Hello to you all!!
(sorry again for the late post... spotty internet. I wrote this on saturday. Enjoy!)
It’s hard for me to really believe that I will actually be saying “hello” to you in person in the next few days. Although I only have a couple days left, I have been living them to the fullest. Yesterday I went with my friend, Sphumelele (Rehoboth’s social worker), to an African fabric bazaar. I bought this fabulous- very African- material to make a Zulu dress and headdress. Sphume’s seamstress met us at the bazaar to take my measurements and go over the design for my dress. I was the only white person in the store (or the surrounding area, for that matter). Needless to say, the seamstress laughed at my bust measurements and my attempts at speaking Zulu the whole time. I will go on Monday to have my final fitting.
Then Sphume and I caught an infamous South African taxi to go to a friend’s pre-wedding negotiation. While we were waiting for a taxi, this Zulu man was staring at me and circling me so I starred back to make sure he wouldn’t take my bag. Then he said, “I like your [butt]” except much more vulgar. Although my Zulu is pretty limited I managed to yell “haibo, uku shaya” which means “hell no! I’m going to hit you.” Turns out, I was just warming up for the wedding negotiation which was in Gamalakhe, a township. I was certainly sticking out with my very white skin so many people asked to take their picture with me or touch my hair. I even was purposed to half a dozen times by slightly drunk men (or their mothers). Nonetheless, I had a very fun afternoon sitting around chatting with the Zulu women, eating traditional food, listening to the organ music and watching the bride and groom negotiate their family’s gifts. I was even given a Zulu name, Siyamthanda, which means “we love her.” Sweet, hey?
Like I expected, the goodbyes are much worse than when I left America. I started telling my preschoolers last week that I was going to leave so they wouldn’t be surprised come Tuesday. It stung pretty bad when Y said “I thought you were going to live here forever. I’m sad.” Or when N asked if I’d be back for his birthday party in December. Nothing like abandoning orphans that have already been abandoned before. I am comforted by the story of the transfiguration of Jesus.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one fore Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. – Mark 9:2-8
Jesus led His disciples to the high mountain where they were amazed just as He led me to Rehoboth, sitting on top of a mountain. I was able to see God in new and dazzling ways through the faces of the children and witnessed many miracles. Like Peter, I’m about ready to set up my tent and stay with Moses, Elijah and Jesus on this mount because life is so good here. It doesn’t sound like Peter had that chance either but instead followed Jesus back into the valley where his faith was challenged and, in turn, experienced growth.
So I guessed I am back to where I began. I cling to the title verse of my blog: Isaiah 48:17. “ Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.”
I thank you for your prayers and for keeping up with my ramblings through this blog. If you would like to support Rehoboth in a more tangible way, there is a sponsorship program where you can donate $50 a month (or any amount) to provide the loving care, medical treatment and schooling for one of our kids. My roommate, Tamara, will send you regular updates and photos of your sponsor child. The kids really do love their sponsors and post all of their mail and photos in their bedrooms.
I love you and miss you all.
-a teary Brigid
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
lessons learned
Hello friends and family!
Sorry this blog is just now being updated... long story about the internet. I can only blog today so I haven't checked facebook or my email in case you sent me a message.
Well, wouldn’t you know! After staying healthy and dodging every stomach bug and runny nose all summer, I finally caught the stomach flu and a chest/head cold at the same time. I was up all Sunday night running back and forth to the toilet with my “runny tummy” and let me tell you, diarhea (sp?) just isn’t fun when you only have 1-ply toilet paper. Although the stomach bug only lasted a couple days, I still have some nasty cold lingering.
It’s quite something to be considered sick when you live at a children’s village full of HIV and AIDS. It was bitter sweet to walk into my classroom on Wednesday and hear the children tell me that they had been praying for my runny tummy. It’s awful to know that some day, when their CD4 count is low enough, that a dumb stomach bug could end up taking their lives. I never knew how blessed I was to have a healthy immune system.
This last week two different teams came to Rehoboth on short-term mission trips. The first team was from Lakepoint Baptist Church in Dallas (Rockwall) and the second from a small church in Canada. I made sure to wear my Baylor shirt so they would all know that I was a Texan. It was strangely comforting to be asked, “where are you from?” and be able to answer, “Amarillo,” instead of “America.” I was reminded of the joy and excitement I felt the first time I came to Rehoboth on a very similar 10-day trip last May and was encouraged to regain my enthusiasm that has somehow become more “routine” in the past three months.
I decided, more for my own benefit than for yours, that I would catalogue some of the lessons I have learned over the past 84 days in hopes that I won’t forgot this summer as I get sucked back into student life. Here goes…
Independence: It is hard to go back in time with technology. My dependence on my iPhone, laptop, internet, automatic steering, central heating and air conditioning, etc. has been shamelessly exposed in Africa. I realize that almost all of these “necessities” exist so that I can be independent. I loathe inconveniencing people with my needs and will find any way around asking for a favor. That mentality is ridiculous to Africans; because almost everyone lacks resources, relying on one another is the necessity—not technology.
Standing still: I’m more introverted than I ever would have guessed. I seek the moments that I will be alone so that I can journal, process thoughts and write letters. I still battle with the ever-present FOMO (fear of missing out) but find myself more upset if I miss my alone time than if I miss a braai (BBQ).
Time and distance: I still struggle to be in the present time and place. I spent months, weeks and days counting down for this trip and once I got here I started counting the months, weeks and days until I’d be coming home. I wonder why time, which is completely outside of my control, is able to control so many of my thoughts.
Hygiene: I am proud (and a little disgusted) that showering once or twice a week is my new norm and I’m totally ok with it.
Self-image/self-confidence: Did I ever mention that for the first month and a half at Rehoboth I had the strep virus on my face followed by ringworm? You don’t get strep throat here; you get strep face. As soon as that began to clear up, I got ringworm all over my nose, on my arm and on my leg. I suddenly became very insecure with my hair an untamed mess, my face covered in red rings (with NO make-up to even begin to cover it up) and my wardrobe only consisting of five t-shirts, a few skirts and two pairs of ill-fitting jeans from high school. Let me just say, my self-confidence is wrapped up in my self-image far more than I’d like to admit.
Immediacy: When I look through the “before and after” photos of the kids here, it is obvious that huge progress is taking place. I can’t even begin to describe the impact that Rehoboth has had on their lives but while I am here I still see many of the kids years behind where they should be and get frustrated. I want to sit down and fix it. I realize that some problems are just too big to deal with in one go. Progress takes time. There is no use in getting frustrated. Slow and steady does actually win the race.
Being alone: It’s hard to come alone. It’s hard to start over and re-establish who you are without the people and places that “make” you who you are. On the other side, it is helpful to strip yourself of everything that makes yourself “you” and dig deeper to find out more.
Adults: Yikes! People see me as an adult here!! I am not seen as a student but as an adult. All of my friends are almost 30 or older…. Not sure what to add to that other than I am glad that I get the chance to be a college kid again next year.
Weekends: Real, legitimate weekends are bliss! Try not to do any work at all for one weekend and not worry about it. It’s challenging but so wonderful when you get the hang of it!
Family: I am so grateful for my family. I could ramble on forever about the importance of my family.
Generosity/ hospitality: When I went into the community to a house mother’s home, I was shocked by the poverty and hospitality together. Her house was as spotless as a house could be with a dirt floor. Although her family had very little, they shared all that they had and were proud of their family. We walked by their avocado tree and I said something about how I loved avocados. (shout out to kaylyn and chad) And when we left her son had picked probably 20 of them to give to me. I hope to imitate their hospitability and generosity.
I think I’m getting a little long-winded so I will stop there. I have learned so much in these three months and am excited to integrate these lessons into my American life.
I miss you all and am beyond excited to see you all in only 10 days!!!
-b
Sorry this blog is just now being updated... long story about the internet. I can only blog today so I haven't checked facebook or my email in case you sent me a message.
Well, wouldn’t you know! After staying healthy and dodging every stomach bug and runny nose all summer, I finally caught the stomach flu and a chest/head cold at the same time. I was up all Sunday night running back and forth to the toilet with my “runny tummy” and let me tell you, diarhea (sp?) just isn’t fun when you only have 1-ply toilet paper. Although the stomach bug only lasted a couple days, I still have some nasty cold lingering.
It’s quite something to be considered sick when you live at a children’s village full of HIV and AIDS. It was bitter sweet to walk into my classroom on Wednesday and hear the children tell me that they had been praying for my runny tummy. It’s awful to know that some day, when their CD4 count is low enough, that a dumb stomach bug could end up taking their lives. I never knew how blessed I was to have a healthy immune system.
This last week two different teams came to Rehoboth on short-term mission trips. The first team was from Lakepoint Baptist Church in Dallas (Rockwall) and the second from a small church in Canada. I made sure to wear my Baylor shirt so they would all know that I was a Texan. It was strangely comforting to be asked, “where are you from?” and be able to answer, “Amarillo,” instead of “America.” I was reminded of the joy and excitement I felt the first time I came to Rehoboth on a very similar 10-day trip last May and was encouraged to regain my enthusiasm that has somehow become more “routine” in the past three months.
I decided, more for my own benefit than for yours, that I would catalogue some of the lessons I have learned over the past 84 days in hopes that I won’t forgot this summer as I get sucked back into student life. Here goes…
Independence: It is hard to go back in time with technology. My dependence on my iPhone, laptop, internet, automatic steering, central heating and air conditioning, etc. has been shamelessly exposed in Africa. I realize that almost all of these “necessities” exist so that I can be independent. I loathe inconveniencing people with my needs and will find any way around asking for a favor. That mentality is ridiculous to Africans; because almost everyone lacks resources, relying on one another is the necessity—not technology.
Standing still: I’m more introverted than I ever would have guessed. I seek the moments that I will be alone so that I can journal, process thoughts and write letters. I still battle with the ever-present FOMO (fear of missing out) but find myself more upset if I miss my alone time than if I miss a braai (BBQ).
Time and distance: I still struggle to be in the present time and place. I spent months, weeks and days counting down for this trip and once I got here I started counting the months, weeks and days until I’d be coming home. I wonder why time, which is completely outside of my control, is able to control so many of my thoughts.
Hygiene: I am proud (and a little disgusted) that showering once or twice a week is my new norm and I’m totally ok with it.
Self-image/self-confidence: Did I ever mention that for the first month and a half at Rehoboth I had the strep virus on my face followed by ringworm? You don’t get strep throat here; you get strep face. As soon as that began to clear up, I got ringworm all over my nose, on my arm and on my leg. I suddenly became very insecure with my hair an untamed mess, my face covered in red rings (with NO make-up to even begin to cover it up) and my wardrobe only consisting of five t-shirts, a few skirts and two pairs of ill-fitting jeans from high school. Let me just say, my self-confidence is wrapped up in my self-image far more than I’d like to admit.
Immediacy: When I look through the “before and after” photos of the kids here, it is obvious that huge progress is taking place. I can’t even begin to describe the impact that Rehoboth has had on their lives but while I am here I still see many of the kids years behind where they should be and get frustrated. I want to sit down and fix it. I realize that some problems are just too big to deal with in one go. Progress takes time. There is no use in getting frustrated. Slow and steady does actually win the race.
Being alone: It’s hard to come alone. It’s hard to start over and re-establish who you are without the people and places that “make” you who you are. On the other side, it is helpful to strip yourself of everything that makes yourself “you” and dig deeper to find out more.
Adults: Yikes! People see me as an adult here!! I am not seen as a student but as an adult. All of my friends are almost 30 or older…. Not sure what to add to that other than I am glad that I get the chance to be a college kid again next year.
Weekends: Real, legitimate weekends are bliss! Try not to do any work at all for one weekend and not worry about it. It’s challenging but so wonderful when you get the hang of it!
Family: I am so grateful for my family. I could ramble on forever about the importance of my family.
Generosity/ hospitality: When I went into the community to a house mother’s home, I was shocked by the poverty and hospitality together. Her house was as spotless as a house could be with a dirt floor. Although her family had very little, they shared all that they had and were proud of their family. We walked by their avocado tree and I said something about how I loved avocados. (shout out to kaylyn and chad) And when we left her son had picked probably 20 of them to give to me. I hope to imitate their hospitability and generosity.
I think I’m getting a little long-winded so I will stop there. I have learned so much in these three months and am excited to integrate these lessons into my American life.
I miss you all and am beyond excited to see you all in only 10 days!!!
-b
Saturday, July 24, 2010
17 more days....
Hello friends and family!!
Let the countdown begin- only 17 more days in Africa. With such a short time left I have many conflicting and confusing emotions and thoughts swirling around my head. I guess I should rewind back to my expectations and reasons for dropping myself in the middle of no-where Africa for three months.
As we drove away last summer from Rehoboth I knew that I had to come back. I felt like there was a place for me to serve along side the Zulu women here to help raise these precious orphans. Not only have you all probably felt similar tugging at your heart to serve but the whole service thing is the politically correct answer to "why did you move to south africa to volunteer at an HIV/AIDS orphanage?" (So I will leave it at that.)
My desire to serve was not my only motivation. No, if I'm honest to myself I am way more selfish than that. Another reason for coming was to find rest, isolation and time. I find myself racing through life from class to work to BRH to Sonic happy hour to Monday "lugnut" lunches to driving to Austin in the middle of the night to studying for my 18 hours of course work.. you get the picture. Although my life seems next to perfect I leave myself no time for rest. No time to be still. No time to be quiet. Many weeks my only time alone is the 30 minute drive to and from work. I know you all have similar stories.
In a strange way I felt like the only way for me to find this time and rest was to switch continents. (sounds a little extreme.) Even during the "slow and lazy days of summer" I pack my schedule with things and people. The funny thing is that I think I use my time well... at least for the American standard. All of that just seems silly while I walk behind a Zulu woman. You don't move very far very quickly. :) With all of that being said, I love this slower paced life and find myself already missing it before I have even left. In fact, I went to bed at 8 o'clock last night just cause I could.
On the other hand, I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't excited to come home. I miss all of my friends and family very much. I am frustrated with myself at how much I miss the comforts of my American lifestyle... like my shower, pedicures, make-up and an ant-free kitchen. I feel like I will always have one foot in Africa, one foot in Waco and a hand in Amarillo. It'll be hard to feel complete for a while, I'm afraid.
Enough of that, let me give you a few updates on the past couple weeks. I am still enjoying working as the pre-school teacher but have never realized how difficult that job actually is. I'm forced to think backwards to knowledge that I guess we were all born with like the difference between a fruit and a vegetable or what it means to be sad or jealous or the days of the week. It's challenging to come up with new (and fun) ways to go back to the very, very basics of life. In any case, I am completely redecorating the whole class room (what did you expect)... I never knew how much fun it is to decorate bulletin boards!
Yesterday my preschoolers were having a breaktime outside when one of them colided with another. N got a bloody lip and without thinking about it I held a cube of ice on it until it started bleeding... I didn't even think about the fact that he was HIV positive. Fortunately N's little brother held a sand bucket under his lip to catch the blood and melting ice. So sweet. :) Don't get worried mom, you can only pass HIV if you have blood on blood contact so his blood cannot infect my skin or anything.
Two weeks ago I decided that I wanted to get my hair braided.... that was quite a decision. Auntie Thulie braided my hair for SEVEN HOURS over the course of three days. (I'm telling you, only in Africa would I ever have 7 hours to sit still.) She did a wonderful job but I must say it was itchy and kinda hurt my head. After a week of my Zulu hair, I decided to take it out. Tamara and I sad for over TWO hours unbraiding my hair... my hair was huge. I had the best afro you've ever seen. In fact, my hair was so huge that my ponytail was too big to hold with one hand. I washed my hair 4 times after that to get it to calm down... I don't think that I'll be braiding my hair again any time soon!!
To go with my African hair, I ate some delicious african lunches last week with our social worker, Sphume and our childcare supervisor, Khiwa. I must admit that I truly did like cow intestines and the chicken that Khiwa had killed herself the day before. :)
Well, for time's sake, that's all for now. We have to get back to Rehoboth early today cause a group of 30 something Americans (from TEXAS) are coming to play with the kids for a couple hours. I am wearing my Baylor shirt so that they know I'm a proud Texan as well. :)
Miss you and love you!!
-B
Let the countdown begin- only 17 more days in Africa. With such a short time left I have many conflicting and confusing emotions and thoughts swirling around my head. I guess I should rewind back to my expectations and reasons for dropping myself in the middle of no-where Africa for three months.
As we drove away last summer from Rehoboth I knew that I had to come back. I felt like there was a place for me to serve along side the Zulu women here to help raise these precious orphans. Not only have you all probably felt similar tugging at your heart to serve but the whole service thing is the politically correct answer to "why did you move to south africa to volunteer at an HIV/AIDS orphanage?" (So I will leave it at that.)
My desire to serve was not my only motivation. No, if I'm honest to myself I am way more selfish than that. Another reason for coming was to find rest, isolation and time. I find myself racing through life from class to work to BRH to Sonic happy hour to Monday "lugnut" lunches to driving to Austin in the middle of the night to studying for my 18 hours of course work.. you get the picture. Although my life seems next to perfect I leave myself no time for rest. No time to be still. No time to be quiet. Many weeks my only time alone is the 30 minute drive to and from work. I know you all have similar stories.
In a strange way I felt like the only way for me to find this time and rest was to switch continents. (sounds a little extreme.) Even during the "slow and lazy days of summer" I pack my schedule with things and people. The funny thing is that I think I use my time well... at least for the American standard. All of that just seems silly while I walk behind a Zulu woman. You don't move very far very quickly. :) With all of that being said, I love this slower paced life and find myself already missing it before I have even left. In fact, I went to bed at 8 o'clock last night just cause I could.
On the other hand, I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't excited to come home. I miss all of my friends and family very much. I am frustrated with myself at how much I miss the comforts of my American lifestyle... like my shower, pedicures, make-up and an ant-free kitchen. I feel like I will always have one foot in Africa, one foot in Waco and a hand in Amarillo. It'll be hard to feel complete for a while, I'm afraid.
Enough of that, let me give you a few updates on the past couple weeks. I am still enjoying working as the pre-school teacher but have never realized how difficult that job actually is. I'm forced to think backwards to knowledge that I guess we were all born with like the difference between a fruit and a vegetable or what it means to be sad or jealous or the days of the week. It's challenging to come up with new (and fun) ways to go back to the very, very basics of life. In any case, I am completely redecorating the whole class room (what did you expect)... I never knew how much fun it is to decorate bulletin boards!
Yesterday my preschoolers were having a breaktime outside when one of them colided with another. N got a bloody lip and without thinking about it I held a cube of ice on it until it started bleeding... I didn't even think about the fact that he was HIV positive. Fortunately N's little brother held a sand bucket under his lip to catch the blood and melting ice. So sweet. :) Don't get worried mom, you can only pass HIV if you have blood on blood contact so his blood cannot infect my skin or anything.
Two weeks ago I decided that I wanted to get my hair braided.... that was quite a decision. Auntie Thulie braided my hair for SEVEN HOURS over the course of three days. (I'm telling you, only in Africa would I ever have 7 hours to sit still.) She did a wonderful job but I must say it was itchy and kinda hurt my head. After a week of my Zulu hair, I decided to take it out. Tamara and I sad for over TWO hours unbraiding my hair... my hair was huge. I had the best afro you've ever seen. In fact, my hair was so huge that my ponytail was too big to hold with one hand. I washed my hair 4 times after that to get it to calm down... I don't think that I'll be braiding my hair again any time soon!!
To go with my African hair, I ate some delicious african lunches last week with our social worker, Sphume and our childcare supervisor, Khiwa. I must admit that I truly did like cow intestines and the chicken that Khiwa had killed herself the day before. :)
Well, for time's sake, that's all for now. We have to get back to Rehoboth early today cause a group of 30 something Americans (from TEXAS) are coming to play with the kids for a couple hours. I am wearing my Baylor shirt so that they know I'm a proud Texan as well. :)
Miss you and love you!!
-B
Saturday, July 17, 2010
More photos!
Hello everyone!! I still haven't figured out all of the formatting stuff with the photos. You'll have to deal with the scattered pics! This is S and I at the crocodile farm.
Looking at the hundreds of crocodiles.
S is always adorable.
Here's my preschool. Chaos is the norm.
Here's little S. He was terrified the whole time at Pure Venom... I had to carry him around the whole time. But by the end he held the python!! So proud of him. By the way, this is the little one that got lost while we were at the crocodile farm. One of his ears doesn't have an opening and the other one doesn't have an ear drum. I've only heard him talk maybe three times.
Icecream after Toy Story 3.
Here is my view walking down the hill to my house. Gonna miss the sunsets here!!
Monday our preschool teacher quit, effective immediately. So, I became the preschool teacher starting Tuesday. Naturally I have taken it upon myself to redecorate. This tree will be the new growth chart one I finish.
Here's S, N and L being adorable. (N, the girl that I have tried to adopt, is wearing my jacket and pretending to be me.)
Haha, N is the most hilarious child in the whole village I think. Would you believe that she had two brain operations last year to get rid of her drug resistant TB?
Here's Tracy. She came to help out at Rehoboth for three weeks during her school holiday. She lives four hosues down the road. :) We made the solar system that you see behind her. She had to go back to school this week and I miss her a lot. I can't wait to hang out with her in two weeks when she comes back to visit!!
My mom sent Texas stuff including these bandanas. The kids obviously love to pretend to be cowboys.
Here are all of the Dutch-ies before the final game against Spain. I was the only american and I didn't have an orange shirt.
N and N playing after our visit to the crocodile farm.
S is quite the charmer and quite the troublemaker. He came to Rehoboth with scabies all over his skin- now he's a beautiful child.
Adorable. Two of my favorites looking at the hundreds of crocodiles!
yes I am holding a python.
Z also did NOT like holding it. :)
If you could only hear her laughing.
L was totally fine with it. No problem.
here are 11 of my kids ready to go at Pure Venom. We've been learning about emotions the past couple weeks. This is "scared."
Here's M came with the big kids on a different day.
Sponge-painting kites.
This is how N came up to the bus stop to go watch Toy Story 3. I think that Tracy and I laughed the whole way to town. As you can see, life is always exciting, challening and hilarious. Can't wait to see what is in store for me in my last three weeks.
Love you and miss you!
-brigid
Saturday, July 10, 2010
"be still and know that I am God." -Psalm 46:10
Hello friends!!
one more incredible week down. Lots of firsts for me... held a python, touched a crocodile, lost a child and watched my first episode of Friends. What a week.
Our driver, Mak, came back from vacation so I filled up the holiday program with fun outings for the kids. We saw Toy Story 3, went to the biggest reptile farm in all of Africa called "pure Venom" and went to the Crocodile Farm. I definitely felt like Jon & Kate + 8 with all of the stares and questions about why two white girls were out with 11 Zulu kids. Although the older kids have been out and about in the area, my little preschoolers have basically only left REhoboth to go to church. They all dressed up in their best clothes (and necklaces and tiaras) for the outings and almost enjoyed the bus ride as much as the actual activity. I loved looking back in the bus and watching them look with wonder at the world around them while jamming out to the kiddie Jesus music blasting from the front. (Thanks Mak!) I've seen kids experience new things before but nothing like these kids who have literally never been out. So ayoba. :) We only had one child go missing for about 5 minutes (definitely didn't help that he is deaf and mute) and one wet her pants. No bad, not too bad. I'll try to get some pics up here next weekend.
The past couple of weeks I've been trying to sort out what I trust, who I trust and why I trust. With some help from a sermon last month and a couple favorite BRH songs, I'm beginning to make some headway. The sermon differentiated who God is verses what He does and what He says. Although it is good and right to have faith in His words and actions, I think that my trust should belong to Him, in who He is. Even without His promises, I should trust Him completely. For example, let's pretend that I lost all of my money so I pray and the next day someone has put an envelope with $1000 at my doorstep. Yay, God has provided for me. So next time the market crashes I pray the same prayer and trust that God will do the same thing again instead of trusting Jehova Jira, the Lord my provider. I trust in what He can do but not that He will provide. Although God is unchanging, I sure am. Why should I expect the same answer to my prayer? Making any sense?
BRH ends each concert singing a song called "I Am." (If you haven't heard it, CD's are still available for $15...) Anyway, it goes through many biblical descriptions of who God is. "I am the root of David, the bright and morning star. I am the light of Judah. I am. I am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I Am." It seems like scripture has given us so many examples to try and help us understand who God is and why "I Am" is worthy of praise and of our trust.
I've realized that I can easily fall into this rut of using prayer to "get" joy or peace or happiness from life but not from Him, Himself. As I try to prepare for my last month here and my transition home, I'm trying to understand that although my circumstances and surroundings will drastically cahnge, the peace and joy that I have found here cannot be circumstantial. God is not changing so my peace in Him must remain the same even when my life returns to "hectic."
I've been repeating "Jesus I am Resting, Resting" over and over this week:
"Jesus, I am resting, resting int eh joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart. Thou has bid me gaze upon Thee, and Thy beauty fills my soul, for my Thy transforming power Thou hast made me whole.
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art, and Thy love, so pure, so changless, satisfies my heart; satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need, compasseth me round with blessings, Thine is love indeed.
Ever lift Thy face upon me as I work and wait for Thee; resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, Earth's dark sahdows flee. Brightness of my Father's glory, sunshine of my Father's face, keep me ever trusting, resting, fill me with Thy grace.
Jesus I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart."
Seeya in a month!
Love you and miss you!
-b
one more incredible week down. Lots of firsts for me... held a python, touched a crocodile, lost a child and watched my first episode of Friends. What a week.
Our driver, Mak, came back from vacation so I filled up the holiday program with fun outings for the kids. We saw Toy Story 3, went to the biggest reptile farm in all of Africa called "pure Venom" and went to the Crocodile Farm. I definitely felt like Jon & Kate + 8 with all of the stares and questions about why two white girls were out with 11 Zulu kids. Although the older kids have been out and about in the area, my little preschoolers have basically only left REhoboth to go to church. They all dressed up in their best clothes (and necklaces and tiaras) for the outings and almost enjoyed the bus ride as much as the actual activity. I loved looking back in the bus and watching them look with wonder at the world around them while jamming out to the kiddie Jesus music blasting from the front. (Thanks Mak!) I've seen kids experience new things before but nothing like these kids who have literally never been out. So ayoba. :) We only had one child go missing for about 5 minutes (definitely didn't help that he is deaf and mute) and one wet her pants. No bad, not too bad. I'll try to get some pics up here next weekend.
The past couple of weeks I've been trying to sort out what I trust, who I trust and why I trust. With some help from a sermon last month and a couple favorite BRH songs, I'm beginning to make some headway. The sermon differentiated who God is verses what He does and what He says. Although it is good and right to have faith in His words and actions, I think that my trust should belong to Him, in who He is. Even without His promises, I should trust Him completely. For example, let's pretend that I lost all of my money so I pray and the next day someone has put an envelope with $1000 at my doorstep. Yay, God has provided for me. So next time the market crashes I pray the same prayer and trust that God will do the same thing again instead of trusting Jehova Jira, the Lord my provider. I trust in what He can do but not that He will provide. Although God is unchanging, I sure am. Why should I expect the same answer to my prayer? Making any sense?
BRH ends each concert singing a song called "I Am." (If you haven't heard it, CD's are still available for $15...) Anyway, it goes through many biblical descriptions of who God is. "I am the root of David, the bright and morning star. I am the light of Judah. I am. I am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I Am." It seems like scripture has given us so many examples to try and help us understand who God is and why "I Am" is worthy of praise and of our trust.
I've realized that I can easily fall into this rut of using prayer to "get" joy or peace or happiness from life but not from Him, Himself. As I try to prepare for my last month here and my transition home, I'm trying to understand that although my circumstances and surroundings will drastically cahnge, the peace and joy that I have found here cannot be circumstantial. God is not changing so my peace in Him must remain the same even when my life returns to "hectic."
I've been repeating "Jesus I am Resting, Resting" over and over this week:
"Jesus, I am resting, resting int eh joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart. Thou has bid me gaze upon Thee, and Thy beauty fills my soul, for my Thy transforming power Thou hast made me whole.
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art, and Thy love, so pure, so changless, satisfies my heart; satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need, compasseth me round with blessings, Thine is love indeed.
Ever lift Thy face upon me as I work and wait for Thee; resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, Earth's dark sahdows flee. Brightness of my Father's glory, sunshine of my Father's face, keep me ever trusting, resting, fill me with Thy grace.
Jesus I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart."
Seeya in a month!
Love you and miss you!
-b
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy 4th of July!
Hello again!!
Happy fourth!! Even though I'm living with Africans, Dutch and British people we are still going to celebrate our independance day! I'm cooking hamburgers tonight and chocolate cookies for dessert. Too bad there isn't any watermelon or fireworks.
So community service. The kids are still out of school because of the World Cup so I'm still trying to coordinate activities for all 54 kids. Last week I took the older kids to the community to some of our housemother's homes so that they could see how many of their friends from school live and function. We had a list of chores for the kids to do so that they have some experience before they have to live there when they grow up. Rehoboth is blessed with such wonderful facilities, people and abundant food so many of the kids don't remember what it was like to be hungry or to live in such poverty. Here is a little of what we saw and did:
Here's where they live.
Here's B fetching water from the community tap.
Here's the fire burning sugar cane and trash.
This little boy from the community cut his heel open with the rusty can. The adults said, "sorry boy." That was it. No tetnis shot, no crying. The dirt was his bandaide.
This is one of our house mother's houses with one of her sister's kids. He looked that sad the whole time and doesn't talk.
This is one of the house moms in her home with another nephew.
Here's N,N, and N practicing our balancing before getting the water.
Here I am making a total fool out of myself. I had this baby on my back for at least an hour or two. He conked out pretty fast so he was even heavier. Haibo!
Even more thankful for my washing machine.
I can't say that I was surprised by the inhumane living conditions. It's a photo straight from National Geographic or a "sponsor-a-child" commercial. It is exactly how everyone pictures Africa minus the lions and elephants running around in the background. :)
People watched me walk around with a Zulu baby strapped to my back with a towel and watched the dumb "umlungu" drop her bucket off her head over and over. I fumbled over my few phrases and words in Zulu while they chuckled at me. I carried that baby on my back on Thursday. Today is Sunday and my back is still sore.
No, I wasn't surprised that the only running water in the community was a mile uphill. I wasn't surprised that 3 generations of women and children lived in a one room shack without proper locks, beds, or chairs. I wasn't surprised that the kids played games with a ball made out of plastic bags and rusted cans. I wasn't surprised that all of the fathers/husbands had abandoned their families. I was surprised at how hopeless I felt for the community. No one is dreaming American dreams. I couldn't see a way to break the cycle of poverty, disease and crime without being ridiculously idealistic. I wonder what its like to grow up knowing that this is the best its going to get. No way out.
After I came home I began to think through all of the times that the Bible tells us to trust in Him or not to worry. I've always taken comfort in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. "Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, be he said to me, 'My grace is sufficeint for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.' I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong." After this week though, I don't think that I really understand how radical those verses were from Paul to the church in Corinth. Here are a few examples of my real life stuggles, worries, weaknesses etc:
1. Stuggle: Sick. My hair clogged the shower drain again. I'm gonna gag if I have to pull it out with a clothes hanger.
2. Worry: What if I don't get married until I'm 30!!
3. Weakness: My hand shape wasn't perfect in my Sign Language video so I made a C even though I spent so much time practicing that dang story.
4. Struggle and weakness: I don't have enough time to do everything. I want to stay and play Signs with BRH but I have 3 tests tomorrow.
Here are a few of their struggles:
1. Stuggle: I don't have a shower. No one in my community has a shower.
2. Worry: I have HIV and so does my baby. I don't have money for ARVs and would lose my job if they knew my status.
3. Weakness: I just walked with a baby on my back 10 miles to go to town so that I could buy milk.
4. Stuggle: My coworker rapes me every day on the side of the road when we leave work.
It's not that my fears and stuggles aren't real. They are. I guess what I realized this week is that my trust and hope isn't completely in God. It's in other things too. I trust that America will provide me with opportunities. I trust that my dad will never let me go hungry. I trust that my insurance will never leave me without my medication. I trust that my electric gate and three locks on my door will keep me safe. I trust in myself that I can do it. I can figure out the problem or study harder. The people living in these communities do not have anything to trust except for God. It's hard for me to read scripture that tells me not to worry when I have friends that are really sick. It's hard not to worry when I bomb a test. I can't imagine how hard it is to have that faith and trust in God when the stakes are so much higher. My prayer for my last 6 weeks here is to be dependent on God. To learn from the people around me who need faith to keep going.
Love you and miss you!!
-b
Saturday, July 3, 2010
a photo's worth a thousand words
Well, I thought I'd try to figure out how to upload some photos for you this week. Sorry if the formatting is weird. I'm new at this whole blog thing. I may get to come back to the internet cafe tomorrow so I can update you on my stories of the week. :)This is exactly what I see from my bed, haha. Told you it's a fairy tale!
My view from the kitchen every evening at 5:30pm.
So I just realized that I wasn't supposed to use the kids' real names so I'll just use initials. :) This is A during ABA therapy.
Did I mention that basically all of the volunteers are Dutch? This is how we do the World cup in the office. Hup Holland hup!
This is how we do movies at Rehoboth. Popcorn in the empty ARV containers.
Pudding painting with preschoolers.
In the community. (I'll blog about that tomorrow.) I'm learning from the pros. When we carried the water back she carried that bucket on her head and two in her hands....
Some of you may remember S singing "Jesus Loves Me" last year. See facebook videos. This pic is taken right outside my preschool which used to be a chicken coop.
It's against the rules to have favorites but these are my two favorites. I literally talked to our social worker about adopting N (the girl). I was crushed to find out that although I am 21 and have a job, America isn't in whatever conference to adopt south africans. I had even worked out in my head how I could be a student and mom of a 5-year-old at the same time. Seriously.
Told you. Here's the punk hiding in the grass after jumping at me.
Shaving creme tables!
Well, out of time for today!
Love you and miss you all!
-b
Saturday, June 26, 2010
a snake tried to attack me. true story.
If I counted correctly, today is exactly half way for me. I've been here for 45 days and still have 45 to go. Haibo! It's going too fast. Somehow I found myself rather busy this week and needing more time to process and think. Here are a few of my jumpled thoughts.
Love:
"Beloved, let us love one another, because lovei s of God; everyone who loves is befotten by God and knows God... Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us." - 1 John 4:7; 11-12
Every day I love the children more. I am beginning to understand their quirks. I know how to make them happy but also how to make them sad with discipline. I can anticipate where each child is and what they are doing without turning around. I guess this is how moms and dads have eyes in the back of their heads? The more I love them, the more I want to love them better which, in this case, demainds everything from reading one more "last" story to cutting out more silly crafts and decorations to throwing them in the air until my arms are dang sore to rtelling them that I love them every single time they leave the room.
Christian lvoe should not be abstract but should be lived concretely for others. Why do preschoolers already understand that? Why do preschoolers who have been abandoned by their parents understand that? Each time they leave my classroom all 13 of my kids stand in line to kiss both of my cheeks and my forehead and give me a tight squeeze. It doesn't matter it they were in big trouble that day or if they were my special helper-- they all still want their hugs and kisses. I think I'll start taking my cues about love from 5-year-olds.
Entitlement:
I never thought that I'd label an HIV positive orphan as greedy. I still haven't wrestled out this idea in my head so these sentences may not actually fit together; we'll see.
As I look around this place I often wonder why I wasn't the one with down-turned ears from fetal alcohol syndrome. I wonder why I escaped teh atrocity of rape as a child and the unfair start at life with diseased blood cells. Why did my mom read me bedtime stories every night while some of their moms left them to drown in a toilet?
I spent 21 years thinking that I was entitled to my American life. I deserved a mom and dad and older brother who would eat a homecooked meal around teh same dinner table every night. I deserved indoor plumbing, new clothes for every school year and a doctor's appointment for every ear infection. I was talking ato a 9-year-old named Brightness and mentioned something about my parents. She asked, "are your parents still alive?" I said, "yes." "Both of them?" "yes." "wow, you are so lucky" she said.
i've never felt so guilty or so blessed for having living parents. If Brightness only knew the rest of my life. How embarrassing.
Ok, so why am I calling these kids spoiled or greedy? There are days taht I work so hard to make sure that all 53 of them are having a good holiday and then one kid will say, "oh man!! Uncle steven isn't here for sports today?? I'm so bored." I just wanna smack him and say something like "don't you understand what a blessing it is just to live inside these gates. Don't you understand that if Rehoboth wasn't here you'd have died of AIDS three years ago?" (Obviously I never say that...) They ahve been given a second chance at life with a new, loving family, a least a few pairs of donated clothing and medicine to treat their HIV. These things are a luxury to the thousands of children living in the community just outside our gate.
I can't really explain this strange dynamic of being grateful and being spoiled. How do you tell any child that they are blessed? Why do I think that I deserve more to be grateful than these children. Would I be grateful for two pairs of donated pants or would I still want more? (Two of our staff this week almost had a knock-down drag-out fight over donated clothes...) I sure am from a different world. Not sure if that made any sense. I'll think about it this week and try to be more clear next week.
I defintitely remembered I was in Africa on Thursday when I woke up to monkies hooting outside my window before my alarm went off. How annoying. The african day continued when I went to my preschool to teach a lesson on emotions while a jack hammer was cutting up concrete on the same building I was teaching in. (Chaos.) Then I went home for a quick lunch. When I came back out I was digging in my bag for some chapstick (or lip ice as they say here) and I looked up and a long, green snake was practically flying in circles at my feet. Oh my word, I jumped back and started screaming like crazy!! The snake did not just slither away, it truly looked like it was doing some insane gymnastics or like an out of control lasso. Haibo. I ran back on to my deck and looked in the grass until I found him so I could take his picture so I'd have proof. :) I'm sure he was just a bush snake but one 7-year-old told me it was definitely a green mamba. haha
Well, I'm looking forward to my first July 4th in a different country in a couple weeks. I think i'll have a party and bake an apple pie and watch some really american movie. I cannot believe that it's almost July and I'm coming home in August....
Miss you and love you!
-b
Love:
"Beloved, let us love one another, because lovei s of God; everyone who loves is befotten by God and knows God... Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us." - 1 John 4:7; 11-12
Every day I love the children more. I am beginning to understand their quirks. I know how to make them happy but also how to make them sad with discipline. I can anticipate where each child is and what they are doing without turning around. I guess this is how moms and dads have eyes in the back of their heads? The more I love them, the more I want to love them better which, in this case, demainds everything from reading one more "last" story to cutting out more silly crafts and decorations to throwing them in the air until my arms are dang sore to rtelling them that I love them every single time they leave the room.
Christian lvoe should not be abstract but should be lived concretely for others. Why do preschoolers already understand that? Why do preschoolers who have been abandoned by their parents understand that? Each time they leave my classroom all 13 of my kids stand in line to kiss both of my cheeks and my forehead and give me a tight squeeze. It doesn't matter it they were in big trouble that day or if they were my special helper-- they all still want their hugs and kisses. I think I'll start taking my cues about love from 5-year-olds.
Entitlement:
I never thought that I'd label an HIV positive orphan as greedy. I still haven't wrestled out this idea in my head so these sentences may not actually fit together; we'll see.
As I look around this place I often wonder why I wasn't the one with down-turned ears from fetal alcohol syndrome. I wonder why I escaped teh atrocity of rape as a child and the unfair start at life with diseased blood cells. Why did my mom read me bedtime stories every night while some of their moms left them to drown in a toilet?
I spent 21 years thinking that I was entitled to my American life. I deserved a mom and dad and older brother who would eat a homecooked meal around teh same dinner table every night. I deserved indoor plumbing, new clothes for every school year and a doctor's appointment for every ear infection. I was talking ato a 9-year-old named Brightness and mentioned something about my parents. She asked, "are your parents still alive?" I said, "yes." "Both of them?" "yes." "wow, you are so lucky" she said.
i've never felt so guilty or so blessed for having living parents. If Brightness only knew the rest of my life. How embarrassing.
Ok, so why am I calling these kids spoiled or greedy? There are days taht I work so hard to make sure that all 53 of them are having a good holiday and then one kid will say, "oh man!! Uncle steven isn't here for sports today?? I'm so bored." I just wanna smack him and say something like "don't you understand what a blessing it is just to live inside these gates. Don't you understand that if Rehoboth wasn't here you'd have died of AIDS three years ago?" (Obviously I never say that...) They ahve been given a second chance at life with a new, loving family, a least a few pairs of donated clothing and medicine to treat their HIV. These things are a luxury to the thousands of children living in the community just outside our gate.
I can't really explain this strange dynamic of being grateful and being spoiled. How do you tell any child that they are blessed? Why do I think that I deserve more to be grateful than these children. Would I be grateful for two pairs of donated pants or would I still want more? (Two of our staff this week almost had a knock-down drag-out fight over donated clothes...) I sure am from a different world. Not sure if that made any sense. I'll think about it this week and try to be more clear next week.
I defintitely remembered I was in Africa on Thursday when I woke up to monkies hooting outside my window before my alarm went off. How annoying. The african day continued when I went to my preschool to teach a lesson on emotions while a jack hammer was cutting up concrete on the same building I was teaching in. (Chaos.) Then I went home for a quick lunch. When I came back out I was digging in my bag for some chapstick (or lip ice as they say here) and I looked up and a long, green snake was practically flying in circles at my feet. Oh my word, I jumped back and started screaming like crazy!! The snake did not just slither away, it truly looked like it was doing some insane gymnastics or like an out of control lasso. Haibo. I ran back on to my deck and looked in the grass until I found him so I could take his picture so I'd have proof. :) I'm sure he was just a bush snake but one 7-year-old told me it was definitely a green mamba. haha
Well, I'm looking forward to my first July 4th in a different country in a couple weeks. I think i'll have a party and bake an apple pie and watch some really american movie. I cannot believe that it's almost July and I'm coming home in August....
Miss you and love you!
-b
Friday, June 18, 2010
it's really winter :)
Hello again! Happy Saturday!
Although life moves at a much slower pace, somehow the days are still flying by faster than I can hold on. It’s been another wonderful week full of loud wind, louder children and even louder vuvuzelas. Here is a recap with a few reflections of my journey in Africa so far.
Let’s go back for a second. I finished my last final on May 10, started packing on May 11th around midnight and left the States at noon on May 12. Needless to say, my packing left something to be desired, especially winter clothes. When BRH came last year during May it was perfect weather every day so I assumed that the winters here were warm from beginning to end. Wrong. It’s now the middle of winter, lots of the country is covered in a dusting of snow and I am definitely wishing that I threw in more layers than the one long sleeved shirt I brought with me.
I woke up early Tuesday morning to tornado-like winds throwing branches, nuts and even a pair of ravens on to the tin roof above my head. My room doesn’t have a ceiling—just the tin—so you can imagine just how loud that was! Yikes! The wind continued blustering all day tearing off shingles of some of the houses and even blew over a tree blocking the dirt road to Rehoboth. If I hadn’t grown up in Amarillo, I probably would have thought the world was ending. (Shout out to “Doppler” Dave Oliver at News Channel 10.) As you’d expect, the already spotty electricity was gone all day. When I tried to explain that to my preschoolers, Simlindile asked, “Who stole it?” ha! Anyway, the single-digit temperatures with that nasty wind made for a freezing night because we don’t have central heating (or any heating). I humorously slept with my jeans on under my pajamas and both of my fleece jackets, too. I also kept my hair dryer next to my bed and would use it to heat up every time I woke up cold.
Speaking of hairdryers… after a month without my hairdryer, straightener, curling iron or diffuser, I finally gave in and spent 630 Rand to be able to dry and straighten my out-of-control-curly mop. Some of the moms didn’t recognize me with straight hair and many yelled “haibo!” (in this way that only Zulus can say it) whenever they realized who I was. Haibo loosely translated means “hell no!” haha
Aphiwe continues to encourage me each day. (Aphiwe is the blind little boy that I do therapy with each day.) This week at devotions Busi Precious led the singing as usual but Aphiwe soon took over. Zulu music is basically one person wailing on top of the group with their ad-libs. At the age of four, Aphiwe was able to lead a room full of adults singing “This Little Light of Mine” and another song called “All Over Me.” The kids were all sitting on the floor while Aphiwe stood in the middle dancing, jumping and singing. What a blessing.
Aphiwe has been improving so much in therapy. I’ve been teaching him basic shapes by doing a puzzle of 3D shapes and talking through what he is feeling (or seeing) with his fingers. On Wednesday, I wanted to chart his progress and see if anything was getting through to him so I tested his learning by doing an ITT like I do every day with Adam back in Waco. (Shout out to Kendra and Hannah.) In a very fast series of questions, I gave him three different shapes and then asked for him to give me the square etc. To my amazement, he gave me the correct shape more than two-thirds of the time. In ABA we always reinforce the behaviour that we are working on—it was to no surprise that singing is his “highest reinforcer.”
I’ve had a few people ask for specific prayer requests for Rehoboth...
Because so many of the kids have been sexually abused, many of the older boys (7-13 years old) have been struggling with their sexuality. (can I be any more vague?) Despite giving them good counselling and therapy, they are still struggling. The problem got so bad last year that Rehoboth actually had to buy a separate house for those boys to protect the girls here. Please pray for their healing.
Rehoboth started laying foundation last week for the second children’s village! We are all thankful for God’s provision. Please pray for the finances and the decision-making for this village that will house and care for 50 more children living with HIV/AIDS.
Pray for the strength and the patience of all of the workers and volunteers here that we may learn how to love and serve the children better.
As for me, please begin to pray for my transition back to America. It will be a hard and fast transition for a couple of reasons. I expected that leaving the kids would be miserable and terrible. I did not expect to love the African way of life so much. I am nervous to give up this simple life and return to my fast and stressful life as a student. It’s hard for me to put into words the peace that I feel here and I know that it will be difficult for me to keep this peace whenever I’m back to a world with not enough time, not enough graciousness and not enough
understanding.
Hope you are all having a great week and cannot wait to see you!
Miss you and love you!
"auntie brichen" as the kids call me
Although life moves at a much slower pace, somehow the days are still flying by faster than I can hold on. It’s been another wonderful week full of loud wind, louder children and even louder vuvuzelas. Here is a recap with a few reflections of my journey in Africa so far.
Let’s go back for a second. I finished my last final on May 10, started packing on May 11th around midnight and left the States at noon on May 12. Needless to say, my packing left something to be desired, especially winter clothes. When BRH came last year during May it was perfect weather every day so I assumed that the winters here were warm from beginning to end. Wrong. It’s now the middle of winter, lots of the country is covered in a dusting of snow and I am definitely wishing that I threw in more layers than the one long sleeved shirt I brought with me.
I woke up early Tuesday morning to tornado-like winds throwing branches, nuts and even a pair of ravens on to the tin roof above my head. My room doesn’t have a ceiling—just the tin—so you can imagine just how loud that was! Yikes! The wind continued blustering all day tearing off shingles of some of the houses and even blew over a tree blocking the dirt road to Rehoboth. If I hadn’t grown up in Amarillo, I probably would have thought the world was ending. (Shout out to “Doppler” Dave Oliver at News Channel 10.) As you’d expect, the already spotty electricity was gone all day. When I tried to explain that to my preschoolers, Simlindile asked, “Who stole it?” ha! Anyway, the single-digit temperatures with that nasty wind made for a freezing night because we don’t have central heating (or any heating). I humorously slept with my jeans on under my pajamas and both of my fleece jackets, too. I also kept my hair dryer next to my bed and would use it to heat up every time I woke up cold.
Speaking of hairdryers… after a month without my hairdryer, straightener, curling iron or diffuser, I finally gave in and spent 630 Rand to be able to dry and straighten my out-of-control-curly mop. Some of the moms didn’t recognize me with straight hair and many yelled “haibo!” (in this way that only Zulus can say it) whenever they realized who I was. Haibo loosely translated means “hell no!” haha
Aphiwe continues to encourage me each day. (Aphiwe is the blind little boy that I do therapy with each day.) This week at devotions Busi Precious led the singing as usual but Aphiwe soon took over. Zulu music is basically one person wailing on top of the group with their ad-libs. At the age of four, Aphiwe was able to lead a room full of adults singing “This Little Light of Mine” and another song called “All Over Me.” The kids were all sitting on the floor while Aphiwe stood in the middle dancing, jumping and singing. What a blessing.
Aphiwe has been improving so much in therapy. I’ve been teaching him basic shapes by doing a puzzle of 3D shapes and talking through what he is feeling (or seeing) with his fingers. On Wednesday, I wanted to chart his progress and see if anything was getting through to him so I tested his learning by doing an ITT like I do every day with Adam back in Waco. (Shout out to Kendra and Hannah.) In a very fast series of questions, I gave him three different shapes and then asked for him to give me the square etc. To my amazement, he gave me the correct shape more than two-thirds of the time. In ABA we always reinforce the behaviour that we are working on—it was to no surprise that singing is his “highest reinforcer.”
I’ve had a few people ask for specific prayer requests for Rehoboth...
Because so many of the kids have been sexually abused, many of the older boys (7-13 years old) have been struggling with their sexuality. (can I be any more vague?) Despite giving them good counselling and therapy, they are still struggling. The problem got so bad last year that Rehoboth actually had to buy a separate house for those boys to protect the girls here. Please pray for their healing.
Rehoboth started laying foundation last week for the second children’s village! We are all thankful for God’s provision. Please pray for the finances and the decision-making for this village that will house and care for 50 more children living with HIV/AIDS.
Pray for the strength and the patience of all of the workers and volunteers here that we may learn how to love and serve the children better.
As for me, please begin to pray for my transition back to America. It will be a hard and fast transition for a couple of reasons. I expected that leaving the kids would be miserable and terrible. I did not expect to love the African way of life so much. I am nervous to give up this simple life and return to my fast and stressful life as a student. It’s hard for me to put into words the peace that I feel here and I know that it will be difficult for me to keep this peace whenever I’m back to a world with not enough time, not enough graciousness and not enough
understanding.
Hope you are all having a great week and cannot wait to see you!
Miss you and love you!
"auntie brichen" as the kids call me
Saturday, June 12, 2010
it's ayoba time!
Hi all!!
Well, I've already spent 74 minutes today responding to emails and facebook stuff so I'm not sure how far I'll get on this blog. :( I'll try to pre-write for next weekend.
Today is exactly one month since I left America and exactly two months until I get home. I've enjoyed looking back through my journal and see my change already in one month. I cannot wait to see what is still to come in the next two months.
Yesterday was the first day of the World Cup in South Africa (in case you haven't been watching the news.) Let me just say that they people here are going crazy!!! The news here is focused excusively on it. I've found out really interesting things like when Germany's team arrived and what hotel they were staying at... so interesting. It should be no surprise that America's team arrived like three weeks ago to adjust to the time change. They are staying at the best hotel and had like 20 police cars following them from the airport to their hotel. Oh brother!
We've also had some really hilarious commericals on TV for the past month now about Fifa. My favorite (which may not be funny at all to you) is a fake soccer match between the "big mammas" and the "bar tenders." Hard to explain, but Tamara and I laughed for about 15 minutes when one of the "big mammas" was running down the field to score a goal with the ball on her head just like you see on the side of the road everyday. Hilarious.
South Africa is just busting to show the world that they can host such a big event here and prove that Africa is wonderful. On the other hand, they are trying to hide some of the more unpleasant things on the side of the road. For example, the government had all of the unenclosed toilets removed from a community because they didn't want tourists to see their awful living conditions. Obviously the community revolted with riots. Come on! What would you do if the government stole all of your toilets??
So with all of this hullabaloo, school has been closed for FIVE WEEKS for the entire world cup!?!So now I am in charge of the entire "holiday program" for all 53 kids here at Rehoboth... It has been fun but hectic trying to organize everything and make sure the kids are busy and not making trouble. Naturally, I've taken advantage of the kids' program as well and went to my first Zulu dancing lessons on Thursday... as you can imagine, I'm even worse at Zulu dancing than at Baylor's SING! I am at an unfair advantage because they of the words to the songs are in Zulu. I told Nosipho (a 5th grader) that I needed to have some private lessons so that I could catch up. I also had my hair braided for the first time on Thursday by some of the 5th grader girls who did a pretty incredible job. They finished with all of my hair in less than an hour. Shout out to Vuyo and Brightness!
On Friday I enjoyed a two-hour walk outside of the Rehoboth gates to a dam near by with all of the school kids. I was a bit paranoid trying to keep my eyes on all of the kids at once since one of our Rehoboth dogs was eaten by a python in that lake last year... Once we made it to the dam the kids spontaneously erupted in more Zulu dancing and also sang their national anthem (which uses 5 of the 11 official languages). I felt like my mom holding the kids' jackets and lunch boxes while taking pictures and video-taping their fun. On the way home we all stopped and climbed into the guava trees to pick some fresh guava! I love Africa.
Well, I'm outta time for today... it's time to do some grocery shopping and then watch rugby with some friends. Thank you for your prayers and for your suggestions for Aphiwe. I will try to type out some specific prayer requests for next weekend since many of your have been asking. I got more mail this week which is always a real treat!! Thank-you!
Love and miss you all!!
-brigid
Well, I've already spent 74 minutes today responding to emails and facebook stuff so I'm not sure how far I'll get on this blog. :( I'll try to pre-write for next weekend.
Today is exactly one month since I left America and exactly two months until I get home. I've enjoyed looking back through my journal and see my change already in one month. I cannot wait to see what is still to come in the next two months.
Yesterday was the first day of the World Cup in South Africa (in case you haven't been watching the news.) Let me just say that they people here are going crazy!!! The news here is focused excusively on it. I've found out really interesting things like when Germany's team arrived and what hotel they were staying at... so interesting. It should be no surprise that America's team arrived like three weeks ago to adjust to the time change. They are staying at the best hotel and had like 20 police cars following them from the airport to their hotel. Oh brother!
We've also had some really hilarious commericals on TV for the past month now about Fifa. My favorite (which may not be funny at all to you) is a fake soccer match between the "big mammas" and the "bar tenders." Hard to explain, but Tamara and I laughed for about 15 minutes when one of the "big mammas" was running down the field to score a goal with the ball on her head just like you see on the side of the road everyday. Hilarious.
South Africa is just busting to show the world that they can host such a big event here and prove that Africa is wonderful. On the other hand, they are trying to hide some of the more unpleasant things on the side of the road. For example, the government had all of the unenclosed toilets removed from a community because they didn't want tourists to see their awful living conditions. Obviously the community revolted with riots. Come on! What would you do if the government stole all of your toilets??
So with all of this hullabaloo, school has been closed for FIVE WEEKS for the entire world cup!?!So now I am in charge of the entire "holiday program" for all 53 kids here at Rehoboth... It has been fun but hectic trying to organize everything and make sure the kids are busy and not making trouble. Naturally, I've taken advantage of the kids' program as well and went to my first Zulu dancing lessons on Thursday... as you can imagine, I'm even worse at Zulu dancing than at Baylor's SING! I am at an unfair advantage because they of the words to the songs are in Zulu. I told Nosipho (a 5th grader) that I needed to have some private lessons so that I could catch up. I also had my hair braided for the first time on Thursday by some of the 5th grader girls who did a pretty incredible job. They finished with all of my hair in less than an hour. Shout out to Vuyo and Brightness!
On Friday I enjoyed a two-hour walk outside of the Rehoboth gates to a dam near by with all of the school kids. I was a bit paranoid trying to keep my eyes on all of the kids at once since one of our Rehoboth dogs was eaten by a python in that lake last year... Once we made it to the dam the kids spontaneously erupted in more Zulu dancing and also sang their national anthem (which uses 5 of the 11 official languages). I felt like my mom holding the kids' jackets and lunch boxes while taking pictures and video-taping their fun. On the way home we all stopped and climbed into the guava trees to pick some fresh guava! I love Africa.
Well, I'm outta time for today... it's time to do some grocery shopping and then watch rugby with some friends. Thank you for your prayers and for your suggestions for Aphiwe. I will try to type out some specific prayer requests for next weekend since many of your have been asking. I got more mail this week which is always a real treat!! Thank-you!
Love and miss you all!!
-brigid
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Routine
It's funny how fast routine sets in. I've only been here for a few weeks but I already have to remind myself that there is nothing "normal" about my summer. In fact, it's not even summer here- it's winter. In any case I feel right at home here and am enjoying the same work that I described in last week's blog.
I am thankful for the sense of normalcy that I feel here but struggle with the normacy associated with the pain, hurt, and poverty that accompany and follow every child at the village. Abuse, abandonment and broken families are normal here- expected here. That will never be normal to me.
A couple of stories...
Siphamondla, who just turned 8 last week spent the beginning of his life being raped almost daily by a neighborhood teenage boy. When he told his grandmother she just told him not to play with that boy any more. And that was that. This will bever be normal to me.
Ayanda's mom was 11-years-old when he was born. His father was his mother's 5th grade school teacher. Neither parent wanted their son. This will never be normal to me.
Another litter girl was rapped when she was only THREE MONTHS old because her alcoholic mother left her alone in their hut without a door to close so she could go buy beer. Two men came right in and raped the baby one after the other. This will never be normal to me.
Perhaps the hardest part for me to deal with is thinking about what it means to be a mother. A mother loves her child and is willing to do anything for her child. I cannot understand. (I actually am too mad to really write anything down here.) I've taken comfort in my favorite Selah song called "I will carry you" that describes the loss of their young daughter and how they have delt with it. Sometimes I feel like my time is too short here to really help a child out of this mess. The words of the chorus (although taken out of context) ring true for me.
"I will carry you while your heart beats here. Long beyond the empty cradle through the coming years. I will carry you all your life. I will PRAISE the One whose chosen me to carry you."
I will continue to praise God for giving me this time here to love His children.
Ok, enough of that...
The kids still keep me on my toes each day. The two most common questions are "why is your earring right here?" (in my cartledge) and "are you married?" Here's my conversation with a 6-year-old girl from yesterday:
"Are you married?"
"No, not yet."
"Do you want to be married?"
"Someday, yes."
"Then why aren't you married?"
"I have to find someone that wants to marry me first."
"It's ok. I still like you."
haha- i feel so loved.
Working with Aphiwe (the blind boy) has ironically been "eye-opening." I've tried to come up with activities for his hands that will help him to visualize what we see every day. For example, a few days ago, we made a dog out of play-doh and I found myself explaining that dogs have four legs that go here and a tail that goes here. I'm hopeful that exercises likes this will not only help him understand the world better but that the fine motor skills will prepare him to start learning his letters in Braille.
if any of you are sitting on the internet with nothing to do would you mind researching exercises or games for blind preschoolers? I have very limited internet access and no books about this so I'm just kinda feeling it out as I go but I'd love to have more professional ideas and instructions. :)
I'll close today with another one of my favorite Psalms.
"LORD, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me. Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me. Israel, hope in the LORD, now and forever." - Psalm 131
miss and love you-
brigid
I am thankful for the sense of normalcy that I feel here but struggle with the normacy associated with the pain, hurt, and poverty that accompany and follow every child at the village. Abuse, abandonment and broken families are normal here- expected here. That will never be normal to me.
A couple of stories...
Siphamondla, who just turned 8 last week spent the beginning of his life being raped almost daily by a neighborhood teenage boy. When he told his grandmother she just told him not to play with that boy any more. And that was that. This will bever be normal to me.
Ayanda's mom was 11-years-old when he was born. His father was his mother's 5th grade school teacher. Neither parent wanted their son. This will never be normal to me.
Another litter girl was rapped when she was only THREE MONTHS old because her alcoholic mother left her alone in their hut without a door to close so she could go buy beer. Two men came right in and raped the baby one after the other. This will never be normal to me.
Perhaps the hardest part for me to deal with is thinking about what it means to be a mother. A mother loves her child and is willing to do anything for her child. I cannot understand. (I actually am too mad to really write anything down here.) I've taken comfort in my favorite Selah song called "I will carry you" that describes the loss of their young daughter and how they have delt with it. Sometimes I feel like my time is too short here to really help a child out of this mess. The words of the chorus (although taken out of context) ring true for me.
"I will carry you while your heart beats here. Long beyond the empty cradle through the coming years. I will carry you all your life. I will PRAISE the One whose chosen me to carry you."
I will continue to praise God for giving me this time here to love His children.
Ok, enough of that...
The kids still keep me on my toes each day. The two most common questions are "why is your earring right here?" (in my cartledge) and "are you married?" Here's my conversation with a 6-year-old girl from yesterday:
"Are you married?"
"No, not yet."
"Do you want to be married?"
"Someday, yes."
"Then why aren't you married?"
"I have to find someone that wants to marry me first."
"It's ok. I still like you."
haha- i feel so loved.
Working with Aphiwe (the blind boy) has ironically been "eye-opening." I've tried to come up with activities for his hands that will help him to visualize what we see every day. For example, a few days ago, we made a dog out of play-doh and I found myself explaining that dogs have four legs that go here and a tail that goes here. I'm hopeful that exercises likes this will not only help him understand the world better but that the fine motor skills will prepare him to start learning his letters in Braille.
if any of you are sitting on the internet with nothing to do would you mind researching exercises or games for blind preschoolers? I have very limited internet access and no books about this so I'm just kinda feeling it out as I go but I'd love to have more professional ideas and instructions. :)
I'll close today with another one of my favorite Psalms.
"LORD, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me. Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me. Israel, hope in the LORD, now and forever." - Psalm 131
miss and love you-
brigid
Saturday, May 29, 2010
another week!!
Sawobona friends!
Has another week already passed?? I'm still very happy here and am already dreading leaving this place.
It's funny, people always say two things about change: change is good and change is hard. I've been reflecting on change this week trying to come up with my own "change is ____" sentence. I miss my life in America but that's not the hard part for me here, strangely enough. Actually, the most challenging part is that, although I am the same person, the people here do not know that person exactly. hmm... that was a confusing sentence. Let's try again. In linguistics, there is a hypothesis that says that your meaning needs another person in order for it to be meaning. For example, if I want to be funny, I need other people to laugh at my jokes. If they don't laugh, I cannot be funny no matter how hilarious I think I am or want to be. (See, Dr. Butler, I do listen in class!)
Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that you all in America have had 21 years to try and figure me out and understand who I am. I've spent 21 years developing who I am and who I want to be but I cannot be that person exactly without all of you here. My "meaning" cannot be "complete" without you all. (Am I making any sense Hannah?) ok, enough of that rambling...
Before I got here I kept asking the director, Yvonne, what I would be doing here at Rehoboth and she kept saying, "we will use your talents." I figured that was her way of saying, "I dunno, we'll figure it out when you get here." Turns out, she meant "we will use your talents." (a whole other linguistic conversation...) I am amazed at how perfect the work is here for me. I've spent the last couple weeks observing, helping where I could jump in and learning how to live in SA. After looking in, I've worked with Yvonne to figure out how I will use the next two and a half months. Now, tell me if this isn't exactly what I love:
After a Zulu praise and worship and a devotional with the entire staff and all of the kids in the morning, I get to go help out with the toddler "creche," a daycare of sorts. Then we all break for Rooibos tea. (I'll be bringing boxes of that back to the US.) After tea, I get to teach crafts for the 13 preschoolers. The teacher has given me full reign over the craft cupboard... can you imagine?! My dad has always said that I'd end up going bankrupt because of crafts- not jewelry, cars or clothes. :)
It gets even better! Next week I will begin doing ABA therapy with a few of the disabled kids here. I could not be more excited. Because of the kid's rocky starts at life, most kids are developmentally, socially or physically behind. (about 80% have low IQs and we basically assume that any kid over the age of 5 has been sexually abused.) I will begin working with Aphiwe (the blind boy that I blogged about last week) to help him begin to learn his alphabet in braille... which means that I've been learning braille myself this past week! I'll also be helping him with other developmental skills, etc. I will also work with Nana, a 19-month-old girl who functions at about 5 months. I'll be working on her head stability, eye contact and language skills, etc. I will also be working with Mihlali who is 21-months-old but is behind because he was born very prematurely. His mother was trying to have an abortion by herself and accidentally delivered her baby at 28 weeks. That one's taken me a while to deal with. So at 21 months, Mihlali is not making any sounds and still cannot crawl. All this to say, I get to continue using ABA this summer. God is so good.
Many of you may not know this about me, but I am a talented potty-trainer. (shout out to Kendra!) Last summer, Kendra and I potty trained sweet Adam (a four-year old boy with Autism). So strangely enough, I will get to put those experences to help the kids who are very behind in potty training. Yvonne did say that they would use my talents...
I wish you were all here to enjoy this saturday morning with me. It's "winter" here and today its "cold" (21 degrees celsius) which basically feels like the best autumn day in waco, tx. Think baylor homecoming weather. I woke up early so I decided to make some lemon poppy-seed muffins only to find out that our kitchen did not have measuring cups, a muffin pan, or a mixer. I'm pretty proud to say that I made those dang muffins into a lemon-poppy seed cake all by eye-ing (how the heck do you spell that?) it. Tasted pretty good with my hot tea outside in the fairyland that I call my front yard. :)
Here's your weekly list:
Things that I didn't know that I was thankful for until now...
1. dishwasher
2. power stirring
3. automatic cars
4. three-ply toilet paper
5. indoor bathrooms
6. my entire kitchen
So, enjoy those special blessings this week for me! ;)
One last thought from the week. One of the Zulu songs that we sing in the morning says simply, "You [God] deserve the best." (repeat for about 5 minutes with different ladies soaring above the rest of us with their incredible Zulu improvization (sp?)!)
Miss and love you all.
-Brigid
Has another week already passed?? I'm still very happy here and am already dreading leaving this place.
It's funny, people always say two things about change: change is good and change is hard. I've been reflecting on change this week trying to come up with my own "change is ____" sentence. I miss my life in America but that's not the hard part for me here, strangely enough. Actually, the most challenging part is that, although I am the same person, the people here do not know that person exactly. hmm... that was a confusing sentence. Let's try again. In linguistics, there is a hypothesis that says that your meaning needs another person in order for it to be meaning. For example, if I want to be funny, I need other people to laugh at my jokes. If they don't laugh, I cannot be funny no matter how hilarious I think I am or want to be. (See, Dr. Butler, I do listen in class!)
Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that you all in America have had 21 years to try and figure me out and understand who I am. I've spent 21 years developing who I am and who I want to be but I cannot be that person exactly without all of you here. My "meaning" cannot be "complete" without you all. (Am I making any sense Hannah?) ok, enough of that rambling...
Before I got here I kept asking the director, Yvonne, what I would be doing here at Rehoboth and she kept saying, "we will use your talents." I figured that was her way of saying, "I dunno, we'll figure it out when you get here." Turns out, she meant "we will use your talents." (a whole other linguistic conversation...) I am amazed at how perfect the work is here for me. I've spent the last couple weeks observing, helping where I could jump in and learning how to live in SA. After looking in, I've worked with Yvonne to figure out how I will use the next two and a half months. Now, tell me if this isn't exactly what I love:
After a Zulu praise and worship and a devotional with the entire staff and all of the kids in the morning, I get to go help out with the toddler "creche," a daycare of sorts. Then we all break for Rooibos tea. (I'll be bringing boxes of that back to the US.) After tea, I get to teach crafts for the 13 preschoolers. The teacher has given me full reign over the craft cupboard... can you imagine?! My dad has always said that I'd end up going bankrupt because of crafts- not jewelry, cars or clothes. :)
It gets even better! Next week I will begin doing ABA therapy with a few of the disabled kids here. I could not be more excited. Because of the kid's rocky starts at life, most kids are developmentally, socially or physically behind. (about 80% have low IQs and we basically assume that any kid over the age of 5 has been sexually abused.) I will begin working with Aphiwe (the blind boy that I blogged about last week) to help him begin to learn his alphabet in braille... which means that I've been learning braille myself this past week! I'll also be helping him with other developmental skills, etc. I will also work with Nana, a 19-month-old girl who functions at about 5 months. I'll be working on her head stability, eye contact and language skills, etc. I will also be working with Mihlali who is 21-months-old but is behind because he was born very prematurely. His mother was trying to have an abortion by herself and accidentally delivered her baby at 28 weeks. That one's taken me a while to deal with. So at 21 months, Mihlali is not making any sounds and still cannot crawl. All this to say, I get to continue using ABA this summer. God is so good.
Many of you may not know this about me, but I am a talented potty-trainer. (shout out to Kendra!) Last summer, Kendra and I potty trained sweet Adam (a four-year old boy with Autism). So strangely enough, I will get to put those experences to help the kids who are very behind in potty training. Yvonne did say that they would use my talents...
I wish you were all here to enjoy this saturday morning with me. It's "winter" here and today its "cold" (21 degrees celsius) which basically feels like the best autumn day in waco, tx. Think baylor homecoming weather. I woke up early so I decided to make some lemon poppy-seed muffins only to find out that our kitchen did not have measuring cups, a muffin pan, or a mixer. I'm pretty proud to say that I made those dang muffins into a lemon-poppy seed cake all by eye-ing (how the heck do you spell that?) it. Tasted pretty good with my hot tea outside in the fairyland that I call my front yard. :)
Here's your weekly list:
Things that I didn't know that I was thankful for until now...
1. dishwasher
2. power stirring
3. automatic cars
4. three-ply toilet paper
5. indoor bathrooms
6. my entire kitchen
So, enjoy those special blessings this week for me! ;)
One last thought from the week. One of the Zulu songs that we sing in the morning says simply, "You [God] deserve the best." (repeat for about 5 minutes with different ladies soaring above the rest of us with their incredible Zulu improvization (sp?)!)
Miss and love you all.
-Brigid
Saturday, May 22, 2010
"was blind but now I see"
Just finished my first real week in SA! God is good. I can hardly wait to tell you all about it... we'll see how much I can cram in to this post!
I've sung "amazing grace" a million times. Last week, I think I understood it for the first time. One afternoon I was out playing with a bunch of the kids on the jungle gym when Aphiwe toddled up crying because he was lost from the group of kids. Aphiwe is 5-years-old, is an orphan with HIV and is also blind. He had never met me so whenever I grabbed his hand he immediately started touching my arms, hands and face and smelling me all over. He asked for my name and hasn't forgotten it yet. He climbed up into my lab and then started singing "Amazing Grace." How awesome to hear those words coming from his mouth:
"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now, I see."
Hope, joy and love are all very alive here.
Kids are funny. You can tell that all 52 of the kids are drilled in the Gospel. I was out on the jungle gym when group of pre-schoolers came up with a dead frog "crucified" to a cross made out of sticks and a broken balloon. Can't help but laugh. :) The kids love playing with my curly hair and keep asking me why my hair looks like that. Yesterday the girls gave me a new hair-do using sticks and sandbox shovels as brushes and combs. Yikes!
Kids are survivors. Most of the kids here are not just living with HIV. Most come from dark pasts including malnutrition, sexual abuse, domestic abuse and so on. One little boy came to Rehoboth barely alive weighing 2.2kg at SIX months!! He's a year old now and is quite chubby but is very developmentally behind. Some were raped as babies, left in toilets or hospitals to die, some relatives don't even know the child's name. Please pray for these kids.
Life is excited here at Rehoboth. Last week we were approved to begin building the second village so they can begin to care for another 50 HIV orphans. Great news! We celebrated by going to a Michael W. Smith concert in Durban! That was quite a treat! It was refreshing to here another American accent so I didn't have to strain my ears while he was talking and singing. I especially loved singing "A New Hallelujah" with him as it has been a BRH favorite this past semester. Really missing my 30 best friends that were with my last May experiencing this with me.
I have learned so much about HIV/AIDS, Africa and myself and it's only been a week. Here's are a couple of lists for you:
You know you are in Africa when (roadside edition)...
1. You smell sugar cane and chicken farms from the road instead of feed-lots.
2. You see zebras, ostridges (sp?), and monkies from the car window.
3. People are taking a nap literally ON the highway. Like on the actual road where cars are driving!!
4. A Zulu woman is walking with a matress on her head, a baby strapped to her back and bags in both hands while her no-good-lazy-non-gentleman husband is walking ahead with NOTHING in his hands.
5. Three-year-olds are walking on the side of the highway with no supervision.
6. The speed limit is 60 kilometers/hour but the taxis are driving at least 120 kph.
Each day last week I had some sort of training. Here are some of the things I learned on the "HIV/AIDS training day" and other cultural lessons.
1. Three million people die each year from AIDS (that's the population of Chicago)
2. 8000 people day per DAY from AIDS.
3. 50% of people living with AIDS in America do not know.
4. 14,000 people contract HIV each day.
5. The going rate for sex here in Kwa-Zulu Natal is about $5.
With all that said, life is so good here. I'm continually reminded of God's majesty from the children and the beautiful rolling hills outside my window. The other night I sat outside and starred at the stars. I've never seen so many in my life. Psalm 8 pretty much sums it up for me:
"Oh LORD, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all the flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the sea.
Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."
-Brigid
I've sung "amazing grace" a million times. Last week, I think I understood it for the first time. One afternoon I was out playing with a bunch of the kids on the jungle gym when Aphiwe toddled up crying because he was lost from the group of kids. Aphiwe is 5-years-old, is an orphan with HIV and is also blind. He had never met me so whenever I grabbed his hand he immediately started touching my arms, hands and face and smelling me all over. He asked for my name and hasn't forgotten it yet. He climbed up into my lab and then started singing "Amazing Grace." How awesome to hear those words coming from his mouth:
"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now, I see."
Hope, joy and love are all very alive here.
Kids are funny. You can tell that all 52 of the kids are drilled in the Gospel. I was out on the jungle gym when group of pre-schoolers came up with a dead frog "crucified" to a cross made out of sticks and a broken balloon. Can't help but laugh. :) The kids love playing with my curly hair and keep asking me why my hair looks like that. Yesterday the girls gave me a new hair-do using sticks and sandbox shovels as brushes and combs. Yikes!
Kids are survivors. Most of the kids here are not just living with HIV. Most come from dark pasts including malnutrition, sexual abuse, domestic abuse and so on. One little boy came to Rehoboth barely alive weighing 2.2kg at SIX months!! He's a year old now and is quite chubby but is very developmentally behind. Some were raped as babies, left in toilets or hospitals to die, some relatives don't even know the child's name. Please pray for these kids.
Life is excited here at Rehoboth. Last week we were approved to begin building the second village so they can begin to care for another 50 HIV orphans. Great news! We celebrated by going to a Michael W. Smith concert in Durban! That was quite a treat! It was refreshing to here another American accent so I didn't have to strain my ears while he was talking and singing. I especially loved singing "A New Hallelujah" with him as it has been a BRH favorite this past semester. Really missing my 30 best friends that were with my last May experiencing this with me.
I have learned so much about HIV/AIDS, Africa and myself and it's only been a week. Here's are a couple of lists for you:
You know you are in Africa when (roadside edition)...
1. You smell sugar cane and chicken farms from the road instead of feed-lots.
2. You see zebras, ostridges (sp?), and monkies from the car window.
3. People are taking a nap literally ON the highway. Like on the actual road where cars are driving!!
4. A Zulu woman is walking with a matress on her head, a baby strapped to her back and bags in both hands while her no-good-lazy-non-gentleman husband is walking ahead with NOTHING in his hands.
5. Three-year-olds are walking on the side of the highway with no supervision.
6. The speed limit is 60 kilometers/hour but the taxis are driving at least 120 kph.
Each day last week I had some sort of training. Here are some of the things I learned on the "HIV/AIDS training day" and other cultural lessons.
1. Three million people die each year from AIDS (that's the population of Chicago)
2. 8000 people day per DAY from AIDS.
3. 50% of people living with AIDS in America do not know.
4. 14,000 people contract HIV each day.
5. The going rate for sex here in Kwa-Zulu Natal is about $5.
With all that said, life is so good here. I'm continually reminded of God's majesty from the children and the beautiful rolling hills outside my window. The other night I sat outside and starred at the stars. I've never seen so many in my life. Psalm 8 pretty much sums it up for me:
"Oh LORD, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all the flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the sea.
Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."
-Brigid
Saturday, May 15, 2010
South Africa!!
Hi everyone!!
I'll have to keep this real short cause my ride is about to leave me. Too bad I've been kicked off the internet three times so I didn't get very far here in cyber space this time! Here are a couple of lists:
You know you are in South Africa when...
1. After Yvonne (the missionaries I'm staying with) picked me up, we had to go to the police office to pay for a ticket. A suspect was behind the counter in rope hand cuffs standing in a puddle of blood. Apparently he was a theif and was caught and attacked by the police dogs. He just stood in the corner while the police officer took down the ticket info. The criminal didn't even have a guard. first african experience.
2. Monkies are on the side of the roads eating bananas.
3. You eat an egg on bread and that's lunch.
4. Still haven't showered in 4 days because the light was broken in the bathroom and it's pitch dark. (hoping to shower today!!!)
Some of my favorite finds:
1. ALL of the kids are still alive from last year. BRH, I'll email you a full report whenever I have more time on the internet.
2. Yongama, the kid I spent the most time with at Rehoboth last year, was the first kid to run and jump into my arms.
3. Outside of my bedroom looks like a fairy tale. pictures to come, i hope.
4. I went to sleep at 8pm last night and only woke up when another volunteer woke me up this morning at 11am!! :)
To BRH:
1. Lisa, that little baby that you played with last year is so big! He's walking and talking now. He also has sores all over his face, not sure what that's about.
2. Chad, Siphamondla was riding a bike yesterday and looks great! Nkosi just got a hair cut and is completely bald!
3. Rachel, that sweet and shy boy is still sweet and shy. :)
4. Everyone, I got the full story on Sarah Nesbitt and will email y'all when I have more time.
Well, that's all the time I have for now. Dang!!
Love and miss you all!
-Brigid
I'll have to keep this real short cause my ride is about to leave me. Too bad I've been kicked off the internet three times so I didn't get very far here in cyber space this time! Here are a couple of lists:
You know you are in South Africa when...
1. After Yvonne (the missionaries I'm staying with) picked me up, we had to go to the police office to pay for a ticket. A suspect was behind the counter in rope hand cuffs standing in a puddle of blood. Apparently he was a theif and was caught and attacked by the police dogs. He just stood in the corner while the police officer took down the ticket info. The criminal didn't even have a guard. first african experience.
2. Monkies are on the side of the roads eating bananas.
3. You eat an egg on bread and that's lunch.
4. Still haven't showered in 4 days because the light was broken in the bathroom and it's pitch dark. (hoping to shower today!!!)
Some of my favorite finds:
1. ALL of the kids are still alive from last year. BRH, I'll email you a full report whenever I have more time on the internet.
2. Yongama, the kid I spent the most time with at Rehoboth last year, was the first kid to run and jump into my arms.
3. Outside of my bedroom looks like a fairy tale. pictures to come, i hope.
4. I went to sleep at 8pm last night and only woke up when another volunteer woke me up this morning at 11am!! :)
To BRH:
1. Lisa, that little baby that you played with last year is so big! He's walking and talking now. He also has sores all over his face, not sure what that's about.
2. Chad, Siphamondla was riding a bike yesterday and looks great! Nkosi just got a hair cut and is completely bald!
3. Rachel, that sweet and shy boy is still sweet and shy. :)
4. Everyone, I got the full story on Sarah Nesbitt and will email y'all when I have more time.
Well, that's all the time I have for now. Dang!!
Love and miss you all!
-Brigid
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Look mom; I'm still alive!! :)
Hello from my 12-over-layover in London!
I must say, I am much better with hellos than goodbyes. In the past week I've said goodbye to many close friends graduating from Baylor next week, goodbye to a junior year full of hard work, stress and the best friends. Goodbye to America and all of its comforts... especially text messaging! My last goodbye went to my parents who, I must say, kept it together much better than I expected. :)
Strangely enough, I think that my goodbyes at the end of my trip will be even more difficult than the last week because my "African goodbyes" will most likely be real "goodbyes" rather than "seeya laters." I hope that I am prepared to say goodbye to the orphans whenever I leave Rehoboth or if they leave first.
On to hellos..
Thankfully all of my travels have gone without a hitch (so far)! I've had no delays, all aisle seats and friendly seat buddies. You'll be so glad to know, Mom, that I ended up sitting with a 25-year-old girl from London, named Kylie, who pulled up a map of the "tube" on her iPhone, gave me tips and directions as well as her phone number and email adderss in case I needed her help throughout my day here in the UK.
As for today, I am just mozying (sp?) around the city with no particular plan. I overpaid for a one-day tube pass so I intend to use it. After riding for an hour or so I picked "green park" as my first stop mainly cause I wanted to spend time at a green park. Just as I thought, I found one and enjoyed the crisp spring morning in a beautiful park surrounded by old British buildings.
I rarely (never) have time to doddle around back in the US so I thought I'd "seize the day" by sitting back. All around me people and taxis were speeding off to work but I just sat, still, on a bench. Reminds me of one of my favorite Psalms:
"I wait for you, O LORD; I lift up my soul to my God. In you I trust; do not let me be disgraced. . . Make known to me your ways, LORD; teach my your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. For you I wait all the long day, because of your goodness, LORD; for they are ages old. . . Let honesty and virtue preserve me; I wait for you, O LORD. . ." -Psalm 25
So from here, I have a flight at 7:05pm from London to Johannesburg (that's 11 hours long...), then my last flight to Durban where my hosts will pick me up and drive another three hours to Rehoboth which will be my home for the next 90 days.
Thank you all for your prayers. I am so blessed and looking forward to saying hello again in August.
Until more wifi,
-Brigid
I must say, I am much better with hellos than goodbyes. In the past week I've said goodbye to many close friends graduating from Baylor next week, goodbye to a junior year full of hard work, stress and the best friends. Goodbye to America and all of its comforts... especially text messaging! My last goodbye went to my parents who, I must say, kept it together much better than I expected. :)
Strangely enough, I think that my goodbyes at the end of my trip will be even more difficult than the last week because my "African goodbyes" will most likely be real "goodbyes" rather than "seeya laters." I hope that I am prepared to say goodbye to the orphans whenever I leave Rehoboth or if they leave first.
On to hellos..
Thankfully all of my travels have gone without a hitch (so far)! I've had no delays, all aisle seats and friendly seat buddies. You'll be so glad to know, Mom, that I ended up sitting with a 25-year-old girl from London, named Kylie, who pulled up a map of the "tube" on her iPhone, gave me tips and directions as well as her phone number and email adderss in case I needed her help throughout my day here in the UK.
As for today, I am just mozying (sp?) around the city with no particular plan. I overpaid for a one-day tube pass so I intend to use it. After riding for an hour or so I picked "green park" as my first stop mainly cause I wanted to spend time at a green park. Just as I thought, I found one and enjoyed the crisp spring morning in a beautiful park surrounded by old British buildings.
I rarely (never) have time to doddle around back in the US so I thought I'd "seize the day" by sitting back. All around me people and taxis were speeding off to work but I just sat, still, on a bench. Reminds me of one of my favorite Psalms:
"I wait for you, O LORD; I lift up my soul to my God. In you I trust; do not let me be disgraced. . . Make known to me your ways, LORD; teach my your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. For you I wait all the long day, because of your goodness, LORD; for they are ages old. . . Let honesty and virtue preserve me; I wait for you, O LORD. . ." -Psalm 25
So from here, I have a flight at 7:05pm from London to Johannesburg (that's 11 hours long...), then my last flight to Durban where my hosts will pick me up and drive another three hours to Rehoboth which will be my home for the next 90 days.
Thank you all for your prayers. I am so blessed and looking forward to saying hello again in August.
Until more wifi,
-Brigid
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