This and That

I have officially spent all the major holidays in Africa…Thanksgiving (not a holiday here), Christmas, New Year, and Easter. My birthday isn’t a major holiday but I will include it in this list just because it is significant to me. In Africa holidays are celebrated so different than in America. Attending church is part of every holiday celebration. If there is a holiday you will find people attending church.
I spent Christmas, New Year, and Easter at Pastor Mbasha’s church. I told him that in America it is rare for a pastor to give up his pulpit on a holiday. Pastor Mbasha said it is the same way in Africa except that he and I are mapacha (twins) “You are me and I am you, so it is the same.” This is what he always tells me.

I was at Pastor Mbasha’s church for the Easter weekend teaching a three-day seminar. It was really fun. Being at his church is like being at my African home church. It was a blessing for me to have three days of teaching and ministry time with his congregation. Melissa and Steve also shared in the teaching during the three days.
About two months ago Pastor Mbasha’s church was destroyed in a storm. He was able to repair the metal roof and re-attach it to metal poles that we purchased for him. So the seminar could have been called an “open-air seminar.” It was great to be able to look around at the beautiful land while teaching. The occasional herd of goats and cows roaming not to far away was an added bonus.

It is amazing to me how African life is very easy and comfortable for me. There are still some parts that I am adjusting to…the giant bugs still take me by surprise. I am trying to photograph as many of them as I can. I have a file of photos in my computer titled, “Life at the orphanage.” There are no pictures of humans…just the huge creatures we encounter on a daily basis. There is one creature I have not been able to get a picture of…yet. It is the lizard that has an orange head and green body. They are the largest lizards I have ever seen…and beautiful too.

The other day I was thinking about how our kids spend their day…so different here in Africa than in America. Our school aged kids that attend elementary school wake up, are dressed and outside doing chores by 6:30am. After chores they have breakfast. I drive them to school at 6:50am. School begins at 8:00am but they are required to be at school by 7:00am to do the gardening and cleaning around the campus. My first and second grade students are finished with their school day at 11:30am. When I pick them up if they have not completed their work or if it was completed sloppily then they have to stay at school until 3:30, when I pick up the older children. So far all of the younger kids have had to stay until 3:30 more than once except Fatuma…she is going for the record…working nice and neat while doing it all in a timely manner.
Once the kids are home from school they have a snack and then back to work for two more hours of studying. We have two teachers at the orphanage who work with the kids in their most needed areas of study. It may seem like a lot but our kids are developing a love for learning and a discipline for what is important. We have a schedule that will soon include sports, gardening, and cooking. We would like to purchase a sewing machine and have a class to teach tailoring…we already have a seamstress working as a care worker.

Life at the orphanage is a busy place. In the mornings when the kids are at school we have begun nursery school for our two kids Tina age 3 and Antony age 4. This morning I heard a little girl cheering. I went to see what was going on…Tina wrote a number one and was cheering over her accomplishment. :)

We Have Children

It has been about eight months that we’ve been living in the orphanage building and two weeks ago we took in our first children. Now we have eight…five girls and three boys. Some of them are siblings…we like to be able to keep siblings together. Their stories are so different, but they are all sad. They are living with us now. We have been living in this large building without children for a long time. A common question I am asked: “Is it hard adjusting to the kids and the noise?” My answer is the same each time: “No…they were meant to be here and things are as they should be.” Life is different for us now to be sure.
Of the eight kids two are under the age of five. Our youngest, Tina, is still adjusting to life with “white women.” She was so afraid of us the first few days. She has warmed up and on select days will even come to us. Antony, who is HIV positive, makes life here one fun moment after another. His personality lights up the room. When he sees us he calls out, “Mama, Mama” until we give him our attention. He is a very precious little guy.

Our four school girls…Sifaeli, Helena, Fatuma, and Glory are settling in just fine. They love the American girly clothes that were donated and shipped over in a container when we first moved in July 2006. I enrolled these girls in school…until I can get permission from the government to begin our own school here at the orphanage. The girls were so excited to start school. On their first day of school they were up and ready to leave at 6:30am. I thought it was just first day of school excitement, but they love school and have been up and ready to go every morning by 6:30am…they have even been ready before that and have had time to go outside and sweep and pick up leaves…I love their enthusiasm for school. :)
This week they do not have school. But we have two workers here that are teachers and we will be having school for the girls for four hours a day while they are on break...the girls are excited about this…I love their enthusiasm. :)

Immanuel is our oldest. We are not sure how old he is but we are saying he is 10 years old. He has never been to school. We have been working on teaching him the alphabet this past week. He has a long road ahead of him…not only does he have so much to learn academically, but he needs to be taught the discipline of studying and learning in a classroom atmosphere…he isn’t used to a classroom/learning atmosphere. There is a lot to teach him…not just academically speaking.

Raymond is six years old. Both of his parents died of AIDS less than six months ago within two months of each other. Raymond was tested last week for HIV. His tests show that he is fine. We are thanking the Lord for this. He is a quiet little guy but he is anxious to go to school. He watches as I leave with the girls in the morning for school and just wants to ride in the van with me when I take them. He is tutored at the orphanage with Immanuel and is a very anxious learner…he is hoping to begin school when the girls return to school after having this week off. I am going to talk to the headmaster of the school and see if he is ready…I love his enthusiasm for learning. :)

The children don’t speak English and my Swahili is very limited. They have so much to say to us all the time. But they love hugs and playing with our hair. All of them enjoy having us push them on the swings or just holding hands and walking around outside. The other day we showed a “Veggie Tales” video to them. Antony talked through the whole movie…I think he was fascinated by every bit of it. The other kids just watched the cartoon veggies and laughed…they didn’t even know what was being said.
Last night I walked into Antony’s room as he was getting ready to go to sleep and Jodie was taking his temperature. I asked him what he was holding under his armpit. He told me it was a cell phone…Jodie and I laughed and laughed. We tried to teach him how to say thermometer but he couldn’t do it…he just keep smiling as we laughed. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and he smiled looking at my cell phone and the thermometer Jodie had just taken out from his armpit…so cute.