Monday - The beautiful ocean

It was so nice to be in Durban. John and Lorna decided we needed a day of rest.  We had been up early since we had arrived, traveling from place to place gathering information.  Whew - we were exhausted.

Before we even ate breakfast we were able to walk to the ocean. It was just feet from the back gate of the house we were staying at. Oh my, it sure was beautiful!! We were speechless. I asked the kids before we stepped in the water, what ocean this was? And after much discussion and many random guesses Ramsey finally said, "Is it the Indian Ocean?". She was correct, we were standing in the Indian ocean.

Tate, Ramsey, Jordan, Nathan, & Austin

Our unplanned Saturday adventure...

Looking back on Saturday, I can smile to myself and thank God we are all safe. But as we left Swaziland on Saturday morning at 11 so we could meet John, Lorna and the kids for dinner at 5 - we had no idea what was in store for us.

We left the abandoned baby home and followed the directions to cross the border from Swaziland, back into South Africa to Durban. When we got to the border, we were told to pull off to the side and wait. I had an uneasy feeling as I was watching other white people looking like they had been stopped longer then us, and were very frustrated. Once someone came over to our car they said we needed to show proof of our boarder pass for our rental car company(which we had never heard of before). After looking through everything, we handed him all the paperwork we had and he said NO. We were told we had to go back to this building called interfreight, where the rental car company could fax the correct document to us. We were so confused.

After much discussion (2-3 hours) between the women at interfreight (through an 8 foot high fence) and Rob talking to our new found friend "John" - (who was just looking for money) we finally received the document they were requesting.

Back to the border again, and this time we made it. Only to realize we had just entered Mozambique, NOT where we had intended to go.

After begging the border officers to let us back into Swaziland, without having to pay the road tax again (because we had just used the last of our Swaziland money), we left as fast as possible. Since we were there a total of 3-4 hours and it was already getting close to dusk we decided to regroup, travel back to Swaziland (where we had stayed previously) and start over again on Sunday.

Saturday...

We were able to stop at the abandon baby home, it was great to meet the people and see what a difference they are making.

More about Durban later.

Friday - meeting our sponsored child

This was a day I had been praying for, for a long time. Two World Vision women picked us up at our hotel at 8:00 for our long journey into a remote, mountainous village where Sandsizwa lives. We have sponsored him for about 4 years. Tate and Austin each have one sponsored child that they communicate with, Austin writes him letters at least once a month and over the years, we pray for Sandsizwa and I have longed for the day we could see him face to face.

Before we started the trek to his village we stopped at a grocery store and filled our cart full of food for the family. The boys were able to pick out a few toys to take to the kids too.

It took us about 1.5 hours to drive to the village. We met the area development director and also saw the well that World Vision had provided for this community.

I will write more later, we are heading to an abandoned baby home this morning and then in the car for another 5-6 hours for Durban.

Thursday....part 2

We finally made it to the border of Swaziland and after clearing immigrations in South Africa with our passports we had to drive 20 feet and do everything again to get into Swaziland.

We arrived safely, and all decided Swaziland is SO BEAUTIFUL. We were able to catch up with Hope's Chest and stop at a few care points that they are currently supporting. There was a trailer parked at the care point and when we arrived they told us the church that was supporting this care point raised some extra money for the children to have a meal. We were able to distribute the food and help the little ones peel their oranges. We were told this was a VERY special occasion, normally they only get meals like this twice a year!! It was a chicken leg, bread, salad and an orange. I was amazed at how many of the little ones would only eat a few bites and then ask us to help them put it away. I asked why they wouldn't eat more, it was clear they were hungry but they told us these kids will take this meal home to feed their ENTIRE family.

We also split up and did a home visit, for a family of 9. One mother and 8 children. We brought them food (oil, rices, and beans) and they were overjoyed. They wanted to know how we knew that they didn't have any food.

We prayed for them and their homes. The main house they slept in roof collapsed a few weeks ago in a terrible wind storm, so they were all sleeping without any roof over their heads in another smaller 8 x 8 cement room.

I could see the wheels spinning in Rob's head, if there was some way to get some wood and a few nails I think we would have been able to get some protection for them.

We reported back to our group leader and he said he would add that to his list of 'needs' and deal with it as soon as possible.

Again, we are tired and looking forward to what the next few days will be like in Swaziland.

Thursday....part 1

Tommy Widmer will appreciate this post. We were up at 4 am and on the road at 5:30 heading towards Swaziland. We thought it would take us about 5 hours to get there, and we were to meet Hope's Chest at 10:30. It was smooth sailing, UNTIL our tire shredded and we were sitting in the middle of nowhere.

After searching for our spare tire, Jim and Rob were able to change it. We knew it wasn't going to last the rest of the trip so we decided to back track to the town we had just recently traveled through. On the way back into town we called the car rental place, and was put on hold for a good fifteen minutes before we were able to talk to a live person. As I was explaining to the representative our problem, and Jim pulled into the gas station, the guy asked where we were located. After trying to figure out what street we were on, he said, "No problem, I will be right over!!". His office was right across the street, and he was able to take our car just a few doors down and give us a brand new tire!! The Lord was really looking out for us..thank GOD!! It gave all of us time for a much needed potty break and to grab some snacks for breakfast.

More later.

The youth are doing great!!!

The youth from Grace Community Church are doing AWESOME.  They are having a great time and have adjusted very well.  Within the first 24 hours there were obstacles to overcome; cultural and language barriers as well as adjusting to the time change and cooler temperatures.  I was chatting with Stacy this morning and she said the counselors and assistant counselors are working hard, and enjoying the challenges. They are up early in the morning, assisting all day with activities, walking alongside all of the campers, motivating their tribes, working towards different rewards throughout the day and continuing to build long lasting relationships.  There has been a lot of laughter among these young adults. 

The groups have also been worshiping every night together, followed by a testimony from a counselor, and a short message, looking deeper into scripture.  Once that is complete the youth have time with their tribes to follow up with any questions and then the counselors are already preparing for another day.  From our perspective, it looks awesome, everyone should be so proud of our youth from back home...I am sure they have many stories to share.

During the day there are many activities going on all over J-life, the picture is just a snapshot of the youth enjoying all of these different activities this afternoon.

Tuesday was another full day....

Tuesday we were up early and headed for Johannesburg.  We met with the executive director at Refilwe.  We gathered some very useful information and the executive director was able to explain that Refilwe is helping to break the cycle of poverty by setting up homes with a mom and dad to care for children that have been abandoned from their mom or dad.

Our heads were spinning by the time we left and we had one more stop to go.

Our second stop was at TLC, which was located in Johannesburg as well.  WOW, this place was housing 75 children.  We saw the nursery, which was referred to as the "nest" and the picture below is one of the many babies that were snuggled in bassinets all over the room. 

Her name was Charlotte and she was such a cutie!!

This was a bit bigger scale then what we expected, but still good to stop by and say hi, and of course hold the itty bitty babies for awhile.  The director was able to give us some very useful information in regards to how bad the crisis really is in Africa (worse then we thought).  The numbers can be overwhelming, and it can make anyone sick to their stomach. 

We are continuing on our journey tomorrow to Swaziland.  We will be traveling with Hope's Chest tomorrow but don't know our exact plans.  Rob, myself, Tate and Austin are looking forward to Friday when we get to meet our sponsored child.  I am unsure if we will have internet access while we are in Swaziland but if we do I will be sure to have Jim snap some more pictures.

Pray that we don't have any issues crossing the border tomorrow, and that we continue to let the Lord lead us on this adventure.

Monday was a full day...

After getting delayed for a few hours on the runway in Washington DC we arrived in Johannesburg late on Sunday night. Tara was there waiting for us, and she happily delivered us to J-life.  It was good to get a bite to eat, see everyone from Iowa, and then try and sleep for awhile.  We were on the road by 10 am on Monday, traveling to Heidelberg and Extension 23.

We were able to visit some of the children that we met from extension 23 from our last trip, which was exciting!!  Jim and Dawn were hoping and praying to meet up with the two little boys but unfortunately they were not there.  Our time was short there, but nonetheless, it was good to hold the babies, help wash hands, and do some lunch dishes for them.

Our next stop was a place called, The Cedar (children's village).  The picture below is the outdoor area where the kids play.  We were able to meet with the founder/director and discuss her business plan for this location.  This is a self sustainable farm, a Montessori Pre-Primary School, as well as a few other businesses, that help provide a sustainable income to support the needs of her children.  The founder/director now has 7 children that she has fostered long-term (including her three older daughters).  She took these children in knowing she could give them a secure home and raise them in a nurturing environment.  We received a lot of helpful information and are looking forward to collecting more information.