Sorry this is going to be a long one, but a good one! (I didn't take any pictures yet of my site cause I didn't have my camera the first few days, but no worries-they're will be plenty of pictures soon I'm sure!!)
Thursday morning we left around 8:30 in the morning to go to our sites, Reg drove us to RivLife and dropped us off at the gate with our lunches and we walked in feeling like we were getting dropped off for our first day of school, anxious-excited! We walked in and all the children were cuter than the next! We met the two women that take care of the younger kids all day and then headed into Thendi's office, who is our "boss" there basically :) We sat down with her and planned out our time there at RivLife. On Tuesday and Friday mornings we will be going to a support group for women that are HIV positive that meet weekly and have formed their own business, on Wednesday mornings we will be hanging out with a group of gogos (grandmas) that like to stay active instead of just sitting around and we will be able to go on their runs with them (yes RUNS not WALKS!), then on Thursday mornings we will be going into the community and helping out in houses of people that are ill or elderly that need help around their houses. Every afternoon we go back to the RivLife center and help out with the kids and all the older kids that come after school gets out.
This week though, on Thursday we just played with the kids all day since it was our first day and Thendi had paperwork to do. So we headed outside to a tent that they have set up for shade, and all the kids sat in some chairs and literally just stared at the 8 of us girls, we all were just laughing at ourselves because the children only really speak Isizulu, which a few of us know more but still not fluent enough to communicate well with the kids. We started singing the one song we know in Isizulu, "Aqeko Ofana no Jesu", which translates to "There's no one like Jesus". After we sang it a few times, their blank stares stopped when a few kids got up to sing and do the motions with us, then all of them began to sing along :) from that point on for the whole day they never wanted to leave our side or stop playing! they have the most energy of any kids!! it was so fun to play soccer with them outside, roll tires around on the pavement, and play on the jungle gym with them! It was exhausting, but a GREAT exhausting! all the kids are share with each other without even being asked to, they look out for each other (especially the younger ones!), and just continue to have a smile on their face :)
In the afternoon the older kids came after school, they get a meal everyday served to them by RivLife, and I later found out some of them walk over 8 ks, which is 5 miles!, to get that meal everyday! They all sit outside and eat while we play with the younger ones and talk with them, they are fun to get to know and know a good amount of English so it is easier, and they help translate what the younger ones are saying also which helps!
The two women that take care of the kids every day are named Beatrice and Gloria, they are some of the most devoted women I have met! they are with lots of children everyday taking care of them ALL day long! and then serve food to the older kids in the afternoon after school everyday. they always have a smile on their face, and you can see the love they have for each and every child there! It is fun to get to know them and they are always teaching us helpful phrases to say to the children in Isizulu!
On Friday we arrived at RivLife in the morning and hung out there for a little while before Baba Philip picked us up in the bus to take us to the womens support group. Frances came with us for the first day to help us get to know the women there and facilitate our first time there. it was a really good thing he came with us because when we first arrived none of the women were there yet, so we waited a little while and slowly they started showing up. we all sat down in a room in the community house where they meet weekly. They greeted us but seemed a little stand-off-ish to us at first, we sat down and started introducing ourselves and learning each other's names then one of the women asked why we were there basically, and we answered with Frances' and the translators help. Then they seemed a little more comfortable with us once we explained we wanted to learn from them and just get to know them.
They asked us then a question that broke my heart, they wanted to know if we would still want to be there with them because they are all HIV positive. The look on their face as they said the words "HIV positive" and as they awaited our answer opened my eyes to the pain and hurt that they have endured from not only being affected physically from this disease, but also emotionally. We then proceeded to tell them that the disease did not matter to us and that we wanted to be there with them, not treating them any different than any person we would meet and how they are special to us because they are allowing us to be here with them. They thanked us and one of the women began saying we would always be in her heart because we have accepted her, then another woman asked if we were okay with them being mothers that are HIV positive, and again the look on their face broke our hearts. they have been hurt so much by people neglecting them, they assume that most people will, one of the girls in our group gave the best answer to them, Sarah told them that we all respected them and are encouraged by how strong they are to still be good mothers to their children while they are going through the trials of having HIV. They all then began to smile joyfully and Frances shared a little about how some will die alone that have this disease, but that they are encouraging because they get together to support each other and make a living for themselves. We all began to hug one another and held on to each other. It was some of the most genuine and loving hugs I have ever received, and then we all sat down again and they began to show us what they make and how they make it.
They make mats for the ground and for tables out of plastic bags, talk about resourceful! the mats look amazing and they can do so much with them, they cut the bags into strips and weave them together, learning was so difficult even though they make it look so easy!
Friday afternoon we went back to RivLife and as we walked back in the gate we look at the building and all the little kids are reaching out the windows and celebrating we were back for the afternoon, that made all of us so happy and we realized how much these kids meant to us after just 2 days of being there! we then played with them while some of them were still napping, then the older kids came after school and we played soccer outside and some of the older girls asked us to teach them some songs in English, they already knew a good amount of worship songs that they sang for us BEAUTIFULLY, and they began teaching us a new Isizulu song that sounded so pretty, and the bus drove up to pick us up so next week we will learn the rest :)
Overall, I absolutely LOVE RivLife and am so excited for the group of girls that I get to work with everyday there, they are all so positive and encouraging and a blessing to spend my days with :) Next week we get to spend four days there and I can not wait to hear more from the women and get to know the kids better and do more activities with them, we are planning on doing a craft that involves name tags so that we can remember all of their names! :) pictures to come of them next week!!
After those amazing two days we had a really fun and relaxing Saturday yesterday :) we ran to a cute cafe (the one in the garden) to get lattes in the morning and then went and had a picnic in the Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg :) we sat there and talked (a few of us girls) and had a lot of fun just being together! it was a perfect saturday complete with a movie night to finish it off and some hair dying.... :) I now have darker brown hair, not too much of a difference but just a different shade of brown!
~~~~hope you all have a great week! miss you all!!!
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