Gugu

Meet Gugu.



Gugu Sibanda is 22 years old, and lives with her three sisters, two brothers, a niece, a friend, and the friend's daughter in her parents’ home. Her father died in 2003 and her mother in early 2006. Gugu finished high school in 2005 and began work as a hairdresser to help the family during her mother’s illness. She is a lead singer in her church choir and taught Better Choices in the Masoyi Youth Program for a number of years.

Gugu just got accepted into the University of Limpopo to study Social Work. This is her heart:

I want to be a social worker to encourage change in my community. I want to help all those in need: Orphans, vulnerable children, and abused women and children. I have seen that many people are suffering in my country. I want to take care of the orphans and register them for grants. I want to make sure that their grants are used for their needs, and not for anyone else’s. When people come to me for help, I want to be able to help them and to advise them to get tested for HIV/AIDS, because HIV/AIDS kills too many people in our community. There are many orphans and street kids because of this killer disease.
As a social worker I can get into schools to advise the youth about HIV/AIDS. I know that they will listen to me when I talk to them- and if two or three can take my advice and get tested for HIV/AIDS, that would be worth it.
In Masoyi many people, especially the youth, need to understand that HIV/AIDS is real. There are still youth who do not believe that it is a reality. I want to bring awareness and truth around HIV/AIDS. Some youth believe that you can only get HIV/AIDS from having many partners; they do not know that even if you have one partner you are at risk of getting HIV/AIDS. The youth trust people who are not faithful to them. They just listen to people when they tell them they love them, especially the girls. This causes the spread of HIV/AIDS more and more. Other girls use their bodies to get money to buy alcohol at the bottle store, or they go there and get drunk and sleep with anyone.
I knew one girl who slept with four boys in one night. I asked her why she did that and she said because she was drunk. I as a person who cares about other people, told that girl that it is better to leave alcohol and do something that can keep her busy, like go to church choir practise on Saturday, or join any organization
Many people believe lies about HIV/AIDS, and they try to convince others. I want to educate people, so they know the truth about HIV/AIDS.

The end of the year has come

Well, last week Tuesday was our last day of official classes. Darryl taught class in the morning and then we had a party for the After School students afterwards. The party was interesting, fun, but also pretty disappointing. I had to use my teacher voice. Sometimes I forget that these kids are kids and I can't expect them to be super-students because they have very little. They can still be greedy, still be whiny, still be unappreciative. We had a good time, but there were glimpses of frustration in dealing with my own conception of the students.

We wrapped up the bridging classes with three things: Darryl's intense leadership series using one of John Maxwell's books, a research essay complete with citing and typing on our "new" computers, job shadowing, and the closing interviews. The interviews were incredible; the entire time I couldn't stop thinking how much I love these students and how honoured I feel being a part of their life.

On Saturday we had the graduation ceremony for the students. The students all bought a nice little outfit (compliments of the budget) so they can feel special on their special day and take pride in being the center of attention. The theme of the grad was "Bearing fruit" because it's really been on my heart (as one of the previous blogs showed), it had an impact on the students when I shared it in class, and because it seems appropriate now as they fly on their own, they must bear fruit. "This is to my father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples" John 15:8.

I couldn't believe how fancy the students were. The guys were dressed appropriately, wearing slacks and nice shirts and ties. Elvis even wore tan khaki pants, a baby blue shirt, and a baby blue and white argyle sweater vest over top. He was adorable! The girls though. ooooWOW. They had on the fanciest grad dresses ever and got their hair done the morning before at the "Saloon". (For some reason they call it a saloon here ... I tried to explain that a saloon is a tavern for cowboys). It was a beautiful beautiful day. I was so stressed, especially the day of. I woke up not wanting to go. As I got things set up, I got more and more excited. But then we didn't start for an hour after the time it was supposed to start. Africa. The students were about a half hour late arriving and THEN as soon as they arrived, the girls weren't even in their dresses. Africa.

But they got dressed and we walked down the aisle (to my least favourite song, the keeps bleeding keeps keeps bleeding song) like stars, everyone ululating. We had many guest speakers, encouraging the students and Darryl and I handed out certificates, sharing with all their family and friends what it is that makes each of these students so incredible. Mxolisi and Elvis were the student-appointed Valedictorians and so each delivered a speech. Sesinyana's brother, Surprise, surprised us with a really sweet dance. I've never seen anyone dance so sweet. Man it was awesome. Then after the grad, we (including one family member each of the students' choice) went to our place, prepared and ate a bazillion pizzas, watched Sister Act 2 and Mr. Bones and had a sleepover. In the morning we cooked French Toast then shipped them off. Sigh.

Now, I'd like to go through and talk about each student:

Mxolisi
He is one of the students I worried about. He isn't very strong academically and didn't get good results when he upgraded, so it didn't leave him with many options. But this is the man of love. Every time he preached, it was on love and how love is everything. He inspired Darryl and I tremendously and really challenged us to examine what we rooted everything in. His dream is to be a doctor. After he didn't have the marks for it, he wanted to be a nurse. The reason for this is because he's been to many clinics and has seen doctors and nurses treating the patients poorly. He says they would get angry at them and yell at them. This hurts him deeply and wants to nurse people to health with not only medicine, but love. Darryl and I didn't know how this would happen, as his marks and academic capabilities do not reflect what is needed to study medicine. But, God knows the desires of our hearts. I set Mxolisi up with Acts Hospice. Acts Clinic is one of the best Aids clinics in the world and is situated right across the road from us. The hospice, however, is in the community of Masoyi. So Mxolisi went and job shadowed there. He made beds, he bathed patients, he did paper work. It was incredible. And they loved him and have asked for him to return. So he has been returning. This is an incredible opportunity and we're hoping something will come of it. He went back one day to discover a couple of the patients he was nursing had died. I asked if it bothered him and he said it's sad, but the work requires a strong heart and lots of love and he strongly believes he possesses that.

Nokuzola
Nokuzola is an incredibly bright student, although her high school marks don't reflect it. Her grade 12 year found her mourning the death of her mother and taking on new responsibilities, like parenting her sister. She is a very well-grounded girl. She is solid in her faith and the joy that stems from this radiates from her face. She is absolutely beautiful. Her dream is to be a social worker. She qualified for a Social Auxiliary Work program at a small training institute called Zigna. We applied and she got accepted, just last week actually. She has been deeply challenged by Proverbs 30:8-9 and really challenged the rest of us with it also. God has placed this on her heart and she wants to advocate on behalf of those that cannot. There is a law in South Africa that allows girls as young as 12 to legally get abortions and this troubles her deeply. She feels that it only encourages young girls to be sexually active. She has a vision of starting a women's forum and challenging the government to have this changed. A big, but admirable vision.


Elvis
This man is incredible. He just turned 19 but has a hunger for wisdom I haven't seen in anyone that young and God really has blessed him with wisdom. He is a really good listener. He wants to grow and learn and knows the best way to do this is to listen and take correction. In return, he has experienced much growth. It was hard to imagine this because when I first met him I was so impressed that I wasn't sure where he could go from there. But man did he go. He also wants to be a Social Worker and this is a little closer to possible for him because he graduated with Exemption (the bare minimum level of distinction in order to apply for university). He applied to University of Limpopo and University of Venda. We're still waiting back to hear. We asked him what his vision was, what really makes his heart pound and he says he wants to be someone of influence. He sees what is happening in the community and desperately wants to change attitudes. He gave examples of women marrying men without love and how that is the reason for marriages breaking down and people sleeping around. He also discussed people attitudes regarding entitlement. He mentioned that his people just feel that they should receive handouts all the time. They see white people as being rich and feel that the white people should just give to them. He wants to loudly express that people have to work hard to get what they desire. He understands that in order for people to listen to him, he needs to be known and credible. This is why he wants to study. We asked what he will do if he doesn't get accepted into University this year. He says he will study. We ask what if there is no way he can study. He says he will study. This is Elvis. He wants to study.

Sesinyana
I've spoken a lot about Sesinyana, just because I think so highly of her. This girl has the biggest heart for the fatherless. Seriously, every time I go to her house, she has at least 5 kids sitting around visiting with her. She attracts children. She is safe and her home is safe place for them. She listens to them and shows them they are valued. She told me one day that every time she meets a new orphans, it motivates her. I'm not sure exactly what this means, but I think it's huge. We offered her the chance to be a volunteer at Hands at Work. Her heart and her vision is in line with the vision of Hands. She wants to reach out to the poor and fatherless, and as do we. She is a strong leader and her faith and strength prove her to be richer in character than many others. This is a huge leap of faith for her and for us. We don't have the funds to support her right now, but we are trusting people will want to support her in this. She has the capacity to make a huge impact not only in the communities we work in, but even in our own little community. It's going to be a huge challenge for her and a huge challenge for us, but it is so exciting. That is what Forward is all about. We cast the biblical mandate of reaching the poorest of the poor and raise them up as African leaders, empowering them to make an impact. We're hoping she accepts, but honestly I am so confident that she will make a huge impact on the fatherless no matter what. It is where her heart is and if there is one thing about Sesinyana, it's that the fire in her heart can never be taken from her.

Thapelo
This guy is the funniest. He's always dancing and singing. He likes to think he's Usher and every time he does his little smooth moves, I just can't contain the laughter... nor can I refrain from copying. Unfortunately, Thapelo didn't pass Grade 12 and when he upgraded, his results got lost in the system. It's been a huge struggle all year for him and for us. He wants to be an Engineer but without Grade 12, it's nearly impossible. Maybe it's safe to say it is impossible. Thapelo's heart is also in teaching about HIV/AIDS. He says the schools aren't doing a good enough job because girls are still getting Sugar Daddies and falling pregnant and people are still contracting the virus. Lifestyles are NOT changing. He would like to work with the schools and help them to teach it better. Coming from a very poor background, being orphaned, and knowing what kids do these days, he would be able to add a lot.

Mduduzi
He has a very quiet and humble spirit. He's someone everyone in the class admires and appreciates. My favourite thing about him is his smile. His smile is HUGE and it honestly raises the spirits of everyone around him. You can spot him from very far away because all you can see is white. He has a passion for agriculture and has recently applied to Lowveld College of Agriculture. He doesn't dance like the other guys, but once in a while he'll bust a move and it is the funniest thing in the world. Mduduzi improved tremendously academically. His work went from incomprehensible to strong and clear. At the interview, he expressed his new and deep relationship with God. He had a relationship with God before but now

Patricia
Patricia rules. She calls me "Make" (Mother) and I return the term of endearment. She is so passionate and very vocal about it. She is a voice for her people. She is not scared to speak up about what is happening to her people and she is not scared to address her people about the issues. Her heart is with orphans. She got accepted to Zigna as well with Zola and will be training come January to be a Social Auxiliary Worker. Her dream is to have a place like Masoyi Home-based Care. She loves to hear children laughing and playing. She talks about how these kids (like her once and still now) go to school or the care center all day and then go home only wishing that it was morning again so they could be away from home and back in school laughing with friends and feeling fearless. During the interview we asked what she will do if she doesn't get into Zigna. She said she will volunteer at Masoyi Home-based Care because she does not want to see it fall. I asked how she would manage living if she's volunteering, and if her aunt would support her just volunteering instead of getting a job. She says her aunt barely supports her now and she's surviving. She'll find a way to survive.

My heart will remain with these guys forever.

PS - I have a rip-roaring sunburn. The sun punished me good.
PPS - Hi Jon.

Zim.

I have been fascinated by the country of Zimbabwe. This fascination isn't your usual positive, exciting and uplifting fascination, but moreso I'm bombarded with question after question and my heart can't stop aching when hearing story after story.

Right now there is a Cholera outbreak. It is estimated that 1.4 million people are at risk of losing their lives. This is unbelievable. And especially with the rainy season coming on, excess water flow allows for water to be contaminated much easier.

The real crisis and what worsens this situation is the state of the health system. Government hospitals have been forced to shut down due to lack of funds for drugs, equipment or staff. People have nowhere to go to receive health care. They literally have to go buy medicine (which is unbelievably expensive) and wander around until they find a doctor to come into their home to administer it and treat them. Either that or wait and die in their homes.

And I need not to mention what effect this has on the already escalating Aids epidemic.


Please pray for Zim.


My friend, Jean Aimee wrote briefly about the diamond situation in Zim.
http://wivafrica.blogspot.com/2008/11/diamonds-for-goat.html

Lesotho

I had a great weekend in Lesotho with Brooke, Jed, and Marc. Lesotho is a mountainous country within South Africa. The landscape was stunning and the culture of the Besotho people was fascinating.



We had a Cultural Tour and even embarked on a three hour pony trek through the mountains. Our ponies each had interesting personalities and so acquired names. Mine was named Cliff and I swore if he continued being a big jerk I would turn his name into his fate. Marc named his Mare Quimby. Clever. And Jed named Brooke's Zigzag McGee because her horse was so ridiculous with it's zig-zagging. Even when the ground was nearly level. It was totally unnecessary and very funny.



The people are very isolated high in the mountains. The villages are very small, but there are many scattered throughout the mountains.



The land is full of sheep and goats grazing and men shepherding them. We crossed paths with one man sitting on his horse, holding a lamb.



The shepherds walk long distances on foot with a stick or sit on a horse wearing a bellaclava-like hat and a blanket wrapped around them. I love the blankets they where and thinking about them trekking all around those mountains wrapped in blankets.



But the life is hard, and having a "guided tour" of the village we were in was really hard to handle as it glossed over the hardships very well, portraying the culture as cute. Being in a community everyday and understanding the issues within these sort of communities makes going on a touristy tour very tough. I didn't really know how to react to the blanketing of the issues.


(The family we stayed a night with)

Each family has their own field and eats only what they grow. Subsistence farming is their way of life. And if it's a bad season (like this year) they will have no food and so begin rationing the food they do have very early on. What really got me was the water situation. I asked the tour guide where they fetch water (because I noticed the river to be very dirty, especially with so many animals around) and she said from fresh little streams from the top of the mountain. The sad thing is that even on a three hour pony trek around and up and down I saw no such streams. And even if there were, the mountains are so steep I can't imagine what type of task it would be to fetch water or how far one would have to climb in order to get water the animals haven't gotten to yet.



The cleanliness of the children was, I believe, reflected in this. They were so dirty. And it's not like I think a dirty child is bad. They play and they get dirty, but African people are quite clean and the children are bathed daily. These kids were not, so the acquisition of water is obviously an issue. And this especially becomes an issue when the children are bottomless (like most of these ones were). The boys seriously did not wear pants. I don't understand why. You would think one would choose pants over a shirt if he had to decide, but the kids were topped and not bottomed.
Life is definitely tough.



An interesting custom is that the home belongs to the woman and if men want to enter (and I mean the husbands) they have to knock and get permissoin. If the woman doesn't allow him to enter, he does not enter. This is because the home is a nurturing environment; the place where mother bonds with child and the man isn't allowed to interfere with that. When a child is born, the husband is not allowed to go into the house for the first three months of the child's life. This is because the mother is connecting with the baby. The husband sleeps elsewhere. What's even more interesting is that the baby is not considered a human being until after three months. This must tell you about the infant mortality rate in the past. Really sad.


And this place had the highest HIV rate in the world, a staggering 37%. Now it's down to 21% which is still REALLY high. The culture of the Swati people in Masoyi and the culture of the Besotho people in Lesotho and the culture of many other African communities are so unique but there's that one word that is a common thread linking them all, telling and retelling that same story of brokenness and despair.



Now on a more uplifting note, all four of us drank too much brown water and now are best friends with our toilet, making it's water, in turn, brown.

But the trip was worth it.

A tale of Tree Hearts

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.

Camp, Canadian Thanksgiving, Corruption, Crutches, and another C word to complete the alliteration

Today is a beautiful day. It’s sunny and windy, which is a great combination. Today I went to church with Nokuzola. It was awesome. Since I’ve been here, I haven’t really found a church I’ve connected with. I would even say I’m an irregular church attender. My favourite church is staying up at the farm, walking and talking and resting with and in the Lord and his creations. This church was nice and I think I’ll go back sometime. The people just radiated with joy. The music was awesome – Zola sings every Sunday and if you haven’t heard me speak of her voice yet, whew. She has the most beautiful voice. It gives me shivers every time she opens her mouth.

I like banana trees. If it is ever possible for me to grow them at home, I will. I love the way the wind flows through the slits in the large leaves. It sort of makes me think of tinsel just now. I don’t know why. Plus bananas ripened on the tree… pretty much can’t get any better than that.

I’ve been meaning to write about the Forward camp. The purpose of it was to allow the students to rest, reflect, and just exist in God’s presence. The theme was “New Wineskins” so we everything we talked about led towards the act of shedding the old, healing, and putting on the new. We had many sessions and they were powerful. The most powerful was when we hiked down the valley into a very green and luscious spot deep in the trees. Everyone went around sharing their struggles. It was a time everyone needed. We all shared and one of the students just broke. She talked about how she has cracks all over her body and shared about the hard things she deals with everyday. She wonders what it means to live. The beautiful part about it was as soon as she finished speaking, all the other students came and surrounded her and just prayed for her. We prayed for a very long time, sharing in her pain. And this is what it means to carry each other’s burdens, to actually have compassion and feel their pain. My heart hurt so much for her. But it’s how it has to happen. We all hurt, but God put us in a body together to lift each other up and that’s where the healing comes from.

Other lighter events. We stayed at the camp for 4 days and 3 nights. There was a bottom camp and up the mountain more a top camp. We wanted to stay at the bottom camp for a night and then the top camp for two nights, but we had a killer storm the first night (and it continued to storm randomly for the rest of the weekend) so the mucky road only let us stay at the top for the last night. The storm was unreal, with lightning, thunder, and hail the size of golf balls. Sleeping was sort of tough because of this squeaking in the roof that went on all night. All weekend we were trying to decide if it was rats or bats. And after hearing a story before bed that rats have an anesthetic in their saliva and they spit on your toes so that your toes numb and then they nibble them…. Sleeping wasn’t easy. Not to mention waking up and having mouse (or rat? I recognized it as mouse… but I’ve never seen rat) poo not only on my bed but IN my sleeping bag. Cooking was a challenge. The challenge wasn’t cooking everything over a fire. That was easy. The challenge was starting a fire and cooking in between (or during) storms. OH! And we swung on vines! During the first hike into the valley, we found many vines. There was one we found great for swinging. We had to be careful because it was a little slippery from the damp and humid forest. I started on a rock and jumped onto the vine. As soon as the vine lost all its momentum the first direction and before the vine came back, I slipped right off. It was hilarious but avoiding the tree was fortunate. I almost pulled a George of the Jungle.
What else happened…
Oh three of the guy students got baptized in the river. That was sweet. Mduduzi, Mxolisi, and Thapelo. We were all going to swim after, but yet again, a storm came.
One of the days, we were all sitting around the fire journaling when we heard some crazy noises from the bush. It was a bit of a frightening animal noise. The students all recognized it as baboons. We thought nothing of it and continued until it came closer and closer. Now, baboons are not your nice friendly monkey friend that sits on your shoulder and plays a music box. These things are vicious. When we went to Kruger Park with the students, we all had to research an animal prior. I researched baboons and those dominant males are freaky freaky freaky. So we were feeling frightened. Darryl, Lacey and Callan decided to get weapons and find the baboons. Darryl chose a large log, Callan chose an axe and Lacey… she chose a frying pan. They saw the baboons but the baboons ran away.
The top camp was quite nice. It was a little cottage that reminded me of Snow White. That night, the students had a little African dance party. It was sweet. They sang traditional songs and danced in the traditional way. Us whites tried to join in and some of us succeeded, but most of us did not. They have rhythm that is foreign to us foreigners. But it was a blast. We then went to bed. Oh, did I mention our sleeping arrangements? We slept on bunks and that was nice but the top camp did not have doors on the building. Apparently they had been stolen. It was no big deal because we were so far from civilization. Or does that make it worse? I knew ahead of time there were no doors but the way I pictured it, I thought it was no big deal. When I saw how small the rooms were and how freaky having no door made it, then it was a big deal. And then add the fact that the students the whole time wouldn’t stop talking about ghosts. Especially this specific ghost that creepily says “Buya” and wants your head. I had to use the toilet in the middle of the night but I was far too scared. I held it and held it and held it and then finally I heard some people getting up. It ended up being 6 or 7 of us going. Apparently, everyone had to go but was too scared until Zola got the courage to go and we all tagged along.
The next day we went on a biiiiiiiiig hike. The hike took us down the valley and then up a big mountain. At the top of the mountain we had communion, which consisted of shortbread cookies and milky juice boxes. It was probably the most beautiful communion I’ve ever had. That’s got to tell you about the versatility of symbolism. So that was the camp. It ruled. I’m posting pictures soon, hopefully tomorrow so stay tuned.

Maybe I should also write about Thanksgiving. We had an incredible Canadian Thanksgiving. All of the staff and volunteers came, so about 50 people were there. All the Canadians were responsible for bringing a traditional item, and others were just encouraged to bring anything. The only problem was that we couldn’t find a turkey anywhere, so we cooked 6 chickens. I can’t tell the difference between chicken and turkey anyway when it’s smothered and drowning in gravy. We made perogies, lazy man cabbage rolls, stuffing, pumpkin pie made out of squash and tasting the exact same, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc, etc. The works. The table was FULL of food but I can’t seem to waste my plate space on all the fancy frilly things. As much as I love new varieties of food, when it comes to Thanksgiving, there’s no time to fool around. We even shared how Thanksgiving came to be, but no one was really sure. We all had our own made up renditions of how it happened and put something together to educate the non-Thanksgiving celebrators on it. If we succeeded in truth or not, it doesn’t matter. Something about pilgrims and harvest and Natives and a ship. We give thanks and that’s good enough.

Another thing, I took three students to Limpopo Province to register for Social Work at two universities: University of Limpopo and University of Venda. We drove the whole way. I forget how many kilometers I put on, but it was a lot. The universities were interesting but the really eventful part was almost getting two speeding tickets in a row. The first one, the guy ahead of me paid off the cop so he allowed us to go too, and the second one just let us go, I’m not sure why. PTL?

Darryl got hit by a car. He was running in the middle of the road with his earphones on and got hit. He smoked the windshield and was thrown in front of the car onto the ground. I’ve never done so much nagging in my life to get him to go to the clinic and then finally after going and discovering he has a broken foot and getting a cast, more nagging to make sure he doesn’t walk on it. For some reason he just doesn’t understand that a doctor’s orders are for a reason. Good thing he’s got an expert on foot breaks to help him out.

They don’t celebrate Halloween here. It’s sad. And being in such a Christian community makes it hard to celebrate as well. Who says Halloween’s a pagan festival? It’s just some kids dressing up and eating candy. Sure Halloween ORIGINATED with evil and witches and death and other creepy things and kids like to dress up as vampires but surely God likes a little face paint once in a while. No? So, I didn’t dress up. Plus I figured the people in the community (especially the old Gogo’s) would think I was a real witch. The most disappointing part is that I think this was the first Halloween ever that I didn’t watch Ernest Scared Stupid.

And signing off.

New Wineskins

This weekend is a very highly anticipated weekend. It’s the Forward Camp. It’s a weekend filled with quiet time, journaling, and reflection for the students and for the rest of us. The theme is New Wineskins (a new creation). Everything we do or talk about on the weekend will lead towards becoming new.

I’m leading a session on Healing, using James 5:16 as the anchor: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you maybe healed…”
The students have so much grief and hurt inside that builds up. In order for them to become this new creation, without cracks and brokenness, healing must happen. In James, it says that healing comes through confessing in community and praying in community. It isn’t until it comes out and in the open that God can really prune it. We will have an open sharing time in order to achieve this. Lacey suggested a powerful symbolic activity to assist in this healing. She suggested taking rocks and writing on it what has hurt us and what is preventing us from healing. We will then throw these rocks and hurts into the river, releasing them for good. Then we will spend some time just praying for one another.

I’m very excited for this weekend and am trusting God to really work in all of us.

We’re there from Thursday to Sunday. I’ll try my best to let you all know how the camp went.

Please pray that the students will be touched in a special way. I know that many of them are feeling weary, disappointed, and beginning to lose hope. A lot of them have been through some significant challenges in the last little while and need renewal. We all need it.