Ebonsweni

On Wednesday, we actually got our look at the second community that TTH works in: Ebonsweni. Sorry that it's taken so long to report on that experience...on Thursday night, Mikey got sick and then on Friday and Saturday, I got sick. I actually went to the "chemist" (a drug store with a little clinic and a nurse practitioner) on Saturday morning and was diagnosed with a bladder infection, which I've been taking medication for. BOY was that miserable! Pretty much like having the flu. I am feeling much better today and am re-gathering my strength to go into another week!

SO, Ebonsweni.

It was a very different experience than being in Kabokweni. When we arrived, there was hardly anyone there except for the volunteers and a couple of kids. We met everyone and then I kicked the soccer ball around with the few that were there. Gradually, the place filled up. We had brought a big coloring book so things got moving when the kids lined up and each got a page and in groups of five, a box of crayons. They dispersed to color wherever they could find a spot. As I held a very clingy little baby (I think one of the worker's daughters), one of the girls layed her page on my back and colored there. I was glad to be of use, although I did start to cramp up after a while! Mikey made the "mistake" of drawing a portrait of a kid on the back of his coloring page, which then everyone wanted him to do for them. He must have drawn 25 by the end of it, all with a crayon! My first feeding experience, I helped serve up plates; this time, I don't even remember seeing any kids with plates...we just sat around wtih groups of kids trying to entertain them.

There was one little girl who I taught to thumb wrestle and she got attached to me. Everytime my hair was down, she and some other girls took the initiative to put it back up. They couldnt seem to figure out why they couldnt get all the stray curls into one tight ponytail, but boy did they try (to the detrement of my scalp sometimes...)! The eventually contained it with a tri-ponytail style. I taught them how to play "rock, paper, scissors" and then "duck, duck, goose" and we stayed occupied for a few hours.

These two communities are very different. When I first went to Kabokweni, I had certain expectations for the children...I mean, I expected that they would behave a certain way: independent, self-sustaining, cautious, greedy in the sense that they have the mentality of getting what they can for themselves and not letting anyone take it from them. I didn't find that there. The kids were fairly welcoming and very well behaved. They treated each other and the volunteers with great respect. In Ebonisweni, on the other hand, I felt like I saw that behavior for the first time. They were much rougher with each other, seemingly more self-concerned than others-aware. They would hit each other and take from each other, and when I tried to give out stickers near the end, they mobbed me and tried to dupe me into thinking I hadn't given them one so I'd give them another. They two places have a very different spiritual feel, to paraphrase one of the TTH workers.

Other than the kids, I feel that my place there is different, also. In Kabokweni, I connected more with the volunteers (one, in particular, whom I wrote about earlier). I was able, on Thursday morning, to be a part of a volunteer Bible study that they do there, and I am very interested in continuing this ministry to the native volunteers. In Ebonisweni, I hardly spoke to the volunteers at all beyond introductions, and played mostly with the kids. Also on Thursday, I tagged along to a girl's club that is run in an elementary classroom after school once a week by a post-high school, pre-university girl named Nanzamo. She is the daughter of the woman--"Mamma V" (or Victoria)--who runs the feeding program in Ebonisweni from her home. Anyway, so that program is something I could be involved in. Mikey wants to use his gifts of organization and administration here at University Village, but isnt sure where he is most needed.

Things seem still a little complicated as we aren't sure where to plug in our talents and resources. We do feel led to help build community within University Village, though, and hope this week to start some night-activities that will bring the TTH missionaries together rather than all of us dissipating to our rooms after dark. Continue to pray that we would find a place to be a part of ministry here. That is foremost on my mind. Also, that I would continue to heal and stay hydrated (something that Mikey has taken great pleasure in seeing to...) for my bladder's sake.

We love you and appreciate your thoughts, prayers and e-mails!