not quite like the lion

Some thoughts as I get ready to leave

2008-12-09T13:07:00.004-05:00

I only have a few days left before I get on a plane to come home. The past few weeks have been busy with things like preparations for the Nativity play which the kids performed on Sunday (I'll post videos on my blog once I get home--so cute!), finishing up homework and reading clubs for the school year, and helping the children write Christmas cards to their sponsors.

I have started to say some goodbyes--the Christiansens left a week ago to go for a 6-week support-raising trip in the States; Carissa, our Canadian volunteer completed her three months here shortly after the Christiansens' departure; Katie left for Illinois this morning. Seeing these people leave--combined with the stress of the last few weeks and the approaching holidays--has made me antsy to be home in some ways. I've started processing, debriefing myself, preparing for the transition home. However, I've also started freaking out a little bit. Hearing about Katie's goodbyes to the kids last night made me tear up; I can't imagine what my goodbyes will be like!

I, along witht he other leaving volunteers, have started to realize that it will probably be very difficult to effectively communicate what exactly my time at Lily has been like. I'm sure people have lots of different perceptions of my time, perhaps one being that I'm surrounded by precious children all the time, just loving on them. I need to try to abolish myths. My life is like this at times, and even in some of the teaching and working situations, I'm just struck out of the blue by the cuteness of the kids. So, yes, there are some really cute kids here. Yes, I often do get to laugh, read, tickle, and play with them. However, there are also some disrespectful, rude, rebellious, and demanding children that I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Even the especially cute kids have their bad days and some of the cutest kids are the worst behaved! Another thing, my job and work at Lily is not glamorous. We do so much more than just "love on" kids. An orphanage as big as Lily (113 children is big) has a lot of behind-the-scenes work that we volunteers do--food distribution, office work, driving to school, distributing medication, preparing lessons, etc. Most mornings I have minimal contact with children because they're at school and I'm doing things that can't be done as easily as when they're home. We stay busy. We look forward to our days off.

When we do have contact with the kids, we do so much more with them than just playing and hugging them (although that's definitely involved). We do homework club, chest physio, reading, card making, hospital trips. I am exausted by dinner time and ready for a break from the kids who constantly tap on our windows or our door (although this, too, is often cute).

I really want all of you to have a clear picture that my life in South Africa has not been glamorous. If I could pick one word to describe my time here, it would be "stretching." I'm busy, giving and giving to kids who rarely say thank you, who often disobey, or who are often disrespectful. I'm away from my family for the longest-ever amount of time. I'm in a long-distance relationship. I am living and fellowshipping with a bunch of people whom I had never met five months ago. As I come home, please keep this in mind when you ask me how my trip was. I think it will be easy for me to gloss over the strain of this experience once I'm home and reflecting back on it.

Now that that's clear, I can try to tell you the wonderful parts of my trip. Even though the kids have been crazy and often bad, I love them to pieces! I've been telling people that I'm thankful for their support as I've shared God's love with some precious children. I have been doing this, but sharing God's love looks like many different things throughout my week, sometimes in word and often in deed.

Sharing God's love sometimes looks like:

Telling the gospel to a new girl at Lily who had never heard about Jesus before.
Letting children read to me for points and gently helping them with the words they don't know (sometimes this actually is me reading a few words with the child repeating after me).
Comfroting a 4-year-old as she throws up during chest physio.
Letting kids play with my hair and trying not to screech when they pull too hard.
Teaching a Sunday School lesson to a classroom full of kids who won't be quiet.
Giving tough love by punishing a child who disobeyed the rules at homework club.
Constantly telling little girls to wear their shirts correctly.
Giving a "plaster" (band-aid) to every bleeding child and not giving a plaster to every child who asks for one (why is a plaster a trophy? I will never understand.).
Racing with giggling Grade 1 girls across the yard.
Setting up for a birthday party.
Singing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" with a little girl who doesn't speak English.

I think sharing God's love is different than just "loving on" kids. When I imagine loving on kids, I think of the tickling, laughing, playing kid of love (this does happen often at Lily, especially with my precious nursery munchkins! I love them!), but it's not all we do! God's love is bigger than that because His love covers all areas of life. When I serve these kids, I try to remember that it doesn't matter if they're rude to me or if they say thank you because I am serving God. Jesus says that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Him. My desire to come here, my stamina to make it through the hard times, the grace and love I am able to give to the kids and my fellow workers are all because of Jesus. He has equipped me for this task far beyond my ability; thus, I am serving for Him. I am here out of a response to His work in my life. Thus, in everything that I do at Lily, when I keep Christ at the center, I am showing God's love.

There have been many precious times. My heart will ache to leave behind some of these kids. I just love loving them so much! As God leads me back to Tampa, through, I put them in His hands, I trust that He will provide love for them through other means since I have just been a vessel fo His love to them.

There are still so many thoughts flowing, so much I still want to share with you about what my time has been like, what it's meant to me, the ways I've been growing over the past few months, but I haven't even processed all of this for myself yet. Please be praying that God would preserve my memories and help me to find the right words to communicate my experience. Also, pray that I would have the courage to point people to the cross if they praise me or what I have done here or ask me why I came. It's only because of Jesus that I'm here, that I'm who I am, that I do what I do. I don't have the strength in myself--He has provided. I've been serving cute little African HIV orphans not because it's my social duty, I'm an especially good person, or I felt guilty; I love because He first loved me. He calls, He equips, He sustains.

I leave Durban at noon (5 am EST) on Friday and arrive home in Tampa at 10:42 am on Saturday. So soon. Please pray that I'll sleep some on the plane. I usually have trouble with that. Also, patience would be great. The 18 hour leg of my travel is definitely trying!

Reading, Nativity, and Nursery

2008-11-13T16:18:00.003-05:00

Reading club has been going really great. We've narrowed down the group to four dedicated kids (3 boys and a girl) who love spending an hour with me every day after homework club. I'm really blessed by my time with them. Also, I've been so surprised to already see their improvement! Today, all we did was read a book, and they could do it with some help! That's a HUGE difference from just a few weeks ago.

A team from Operation Mobilization (OM) is here for a few days. The group is about 20 young people from the States, Germany, Korea, and the Netherlands. They are on an African tour, stopping at different ministries for a few days and seeing lots of different places and countries. In January, they settle down in Pretoria for classes until July. They have classes for 2 weeks and then do service for a week or so in the area they were studying. The kids flooded them with requests to read this afternoon--I'm so thankful for their patience!

The preparations for the Nativity play are going well. Palmer has worked non-stop over the past week preparing the costumes for all the actors, dancers, and choir members. My little realm of control, acting, is starting to shape up nicely. We meet 3 times a week with the kids to practice. I've really enjoyed the blocking and staging work that goes into putting on our little production; seeing my plans and coaching actually looking like a Christmas pageant is really fun and fulfilling. It's by no means Broadway or even Community Theater, but the kids are going to do a presentable job on the 9th when they perform for the church in Pietermaritzburg.

The highlight of my days is still playing with the Nursery kids. These 2 through 5 year olds bring so much joy and laughter to my days. Yesterday, a few of us sat with the kids as they played on the trampoline during Nursery. We got hair-styled, pummeled, and high-fived enough to last us the next 6 months. The little boy with whom I do chest physio is in Nursery. I know it sounds corny, but he really is a ray of sunshine in my mornings. I've seen him open up and develop a sparkling personality over the past few months. His laughter is infectious. He is always quick to give me a kiss when I ask for one. I tell him that I love him in broken Zulu, and he smiles up at me and nods. If just thinking about leaving this little guy in 4 weeks breaks my heart, I don't know how I'm going to leave 120-odd kids with my heart still intact! Please be praying that God would start preparing me for that separation, and that my sadness and missing them at our separation will only encourage me for activism and action on their behalves and the behalves of those like them.

I'm going on holiday for 3 nights next week with 3 other volunteers to St. Lucia. The town, which is only a 2 hour drive away, rests right on the ocean. We're staying in a bed and breakfast and hope to relax, go to the beach, and get the chance to see the Big 5 at the large, nearby game reserve.

Also--please be lifting up one of the housemothers. This week, one the precious little 2-year-old girls in her house was taken home by her aunt and uncle. This is wonderful news for the little girl, but really sad for this housemother since she has had 2 other girls leave since the time I've been here. The day after the little girl left, this ma's only sister was murdered. Thankfully, the sister was a Christian. The ma is happy to take comfort in that fact and know that God is in control; nevertheless, I can't imagine what kind of emotions she's going through right now. She was such a beautiful testament to God's love and grace today when she joyfully led the singing at ma's devotions.

A couple of quick prayer requests

2008-11-10T12:49:00.001-05:00

Please be praying for me! Our phones have been down for over a week, and because we've been going over the internet limits for the week, we haven't been allowed to use the internet for the past few days. There are things that I need to be doing and people I need to be contacting. Also--I'm missing my family!

Please pray that I would have patience and understanding through this situation. Also pray that the phones would get fixed soon!

I only have 5 weeks left in South Africa. Pray that I would keep strong in my work and my relationships this last month. I don't want to start winding down now. I want to use this time to the fullest!

Reading Club

2008-10-28T16:35:00.002-04:00

A quick update--Since we have plenty of help in homework club (we were up to four volunteers as opposed to the previous two with Grades 1 to 3), I decided to try out a reading club with some of the children who are really struggling in English. We evaluated all of the children's spelling/reading level yesterday during homework club (only one 5th grade girl tested at grade level; every other child was below), and I picked out about 8 children with whom I will be working every afternoon for an hour. I am using a curriculum that my mom sent me.

I met today for the first time with the five children I pulled from Grades 2 through 4. All of them came, which I was not expecting. This project is going to take a lot of work, but I am excited to be able to work on something about which I am very passionate. Even though I'm only here for 7(!) more weeks, any little bit of help I can give them will make a difference. I am going to ask some of the volunteers who are staying longer if they want to learn what I'm doing if I see that it is benefiting the children. Also--I'm working around their homework clubs so that I am not taking them away from extra English and math help.

Please be praying that the kids would be interested in learning, that they would come on time, and that they would have loving spirits toward the other children in Reading Club with them.

Zulu Classes and Hospital Visits

2008-10-22T17:26:00.001-04:00

Along with my regular responsibilities of food distribution, homework club, and administrative logs, I and a few other volunteers have been reorganizing the clothes store. After we finished the distribution of summer clothing to all the kids (what a task!), we decided that sorting the clothing into types (shorts, t-shirts, long-sleeved shirts, pants, sweaters, etc.) divided by age group (baby, nursery, school, teen) and gender would make clothes distribution so much easier the next time someone has to do it! We’ve sorted through each individual piece of clothing and put it into its corresponding pile or box. We’ve finished the bulk of the work, but now we have to sort through cardboard boxes of donations that haven’t been catalogued or sorted in the first place. A lot of those clothes will be too big for our children, so we’ll give them to the community center for use in their second-hand shop.

I mentioned last time I wrote (such a long time ago!) that we have quite a few volunteers now. I’ve been so thankful for their additions! We’ve been able to start up a lot more specialized projects. Carrissa, who is a nurse, is able to help Sarah with the clinic, nursing, and hospital needs that the children have. I know that with the extra help, Sarah and Carissa have been able to do some much-needed file sorting and medication checking. A few of the volunteers started a prewriting class for the preschool children three times a week. Their hour-long sessions help prepare the children for the writing and reading they will have to start doing in Grade 1 in January. Ben and Lauren, our volunteers from California, now teach a business skills class at the community center on Friday afternoons. We’ve also gotten all the volunteers involved in doing chest physiotherapy. The doctor has recommended three more children for chest physio, so Sarah and I could not handle that load on our own. I no longer work with just one specific child, but work with any of the children on the list when I have a spare thirty minutes.

Preparations for Christmas at Lily are well under way. Groups and organizations have already started contacting Warren about putting on parties and holiday clubs for the children during the Christmas break. Palmer has been working this week on making Lily’s Christmas card. The pictures she has taken of the children are precious. I hope to be able to purchase some of the completed cards to send out to all my friends, family, and supporters in December. I am so sure you will fall in love with these kids once you see their faces! Also in the works, hopefully in time for Christmas, is a cd of some of the choir singing some of their favorite songs. I’m glad that I’ll have something to remind me always of the Zulu songs I love to sing with the children in Sunday School. We’re also starting the preparations for the yearly nativity play that the children put on. This year, they will be performing it at the Sunday service of Holy Trinity Church in Pietermaritzburg, the church the volunteers and youth all attend each week on Sunday evenings. Palmer’s making new costumes for the play, Katie is helping with the dancing, and I will help coach acting. Even though I’m sure these preparations will be trying on my nerves and patience, I’m really looking forward to seeing the play come together.

Two new children have come this week to Lily, a little boy and a little girl. The boy seems quiet and sweet. He’s already found a close friend with one of the grade 1 boys who lives in his house. The girl initially seems like the sweetest, most eloquent and angelic preschooler you have ever seen. After talking or interacting with her for only five minutes, we all discovered that she has a strong and rebellious will of her own. Knowing bits and pieces of her history, though, has made me forgive her that will and try to love on her as much as possible (while still making sure that she’s following the rules, of course).

I experienced my first hospital trip last week. Since I can’t drive manual, I haven’t been on any of the previous weekly hospital trips with the nurses and children. Since Sarah was out of town last week, Sungmin needed one other person to accompany her and two children to the hospital. I readily volunteered. I was in charge of one grade 3 girl who had to have an x-ray. Sungmin left us in the radiology department to go somewhere else in the hospital with a little boy. We didn’t have to wait long for the x-ray to be taken, but then the radiologist sent us—me who had never been to the hospital and a 10-year-old girl—on a wild goose chase around the hospital to some department we could not find signs for anywhere. Eventually, we figured out that the department we were supposed to be in was in a completely separate building, but once we got there, the head nurse told us that we didn’t actually need to come to them at all and only had to take the x-ray results home with us. The x-ray appointment and running around took less than an hour, but we had to wait for 4 more hours until Sungmin and the little boy were finished. We colored, played memory, drank soda from the machine, and read stories while waiting, so both the little girl and I ended up enjoying our time.

Dave Christiansen at the Community Center has started a Zulu class for his family and volunteers and the Lily volunteers on Monday and Thursday nights. The first night we had class, three 18-year-old boys from the community with no teaching experience tried to teach about 25 Americans, Germans, and Brits. It was…ridiculous. After the first night, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back because it was such a hard environment in which to learn anything; however, Dave had also noted the problem and found a wonderful young woman from the community to teach us. She is 21-years-old and a born teacher. She currently doesn’t have a job (which surprises me because she has so much talent), so our 5-rand-per-class admission fee helps her a lot. I wish we had started the Zulu classes earlier in my stay here, but I’m thankful for the little bit I’ve already learned in three classes. I enjoy practicing my phrases with the children after homework club. They laugh at my pronunciation, but I think they understand what I’m trying to say. There’s one little boy in Grade 3 whose name starts with an “X.” In Zulu, the “x” denotes a click, one of three (or so) in the language. When I first got to Lily, I couldn’t even try to say his name, but now I can get it out without too much trouble. He likes to pretend to ignore me so that I have to say his name four or five times before I get his attention; I guess practice makes perfect?

This Sunday was our last week teaching through the 10 commandments. Each week, I’ve been teaching the children a verse or two of a 10 commandments song that Mrs. Brittain taught me a long time ago when we were doing VBS in Winter Haven. I thought the song might be too hard for them to understand or remember, but they love it! We made up some motions to go along with each commandment and practiced it enough times that the older children can sing it without looking at any of the words. I love wandering around Lily and hearing children singing this song that I taught them. I’m glad that we found a way to get God’s word in their hearts!

I could really use your prayers for sleep. Last week I had three nights where I only slept an hour or so at night. This week, I’ve woken up twice in the middle of the night without being able to fall back to sleep for a couple of hours. The sleeplessness wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t keeping me from doing my work; however, last week I slept through devotions and morning duties twice because I was too exhausted to get up. Please pray that God would give me good rest for the remainder of my time at Lily so that I would be well-equipped for doing the work here to which I know He’s called me. Please also pray that the leaders of Lily would find the employees they need. Last week, a recently-hired administrator at the community center died, and some of the other staff members are praying for guidance regarding their futures at Lily.

I love you! Some random facts: Registration for classes at USF for next semester is coming up in the next couple of weeks. I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to registration—I love looking at my options and piecing together my ideal semester. I made French toast casserole for Bible study tonight. I’m reading Dracula and loving it. A mouse jumped out at us in the clothes store yesterday, and Lauren and I ran out screaming. We wouldn’t come back in for at least five minutes. I’m looking forward to Advent services at TCC.

Holiday Club Week

2008-10-02T12:03:00.001-04:00

Today winds up my last day of Holiday Club responsibilities. Tomorrow, members of the South African Police are probably holding a day of activities for the children. Half of us volunteers—including me—are taking our day off tomorrow. Tomorrow is also Rosa’s birthday, so we’ll maybe go out in the evening. If we make it to an internet café tomorrow, I might try to post some more pictures either on facebook or on my Picasa site; I’ll see which one is easier to access. We’re also going to try to download the new episode of the Office via iTunes. Last week on our day off, we were able to download the first episode of the new season—and loved it!

Holiday Club with the children has been fun but trying. I had one afternoon with the Grade 1, 2, and 3 children doing a scavenger hunt with pictures as clues. The children did well at finding the places where the clues were hidden, but they didn’t always follow their previous clues to get there. In the end, I realized that as long as the kids had fun, it didn’t really matter that they didn’t follow my plan. The older girls loved the dress-up time that I had with them one morning. I wasn’t expecting them to be quite so enthusiastic, but they donned princess dresses like the best of them and loved posing for pictures. My biggest activity this week was reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe out loud to the children. While it was above the comprehension level of many of the younger children, the Grade 5 and 6s really got into the story and characters. We weren’t able to finish it this week, but I think a lot of them will be knocking on my door over the next few weeks to hear the end. We had two afternoons of slip-and-slide on a big, black tarp with soap and hoses. I’m not very good at the sliding part, but we all had fun getting wet.

In the midst of the fun of Holiday Club this week, I’ve been having problems with one of the Grade 6 boys. He resorts very quickly to anger when he doesn’t get his way, and I was in the middle of one such circumstance this week. Even after both Warren and Sungmin spoke with this boy two or three times about respecting authority and obeying without complaining, he still came to me fighting and trying to get his own way. After a few discussions with him, I realized that right now I can’t talk to him without resorting to sin in my words myself. Please pray for my patience, guidance and wisdom for Warren, and a softening of the boy’s heart to words of forgiveness, reconciliation, and selflessness.

Last week we didn’t have Homework Club. Apparently they never have Homework Club the week before school holidays. Instead, the children had a few days to catch up on their reading. Each school term the children read books to volunteers and collect points. The children who reach the point goal at the end of the term get a prize. Last term the prize was going to see a movie. This term, the 12 or so children who completed the task get to go to the beach in Durban. Most of the Grade 1 and 2s aren’t able to read through a whole book on their own, so we will say a word or phrase and have them repeat it after us. Even though they aren’t reading, they are becoming familiar with the feeling of English in their mouths, the sound of it in their ears, and the look of it on the page.

The biggest management task that we’ve been working on the past few weeks has been sorting out the summer clothing for the children. We first had to go house-to-house seeing what clothes each child had. We threw out the rubbish clothes and recorded which summer clothes and shoes the children needed. That project itself took all the mornings of one week. The next week, three of us closeted ourselves away in the windowless Clothes Store and tried to find all the clothes needed in the right size for each of the children. There are boxes and boxes of clothes categorized by age and season. Even though we have so many clothes, it wasn’t easy to find what we needed in the correct sizes. We have very few boys’ clothes and even fewer boys’ summer clothes. We have plenty of teenage girls’ clothes, but not a lot of 5-7 year old girls’ clothes. In the end, we ended up with a list of clothes that need to be bought and over a hundred piles of clothes assigned to different children. We have yet to distribute the clothing to houses, and I’m a bit nervous to see the reactions of the housemothers.

Three of our children were accepted into Focus on Ithemba, a South African group associated with Focus on the Family. The kids will be moving out tomorrow. Focus on Ithemba desires to raise up strong Christian leaders for the country. Ithemba selects children who are doing very well in school and places them in families. The children will move into families with both a mother and a father. They will be living with the children of the parents and other foster siblings. They will have access to good schools, churches, and universities. We are so excited for the futures of these three bright, amazing children, but we also mourn the loss of such vibrant parts of the Lily family. I know already that I will miss the Grade 1 girl who is leaving. She came to my house this morning and gave me two beautiful cards that she made for me. This evening she was close to tears when I gave her a hug. In order to transition the children to their new life, they will come visit us on the weekends for a while. I’m glad that I’ll be able to see this sweet little girl at least a few more times!

We have lots more volunteers since the last time I wrote. Jonny from England, Ben and Lauren from California, Carissa from Canada, and Palmer from Nashville have all been transitioning into life at Lily over the past few weeks. We have quite a full staff right now, so once we start Homework Club and our regular schedule back up next week, I’ll probably have to do some adjusting myself!

My dear, sweet Grade 3s have been improving so much in Homework Club. We had three children who were struggling quite a bit with the concept of multiplication when we taught it two months ago, but when we introduced the 4 and 5 times tables a few weeks ago, all of them understood what we were doing! I was so proud of them and keep praising God for their amazing progress.

Thanks for loving me and being such an amazing support! Please keep me updated on your lives. I miss you.

Soon

2008-09-27T11:03:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't written a long update in a while! I promise I'll write one this week and post it after the first of the month once we have internet again at Lily. I just wanted to write this note right now to let you know that I am alive and well and thanking God often for you and your support!

This week is a school holiday for the children. We'll have a holiday club with different activities that the kids can sign up for during morning and afternoon sessions. I will be having scavenger hunts and dress-up parties in the mornings, and reading through The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in the afternoons. Please pray that the kids will have a restful and healthy holiday and that all of us (11!) volunteers would have grace, guidance, patience, and wisdom as we interact with all of the kids all day long.

So Sorry

2008-09-13T08:47:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't been able to blog in the past two weeks! The first week, I was sick with something like the flu. Stomach stuff, fever, congestion...yuck. I think I spent 3 days in bed because of it over the past 2 weeks. Today I finally realized that I can breathe freely! Also, our internet at Lily was out for most of last week. We've finally made it to an internet cafe in Pietermaritzburg today. We were sad to find out that it will be closing at the end of the month!

I received the package from my parents this week that included the phonics curriculum from my mom. Katie and I were able to start to implement it in our homework club this week. I've been really surprised at how quickly the kids are picking up the phonograms! We'll probably finish going over the initial 56 phonograms the next week we do English. I'm really excited to see what organized, purposeful phonics and spelling help will do for the children's reading ability.

I've been bonding more and more with the little boy with whom I do chest physiotherapy. He doesn't speak much English, but his smiles and willingness to obey are enough encouragement and confirmation for me. I've already seen improvements in his lung capacity since starting chest physio with him a month ago.

Warren was gone all week in Cape Town for the Church of England in South Africa's annual synod. Sungmin joined him early Friday morning for the weekend. On Friday, after Sungmin left, we had three children need to come to Lily for the weekend as a Place of Safety. All of us volunteers had to scramble to call the right people, arrange with the housemothers, and find bedding and clothing for the little girls. Upon seeing one of the girls, the House 4 mother gave her a huge hug and said, "And now I bathe her." They seemed so much happier once they were clean and fed. Their social worker will be back on Monday to pick them up and find them a more permanent home.

Please be praying for some of the medical needs of the children. Specifically, two of our children are being seen at an area hospital where they are getting less-than-ideal care. Sarah is in the process of getting second-opinions about one girl's TB diagnosis and one boy's urinary tract problems. The doctors at the hospital are not listening to Sarah and won't provide her with the specific reasons for diagnosis. We're hoping that the doctors at another hospital where we get our ARVs will be able to help the children better.

We have a braii tonight to welcome in two more German volunteers to the community center (making 5 Germans there and 2 Germans at Lily!). Michael (whom we call "neuer Deutscher" or "new German") has started to fit into life at Lily. His transition hasn't been as "jump-right-in" as mine was, but I think it's good for him to get a good look at the different programs and responsibilities here before he's committed to certain ones.

I led our group Bible study this Wednesday night. We've been studying Sermon on the Mount, and this week's section was on murder/anger and adultery/lust. Even though I was so congested when I tried to lead, I think we were able to have good discussions about our attidude and relations toward the Law.

The children have a 10-day school holiday at the end of the month. We'll be planning some sort of holiday club with them to occupy their time. Some of the activities we might do are swimming, juggling, reading, and baking. I'll be brainstorming a lot over the next few weeks, so shoot me some ideas if you have any! Speaking of holdiays, Katie, Rosa, and I are starting to (try to) plan a 4-day trip to Cape Town sometime in November for holiday. We're starting now to search for good, cheap plane tickets.

Please be praying for the attitude of some of the older girls at Lily. Every day they seem more and more rebellious and disrespectful. Pray that we would all have wisdom and patience to deal with the situation in a God-honoring manner.

The weather keeps tricking us. Monday and Tuesday of this week were hot-hot-hot, but Wednesday and Thursday were cold and rainy. Some one told me that they are surprised that the rain storms haven't started yet--we're in for quite a bit of mud! I know that I asked some of you to pray for a scholarship at USF that I was offered. I didn't think I would be able to benefit from it because I'm not enrolled this semester, but I received news this week that they're giving me the whole scholarship for the Spring semester! God is so good.

Summer's Coming!

2008-08-30T04:06:00.003-04:00

I'm in Durban at an internet cafe in the mall. I'm going to try to type off as much of an update for this week as possible in the time I have. If I don't finish it all, I'll update it sometime later in the week.

On Tuesday of this week, I was a substitute teacher for the preschool at the community projects that serves children from Mophela. It. Was. Crazy. I had 30 4-year-olds in a classroom by myself. The teacher gave me a plan for the morning which promptly fell apart as I was trying to take attendance. I didn't know how to pronounce half the names, and the other half of the children didn't know their last names so I couldn't properly mark who was absent. The next thing the teacher wanted me to do was teach the children what the colors on the robot (traffic light) mean. They didn't understand English, and they were TERRIBLY behaved. They would just stand up and kick each other or run around the room jumping off of desks. I decided to spend the 15 minutes before toilet break singing (over and over) the two Zulu songs I know well. Some of the girls joined in, but most of the children just ran around. The bathroom break took 5 minutes of the scheduled 15(!), and the simple worksheet that the children were supposed to do after that took another 5 minutes of it's scheduled 1/2 an hour! After the children finished the worksheet, they would come up to me and wave it in front of my face, saying "Look, miss! Look, miss!" until I said "good job" or gave them a thumbs-up. Afterwards, I just let them take out the toys in the classroom and crazily play for a while. There was no way I could get control over them. It was a relief to go home in the afternoon to my kids in homework club who know that when I say "no," I mean it.

We had the monthly homework club party on Thursday. We awarded two children in each class (most improved and hardest worker) with a certificate and an icecream bar. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces when they heard their name called. I'm especially proud of my Grade 3s. They've been working hard, and I've seen so much improvement in a lot of the children in that group. They're obedient and funny. It was a pleasure to award two children from that class. In some of the other grades, it was a struggle to find two suitable children to award, but in the end we chose a few kids whom we thought could use the encouragement of an award. Before the ceremony, every child had to bring in their toothbrush for inspection. If it was bad, we threw it out and gave them a new one. Sarah the nurse re-explained how to brush one's teeth. So many of the kids have rotting front teeth that we realized that they must not be brushing their teeth enough or properly.

We had some encouraging news with two children this week. The little boy has been suffering from something like screaming fits for a while. In both the night and the day, he would freeze and look at a spot and start yelling and freaking out. Since he is quite young, no one could get them to explain what was wrong. We finally got a referal to a psychologist the other day, but his mom says that he has improved DRAMATICALLY over the past month. There has been no screaming or crying for a month, and he's started to talk to his ma. We are so thankful for this improvement. The little girl is one of the two newest children at Lily. She was very reserved and shy for her first few weeks here, but this week we've seen her smiling, laughing, playing with the other children, and playing with us. Thursday during Mas' Devotions, she ducked behind her chair and was playing a type of peek-a-boo across the room. It's such a blessing to already see God working in these tiny children's lives. We've been praising Him all week for these improvements.

Our phones are finally back up! I've been able to talk to a few important people back home over the past few days. I was getting desparate for contact with home. I also got a package this week! It was so nice to receive mail. If you ever think about it, an encouraging note or an update-on-your-life letter would mean so much to me! It takes about 2 weeks for things to get here from the States. My mailing address is:
Aislinn Leahy
c/o Lily of the Valley Endeavors
PO Box 185
Gillitts 3603 KZN
South Africa

We've had lots of visitors at Lily this week. I've enjoyed sharing my limited experience and knowledge of the place, procedures, and children with the visitors. Their visits have made me feel like I've fully transitioned into life at Lily. It's been 7 weeks, so it's about time!

We had two birthday parties yesterday. I went to one of the teenager's party in the evening. We went to see the third Mummy movie. The boys (and Warren) enjoyed it so much. Sungmin and I said it was silly, but enjoyable. I'm finally going to watch The Dark Knight today while we're at the mall while the others go to watch Mama Mia.

Rafa, the German volunteer who is currently at the Community Projects, leaves this week. Today he's having a big going-way braai (South African cook-out/BBQ). He's been here for a year. I can't imagine how hard his transition is going to be. Our next volunteer comes in the day after Rafa.

Spring/Summer is trying to start here in South Africa. Light rains come once or twice a week. With the rains have come some unwelcome houseguests--frogs. I don't know how they get in the house, but they're starting to creep in. I know I have a nice, fat one in my room right now, but I'm too afraid to go searching for it in fear that I'll squish it or it'll jump on me. The past few nights as I've settled into bed, I've prayed that he wouldn't jump on me in my sleep! One positive result of the rains is that the hills are starting to look green. I can't wait until all of the valleys and hills surrounding Lily are as green as everyone says they will get.

Another Week in Africa

2008-08-23T07:00:00.002-04:00

I’m not quite sure when I’m going to be able to post this update. It’s Thursday the 21^st as I write this paragraph, and the volunteers aren’t allowed to use the internet at Lily until the first of the month. Internet here is rationed by data used, and earlier this week we had already used 90% of our quota for the month with two weeks left. I’ll try to get to an internet café on Saturday or Monday. I went this Monday to a café in Durban, and I was able to post some pictures and skype with my sister on a fast connection. It was nice. Our phones are still down, so I haven’t even been able to call home with a calling card. The phone at Dave and Krysta’s house at the Community Projects still works, so if our phones don’t get fixed this week, I’ll definitely be making the walk up-top to use theirs.

There was a three-year-old girl at the hospital in Pietermaritzburg this week. She’s been put on TB medication and discharged. We tried to have someone visit her everyday. On Tuesday I was able to go. The hospital was a collection of one-floor buildings connected with open walkways. Inside the children’s ward, the patients were in little cubicles with windows all around. There were posters on the walls about nutrition, measles procedures, and counseling on sexual abuse. It didn’t seem as sterile or strict as hospitals at home. Katie even noticed that there wasn’t soap in the hand-washing station. The little girl was so happy to see us, smiling and trying to sing songs to us. Her little hospital gown draped on her like a baptismal gown. She looked like an angel in it. She’s developmentally behind, so Sarah our nurse was quite happy to see that she was almost standing on her own. When Sarah had finished talking to the doctor and it was time to go, the little girl just settled quietly down in her bed again and waved goodbye. I saw her today at Lily with her housemother, and she was gurgling cheerfully. Warren has been incredibly sick all week. He thought he might have malaria, but he just has some kind of nasty virus.

After we got back from our trip to Pietermaritzburg, Rosa spotted a snake outside of our house, slithering into a crack under our front step. My policy with snakes is normally just to leave them alone and hope they won’t hurt me, but Warren and Sungmin heard our exclamations and came out to investigate. Warren, who used to work in national parks as a wildlife conservationist, pulled it out with this special snake-catching lasso on the end of a pole. He told us it was a young spitting cobra. They killed it. I didn’t think that there would be snakes around in the wintertime! I’m going to be keeping a lookout for them now.

For homework club this week, I made little clocks for my Grade 2s with an internet template, card stock, and brass fasteners. We worked on telling time all week. All of them are now very secure in telling time to the hour and half-hour. Most also know “quarter-past,” and a few know “quarter-till.” In this country, when you tell time, you always say “half-past eight,” “quarter-past one,” “quarter-till five,” “twenty-past eleven,” or “five-till nine.” It’s been hard for me to adjust my “eight-thirty”s and “twelve-forty-two”s, but teaching time this week helped my adjustment significantly. I’m quite good at saying “half-past,” but I’m working on the others.

I’ve started my new responsibility of chest physiotherapy with some of the children. The kids with whom Sarah and I do chest physio have usually had TB in the past. They have chronic inflammation in their lungs because of the TB. That inflammation causes a lot of mucus in the lungs which prevents the children from taking deep breaths or getting enough oxygen. Their fingers club—the tips of their fingers enlarge and their nails curve—because of the lack of oxygen. I have one nursery-aged boy who is my personal charge. I also help Sarah do a joint chest physio with two preschool-aged kids who are pretty difficult to work with. Sarah works with two more kids in the afternoons while I’m in homework club. At the beginning of a session, we try to get the kids to be slightly out of breath by running, jumping on the trampoline, or rolling balls. This activity forces the kids to start taking deep breaths and starts to break up the mucus. Then they drink water through a straw and blow bubbles in the water in between sips. Hydration and sipping help break up the mucus. Next the kids try to blow up balloons or blow bubbles. This increases lung capacity as it makes them take deep breaths. Sarah says that the kids’ balloons are much bigger than when she first started doing chest physio. We finally put a pillow on our laps and have the kids lay on their stomachs across the pillow. We lightly pound on their backs with inflated oxygen masks for at least ten minutes to physically loosen the mucus. At intervals during this final stage, we ask the kids to cough. The kids think the pounding is like a massage; they love it. Friday I did my first session by myself; it went as well as can be expected. Nhlahla likes to stare at himself in the clinic’s mirror, so he gets easily distracted from the task at hand. He finally decided to cooperate during the pounding stage.

Every Thursday at 11:00 am, the housemothers, volunteers, and other staff at Lily gather for Ma’s Devotions. Usually we spend the first twenty minutes singing Zulu songs and praying, and then a speaker will share a short message from the Word. After a few more songs, we volunteers dish out cake and soda to the mothers. This Thursday, Katie and I were the only non-housemothers in the room. Halfway through the last song, Ma Rose came dancing over to us and asked if one of us would please speak. Since Katie did not have her Bible and Ma Rose continued to insist, I agreed to share. I spoke to the Mas about the 2^nd commandment and the golden calf passage in Exodus. I had been preparing the Sunday School lesson that morning on that story. My talk was short, I was nervous at the beginning, and some of my examples weren’t really applicable to those women, but I nevertheless was thankful for God’s guidance in sharing that passage. As I stood before the women, I remembered that not all of them are believers and that many of them who say they are believers in Jesus still practice ancestor worship (many Zulus are entangled in ancestor worship). I was struck by the idolatry of ancestor worship—some of these women probably do have real-life, physical idols which they are worshipping in some form. God gave me the message “You shall have no other God but Me, and you shall not make for yourself an idol,” and even though I delivered it stumblingly and imperfectly, it was still His word to these women.

We had one volunteer, John from Virginia, leave this week. We are already starting to miss his help—especially with driving and homework club. John was only here for a month during his break from teaching English in Korea. Rafa, a German volunteer who has been here for a year, is getting ready to leave. He has two more weeks here. The day after his departure, we will start to get more volunteers. In the month of September, five more Lily volunteers and four more Community Projects volunteers will arrive, putting us at ten and the Community Projects at five.

Love you and miss you all! I hate being limited to my internet access so that I can't write nice long e-mails.

Pictures!

2008-08-18T15:02:00.002-04:00

I think I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to my Picasa web album! You can click on the link in the right-hand bar called "My pictures on Picasa" or go straight to http://picasaweb.google.com/Aislinn.Rebecca
Let me know if that doesn't work!
I'm at an internet cafe in Durban and am scrambling to get all my pictures posted. Time's running out!

Week 5

2008-08-16T09:10:00.002-04:00

It’s hard to believe that another week has passed already. Everyone at Lily often remarks how quickly time passes while here; this week I felt it. I’ve been in Africa for almost five weeks, a full month. We’re already half-way through August!

Have I fully explained how Lily is laid out? There are 19 houses with children in them. Each house has three bedrooms. Two bedrooms in the house hold three children each and one holds a house mother. Each house has a bathroom, a kitchen, a dining area, and a living area with a television. Houses 1-9 are all girls’ houses. They face in on each other and are clustered close to the office building. Warren’s house and two volunteer houses are also are in this cluster that we call “Phase 1.” The small swimming pool, a playground set, a large covered sandbox, and a newly-installed in-ground trampoline form the center of Phase 1. The houses (11-20) in Phase 2 were all built within the past two or three years. This is where the boys live with their housemothers (or housefather, in one case). There is one more volunteer house in Phase 2. The boys also have a playground set and a new trampoline on their side.

The office building holds Warren’s office, the clinic, the social worker’s office, a nursery school, a preschool, and computer room. This is where we hold Sunday School and Homework Club. In the mornings, the 2-5 year olds attend a little nursery school in the building. After morning devotions, I love helping some of the littler boys climb up the hill to nursery school. They give me the biggest smiles now and waddle towards me when they see me coming. The nursery-aged kids are so easy to be around. They laugh constantly and love to be held. Yesterday afternoon, I sat by the trampoline as five or six of the little girls bounced. They sat in my lap, giggled incessantly, babbled away in Zulu, asked me to bounce with them, and tried to sing songs to me (I got an adorable video of one of the girls trying to sing “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” but actually saying “Jesus loves the little Jesus, all the Jesus of the world.”). I’ve enjoyed seeing some of them warm up to me over the past week. One of the little girls had never seen a white person before she came to Lily; she would cry at the sight of Warren, Sungmin, or the volunteers. This week she has finally opened up to us, as evidenced by her huge smile and hugs.

We had a few very sick children this week. Sarah, our volunteer nurse from Tennessee, had to make a hospital trip and a couple doctor trips. One of the babies was sick with the flu and was running a 106° fever. Sarah herself was fighting a stomach bug that has been circulating.

Homework Club this week was a bit of a struggle. It was English week, and I was alone teaching all four sections of grades 1-3 a couple of the days. The beginning of the week was discouraging as I realized that the kids were much further behind than I originally thought. Grade 1 is still working on the basic sounds of the letters of the alphabet. Most of the children in Grade 2 can read short-a and short-i consonant-vowel-consonant words. They had no idea how to translate spoken words into written words, though. I only had one day of teaching with Grade 3 since most of them had real homework that they needed help with on the other days. Grade 3 is basically at the same place as Grade 2, except they can read most consonant-vowel-consonant words (not just a and i). If I could spend every day with the kids working on reading and writing, I think they could progress fairly quickly; however, they are also incredibly far behind in math.

Grade 2’s progress this week encouraged me. The first day we worked on reading some three-letter short-i words. Another volunteer read them, and they repeated them. Then, they took turns reading the words. Tuesday, we read two short Hooked on Phonics (Kindergarten-level; someone left the Kindergarten set for us to use) story books that went along with what they had been learning. Each child took a turn reading a page. Wednesday, I taught them about adding an ‘s’ to words to make plurals. They had a hard time speaking the difference between words like “cat” and “cats” at first, probably because of differences between Zulu and English phonics, but after going through a list of 25 words, I could start to hear the difference. Thursday, we played Bingo with short-a and short-i consonant-vowel-consonant words that they have learned so far. I was surprised by how well they did! There was only one girl who really didn’t know what word she was looking for when I called it out. Most kids needed my help to make sure that they didn’t have the word on their card when they couldn’t find it, but most of them could find the words if they looked hard enough. There were two children out of the eight in the class that were able to hear the word that I said and easily discern whether or not it was on their card. I think that doing Bingo at the end of English weeks will be a good tool to get them ready for being able to write words that they hear.

Warren and Sungmin are on their weekend off. We have to manage Sunday School on our own because they’re gone. Since Lani, a volunteer from Cape Town, is back from a visit home, she is going to take the older girls and I’m going to work with the children from Grade 2 and 3 whom Sungmin and Warren normally teach. I think that they will respect me a bit more than the older girls did because they know me from Homework Club. We are starting a unit on the Ten Commandments this week. I’m going to try to teach a song listing all of the commandments as a memory-verse aid.

I did some more paperwork this week. I logged what each house requested for food distribution over the past six weeks. We have two food distributions weekly. On Fridays, we fill up a box for each house with fruits, vegetables, lunch meat, and eggs. On Mondays, each housemother brings a list of things that they need for food during the week. Most of the things on the Monday distribution are dry goods, canned goods, or household items like toilet paper, soap, and cleaning supplies. Warren wanted to know which houses were asking for what and when; he’s been concerned that some houses are asking for things weekly that they should only be getting once a month. I created a form on Excel, and it took me most of my mornings this week to fill it in with all the information.

Starting next week, Sarah is going to teach me how to do exercises with some of the children who need help taking good, deep breaths because of all the congestion in their lungs. I think we’ll do simple, fun things like blowing a piece of paper across the table with a straw or jumping on the trampoline. Once we get the kids coughing or taking a deep breath, we rub or thump their back to help loosen the phlegm and help them cough it up. I’ll probably work with some of the younger children in the mornings a couple days a week while Sarah will work with the older children when I’m doing Homework Club. I welcome this chance to work more regularly with some of the cute little ones.

I love the chance I have to improve my cooking skills. Even though it’s hard to come home from teaching crazy kids and have to start cooking dinner right away, I like being able to have control in the kitchen. I was especially proud this week of my homemade tortillas. We invited three of the Grade 5 boys over for tacos last night. Do you have any good recipes that you think I’d like to try? I was very sad to find out this week that South Africa does not have chocolate chips, real brown sugar, or real soy sauce. Krysta Christiansen, Californian and wife of Dave who is in charge of the Community Projects, gave me a bag of brown sugar that her mom sent to her. I made peanut butter cookies with the wonderful, pack-able brown sugar.

I’ve been praying this week for everyone who is starting school soon, especially my mom as she starts her second year at public school, Tian as he starts Kindergarten, Ross as he goes to Oxford, and my sweet sisters Jenica and Bethany as they start freshman year at New College. I wish I could be with you all for these milestones, but please know that I am praying for you and remembering you constantly. Jen and Bethy—I can’t wait to see your room in the Spring, and maybe even crash with you for a weekend!

Week 4!

2008-08-10T14:54:00.005-04:00

The most exciting news this week at Lily is the first international adoption! An Irish couple flew home with their new daughter on Saturday. The couple is with Focus on the Family. Thursday they had a little goodbye party for the baby (she’s 9 months old), her house mother, and some of the children. Some of the other little girls in her house were crying as the car drove away with the baby and her parents inside. The baby tested HIV+ upon arrival at Lily, but this week her test results came back negative! The government of South Africa hadn’t allowed international adoptions until very recently (I actually think this might have been the first one…but I’m not sure). A lawyer who is on Lily’s board of directors took this baby’s international adoption case all the way to the constitutional court. She was finally able to convince the magistrates that the needs and the well-being of the child go before any other concerns. This sets a great precedent for future cases, especially for children from Lily! This adoption went through really quickly. My understanding of the situation is a little fuzzy, but as far as I know: The couple had come down here this week just to do some preliminary paperwork and visit with the baby. At one point during the week, though, the magistrates just clicked into agreement with the lawyer’s case and pushed the adoption through within just a few days. They said, despite the baby not having a passport or all of the paperwork being completed, that the baby needed to be on the plane with her parents when they were scheduled to leave. God has worked in amazing and unexpected ways for this child and her new parents. During devotions with the house mothers Thursday morning, I had tears in my eyes as I watched the smiling, precious baby who would be leaving us soon; she is so lucky to be given parents who will love and care for her.

A group from a Christ Church Midrand in Johannesburg was here this week to do a Holiday Club with the children. They did VBS-like activities and lessons with the preschoolers in the morning and with the school-aged children in the afternoon. Homework Club was cancelled this week in order to create time for the activities. During Sunday School this morning, the kids were excited to sing their new songs that they learned during Holiday Club. I think they had a good time doing the crafts and activities, singing, and watching movies and puppet shows.

I think I’ve found a specific area where I can use my interests and gifts to help here. We have Homework Club with all the school-aged kids after school, but there are some children who are very hard behind the other kids in their reading ability. I want to spend 1 hour a week on English homework club weeks and ½ an hour a week on math homework club weeks helping the struggling readers. My mom is going to send me some of her phonics curriculum to use with the children. I helped her lead a reading camp a few summers ago and have tutored a few children in reading, so I have some experience in this area. I think it’s really important for the struggling readers to catch up quickly to their peers so that they do not get more behind in their school work. These kids need to start over with the basics, and they need constant reinforcement. In many cases, they’re not getting enough help at school.

This week has shown me how ridiculous the schools are out here in the rural area. Most of the teachers are not qualified; they’re just people from the community who needed a job. The children take a test before they begin school, and then are sent to one of two schools based on their ability level. The first graders missed two days of school last week because their teacher was sick. Every student at Silverton (the worst of the two schools children from Lily attend) was sent home on Monday because the teachers forgot to bring the keys to unlock the doors to the school. The second graders missed school on Tuesday because their teacher had to be somewhere else. Wednesday was a country-wide strike for lower food and living prices, so none of the students went to school because their teachers were on strike. Thursday, all the students at Silverton were sent home for the day at 10:30 a.m. No wonder so many of these children are behind academically and developmentally! They have unqualified teachers who cancel school constantly. Lily has plans to build a new Children’s Village on the farm on which both Lily and the community projects sit. The plans include an attached school for the children. I am so excited for that plan to come to fruition; these children need the opportunity for a good education.

After my second Sunday at Lily, I think that they will be my favorite days. Warren, Sungmin, and the volunteers meet at 8:30 in the office for prayer and final preparations for Sunday School. Afterwards, Warren calls for all the kids to come up to the preschool room in time for Sunday School’s start at 9:00. They take a long time to filter into the room; as they do, almost every child says good morning, gives me a hug, or vies for a place on my lap. When most everyone has finally made their way into the room, a group of 6 or 7 children lead songs from the front of the room. Another couple of kids drum in the back. We sing mostly Zulu songs and a few English songs. I love the energy with which the children sing, praise, and do the actions that accompany the songs. Afterwards the “babies” (younger than school-aged) and older kids spilt for the lesson. I work with the older kids, and my discussion group is the fourth through seventh grade girls. Many of the girls are unresponsive, distracted, or rebellious, but the few who do listen are a huge encouragement to me. A few of the girls who were the most distracted last week were some of the most attentive this week; hopefully such improvement will continue. On Sunday evenings, the volunteers and the teenagers from Lily go to Holy Trinity Church in Pietermaritzburg. I was really convicted by last week’s sermon. I so appreciate that we still have the opportunity to be fed while we are serving here.

My biggest task this week was sorting through some paperwork Warren needed done on each of the children. I had to go through each child’s welfare file and find a specific date when a form was due. This job took a good three days. Lily doesn’t have a social worker at the moment, so Warren needed help keeping on top of some of the work that a social worker normally would have managed. It was a huge task, but in the process I was able to organize all of the files and information.

Watching the Olympics in such an internationally diverse setting is fun. I have two German housemates, one South African boss, one Korean boss, and three fellow American volunteers. We’re probably not going to watch any of the live broadcasts (from midnight to 6 a.m.…yuck!), but we’re committed to catching some of the highlights that come on at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. I was really disappointed that I missed the Opening Ceremonies on Friday, but I spend that day in bed with a migraine. The flu and the stomach flu are spreading like wildfire around the Lily staff and kids. Pray that we could all heal quickly and stay healthy.

Our phones are currently down! We lost internet for a few days this week, then water for a day, and now phones for four. I have to get used to these regular “shortages.”

All of the volunteers went into Durban yesterday on our day off. We spent the morning shopping in an open-air market and spent the afternoon lounging on the beach. The water was far too cold for me to brave swimming, but the two guys did swim for a good twenty minutes. The sand was powder-soft and the water was crystal-clear. We walked along the pier and watched the surfers. We could see fish deep in the clear water. The streets in downtown Durban are crazy. People are everywhere, crossing the street even when we were turning right at them. Parked cars take up two lanes on either side of the road. Many of the traffic lights (robots, as they call them here) are not working or are flashing red. Most of the streets don’t have signs, and the ones that do only list the new names that were given to them after apartheid ended. Our map only had the streets’ old names, so it was a very confusing experience.

I’ve been realizing that I’m going to have a hard time not doing school work this semester. I was wracking my brain the other day to figure out a way to take some online classes from USF while I was over here, but with our spotty internet situation, I had to accept (again) that school is not part of God’s plan for me for these next few months. I’ve been here for four weeks already. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been away from home for that long, but I also feel incredibly acclimated and used to life here in South Africa and at Lily. I love you and miss you all so much. Please send me e-mails! I’d love to hear how you’re doing. I’ll try to respond as often as I am able.

Also--I've been listening a lot to Jon Foreman's four recent EPs. I know I've mentioned him/them before, but you really should check 'em out. I love his lyrics and creativity, and I especially love his adaptations of Scripture. So good.

One other thing--I miss coffee. Everyone drinks instant coffee here. Yuck. I've been drinking a lot of tea (2 sugars and milk, if you please!) to make up for the lack.

Prayer Requests

2008-08-08T13:06:00.001-04:00

I've updated my prayer request list. You can see it in the right-hand bar. Thanks so much for your faithfulness in approaching the throne of grace on my behalf and on the behalf of the people at Lily.

I should be finished with my weekly update tomorrow or Sunday, so...be expecting it!

Akekho ofana noJesu

2008-08-02T09:52:00.000-04:00

Sanibona! I’ve finally figured out a way to write longer updates! I knew that it would take my getting settled in at Lily to figure out what would be best way to keep y’all updated. Yesterday morning I (finally) had my “orientation” talk with Warren, the Lily manager, and Sungmin, his wife; as a result, I now know my internet situation and am able to write at my leisure. I’ll try to write weekly. Also—GREAT news! I’ve been able to get Skype to work. Now I won’t have to spend money trying to call home (or make my loved ones spend money calling me).

My first two weeks in South Africa were filled with many different activities which have given me a good look (or refresher) into what life in South Africa is like. Firstly, I was able to just see the country a little bit. Since Lily is nestled between a game park, sugar cane fields, and the township of Mophela, you have to drive far to get anywhere. The sites along the road are amazing in and of themselves—lines of trucks stacked up with scrap metal for money, billboards encouraging people to know their HIV status, warthogs crossing the road, stands selling brightly colored fruit, and many people walking and waving at me. I’ve been able to see the beautiful Valley of 1000 Hills, an area deeply entrenched in poverty and the AIDS crisis. I’ve been to two different game reserves (Tala and Gwahumbe) and come quite close to rhinos, hippos, and giraffes. I’ve gotten a taste of South Africa through visits to a vineyard, a goat cheese farm, and a few different restaurants.

The two-week team and I stayed in the Volunteer Villa at the Lily Community Projects. I was able to get a closer look at the people of Mophela while staying there. We had visits from Mama Mia who works in the sewing shop and sells sewn and beaded goods. We served lunch, sang songs, and shared our testimonies with the Mophela Aged Group who meets at the community center once a month. We accompanied Dave Christiansen, the American manager of the community projects, on house visits to the ill in the town. We danced, sang, and hugged through the 2-hour long church service at the Mophela Church—a Zulu Pentecostal Church. Through these experiences, I’ve seen poverty, sickness, and abandonment. In the face of all of these obstacles, however, every single person I’ve met who lives in Mophela is very welcoming and giving. Everyone waves as we drive down the road, people freely allow us foreign strangers to enter their homes, and many whom I met thank me for taking an interest in their township.

I spent my first two weeks as a part of the group from the CareNow Foundation based in California. CareNow desires to bring necessary medical care to needy communities in Africa. They support a mobile clinic in the bush of Zambia, the 1000 Hills Medical Clinic (20 minutes from here), and now the Lily of the Valley Medical Center. As a part of the organization’s group, I was able to get a first-hand look at South Africa’s healthcare system, learn more about the illnesses that are afflicting the people of the poor, rural areas, and even assist in what small ways I could. At the 1000 Hills clinic, we saw beautiful facilities provided by corporate sponsors, but we were struck by the fact that no sponsors wanted to support the necessary upkeep (for medicines, food, salaries) of the clinic. I helped fill tiny bags with pills and small bottles with cough syrup. The grand opening of the Lily of the Valley Medical Center was on July 29, while we were staying right there in the Community Projects. We helped prep the grounds and projects for the opening’s guests and dignitaries. The clinic is currently just operating as a baby clinic on Tuesdays, but will add new services and clinic days each month or so. It is currently run by just one nurse and one office staff—no doctor has volunteered even just one day a week of services at the clinic.

I moved into my house at Lily just one day after the opening of the clinic. I live in a volunteer house on the premises of the Children’s Village. It has the same layout as the children’s homes and is nestled in the girls section of homes. My only current housemate is Rosa Meyer, a volunteer from Germany. She arrived here on the same day as I moved in. We are having fun cooking, doing laundry, and trying to work through language barriers together.

I work every weekday afternoon doing homework club with grades one through three. Because a lot of the children have had a difficult start to life, many of the children at Lily are behind academically. At homework club, we work with the children after school to reinforce important concepts in math and English. This past week, we focused on math. In the first grade groups, many children are still earning what it means to add and subtract one. The second graders were working on more addition and subtraction, greater than or less than problems, and telling time. The third graders were working on their two and three times tables. When I tried to teach telling time to the second graders, I realized that many of them didn’t even understand the concept of hours, minutes, and seconds. We had to switch what we were doing mid-lesson. As I was standing in front of the students, I felt my teaching genes and experience come out. Next week is English. I’m thinking about teaching some of the older students Shurley grammar jingles.

Homework club is our biggest, most regular responsibility. During the days we plan for homework club and Sunday school. As I get more accustomed to life at Lily, I will find more niches of responsibility. I’ve already started to help with the food distribution to the house mothers. If I ever learn how to drive manual, I’ll help with transportation of children to school. In the mornings, I’m interested in assisting with Sungmin’s occupational therapy sessions with some of the children who are behind developmentally. I spend my evenings playing outside with the kids until they have to go inside at six for dinner. I’ve been using the time after that to cook dinner.

Before food distribution yesterday, I chased a hen and her chicks with a three-year-old little boy. He didn’t stop laughing until ten minutes after we finished. I love the ease with which the younger children reach for my hand or reach up for me to hold them. Last night, we went bowling for one of the girl’s birthdays. After the children turn 13, they’re allowed to do something outside of the premises for their birthday along with five friends. We volunteers tagged along on the trip into Pietermaritzburg to do grocery shopping and join in the bowling. Everyone bowled in either socks or bare feet. I bowled my first frame in socks and fell soundly on my right side! Needless to say, I bowled barefooted after that.

God is doing great things in the lives of these children at Lily. I feel so honored to be a small part of this work. I’m so thankful to you for your amazing support and love for me in this endeavor. I keep thinking of Jesus’ words: “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.” Thank you for serving Jesus with me by ministering to the needs of these precious kids. I’m humbled by His love that I see reflected in you. As one of the kids favorite songs goes: “Akekho ofana noJesu, Akekho ofanan naye,” or “There’s no one, there’s no one like Jesus. There’s no one, there’s no one like Him.”

Moved into Lily!

2008-07-30T16:35:00.002-04:00

I've finally moved into my house at Lily. My new housemate Rosa is
from Germany; she just arrived here yesterday. I'm going to be
phasing into my work with the homework club soon, helping the children
grasp concepts that they may be missing in school. I'll also probably
be learning how to drive manual! This is sure to be a
challenege--especially driving on the left side of the road.

I'm starting to miss home and people A LOT. It doesn't help that I
have such limited internet access. I just received notice that I was
awarded a generous scholarship from USF, but it looks like it's
contingent upon my being there in the fall. Please pray that they
will understand my circumstances and make an exception!

I'll hopefully be making it to an internet cafe next week where I'll
have faster internet with more time to write. I think about you all
often!

Update

2008-07-21T12:34:00.002-04:00

Ack! I am starting to get frustrated with my lack of contact with the
outside world. Please pray that God would give me a clear, easy,
inexpensive way to communicate with you, my family, and friends!

We are busy getting acclimated into the culture of South Africa and
life at Lily of the Valley. Today we visited another Children's
Village run by Lily called Makaphutu. It is much smaller (36 kids as
opposed to over 100), has older kids (ages 9-19), and has no HIV+
kids. I got to sit and chat with one of the volunteers who is there
through SIM and found out a lot about what life at Lily will be like.

I must go! Love love love.

First Time from Africa

2008-07-18T12:00:00.001-04:00

Hello, all!

Greetings from Mophela (pronounced Mopela--no h, long o, short e,
schwa a). I am doing so well here in South Africa. This is the first
time I've gotten any internet access. Once I move to the Children's
Village on the 30th, I'll have much more ready internet access.

I don't have much time right now, but we're doing so much stuff here
on this two-week trip. Yesterday we traveled to a medical clinic,
today we did home visits to sick people in the township of Mophela,
and tomorrow we're taking a tour through the country to see different
farms in the area.

I'm already learning a bit of Zulu (don't ask me to spell it,
though!), and I'm ready to move into the Children's Village and spend
more time with the sweet kids--and have better interent access!

My cold is almost all the way better, but I'm starting to get homesick.

Love to all.

Goodbyes to Florida

2008-07-14T00:35:00.001-04:00

Saying goodbyes is hard. Moving forward is exciting, but so often I wish that I could bring all the people, connections, relationships, and experiences from my current life with me into the next stage. I want all that is good about life now to be included in an ever-expanding goodness of my future life. However, step forward I must, into an adventure God has planned for me.

Tonight was a perfect segue into my five months in South Africa. The fundraiser at the Meyer's house was fun, encouraging, and enormously successful. I got to say goodbye to a few important people that I haven't had a chance to talk with in the past few weeks due to our mutual busyness. We listened to some talented and energetic musicians and some sweet and heartfelt readers. We successfully auctioned off paintings by artists in the church. None of the drinks or desserts ran out (I was worried at the beginning!). And....drumroll please...we raised a total of $707 for my trip! This money, combined with many previous donations from friends, family and church members, completes my support-raising. As of this morning, I thought that I was $1300 short of my goal, but as of tonight, I can say that God has provided fully!

He has surprised me countless times in the course of planning for my trip. Waiting for my visa until five days before departure and waiting for support until twelve hours before departure have been tests of my faith. I have failed at times. I've gotten worried, frustrated, and discouraged; however, His faithfulness supersedes all of my faithlessness. He is good and gracious. Please pray that my faith would be strong while I'm serving in South Africa. I can already feel God tugging on my heart, telling me that this is an area in which I need to grow to be more Christ-like. I know that growing in my trust in God is not going to be easy, but I have such a desire to trust Him fully because I know that He alone is worthy. Jon Foreman's song "Your Love is Strong" from his Spring EP has really been encouraging me lately in my lack of faith. He speaks back the words of the Sermon on the Mount:

I look out the window
The birds are composing
Not a note is out of tune
Or out of place

I walk to the meadow
And stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl
On her wedding day

So why should I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need!

Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong

This song reminds me that the God of the Universe, who takes care of the birds and the flowers, also loves me and takes care of me. I have nothing to worry about because He is completely in control. I know that this is such a basic tenant to our faith, but trusting God (not trusting myself, trying to control things myself) has always--and will always be--a weak point for me. I'm glad for this chance to embrace His faithfulness. Please pray that I would have a soft heart for His shaping in this area.

We leave for the airport in less than six hours--I need some sleep! I'm not sure how faithful my blog updates will be over these next two weeks because I won't be in my standard living and schedule at Lily yet. I will be spending the first two weeks of my trip with a group of people from a church in California. Their two-week trip to Lily is a perfect "initiation" for me into life in South Africa and at Lily of the Valley. We will be living outside of the Children's Village complex and will probably be doing most of our work in the Community Projects and Clinic. Sometime during the week of July 27, I will be moving into the Children's Village complex once the California group leaves. Within the Children's Village, I will be living in a bungalow with two other female volunteers. Start praying that our personalties will mesh smoothly.

I'm still sick with a yucky cold. I think it was a bit better today than it was yesterday, but it is by no means gone. I'm not looking forward to twenty-seven hours of travel in this condition, so also be praying for sleep on the plane and a speedy recovery!

Thank you!

Days to Go

2008-07-12T13:08:00.002-04:00

48 hours from now, I'll be in D.C., waiting for my flight to Johannesburg to depart. I have much to do in that short amount of time, but all of those obligations feel undefined and hazy right now because I have come down with a nice case of the common cold. It's nothing incredibly debilitating, but it's enough to keep me in bed eating left-over pizza and watching movies. My mom says that the only way for me to get rid of my cold quickly is to rest all of today.

I'm going to try to listen to her advice. However, today was supposed to be baking day for my final fundraiser tomorrow. My sister Jenica is out buying the supplies now, and I know she'll want help. I still have to finish packing up my bags; I'm almost done with this task, though. I want to make sure my room is clean before I leave for my family's use. I need to make it out to Starbucks today to buy a couple of pounds of coffee for the fundraiser. I'm going to get it all done somehow. I know that much. Right now, however, those tasks seem a little more difficult than usual. I need to get rid of this cold!

Praise God!

2008-07-09T11:52:00.002-04:00

My visa came in the mail this morning! Praise God! South Africa and I have a date--5 days away!

Preparations and Fundraiser

2008-07-08T22:16:00.004-04:00

I'm less than a week away from leaving for South Africa! My flight leaves from Tampa on Monday, July 14 at 9:13 am. However I have yet to receive my visa. I talked with the South African Embassy and the local post office today, and I should have received my visa in the mail today. I didn't. I'm praying that it will come in tomorrow.

Visa or not, I have started packing. Preparations like shopping for shampoo, setting up Skype, and finding my passport carrier are making me excited for Monday. I've been nervous the past few week, but, during this final week of preparation, God has graciously renewed my excitement and passion for the work to which He has called me. Please start praying that I would not allow homesickness to shadow the awesomeness of this opportunity and the work that I will be doing.

Sunday the 13th--the day before I leave--we will be having a fundraiser for my trip. I'm still about $800 short of support for my five-month trip. The Meyers (13338 Lake George Lane, Tampa, FL) are hosting this event, an evening of live musical acts, refreshments, art, and Africa. It's from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm, and the cover charge is $5 (children 7 and under are free). I'd love to have you join us!

South Africa's HIV/AIDS statistics

2008-06-26T12:51:00.003-04:00

I took these HIV/AIDS statistics from the Department of State's Background Note on South Africa:

South Africa is one of the countries most affected by HIV, with 5.3 million HIV infected individuals. Nineteen percent of the 15-49 year old population is infected, and in parts of the country more than 35% of women of childbearing age are infected. Overall, 11-12% of the population is infected. About 1,700 new infections occur each day, and approximately 40% of deaths are believed to be AIDS-related. There are approximately 660,000 children who have lost one or both parents, and by 2008 1.6 million children will have been orphaned by AIDS. Without effective prevention and treatment 5-7 million cumulative AIDS deaths are anticipated by 2010 (with 1.5 million deaths in 2010 alone), and there will be over 1 million sick with AIDS. The epidemic could cost South Africa as much as 17% in GDP growth by 2010. The extraction industries, education, and health are among the sectors that will be severely affected. A 2003 national operational plan provides the structure for a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS, including a national rollout of antiretroviral therapy.

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

2008-06-26T12:19:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting in my dining room in Florida. It's noon, and I'm still in my pjs. I'm waiting on a call from a local doctor's walk-in clinic telling me that my chest x-ray is back with the radiologist's certification that I don't have TB. This x-ray is the final part of my South African visa application.

I leave for five months in South Africa in 2 1/2 weeks. I know that it's crazy that I haven't yet finished my visa application. It was an unexpected obstacle. I actually turned in my visa application to the embassy in D.C. a month and a half ago. A gentleman named Dave called me from the embassy, telling me that I was missing two medical forms and police clearance from my application. I freaked out. I didn't think I would be able to get the documentation I needed on time for my departure on July 14.

I wish I could tell you all the little obstacles that keep popping up in this process. Every time I think I have everything planned out, under control, sorted into lists, and managed, something unexpected gets in my way. After two months of seeing this happen, I've finally started to realize that God is trying to teach me how to trust Him completely--for little details and life plans. He is faithful. He has faithfully worked out all the details so far, sometimes in surprising ways. He won't let me down now.

I admit that I'm still a little worried about my visa getting processed in time for my trip. However, I'm able to look at this situation from a renewed perspective: my worry is a sin; God is in control; this set-back does not surprise Him; He will remain faithful, even when I am not (2 Timothy 2:13).

Please pray that I would be able to trust God in these last few weeks of preparation. Pray that the embassy would look on my visa with favor, and that they would approve it quickly! Also pray that God would continue to provide the support necessary for this trip--my living expenses while in South Africa still need to be covered.