My friend Joanen!

This is a picture of me with my friend, Joanen, from the SOS Children's Village. He's been at the village for a few months now and has totally captured my heart. He always has a huge smile for me when I arrive each day at the SOS Kindergarten. I don't know a lot about his story, but do know that he was abandoned by his parents and was found wandering the streets on his own...at 5 years old!! When the kindergarten teacher had a meeting with his SOS mom she said the first time she put lotion on him he kind of freaked out because he had never experienced the sensation of lotion on his skin! I can't imagine what his life has been like before coming to SOS! He's so affectionate, hugs all the time for me and the teachers. Earlier this week his teacher had to leave the premises to buy bread since we didn't get our delivery and Joanen was so concerned about where she was going and was she coming back?! He stared after her car for a long time and I literally had to drag him back to the classroom, all the while assuring him that "Yes, Teacher Liz will be back. She's just fetching the bread for snack!" I think this only worked because he loves snack time...he can never get enough to eat, so we surmise that he did not get enough to eat in the past and doesn't trust that his future will have plenty to eat, so he's eating as much as he can now!! He's so tiny, he looks like he's maybe 4, yet the teachers say he is actually 6 years old. They also suspect by his facial features that he suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. He also has no attention span and can't sit still for even a few minutes, which is troublesome as to how much he learns. And you try to discipline him and he just flashes his huge smile and its hard to be firm with him! Oh he's so precious my friends! Please pray for his future, that he'll get along well at the Village and that he will take advantage of the opportunities the Village offers as far as schooling that would not even be possible if he lived in a township.

Goodbye Anna!!

On August 14th we said goodbye to Anna. She is from Oregon and had been here in Cape Town for 2 1/2 months and we will miss her immensely!! That's one of the amazing things about this program is how quickly you can build relationships with people! I was always amazed by Anna's passion, energy, openness, bubbliness, and just her willingness to try anything! Sometimes I was so envious of her ability to always know what to say and to always be so witty! She also loved to dance and she would break into a little jig at most anytime - so much fun! She was even game enough to sing a song karaoke for her first time on my birthday!! Thanks for everything you gave to the program and to me personally, Anna! God bless your life!!

Goodbye UK Team!!

We were blessed to have a team of six women from the U.K. come for three weeks from late July to the middle of August. They were here to do a program daily on community in a high school and to learn more about life and culture in South Africa. They stayed with us at the volunteer house, so our concerns that there would only be a couple of us in the house at the end of July and early August were unfounded!! We had a full house!! Lots of noise and chaos and lots of fun! They were a great group and we all had a really great time getting to know them. They left on Aug 12th and they have left a huge void in their wake!! I'm sure God has great things in store for each of these fabulous ladies!!
Thank you to Judy, Naomi, Emma, Helen, Corrie and Bess for enriching our lives!!

Feeding program at Vissershok Primary School

We have partnered with an organization called The Said Foundation to do a Feeding Program at the Vissershok Primary School. This is the school where we also teach twice a week. The Said Foundation has been trying to provide hot food for the kids twice a week, but they needed more help. They saw us coming to the school as well so decided to ask if we would be willing to assist them. So we have a least one volunteer go there to assist in preparing and serving the food on Monday and Fridays. I have been going the last few weeks and its so awesome to be able to help provide something so important for the kids. For some of them this is the only meal they will receive!! We also assist by picking up donated food on some Thursday nights and on Saturdays. The Woolworths grocery store donates the food and sometimes they donate odd things the kids won't eat so sometimes they let us have that stuff, so we've gotten things like sushi and cambert cheese - perks for helping out!! Here are some pics from the program.

Goodbye Alicia!!

On July 31st we said goodbye to Alicia as she went back home to New York! She and I got to be really good friends in the 3 months she was here and I hated to see her go!! She and I did several activities just the two of us, which I will always remember fondly - like going to Cape Point, checking out Grandwest Casino and Entertainment Complex (we didn't do any gambling, but checked out all the other stuff - good food, ice skating rink and cinema), introducing her to my favorite movie, Casablanca, going to His People on Sunday nights....good times!! Here's a pic of us on the Cape Point trip. I'll miss you, Alicia! I know we'll keep in touch and we will see each other again, hopefully in December!! Thanks again for the Easy Mac!! You're the coolest!! =:)

Goodbye Jonny!!

So on July 30th we said goodbye to Jonny, as he went back home to England. He has been here in Cape Town since early January. He's the last person to leave that was here when I got here, so I was very sad to see him go!! He's an amazing young man and I can't believe how well he handled being the only male volunteer in a house full of women!! He obviously hung out with Denzel, our project manager, a lot, but for the most part he was the only guy and he handled it like a champ! He's very funny, energetic, adventurous and easy-going! All the kids LOVED Jonny! Whenever we went to the SOS Village the kids were always yelling his name and climbing all over him! My fondest memories of Jonny are from our Namibia trip and from the notorious (to me!) Kylemore hike, where Jonny literally dragged me up the mountain!! I truly would not have made if not for his help!! "Thanks Jonny!"

It was always tough to get a serious pic of Jonny, so the first pic is vintage Jonny, then the second is the two of us at the Cuban restaurant the night before he left. I know God has great plans for you, Jonny! I will miss you lots and I hope we meet again!!

Happy Birthday!! Karaoke style!!

So my 38th birthday was on July 18th and it was such a good day!! It was a Wednesday, so I went to the SOS Children's Village Kindergarten as usual and the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to me, in English and in Afrikaans! Then in the office they had not one, but two cakes for me!! Yum! Then I got home and the girls had baked another cake for me!! Wow, I've never had so much cake in one day!! Then the best part, they took me out to a pub doing karaoke!!! I love karaoke so much and had been dropping hints about it for awhile, but no one seemed too interested. But they blindfolded me and drove me there as a surprise. It was sooo much fun! I sang two songs on my own, then all us girls got up and sang "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" and then the two guys in our group got up and sang "I'm Too Sexy!", it was hilarious! Then one of the other volunteers, Anna, got up and did her first karaoke solo, she did great, it was so much fun! Here's a pic of us girls singing at the top of our lungs!!