I don’t know whether to consider this a highlight or not, but I in exactly 5 months this coming weekend I will be boarding a plane with my fellow SwaLeSa SALTer’s and flying home. Highlight yes that I’ll be seeing my other fellow SALT’ers who have been living in various countries since we departed last August, yes to seeing our program co-ordinators and leaders, but lastly yes to seeing family and friends back home. Highlight no that I’ll be saying too many sad goodbyes to all the children and staff at work, no to saying goodbye to all the dearest friends who have stood by me through hard times and fun & exciting times and no to saying goodbye to all these beautiful landscapes and wildlife. The months ahead I hope will be filled with many memorable moments!
Okay so I thought I would share some highlights that have happened in the past several weeks. So I will start with my birthday, the 18th of January, which was a Monday, a MCC day. James & Joan were driving out of the city on MCC work so I spent the day working in the school library at GCS (Gateway Christian School) figuring out dewy decimals for the MCC book library, by going through the list of books printed on paper and by guessing at the titles deciding how to catalogue them. Not an easy job! At the first school break I went upstairs to the staff room where I met up with the teachers and they sang Happy Birthday in English and Zulu. It was really nice being sung Happy Birthday in Zulu. Next the staff went around the table and shared a few words with me, and I really enjoyed the moment. Later that evening around supper time, Becky picked me up and we met up with Sally from work at a restaurant in town that has quizzes every Monday night. Can’t remember the restaurant name, but I am diffidently not a trivia person. Like one question was “what is Mike Tyson’s nick name”? Or “what is the state capital of California”? I know I should have known California’s state capital, but I just didn’t know it that night. Where is Liam when I need him? Overall the day was awesome and I was very blessed with unexpected presents from some of the school staff members and others from PG.
My second highlight was spending the day with my friend Liesel, and day tripping into the Midland Meander. The Midlands are situated in the countryside just outside PMB, and the countryside is filled with all sorts of different craft shops. I diffidently know that my father would have enjoyed a causal drive through this landscape of SA! I ended up buying a purse/bag which is falling apart now, grr; and a few other little trinkets.
My third highlight includes an awesome weekend that started off with receiving a long awaited Christmas parcel (a 2 month wait) which consisted of a beautiful homemade calendar made of a collage of photos of family and friends. The rest of the weekend was filled with spending time with Andrew & Felicia who came over from Durban to attend a dinner mystery dinner at Hexagon Theatre with James & Joan, Andrew & Karen Suderman (Mennonite Church Canada Witness Network), Gabi, Tim and Anna from the Radical Journey program and myself. Earlier that day, I attended a birthday party for a teacher’s daughter, where I had a wonderful time chatting with guests and enjoying some wonderful Indian food.
My next highlight would diffidently have to be Friday the 12th of Feb, which GCS had some fun Valentine Activities. The school planed fun fundraising activities and on that day the children paid R5 and wore their regular street clothes. Some of the children and teachers brought in some sweets to be sold. Kerry the Liberian got out her water spray bottle and since it was another incredible hot day the children paid R 1 for a refreshing spray of water on their faces. Mrs. Bennett told me I could sell ice cream to an Eskimo! It was so much fun to have my finger on the trigger. Just watching the children bracing their faces for the coming water spray and their squeal of response was priceless. Some of the children came back for one or even two more sprays of water and each time they paid R1! Right before the children finished for the day at noon, I helped Juli one of the grade 3 teachers hand out some Valentine Balloons that she organized as another fundraiser for the school. This was something new, and it went pretty well. I even received two balloon Valentines myself, but I don’t know from whom though.
To finish off this wonderful day, Kerry invited me to her home after work, where I spent time getting to know her two girls Paige and Meg, and husband Rus. They have a beautiful home and a lovely pool and once I was changed into my swimming costume I relaxed in the water and enjoyed my hostesses. The evening was completed by a wonderful braai and after that I did some sharing about Canada with my books, postcards, and photos of home. A wonderful day with new friends!
I just thought I would lastly share with you two upcoming highlights in the near future. The first one is happening on the 20th of March when CMU’s (Canadian Mennonite University) Outta Town program is arriving in PMB. I have been looking forward to this date for a long time since one of the students in this program is from my very own church from home. His program will be here and living in the cell blocks at PG and I am excited to see a familiar face from home.
Second, a couple days after he leaves I’ve planned an awesome holiday down to the Cape. I am so looking forward to this and everything seems to be falling into place. I just ask for prayers of safe travel for those days!
Signing off….
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