Another week at RivLife :)

RivLife Team: Nicole, Bianca, Staci, me, Alyssa, Daniele, Sarah and Emma!

This week we went to RivLife Tuesday through Friday - we were able to spend time with the women's support group and the children at the daycare, and also go into the community for a morning with 2 student social workers on their home visits.

SISONKE means (in Isizulu) "together, working as a team" - this is the women's support group's name for women that are HIV positive that we get to spend 2 mornings with during the week. They teach us how to crochet with them and show us all of what they make. They have started a business within their support group - they make dresses, aprons, mats, pillows, hats, and much more! They use their resources so well and are very creative.

On top of all of this they are such STRONG women. They face the pain of their disease every day but still get up in the mornings and are mothers to their children. The stories they share of what they go through are hard to hear, but also very encouraging because of where they are now and how they are there for each other. I love spending time with them and listening to them sing and laugh together while they work.

The children at RivLife love playing outside and running around like crazy people! they are always a ball of energy, but I love them!

They love to play with our hair, go on the tire swing, and down the slide and one of their favorite things - to roll the tires around the pavement and have races. They play so well together (most of the time) - they look out for the younger ones, even if they are only a year older they pick up the little ones when they cry and are some of the most generous kids I have ever seen with sharing. They are family to each other and it is so precious to see them together like that with no one telling them to be like that, they just have each other's backs :)

In the mornings the kids stay inside more so we come up with activities to keep them having fun but not too wild! They like to make a train out of the chairs, singing songs with motions, and of course coloring! We get them together in a circle and do "workout moves" with them, which is basically a Simon-says kind of game. This either tires them out, or makes them even more hyper - but whatever the outcome, it's always fun :)

One of the days there was some car benches out on the grass in the afternoon, the kids all ran outside and sat on them and began singing together without any of us starting it, some of the older ones grabbed the younger ones, placing them on the benches too, they all started doing the motions to the song and were just too darn adorable! They bring me so many smiles throughout the day and have taken a piece of my heart!

This is Azola (above) - he stole my heart the first day with his smile! His hugs and smiles brighten my day and I love getting to see him everyday during the week.

I'm excited for next week at RivLife too - we are going to get to do some more manual labor, helping them move where the daycare is going to be. We are all excited for this and to be able to spend time with the women and children who we have all been touched by and know will teach us so much. I feel so lucky and blessed to have this time at RivLife and am looking forward to what I will take away from this experience.