Monday 29th April - Sunday 12th May 2013

The last two weeks of working at Ethembeni was a rollercoaster of emotions, tiredness and activities! Mornings at the Family Centre were spent planning our various projects, writing up stories of hope, spending time with the Aunties and running English lessons.
Our English lessons have been such a great success, we were able to run a 6 week course that covered everything from tenses to adjectives to formal and informal telephone conversations to opinions and everything inbetween! We had great fun with all the members of staff who attended and it was so putative and encouraging for us to great the improvement in their English levels.
Chloe, Esther, Ruth and I have also been hosting some Women's Nights. These ran at the Family Centre after work and were such a God send as we got to have fun, have devotions, worship, but also spend quality time with the Aunties. We had such a lovely time, and they were a great way to wind down each working week in Ethembeni. It also allowed the Aunties to relax and spend time together after the children had all left the centre.
Work on Grace Chapel Pre-Schopl was so, so rewarding! Chloe and I headed down every afternoon to add to our painting. Although the children were meant to leave between 12 - 1, when we got there at 1:30 there was always the same handful of little, excited faces ready to play and distract us from our work! They were the sweetest children, and although the English/Zulu barrier was at it's strongest, we really got to the children through playing, have cuddles and lots of laughter! They loved sitting watching us painting and always caused mischief! Chloe and I decided that we were like the Elves from The Elves and the Shoemaker fairytale, as would come after most the children had left and paint some more all ready for school the next day. We are so proud with how the preschool has ended up.
Home visits were one of the highlights of my week, a group of four ladies from our patients met every week, even if they weren't receiving food parcels. It was such a blessing to spend time with, and get to know these ladies. They are such an encouragement and really are beacons of hope, where so many people are giving up. Saying goodbye to those ladies was difficult, but I pray that they stay strong in their friendships with each other, and in their faith.
We spent the public holiday (1st May) in Kamberg, where we were helping Howick Prep School to take down one of the cycle villages from the Joberg to Sea cycle race. Each cycle village has around 500 tents that need to be taken down and then transferred to the following-but-one cycle village. Chloe and I manged to get our average tent taking down time down to 35 seconds! It was quite a long, hard day, but it was good fun to be part if it.
Chloe and I spent Saturday (4th May) over in Wartberg to watch Christina and Megan (and also a lot of our other friends from Youth) play hockey against Wartberg High. It was such a fun morning and afternoon. We ended up watching 5 hockey matches and 2 of the rugby games. That evening all the team and their host families were invited over to Linda and Wayne's for a braai and evening of games and fun. It was so lovely to be able to spend that time together.
On Monday (6th May) the whole team went up Sani Pass with Steph and Paul (Chloe and I's South African parents) and Linda and Wayne (Ruth and Esther's). Sani Pass is the highest passing point between KZN and Lesotho! It was right up in the Berg and the views on the way up were amazing!! It was breathtaking. We technically left South Africa as Lesotho is a seperate country. We also got to eat lunch at highest pub in Africa which was pretty cool! 
Our last day at Ethembeni was so sad, we have all learnt so much, been changed and grown so close to so many people there. We had a goodbye lunch where we got to see many of the Aunties and men for the last time. We were all presented with a second Ethembeni shirt which was so lovely. Each of our mentors also made us a goodbye card and we were each given a Zulu name reflecting us. My Zulu name is Nosipho which means "gift". After work finished on Thursday (9th May), Chloe and I went to visit Dudu (the lady we had stayed with for our first 16 days in Mpophomeni) to say final goodbyes to her and the children.
We had lots more goodbyes to say at both Junior and Senior Youth in Howick on Friday (10th May). We had all made a lot of friends, and as the guys at Senior Youth were similar ages to us, it was so hard to say bye to so many amazing people!
On Sunday (12th May) after church in the morning we headed over to King Shaka to drop Ruth off at the airport as she was flying straight home! This was one of the hardest goodbyes I have said so far in South Africa as we have spent the psst three months living with, working with and getting to know her! Chloe and I then said goodbye to Esther, Gideon and Eli as we were staying with friends of Chloe's before flying to Cape Town on Monday (13th May) and they are getting the bus down so we won't see them for a few days!
I shall try and continue to keep you updated and Chloe and I's next 4 weeks as we backpack our way around South Africa! It's going to be a very excting adventure for us!

I have attached some photos of our finished preschool! And one Clo and I as we left Steph and Paul's.

Lots of love xxxxxxx

Friday 26th April - Sunday 28th April 2013

We started Friday morning with a Staff Retreat at in Karkloof, at a small game reserve. We played some games, had some amazing devotions and worship, both in English and Zulu. It was just a lovely morning of spending time with all the incredible people from Ethembeni outside our normal working environment. After lunch at the retreat the team left and headed over towards Winterton in the Drankensberg. It took us about an hour and a half to two hours to get there. We weren't really sure what to expect about our accommodation... We had ben told to expect a Zulu experience, but I don't think any of us were w your thinking of rural Zulu! We were staying in two traditional, rural, Zulu beehives huts. We slept on the floor, ate around a single candle flame as there was no electricity and actually had a really amazing time!
We left early on Saturday and drove to the Royal Natal National Park (which took us about two hours). Because it took us so long to arrive, we weren't able to complete the walk that we had all been so excited to do! Tugela Waterfall is the second highest waterfall in the world!! We had been told told by the guide that it should be around a 6 hour hike to walk the 14 km there and back, but we quickly discovered that it was a 9 hour hike. Instead of managing to walk all the way to the base of the falls like we had wanted, we waked all the up the gorge and river that flowed from Tugela and turned around at the chain ladder we had to climb to continue. Although we didn't get all the way to the waterfall, we spent all day walking in the most beautiful scenery with the mountains all around us!
On Sunday we packed up and left early and drive towards the Heritage Site for the Drankensberg. We spent the morning there, ate lunch and then started the journey back to Howick. We managed to fit in time to dump our bags and freshen up at home before we headed down to HCC for the evening service.

Friday 19th April - Thursday 25th April 2013

Friday was our day off from work and so Clo and I spent the day speaking to people who were interested in Poppy. We also headed down to HCC early to have a team devotion before Junior Youth started. Spent the evening at HCC as we had Senior Youth afterwards, and then Clo and I brought Poppy back home with us for her final night!
A lovely couple came over to meet Poppy on Saturday morning, which ended with a happy - but slightly tearful (!!) - goodbye to our little puppy. We spent the early afternoon playing South African Monopoly with the family (sooo much more confusing then English Monopoly!) and then headed out onto the Midland's Meander with some friends in the late afternoon.
Had such a kiff service on Sunday morning, really enjoyed both the worship and then sermon. Caught up with friends after the service, and then Clo and I went for some quiet time out on the field. About 12:30 everyone returned to the Church as we were meeting there for Sarah's surprise birthday party. We drove down to one of the near by farms where we spent all afternoon chatting, braaiing and zipwiring into the dam! It was a lovely afternoon and we managed to get back to Church with time to change before the evening service.
Monday morning Clo and I both woke up really sick. We had awful coughs and were just feeling completely drained. Steph spent all morning making us cups of tea and giving us vitamins...and at the same time managed to make 30 litres of butternut squash soup for the joBerg2c cycle race!
Started Tuesday morning with a long team meeting to discuss the weeks plans and aims. Clo and I then started to plan our Video of Hope (for our Ethembeni Days of Hope Campaign). The afternoon was spent playing with the children, our crazy little charges!
We arrived at work early on Wednesday so that we could finalise our English lesson for the morning. We were ready at 10 for the Aunties, but none of them actually turned up until 10:30, as the Care Centre had reopened that morning! Our English lesson then both started late and over ran bu about half an hour! But it was so nice to see the Aunties enjoying the lesson so much. The early afternoon was spent with the younger children (lower primary school finish before HP and high schools) and then we headed home early as we still weren't completely better. Clo and I went to visit some friends in the late afternoon and we found out loads about where we were spending the weekend in the Berg.
Home visits were really amazing on Thursday morning. It's incredible how much a patient can change in just one week! So much life, laughter and love from the ladies this week and it was just awesome to see. I feel so inspired by these women, they really are a true tower of strength and faith! After home visits we had to pop into Howick to pick up juice and fruit for our Women's Night.. Once we returned we started to cut up all the apples, oranges and bananas. Esther and Ruth led a devotion for the Aunties as Clo and I went to collect the Zumba instructor (Mpophomeni is very confusing if you don't know it!) The Aunties loved the Zumba and were all so excited for next weeks! We then dropped the Aunties home across Mpophomeni and then up into the townships in the hills in KwaHaza and Ngwagwa.

Friday 12th April - Thursday 18th April 2013

Friday was moving day! We were taken over to meet our host families late morning. Clo and I are staying with the most amazing family! We are living in the flat about their garage, so we get to climb stairs everytime we go to our flat which is so exciting! South African houses are normally one storey, so having stairs (and a shower, and a washine machine and Western food!!) is such a plus. After we met Steph and the family we went to HCC for a meeting, and then stayed for Junior and Senior youth.
Woke up on Saturday morning and the first thing we did was shower! Definitely the small things we take for granted! Steph and the kids took us to Midmar Dam in the afternoon and we spent a lovely few hours geting to know them and enjoying the view, the dam is so beautiful! We had dinner in Pmb as a team with Sarah and Hilary at the yummiest Italian place! Was incredible! We went out to celebrate Hilary's birthday that had been earlier the same week.
We went to HCC on Sunday morning and had a lovely worship session, and the sermon was great. We went to a friends for lunch and had roast dinner! Was so nice, a lovely reminder of home! After lunch we came back to the church early and I skpyed my family and grandparents which was lovely. After Skyping, we headed back upstairs to Church for the evening service.
Clo and I were going to go for a run when we woke up Monday morning, by it was already really warm by 9. Instead we spent the morning planning some more pre-school and worked out the details of our first Women's Night. We walked into Howick (which felt so good as for our safety we weren't allowed to walk around in Mpophomeni). It took us about 45 minutes to walk to the centre of Howick where we met up with some of our team. Clo and I went to use some of our Women's Night budget to buy nail varnishes, removers and such things. We spent ages trying to figure out which colours the Aunties would like the most! After a few hours in Howick, we walked back home and spent time with our family.
Headed to work for 9, on Tuesday morning. Xolani was about to go on school visits to check up on some of our children from the Family Centre. Clo, Esther, Hilary and I went with him. We visited 3 different schools in Mpops, a high school, a higher primary and a lower primary school. We got back to the Family Centre just before lunch and so managed to eat before the younger children got back from school. Philo and Snow came and sat outside with us, and we sat with them as they tried to eat their lunch (being little they get distracted very quickly!). Some of the girls found us and so started to Zulu plait our hair - this has definitely got less painful as time has passed! Got home at 4:30 today as Clo and I were going with our family to Stuart's grade 5 Prep School Orienteering Evening! We had a family picnic on the field and then when it got dark we headed out with a map and torches to find all the clues! It was a really fun evening and we managed to find 37/40 hidden clues.
We were in work early again Wednesday morning, but weren't doing an English lesson until the afternoon as there was an important meeting at the Care Centre first thing. We had a really nice team planning meeting and devotion instead, working out what we were going to do over the next couple of weeks. After the meeting, Clo and I collected some ideas, did some research and got together some images that we wanted to use on the walls of Grace Chapel. After the children had left Grace Chapel we went over to start drawing the animals onto the walls. Some of the children aren't picked up for a few hours after the centre closes and so there was a handful of 2 and 3 years old playing by the side of the road when we arrived. They all came in to watch us draw and to chatter at us in Zulu. They are such sweet and happy babies! When we got back from work we spent early evening playing card games before dinner.
Thursday's and home visits always seem to come round so fast! Potentially because I love them so much.. We were picked up at 9 and drove to a lovely, local cafe where we meet up with all the Howick volunteers. We chat over coffee, catch up on the past week and have a devotion together before heading to Mpophomeni. When we arrived at the Care Centre we needed to split up all the food into the number of houses we would be visiting. It's is so lovely to go and visit the same ladies and families each week. Although there is a huge language barrier I really feel like we are getting to know each other. It's so hard to even try and understand what these women's lives have been like, but it is such a blessing for me to know that although each one is a single mum, HIV positive, completely reliant on charity due to lack of work, that they have given their lives to Jesus, and that they know Him, trust Him and love Him. The girls headed to Howick after home visits to get some juice and snacks for our Women's Night. Women's Night was a huge success! We did a devotion on beauty, and all we wanted to do wad simply remind each one of the Aunties how beautiful they were... They really enjoyed it, and all wrote down Proverbs 31:30 as a reminder! We had watched 3 chickens walk in at the start of the event... Turns out they were dinner!! So we had super fresh chicken and Zulu bread to finish up our lovely evening.

A few photos from the past 9 weeks!

Friday 5th April - Thursday 11th April 2013

The past week has been as hectic as usual!

On Friday we had the chance to go over to Durban in the pre-evening to watch the Sharks play at King Park. The game was really good, and it was so lovely to be out doing something as a team, and with friends! It was a lovely, relaxing way to end the working week. 

For the last 4 weeks that we have been living in Mpophomeni and this final week that is up and coming, we have been "self-catered". We have a weekly budget which can then be split between the girl's house and the boys. The first week we were living in our nice pink house, we got the weekly budget and we're able to go and buy ENGLISH FOOD! We were all so looking forward to the next 5 weeks of eating food that we could actually enjoy... and swallow! However, for the following 3 week we were back to Zulu food which wasn't quite what we planned. However, yesterday we managed to get the budget and so Clo, Ruth, Esther and I spent Saturday doing the weekly shop in Howick. We had a nice time to just chill a little, spend some time as just girls and talk about the week we had had and the week to come. 

Sunday was certainly a landmark in all of our lives... Londi invited us to her Church in the morning, as we usually go to the Church at the Family Centre. We are use to Zulu Church now... or so we thought.. The only word that was spoken in English in the whole service was "hallelujah"... and the service lasted from 10am to 1:40pm!! It was the longest service any of us had ever been in, and probably ever will be in! It was a really good experience, and although I don't think I will rushing back, I was so glad that we went. After the church service we went to see some of our friends in Howick (washed all our clothes and showered!!!) and had a braai and a lovely afternoon of fellowship before HCC in the evening.

Clo, Esther, Poppy (our puppy) and I were dropped in Howick on Monday so that we could buy and plan some more stuff for the pre-school. We spent the day planning out how we wanted the paintings to look, what colours we needed, what colours we could mix! And all trying to keep the price under our budget. It was a really productive day, and we got to go home and make bangers and mash for dinner! 

Tuesday morning was spent planning the English lesson for Wednesday morning, we sat on the floor in the front room of our house and spent ages trying to work out how we could cover everything we needed to cover, without sounding patronizing, or not pushing the Aunties hard enough! Teaching adults is much harder then teaching children, so at the moment we are all just learning as we go along! The Transform team (from England) had come over for a week, and so we filmed a video about our experiences out here, what we have done, how much we love it, and encouraging other people to take a Transform Gap Year and chatted to them for a while. After lunch, Clo, Esther, Hil and I headed over to Grace Chapel where we painted in the green hills on the wall and filled in the missing blue skies, it was so nice to just paint and know that what we were doing meant so much to the children and staff. Clo and I made dinner, and then drove into Howick to go to a bible study at the house of a lady from HCC. We met Esther there, and then all came home together afterwards. 

Wednesday morning is when we do our weekly English lesson. We start each English lesson by getting the aunties and male staff up on their feet and doing some exercise!! It's a fun way to start the lessons, and the aunties love it! The team were all doing their own thing on Wednesday afternoon, so when Clo and I managed to get transport we headed over to Grace Chapel and drew some trees and giraffes on the wall of the pre-school (will try and upload some photos soon!). We had to be at home and be ready to be picked up at 4:30 as Sarah was coming to get us to take us to her house. We spent a lovely evening at Sarah's, ate a  dinner, made popcorn and watched a film together. It was an early birthday celebration for Hilary as she was turning 20 the next day.

We woke up early on Thursday (Hilary's birthday) and tried to make pancakes, these failed and so we made her fried toast instead. After breakfast we went to Calabash Cafe where we met up with all the other volunteers from Howick to chat, chill and talk about the morning's planned home visits. Grant gave us a quick devotion and then the team all headed to Mpophomeni. There we sang "Happy Birthday" to Hilary and did some exercises, and had a devotion before we split into our teams and headed off to visit our friends and see how they all were. I went out with Esther and Zonky today as they didn't have a legal driver.. It was so lovely to meet all the families that Esther sees on a regular basis and so it was a lovely experience  Esther and  I led the devotions on Proverbs 3:5-6, and then after we had visited all the families, and delivered all the food we drove back to the Family Centre. We spent the evening in the house, packing and running around like headless chickens trying to make sure that we hadn't left anything behind! 

It was sad to leave the little pink house that had been our home for the past 5 weeks, and it was also sad to know that we were moving out of Mpophomeni, but we knew that it was time to leave, and time to move to Howick.

Tuesday 2nd April - Thursday 4th April - Zulu Holiday Club...

Tuesday morning started off with Esther, Gideon and I heading up to KwaHaza - a township up the hill from Mpophomeni.. We were told to expect 17 children, and when we turned there were 170 happy, excited little faces all ready for a fun day of games and learning about God! Holiday club was meant to run from 9-1, but taking African time into account the fact that the day started at 9 and didn't finish until 3:30/4 wasn't too much of a shock to us! The day was sorching hot and the children spent all day playing games out in the direct sunlight all day... this didn't bother them at all, but us Pommies and the American's were dropping like flies! The children had a great day and were able to play, relax and just be children for the day.. This sounds like a stupid statement, but actually some children are the head of their households but 13/14, and have the whole famy responsiblity on their shoulders! Being able to give these children a break is something that means so much to them and us alike.
Wednesday's weather was completely opposite to Tuesday.. it was freezing cold and tipping it down with rain (it even rains in Africa!) and so only around 50 children turned up. This actually made the day and the organisation so much easier as there ratio of adults to children was much better. We spent the day inside one of the schools on KwaHaza and played games, did devotions and chatted to the kids. Feeding the children is awlways a challenge as there are soooo many hungry tummies to feed!
Thursday was different again as the team were all together working on the holiday club in Mpophomeni playing games and teaching them about God again. The children on the holiday club in Mpops were children who I knew as many of them were children who come along to the family centre throughout the week. It was a lovely few days, ran off Zulu timing - but never the less it was great fun!