One of the most beautiful pictures right now is that of the vine and the branches. It’s beautiful imagery of remaining in Jesus and by staying connected to his vine, we can bear good fruit. Apples, mangoes, bananas of love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, gentleness, … And God the Gardener coming along with his little snippers and taking off all the bad branches to allow room for fresh and new growth. It’s beautiful! And the fruit that we bear is not to just ripen on the vine and then shrivel up on the vine, it’s to be picked! Other people can pick it and eat it and experience the fruit we bear. They can experience our kindness, gentleness, patience, etc. We will be recognized by our fruit. It’s an easy way to check if we’re connected to the vine. If we bear no fruit, we’ve either severed the branch from the vine or we allow too many bad branches to choke out the fruit. If we bear bad fruit, our branch is connected to a bad tree. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Beautiful. Maybe it’s because I’m a huge fan of trees that I connect so much with this picture.
“Remain in me and I will remain in you”
(John 15: 1-8)
The students are having tea and then will be busy writing an exam so I have some time to think and share. They are laughing hysterically. I’m not sure what happened; it’s always unfortunate when I miss it, but I know it was good because Zola is cackling and can barely breathe and Sesinyana ran out of the room full of tears. These people are beautiful and I’m so fortunate that I’ve been able to be a part of their growth and understand the uniqueness of each personality.
This week Darryl took half the students to the library and began doing library research with them and the other half stayed in the classroom with me and I began teaching basic computer stuff. Some were okay at computers already: they knew how to click a mouse, they knew what the cursor was, and they knew how to turn the computer on. Others, not so much. It’s PAINFUL (in a good way) to teach someone computers who has never even touched one. Patricia was scared to go near one. She is often dramatic about these things, but it was funny. Just like she’s scared of flush toilets (because she says in her culture they don’t poo in water), she was hesitant about the computer. But she got on and began the experience. Sesinyana and Nokuzola were hilarious. Everytime Sesinyana clicked the mouse she sort of jumped as if she was putting a lot of force into it. It reminded me of when some girls play Nintendo and they jump when Mario jumps and run with the controller as Mario runs. Zola was funny playing Mavis Beacon. I think she was typing at 4 WPM. And you can tell every time she messes up because you’d hear this “Eesh” from the computer area.
Oh yeah, the class definitely has a computer area now. We got Bethuel to build a nice computer table and we have three-ish computers on it. We also have a research area. It is a table consisting of two sets of encyclopedias and math, biology, physics, construction, health, geography and English textbooks. It’s awesome because even the after-school students (the ones in secondary school that come for homework support) have material to actually read from and study from and practice from. It’s crazy how they are expected to do research papers and type essays and letters and even LEARN when they have no access to anything. They can’t afford to take a taxi to the library in White River, they don’t know anyone with a computer plus they have no idea how to work a computer, and they have no books or resources to get information from. They just write research papers from their own mind, with no fact. Their “enriching” experience with knowledge throughout school really isn’t that enriching. What they learn is from their own minds or their teachers’ minds. I’ve seen so many students come into this classroom saying they have a research project and because we had no tools and they have no tools, they just answered the questions and built a project based on what they know. It’s not much of an effective activity if the research aspect is missed.
But enough about the education system.
We’re preparing for the students’ graduation ceremony. It’s pretty exciting. They are all thrilled! But some are stressed too. This is the biggest event of the year for them and they are worried about what they will wear. They don’t have nice dresses or suits to wear and no money to get their hair done nice. And as much as they understand that clothing isn’t important, it means a lot for them to look nice on this special day. The option of borrowing an outfit is definitely there but borrowing from anyone usually costs R50. Because there is so much theft in this country, even friends charge that to ensure it is returned. It’s become a custom now; borrowing a nice dress for free is rare.
As exciting as this event is, it is quite saddening for me. It marks the end of the year and the end of my time with them. What was a great opportunity for them in the beginning is over and now they must fly on their own. Nokuzola and Patricia will hopefully be heading off to Bushbuck Ridge to study Social Auxiliary Work at Zigna. Mduduzi will hopefully be off to Nelspruit to study at Lowveld College of Agriculture. Elvis will hopefully be off to either Polokwane or Thohoyandou to study a degree in Social Work at the universities there. Mxolisi will hopefully find something in the health field, whether that be an informal training or 6 week training in Nelspruit for primary caregiving. I say hopefully because no acceptance letters have come in yet, but I’ve been making phone calls and speaking with people in these schools to convince them that these students are incredible and to not admit them would be a huge mistake. We fear for Thapelo, though, because he re-wrote his exams and somehow his results have been lost in the system. Without those results, it’s hard to find something for him. We can’t apply to schools. But we have faith that God will reveal a path for him. Sesinyana is one I’m quite excited about. We’ve begun thinking of how we can get more strong African leaders involved with Hands at Work. We are working out a way she can join the Footprints program, which is a one year program where the volunteers are trained for 10 weeks (or longer) and then sent out to build capacity in other countries. Her heart for orphans is incredible. One day she told me every time she meets a new orphan it motivates her. And another day she said she’s glad she didn’t pass grade 12 and can’t go on to university because so many people leave, forget their community, and don’t want to come back. She feels strongly about serving the orphans in her community and she doesn’t want to be like the others that forget. We’re working on how we can make it possible for her to join us.
On a personal level, I’ve been getting myself more acquainted with the bigger picture of Hands. Right now I’m working with a high-level, high resourced education program, which isn’t really what Hands does. Hands at Work strives to reach 100 000 orphans and vulnerable children with three BASIC and essential services: health care, education, and food security. That does not mean university preparation. It means teaching orphans how to clean their house or grow a garden. We really mean basic. I’m really excited for next year because I’ll be playing a role in the education side of things. There are a number of community schools we’ve built in Zambia and Malawi that need more support and training. Right now the students meet in an empty building or in an existing church. The teachers are volunteers and there aren’t many resources. My heart beats so fast when I think about working with those schools and helping them to improve the education they provide. As much as South Africa has suffering, these other countries we work in are in greater need. Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Swaziland, Congo, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a place that fascinates me. Read up on Zimbabwe and what’s happening there. What once used to be known as the “Breadbasket of Africa” is now the opposite. Major food shortages, tight political reigns, and a blind eye have put this country in a very desperate place. Not to mention the diamonds recently discovered in one area that people are saying is the new Blood Diamond. Anyway, look into it.
This weekend Brooke, Jed, Marc, and I are going to Lesotho for a little holiday. It’s our way of saying good-bye to Marc before he leaves. I feel so sad when I think about Marc leaving in three weeks. There will definitely be a hole in my heart. Perhaps I’ll create an imaginary friend and call him Marc. He will watch the Office with me and quote it during the day. He’ll play guitar for me and I will shoulder dance as he plays. We will play tag daily but I will most likely win. I will cut his hair in all kinds of fun and exciting dos: Asian Punk, Robbie Hart, Bob Marley, Marc Damour, Lloyd Christmas, and so on. Or perhaps I should start getting used to being a third wheel. Brooke and Jed will be thrilled with my needy, clingy and dependant company. But, it will be a nice trip. Can’t get much better than pony trekking in the mountains.
OH and added to the list of people coming to South Africa is Dayla and three of her friends! So now it seems to be Dave, Louise, Bethany, Jenna Lane and Dayla that will be joining me on this adventure next year.
One last thing I’m not sure if I have mentioned. Did you know they call traffic lights here ROBOTS!!? How bizza, how bizza.
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