update from africa

Ah, Africa. If nothing else, you learn flexibility! We planned for 160 kids to be at our carepoint, but when we began handing out crafts the first day, we ran out when we reached 200! We are leading VBS in the morning with preschoolers, and again in the afternoon with the elementary kids. There were around 170 kids in the afternoon alone! We got through the first day, quickly re-worked our plans for the next two days, and came up with a new plan. It feels like we are constantly coming up with a new plan for one thing or another. But it's so fun, and the entire team is extremely flexible, so we are just going with the flow!

Today, we had a birthday celebration for all of the kids. We had a blow up jump house, a parachute, donuts, and goody bags for every child. The kids even got meat with their lunch, a very special treat. It was so fun to hear the entire hall echo with the kids singing "Happy Birthday, to ME!" And to see the kids head home, over the hills and far away, with their goody bags slung over their shoulders, was great!

I got to spend time with our sponsor child, Nosipho, today. She is a very outgoing, fun-loving, silly little girl. I showed her pictures of our kids, and she was interested to see Maddie, who is the same age as her. I gave her cards that the kids had made and a family picture and told her that we pray for her every day.

The couple that live here full time and work with Adventures in Missions are amazing people. Kriek and Jumbo are from South Africa and have been working here with the Swazis for several years. They have so much work to do, and are all on their own. They have amazing patience and perseverence. I don't know how they are able to face the tragedies that they do on a daily basis, and not become either hard-hearted, or completely give up out of devestation. Yesterday, a gogo (grandmother) found twin 3-yr-old girls alone at their homestead that had been burned in a cooking fire. We don't know how long they had been there. What were 3 yr olds doing alone in a home with boing water??? They were treated at the hospital and sent home.

Nate is doing great here. We went to an orphanage a couple times (the only government run orphanage in all of Swaziland, awful conditions), and Nate's heart was broken over these kids. He played with a 12-yr-old that has only been there a few days, and Nate decided we should adopt Sekile. I wish we could. There is so little hope for these kids. Yesterday, Nate spent the day helping me with VBS. Today, he helped John build picnic tables for the carepoint. I think he needed a break from the kids climbing all over him.

I have tried to upload pictures, but the connection is too slow. I guess you'll have to wait until I get home to see the beautiful Swazi faces....