Valley Endeavor USA!! I'm excited about that, and many thanks to them!
Lily is bordered by the Tala game reserve (which makes for beautiful sunsets over the undeveloped hills) and on Friday a few of us got the chance to drive through it. You drive your own car through and we saw rhinos, hippos, zebra, warthogs, water buffalo, a bunch of different elk and antelope and the like, and giraffe all really close. It was pretty cool and the giraffe was even larger than i had anticipated. I hope to eventually get to a bigger park and see some lions and elephants, but it was a great day close by at Tala and a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get you a few pictures soon. I'm on the orphanage's computer and the data is limited per month and always runs out so we can't upload or download anything here, as last month we ran out of internet with about 5 days left, which is why I'm on now on the first! We can check email and whatnot occasionally, but its mainly for the manager who runs the place as he actually has important stuff to take care of on the computer. Internet will still be limited, but at least i get a little here.
Finally, my last story of the night and definitely the craziest. I feel like some of you might not be surprised that it took my only 9 days on a MISSION trip before I was in handcuffs in the back of a police car... seriously I think cop trouble just follows me. This has to top the list as one of the stupidest moves ever though. So we were on an errand the other day and my roommate was driving on the freeway when all of a sudden a cop runs into the road (yeah, the highway!) and waves us down. Turns out the guy was speeding. Well we almost run this cop over as we slam on the breaks to stop and pass only a few feet from the cop... which means he's had a clear view of the driver and me in the passenger seat. Well after stopping about 150 yards down the road the driver freaks out cause he doesn't have an international drivers license and jumps out of the drivers seat into the back seat! Well now there is an open driver's seat and I have to slide over into it in complete shock as I don't really comprehend what is going on, I'm so bewildered I can hardly think and tell the kid to stay put, I just move. It takes a minute for the cop to reach the car and you can bet he's surprised to see a different guy in the drivers seat and nobody in the passenger seat! so he makes me and the other kid get out of the car and asks if we think he is stupid and why we switched. we have no good answer of course. he then tells us that we have committed fraud by switching drivers and that we're going to jail. I quickly throw my phone to Lauren and tell her to call the orphanage manager. Meanwhile the cop's partner walks up and they put both me and the other kid in cuffs and take us back to the cop car. The female cop then asks me if I've ever heard of Westville jail and when I say no she proceeds to laugh in a sinister way and tells me that I'll be telling her tomorrow about Westville jail and that I'll have boyfriends that night. she even tells me that rape is legal in jail!!! needless to say I'm freaking out at this point. I try to explain to her that I don't deserve to get raped, to which she agrees but says "what you did is very very bad and you deserve jail" (all in an accent). The cops continue to stall and talk to us and it is clear they are now just looking for a bribe. The other guy and I are thinking we're about to oblige and pay them off to avoiding getting raped when Lauren walks up... she has the orphanage manager on the phone who tells us that if we bribe the cops he's sending us home immediately. He gets on the phone with the cops and we talk with them as well and after a very long time they end up taking off the cuffs and just booking us for the speeding ticket... phew. Turns out the other kid didn't even need an international drivers license, and freaked out for no reason. And the best part was that in the back seat of the cop car we ended up having a very delightful conversation with the lady cop for the last 10 minutes about south africa, zulu words, politics, the states, and orphanage work. She was a very sweet lady when not threatening me with jail rape... So another dumb funny story in hindsight but let's hope I got that out of the way.
I probably didn't do those stories justice by writing them quickly in a blog, but hopefully you got the idea. Hope all is well with everyone back in the states! God Bless.
Good News
We got our 3 bags and everything was in them! Great news will come when the 4th bag full of backpacks for the kids is found. Also, I forgot to give a little shout out to my mother who had the great idea for me to pack the spare clothes in my carry-on. Yep, she's a smart lady and I'd have to say a pretty awesome mom as well, still looking after me after all these years.
I'm feeling great these days and as healthy as ever. I could use a little more energy though, these kids are wearing me out. The kids have this week off school so us volunteers had to set up different activities to keep the kids entertained all week. There are multiple things going on at once and the kids sign up for the ones they want to do. People have been doing everything from dancing, card making, computer time, reading, card games, juggling, drumming and more, but you better believe I've pretty much done nothing but sports. Hard to imagine right? I've taught the kids frisbee, played soccer and basketball with them, and we even played some cricket which i learned along the way from my British roommate. It's been a great chance to hang out with the kids in smaller groups and bond with them more.
Lily is set up with 6 kids in a house with a house mom who looks after them. Every house boy or girl has a house mom as well as relief mothers who swap in when the house mom's need to time off. Well their is one house with the older boys that has a house father instead of a house mom and the other day when he was gone I was called upon to be the house dad for the day. This really just meant sitting around the house watching them when they had lunch and dinner and then hanging out for the night and sleeping in their house. Thankfully it was a pretty low key night and they were pretty well behaved, but I hope it opened up the door for a better relationship with those kids.
As for my own house, that could be interesting. I'm living with an 18 year old from the UK and a 19 year old from Germany. It's been pretty fun living with them and sometimes i feel younger for it, but sometimes i feel like an old man... When I first showed up I didn't have a chance to go shopping and had to live off of their food for a few days. This meant eating coco pops for breakfast (chocolate cereal) and frozen pizzas, chicken fingers and hot dogs for every other meal. Thankfully once I was finally able to go shopping I cooked them a few good meals which they were really excited about as well. That being said, my cooking knowledge is very limited, so please send along any decently easy recipes you have! The stores have most things you could find in the states although not all, but just send along what you got and I'll figure something out. Thanks!
As for the living situation, the house is decent. I have my own room with regular bed and small closet, pretty bare bones otherwise. There is no insulation though and i think just carpet on concrete, so if it's hot outside it's hotter inside and if it's cold outside, well it feels colder inside as well. Also the windows and doors don't seal all the way so we've been getting destroyed by mosquitoes at night... good thing there is no malaria here. We have a pretty normal kitchen which is nice although the oven and fridge are miniature. We even have a small washing maching in our bathroom which is great, but we have to hang dry our clothes outside and well... the first load of laundry i did I forgot about my clothes line drying adn it started to rain and they got soaked... Also, there are no showers, so someone before us hooked up some tubes with a showerhead to the tub faucet that we now use as a kind of makeshift shower. Problem is you can only pull it up to about shoulder level and there is no shower curtain so we get water everywhere. My and I roomate are hoping to fix that. The other problem is that the hot water doesnt' always work right, so i just buzzed my head to make it easier(didn't shave it, got that out of my system in march) and shower less (yeah, i probably smell). Oh, and there are different faucet heads for the hot and cold water here, so can't mix them to get warm water in the sink! highly annoying when washing your face, shaving or doing dishes! But I can't complain, for a mission trip in Africa I have it pretty good.
Alright, enough of that for now. Please pray for my relationship with my roomates and the kids, that I be used fully here, and just that I can continue to figure out how things are done here. Also please pray that I spend time in prayer and in the word myself as it's easy to get caught up in everything here during the day and just pass out exhausted at night. I'll let you know more soon.
I'm feeling great these days and as healthy as ever. I could use a little more energy though, these kids are wearing me out. The kids have this week off school so us volunteers had to set up different activities to keep the kids entertained all week. There are multiple things going on at once and the kids sign up for the ones they want to do. People have been doing everything from dancing, card making, computer time, reading, card games, juggling, drumming and more, but you better believe I've pretty much done nothing but sports. Hard to imagine right? I've taught the kids frisbee, played soccer and basketball with them, and we even played some cricket which i learned along the way from my British roommate. It's been a great chance to hang out with the kids in smaller groups and bond with them more.
Lily is set up with 6 kids in a house with a house mom who looks after them. Every house boy or girl has a house mom as well as relief mothers who swap in when the house mom's need to time off. Well their is one house with the older boys that has a house father instead of a house mom and the other day when he was gone I was called upon to be the house dad for the day. This really just meant sitting around the house watching them when they had lunch and dinner and then hanging out for the night and sleeping in their house. Thankfully it was a pretty low key night and they were pretty well behaved, but I hope it opened up the door for a better relationship with those kids.
As for my own house, that could be interesting. I'm living with an 18 year old from the UK and a 19 year old from Germany. It's been pretty fun living with them and sometimes i feel younger for it, but sometimes i feel like an old man... When I first showed up I didn't have a chance to go shopping and had to live off of their food for a few days. This meant eating coco pops for breakfast (chocolate cereal) and frozen pizzas, chicken fingers and hot dogs for every other meal. Thankfully once I was finally able to go shopping I cooked them a few good meals which they were really excited about as well. That being said, my cooking knowledge is very limited, so please send along any decently easy recipes you have! The stores have most things you could find in the states although not all, but just send along what you got and I'll figure something out. Thanks!
As for the living situation, the house is decent. I have my own room with regular bed and small closet, pretty bare bones otherwise. There is no insulation though and i think just carpet on concrete, so if it's hot outside it's hotter inside and if it's cold outside, well it feels colder inside as well. Also the windows and doors don't seal all the way so we've been getting destroyed by mosquitoes at night... good thing there is no malaria here. We have a pretty normal kitchen which is nice although the oven and fridge are miniature. We even have a small washing maching in our bathroom which is great, but we have to hang dry our clothes outside and well... the first load of laundry i did I forgot about my clothes line drying adn it started to rain and they got soaked... Also, there are no showers, so someone before us hooked up some tubes with a showerhead to the tub faucet that we now use as a kind of makeshift shower. Problem is you can only pull it up to about shoulder level and there is no shower curtain so we get water everywhere. My and I roomate are hoping to fix that. The other problem is that the hot water doesnt' always work right, so i just buzzed my head to make it easier(didn't shave it, got that out of my system in march) and shower less (yeah, i probably smell). Oh, and there are different faucet heads for the hot and cold water here, so can't mix them to get warm water in the sink! highly annoying when washing your face, shaving or doing dishes! But I can't complain, for a mission trip in Africa I have it pretty good.
Alright, enough of that for now. Please pray for my relationship with my roomates and the kids, that I be used fully here, and just that I can continue to figure out how things are done here. Also please pray that I spend time in prayer and in the word myself as it's easy to get caught up in everything here during the day and just pass out exhausted at night. I'll let you know more soon.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Safe but not quite settled
Hey all!!! So Lauren and I arrived safely on Saturday night the 20th as planned after 2 terribly long days of travel. We were welcomed by rain and the coldest day of the year so far (hope that's not an omen), but really it wasn't that cold anyway, kind of like an LA winter I suppose. Also, after a bit of confusion on our part and the airlines, our bags was left in Johannesburg instead of making it to Durban. This is where the story gets fun... We talked to baggage services that night and they confirmed that 3 of our 4 bags were in Jo-burg but they didnt' know where the fourth was (Lauren's second). We were told to call back the next morning and that at least those 3 bags should be in Durban, so we went off to the orphanage for the night. Luckily I had packed some spare clothes in my carry on to survive for a while. Well when I called back the next morning they suddenly had only 1 of our bags, my red backpack, and it was still in Jo-burg. While this was frustrating it only got worse as 2 days later on Tuesday we called for about the 5th time to now find out that they still only had 1 bag in Jo-burg, but strangely it was my blue duffle instead of the red backpack!!!! how this could happen is all beyond me. Finally today we got a call saying that 3 of our bags made it to Durban and to come pick them up. Can you guess which bag they don't have?... the red backpack! Thankfully none of the stuff I need is in that backpack, but it is full of about 30 or so kids school backpacks that I was hauling in for the orphanage, so pray that they find that bag again as it is much needed. Also, we haven't actually made it to Durban yet to pick up the bags, so hopefully the story doesn't change again once we get there... I'll keep you all updated.
As for the orphanage, it was a quite arrival in the middle of the night without any hoopla. I just showed up the next morning to the regular volunteer meeting and watched what they do before helping out with the little kids sunday school. We sang a few kids bible songs and then did some coloring which always gets kids fired up... they are a handful for sure but tons of fun. Later Sunday I got a chance to just hang out with the kids as well as play some basketball with them which was a lot of fun. It's amazing how many of the kids come up to you with arms open wide just wanting to be held. But once you pick one up, you better believe 10 more are asking you too as well... it gets tiring. I should come back with a little more definition in my arms though, haha. I was a bit suprised though how little english a lot of the younger kids know as they just talk to me in zulu while i can't understand a thing. Also it's going to be really hard work to learn all the kids names, not only cause there are so many, but cause I can't understand what in the world there name is the first 20 times I hear it. So please pray for that.
Finally, by monday morning I was already super sick to my stomach and had to spend all of monday and tuesday in my house, mostly in my bed. Apparently most people get sick after a week or two, but I couldn't wait that long. This may come as no suprise to some. I wish I was like my sister Tricia who seems to never get sick... somehow i missed that genetic blessing. Anyway, I'm back on my feet now and got to spend another fun day with the kids today. Today was a national holiday, Heritage Day, so the kids had school off and we took a few of them to the park and went bowling!
I think that's enough for now, I don't have much time on the computer. Internet is going to be somewhat sparce as I mainly have to drive 45 minutes to town to get to an internet cafe, but that should happen at least once a week.
Take care, I'll write soon.
As for the orphanage, it was a quite arrival in the middle of the night without any hoopla. I just showed up the next morning to the regular volunteer meeting and watched what they do before helping out with the little kids sunday school. We sang a few kids bible songs and then did some coloring which always gets kids fired up... they are a handful for sure but tons of fun. Later Sunday I got a chance to just hang out with the kids as well as play some basketball with them which was a lot of fun. It's amazing how many of the kids come up to you with arms open wide just wanting to be held. But once you pick one up, you better believe 10 more are asking you too as well... it gets tiring. I should come back with a little more definition in my arms though, haha. I was a bit suprised though how little english a lot of the younger kids know as they just talk to me in zulu while i can't understand a thing. Also it's going to be really hard work to learn all the kids names, not only cause there are so many, but cause I can't understand what in the world there name is the first 20 times I hear it. So please pray for that.
Finally, by monday morning I was already super sick to my stomach and had to spend all of monday and tuesday in my house, mostly in my bed. Apparently most people get sick after a week or two, but I couldn't wait that long. This may come as no suprise to some. I wish I was like my sister Tricia who seems to never get sick... somehow i missed that genetic blessing. Anyway, I'm back on my feet now and got to spend another fun day with the kids today. Today was a national holiday, Heritage Day, so the kids had school off and we took a few of them to the park and went bowling!
I think that's enough for now, I don't have much time on the computer. Internet is going to be somewhat sparce as I mainly have to drive 45 minutes to town to get to an internet cafe, but that should happen at least once a week.
Take care, I'll write soon.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Almost time
So I'm in a hotel room with my parents near LAX waiting to head to the airport in just a few hours. I figure I might as well stay up all night so I can sleep on the plane...
It's been a weird week running around saying goodbye to people and trying to enjoy hanging out. Sorry to anyone I wasn't able to see. I'm not sure it's fully set in that I'm not going to be back in a few weeks, and I don't think it will till I get there. Right now I'm just really excited for the trip and thankfully am feeling pretty ready to head out (whatever that really means when I don't fully know what to expect). I thought it would be harder to say goodbye to people, but then I realized how fast this next 9 months is going to fly by before I'm back in the states. I can only hope I'm able to make the most of the experience and maybe touch a few lives while I'm at it.
A few days ago Lauren and I finally got the chance to talk to a girl who just got back from volunteering at Lily... yeah, we're kind of slackers and it was a little late in the game, but hey, things were busy and better late than never. It was great to get a little more of an idea of what to expect everyday. While things will be changing constantly, it sounds like I can expect to be tutoring the kids most days after school, which apparently involves doing a 30 minute or so lesson... guess I'll get more of an idea if I'm cut out to be a teacher at all. Days might aslo be spenting making food runs for the house moms or driving kids around to school and medical appointments. Then on Sunday's I'll probably have to do a bible study in the morning. And of course everyday will involve hanging out with and watching the kids. Real soon though I'll be able let you know what I actually end up doing! No matter what, I'm expecting these kids to wear me out.
Thanks for your prayers for safe travel!
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" - Proverbs 16:9
It's been a weird week running around saying goodbye to people and trying to enjoy hanging out. Sorry to anyone I wasn't able to see. I'm not sure it's fully set in that I'm not going to be back in a few weeks, and I don't think it will till I get there. Right now I'm just really excited for the trip and thankfully am feeling pretty ready to head out (whatever that really means when I don't fully know what to expect). I thought it would be harder to say goodbye to people, but then I realized how fast this next 9 months is going to fly by before I'm back in the states. I can only hope I'm able to make the most of the experience and maybe touch a few lives while I'm at it.
A few days ago Lauren and I finally got the chance to talk to a girl who just got back from volunteering at Lily... yeah, we're kind of slackers and it was a little late in the game, but hey, things were busy and better late than never. It was great to get a little more of an idea of what to expect everyday. While things will be changing constantly, it sounds like I can expect to be tutoring the kids most days after school, which apparently involves doing a 30 minute or so lesson... guess I'll get more of an idea if I'm cut out to be a teacher at all. Days might aslo be spenting making food runs for the house moms or driving kids around to school and medical appointments. Then on Sunday's I'll probably have to do a bible study in the morning. And of course everyday will involve hanging out with and watching the kids. Real soon though I'll be able let you know what I actually end up doing! No matter what, I'm expecting these kids to wear me out.
Thanks for your prayers for safe travel!
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" - Proverbs 16:9
Friday, September 12, 2008
Intro
I will be traveling to Lily of the Valley Aids orphanage in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa on September 19th, 2008 and will be there for at least 9 months. I am very excited about this opportunity to serve God in a foreign country. I just picked up my visa today and it looks like everything is coming together (it better be, I only have a week!). I feel extremely blessed to be surrounded by family and friends who have been incredibly supportive and generous in making this all happen. It really has been humbling to see people rally around the cause and support me in ways I feel undeserving of, and that comes only from God above working on peoples hearts. So thanks again.
Hopefully I can keep you all updated through this blog, although I'm not much of writer and tend to lack the focus to keep on top of something like this! Updates will also rely on how often I can get to internet.
The websites for the orphanage and the organization I will be going through are http://www.lilyvalleyusa.org/ and http://www.lilyofthevalley.org.za/. Please pray for the organization and my place in it!
Blessings, Ben
Hopefully I can keep you all updated through this blog, although I'm not much of writer and tend to lack the focus to keep on top of something like this! Updates will also rely on how often I can get to internet.
The websites for the orphanage and the organization I will be going through are http://www.lilyvalleyusa.org/ and http://www.lilyofthevalley.org.za/. Please pray for the organization and my place in it!
Blessings, Ben
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