A week of posts...

Monday, March 19, 2007…Gloria’s Birthday!

Today we celebrated Gloria’s 39th birthday…nothing like celebrating it at the local Spur (great South African restaurant). On Sunday during the church service Vincent said that it was her 50th birthday and the 3 of us being so gullible spread the news around the church and community that it was her 50th. Then when we went out for her birthday dinner we were like gosh you don’t look 50 she was like well cause I am 39. Whoops so sorry Powerhouse for giving you the wrong age. Oh Vincent you funny guy. Haha

Tuesday, March 20, 2007…Paper

Well the date is coming closer and closer to graduation! I have all of my papers now complete just 3 presentations to do when I return to the States. It feels so great to know that I am complete with my masters!

Wednesday, March 21.2007…School Uniforms means so Much

Today was our day to head to Soshanguve to work with Constance. We had heard a few weeks back about these two young women, 14 and 16, being shoed away from school for not having the right school uniforms. Gabe and Rach had some extra money and decided that they would purchase the uniforms and take them to the girls. It was Human Rights Day (a public holiday), so the entire family was home. The girls came out of the house and the Dagani’s showed them the uniforms, these beautiful white teeth glowed, as they could not help but smile. They ran into the house giggling to try them on. A few minutes later after looking at themselves in the mirror they came out and strutted right past us in model like fashion. When we saw them for the first time a wave of emotions came over us all and we started crying for joy. For them these uniforms meant that they no longer would be the source of ridicule, they could continue their studies, and they could do it with pride. Who thought one article of clothing could change a person’s life so dramatically.

Thursday, March 22, 2007…Driver

Today I got the honor of taking Rach and Gabe to the airport as they were heading to Durbin for a little holiday. We had been praying for them because Durbin just got swept by a natural phenomenon with 5-12 meter high waves. That’s great if you are a surfer not so much if you are just an average Joe who wants to lay out on the beach. I also got to pick up my new passport. Thank God it was there and had the right photo inside. The rest of the day I colored Easter bags that we will be handing out to some orphan children in Soshanguve.

Friday, March 23. 2007…Body Changes

I got the honor to talk to the group of girls about body changes as we mature. Oh geesh never thought it would be such an intriguing topic for them. Now I know that I am ready for one day when God blesses me with little girls of my own. For the next week I will be house sitting in Capital Park, which is closer to my work and has a swimming pool! Brenda stayed with me for the first two nights as I was getting adjusted to a new neighborhood. We had a great time staying up late talking, about girl things.

Saturday, March 24, 2007…Abigail Arrives and Dagani’s Return!

Brenda and I drove to the airport to pick up the crew. For Brenda (age 25) this was her first time to the airport she was shocked at how much they jack up the prices for cool drinks and snacks. Welcome to low supply and high demand. We got there about an hour early to make sure that we were front and centre at the terminal so Abigail could see us clearly. Brenda and I got so swept up in the return of loved ones, family members, and friends that we didn’t even realize we were waiting at the wrong terminal. We realized it when a man came out and was looking around for his family/friends to pick him up, but no one was there to fetch him. We felt so sorry for him than I thought, gosh it has taken Abby along time to go through customs…OH MY GOSH we are at the wrong terminal. We ran to the other side to get her by this time she was in the back waiting patiently for someone to get her. Oh I felt so bad, but I was soooooooo uber excited to have her next to me.

Sunday, March 25, 2007…Capital Park, mini riot

To celebrate Abigail’s arrival I invited the worship team over to the house we are sitting for a good ol’ braii. There really is no other way than to welcome someone to South Africa with out doing a braii. We had a pool, meat and pap, and people, really what else do you need? About two hours into the celebration filled with dancing (to worship music of course), viewing of The Passion of the Christ (to prepare for Easter), and some swimming I see about 10 white men at the gate screaming. I am like what the Hell is going on. I go to the gate to ask them what they are so angry about and they are like in this neighborhood we don’t have parties on Sundays. I was like sir I can assure you that this is a braii and not a party in fact this is a worship team from a church. He was like I don’t know what you do in the States but the Old South Africa and the New South Africa don’t have parties. What he was really saying was that black people are not allowed in white neighborhoods to hang out, black people are only allowed to work as house servants or to do construction on their homes. But to have 10 black adults and 2 black children laughing, dancing, and enjoying themselves in their neighborhood was unacceptable. The families house that we are at called us because three of the neighbors called them while they were away on holiday to tell them that black people had taken over their house and that they were playing loud music and drinking. Oh the family was furious with me, but when they found out it was a worship team and there was only 12 people they calmed down…but they suggested everyone to leave because the neighbors had threatened to start shooting. Oh my GOD I am living in the civil rights movement where blacks and whites can’t even hang out. Toto I am in not in the States anymore.

Monday, March 26, 2007…Physically Ill

Today I woke up physically ill because of the situation yesterday. I don’t even know how to live in a culture that is racist to the point of forcing harm onto others. It is sooo against the person God has created me to be and I am dang proud that I can’t stand it cause it is not right. The verse that continues to run through my head is, “Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.” I just want to go to each of these neighbors houses that claim they are also Christians and be like hey you know you may not live next to blacks right now, but I assure you when you get to Heaven God willing He is expecting you to not only live with blacks, but break bread with one another. So maybe we might want to consider having a little piece of Heaven on Earth now. Gosh I don’t know maybe that is a crazy idea but forcing your brothers and sisters in Christ out of your neighborhood with guns on my scale is much crazier!!!

I freakin’ hate Apartheid…Afrikaners get ready for a rude awakening cause the blacks that you have held down for decades are becoming educated and are gaining finances, so believe it or not they are starting to climb the economic ladder. They will soon be able to live anywhere they want, work wherever they want, and not have to take your shit anymore. There are way more of them than you, so get ready to start submitting to their leadership. Ok I am getting off my soapbox now I just can’t help but be enraged. Abigail and I have invited one of the Afrikaners over for dinner Tuesday night to have a nice meal with us. We are praying that God reveals to them that we are not crazy Americans, but that we are His children. Also, show hey look blacks can come into your neighborhood and leave it without stealing anything. More than anything we are praying God starts to open their eyes to a new way of living, a way to live without fear, a way to live with love.

Tuesday, March 27.2007…Ulcer???

Today I went to the doctors (I know it is crazy I don’t even go to the doctors in the States, so you must know it is bad if I am willing to go in a foreign country) because I had severe pains across my abs and am not keeping down any food. Who knows what it is I think it is ulcers, but I also don’t have an MD after my name. Well the whole experience was rather delightful. First of all with no insurance it was only R140=$20! Then I went into the docs office and there was a desk, two chairs, and a typical doctor check up table. I sat down for about 20 min talking about my medical history and my current symptoms. I was shocked! I had never talked to a doctor for so long. The average doctor in the States talks with their client for 30 secs and then starts to diagnose. All in all I was there for 30 min and she concluded that it was stress related, but not necessarily ulcers. So she gave me some amazing stress relieving medicines. Thank God for great doctors in South Africa.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007…Discipline Meeting

Something that has been alarming to me at Mohau is how the caregivers discipline the children. I have talked to the social workers about my concerns and they feel the same way, so today we had a 4 hour meeting as to what is appropriate and not appropriate when disciplining children that come from traumatic pasts. It was really good to get their feedback as to why they do what they do, but also teach them new ways of disciplining children. It was the most feedback we have gotten from the caregivers so something went right with our meeting.

Sorry it didn't work the first way...so I will try this way

March 12.2007…Homework

Nothing to exciting today just completing more homework…I got done 3.5 papers so that was good!

March 13. 2007…Brenda

Today I just hung out with Brenda all day. She is the secretary for Powerhouse so she gets asked pretty much everyday to cook for the people working on the church and any other people that may be hanging around. So she and I drove to various shops to get the supplies she needed to make lunch. Then we did our own personal clothes shopping as well. It is great because summer is over and they are moving into winter clothing so all of the summer clothes are super cheap. I still feel guilty for buying anything, so we just look and try on.

March 14.2007…Cinderella the orphan

In a lot of my therapy I will find children’s books that the child I am working with can identify with one or several of the characters. This helps to take off all the focus on the child and their feelings and have them create what the character is feeling. In reality that is really how they are feeling. One of my client’s favorite books is Cinderella, so for our session today I went on a hunt to find it so we could read it together. First of all, I never knew Cinderella’s real name was Ella I always thought that her given name was Cinderella. She got the name Cinderella because she worked so much with cinders. Who knew? Secondly, for the first time today I realized Cinderella was an orphan. Her mother passed away, father got remarried and then shortly after he passed away. No wonder my client loves this book. After reading it today with my client Cinderella’s story took on a whole new meaning.

March 15. 2007…Reach for a Dream

Today Reach for a Dream came to visit the centre. They are like the USA’s Make a Wish foundation, so they came today to do a magic show for the children. The children were totally into the magician until he made them get into a circle and do a dance in the middle. He started off the dance circle, some white dude, and they all started laughing at him. He pretended to be out of breath so that they would jump into the circle and man can our kids dance. Let me tell you I was picking up moves left and right from them.

March 16. 2007…Queen Meeting-Positive Self-Image

Today in group we discussed the things we like about ourselves and the things we don’t like. As well as what people say about us and how that makes us feel. Most of the girls actually have a really good self image, I was fairly amazed. The one girl who is the most sexually active was the one with the poorest self image. Hearing and seeing this really made me realize how much it affects her on a daily basis and why she looks to people to build up her image through her body. She is one of two girls in the house starting to develop breasts, so today they got their first training bras. Oh I remember those days. Anyhow I caught her a few times after putting it on, running around the house lifting up her shirt, to show people her new Barbie bra. So after I caught her doing this we had a long chat about her body being her own and no one else’s to look at. This girl has got a loooooooong ways to go.

March 17. 2007…Happy St. Patty’s Day!

We are going to go out tonight and celebrate with our housemate, Pat, who is from IRELAND. We have a real Irish man to celebrate with we will see how well he can take down a green beer or Guinnes. There is an Irish Pub around the corner I heard it gets packed out with tons of Irish, not too many South Africans…looking forward to all of the Irish accents.

March 17. 2007…Happy St. Patty’s Day!

March 16. 2007…Queen Meeting-Positive Self-Image

March 15. 2007…Reach for a Dream

March 14.2007…Cinderella the orphan

March 13. 2007…Brenda

March 12.2007…Homework

Nothing to exciting today just completing more homework…I got done 3.5 papers so that was good!

pics

due to the slow internet here...it takes me a long time to download pics...so Gabe and Rach are going to house all of my pics on their blog...on their site now there aren't that many photos of me, but I will let you know when the pics of me come up from the quilt and of the worship time braii/pool party...cheers

March 11. 2007…Braii with the Worship Team

Rach, Gabe, and I joined the worship team for a little braii at a local pool/park. It was great going down the water slide until the electricity went out and it no longer was working…Gabe and I were so bummed. We were convinced that a breaker just tripped and the lifeguard couldn’t figure out how to switch it back on…so we resorted to trying to teach the children how to swim. Then Godfrey came up with this game of tag…when he was describing it to me I was like ya I know that game it is called tag…he was like oh really you play it on the otherside. Here he had thought just African’s played tag in the pool and I totally ruined it for him by terming it tag and knowing exactly what he was talking about.

I am also starting to learn what a HUGE deal it is for whites and blacks to hang out. In the States this is a common occurrence something we take for granted that we have friends of different skin colors and hang out without even thinking twice about it. The only reason you would see blacks with whites in public here was if the black person was carrying stuff for the white person and you would see them walking behind the white person. So to go shopping, driving, swimming, have a braii, or attend a black church is still very rare here. Interracial dating is a foreign concept and is even nervously laughed about when brought up in conversation. I feel as though I am living in the past. Yet making huge strides for the future of South Africa by being able to show the whites and blacks here that the skin tone may be different but we all have the same dreams, fears, worries, desires, etc in life.

March 10. 2007…Driving Ms. Brenda

Thomas and I took Brenda out for a little driving lesson. More like I just laid in the backseat as Thomas told Brenda how to shift, what the road signs meant, etc. I was more or less the cheerleader. Every so often when I felt like Brenda was getting a little overwhelmed I would throw in a, “hey you are doing really good!” An hour later Brenda had it down…I have never seen someone pick up driving a manual so quickly…another reason why I think the African’s are soo dang smart. I think the best comment of the day was, “You always stop when you get to the cross of Jesus.” I am not sure how Jesus gets brought into driving, but I guess a four way stop is also known as the cross of Jesus.

March 9. 2007…Queen Meeting

Today was the day for my first group with the four sexually active pre-adolescents. Our only main goals of today was to decide together on a name for our group…when they all came in sporting their pink queen shirts I think it was pretty obvious who they think they are and what our group name should be. Then we just talked about the reason for the group, laid out the group rules, and then got to know one another. I was shocked as to how open they were with me in the first session and how well they worked together. I think this is going to be a great group and I hope that I am able to help in curbing their sexual tendencies and help them realize where those feelings come from and how to channel them in a different direction.

March 8.2007…Mohau Donor Video

The woman from Yale made a video with photos of staff, children and everyday life at Mohau as a gift for Tiekie before she left...From a distance Tiekie saw me approaching the centre. She scurried me into her office, pulled up a chair, and said, “you have got to see this.” For 10 minutes I was mesmerized by our children flashing across the screen laughing, brushing their teeth, and singing. When two photos of me popped up with the children I started to cry. I couldn’t believe that this intern who was only here for 3 mos. of their life would be put into a video that will be around for a lifetime. The video was absolutely beautiful in 10 short minutes it captured every child in the home just as they are. After the video was done playing Tiekie turned to me and said don’t worry I will send one home with you. When my camera was taken at the beginning of my time here in South Africa I was so bummed cause I thought I would have no way of capturing the time I had with these children, but now I have something even better a video of all of the children.

March 7. 2007…My Mother’s First Quilt

As I embarked on our weekly journey to Soshanguve I packed something very special for our trip. Since moving to South Dakota my mom has found new hobbies such as quilting, going to rodeo’s, hiking, etc. I guess that is what you do in South Dakota. When my mother completed her first quilt she decided to give it to a family that I would meet in South Africa. I knew today was the day to give away this beautiful brightly colored quilt with orange, pink, green, and yellow, perfect African colors. I told Constance that I had a blanket for an orphan family, so if she could think of a family that would greatly benefit from this especially as it is getting colder outside.

As we walked into the yard of the family there were baby chicks running around and an older woman sitting under a tree on a milk crate. When the magogo’s (grandma) neither eyes nor head moved when we approached her I knew she was blind and could only hear us approaching. She called out asking who was there; in a soft gentle voice Constance introduced us to magogo. As we pulled up stools around the magogo to converse with her the five orphan children that live with her started coming home from school. The older girls recognized me right away from my previous trip in May and came running with huge smiles. An aunt who had also joined us told us that it is rare for the girls to be able to go to school because they are soo poor they can’t afford the proper school uniforms, so they made their own. One of the school officials if he sees them will chase them out of the school, but today he wasn’t there so the girls were able to stay at school. We talked for awhile and then gave the family some food for the week and Constance started translating for me that the blanket came from America and that my mother had made it especially for them. The magogo said that first before anyone touched it she wanted to feel it. She pulled it out of the bag and said, “Oh this is nice it belongs as a decoration.” After folding it back up the children quickly grabbed it to get a better look at it as well as throw it over their shoulders as a cape of some sort. For them this was a way to know that God is looking after them and a prayer answered.

March 6. 2007…Manfred and family

Manfred (who Gabe is computer mentoring) hasn’t shown up for the past 3 days and we were really getting concerned because we just started to feel like he is connecting with us as well as getting on the right track. So we voiced this concern to Vincent (we couldn’t get ahold of Manfred cause he doesn’t have a phone) and what does the V do? He goes and hunts Manfred down to have a chatty chat about commitment, etc. A few hours later Manfred comes strolling in with his daughter on his shoulders and holding a young womans hand. Now mind you Manfred is 22, so he is quite young and like Gabe is obsessed with computers. We share with Manfred that we were concerned something happened to him…he informed us that his baby’s momma (as in the States we like to refer to it as) and baby (Kylee who is almost 4) came to visit from Jo’Burg (about an hour away from Mamelodi) to sort things out. It was so great cause Manfred was like ya I really wanted them to meet you guys cause we need counseling about our situation. By the end of our time hanging out (not sure how therapeutic it was) Kylee was calling me Auntie. Oh I love the African sense of family.

March 5. 2007…Happy Birthday COLIN!

Today Colin turned another year older…I hope you have a great day and know I miss you. Just know I went swimming in memory of you (this was pool #3 that we have been invited to and gladly accepted). I also went to Jo’Burg to get my passport replaced. It was quite an interesting experience to get to the US Embassy and get into it. First of all Rach and I got lost. Go figure and no petrol stations sell maps and no petrol attendants know how to get anywhere or for that matter even know where they are. So next time you pull over and ask the gas attendant how to get somewhere and they are able to direct you thank them. When asking for directions no one tells you street names, or how many km it is, everything is listed by landmarks, which frustrates the heck out of Rach and I. Anyhow we pulled over at one gas station and this man who we refer to as Ted the Angel told us to just follow him and he would take us there. Pretty sure Ted came out of nowhere cause God knew how frustrated we were…so Ted drove us 30 min. to where we were supposed to be. Woops we went a little out of the way wouldn’t you say. Once we got to the Embassy I had to walk through 3 security doors before Rach could walk into the security room. All I could do was wave to her it was quite funny. When we got in the passport peeps couldn’t believe that people came into a church to rob us…they thought it was a joke. Oh, no my passport peeps this is not a joke. Than I had to list my parents names, where they born, and their birthday. This gave me the most trouble because both my parents (thanks parents) have changed their legal names in the past yearish so it was hard for the passport peeps to understand this. I felt like they may as well strap me to the lie detector to see that yes it is true my parents for kicks and giggles like to change their names to throw off the USA gov’t.

March 4.2007…Relaxation

For the most part I was a bum today. Went to church this morning and had a great time continuing to connect with the Powerhouse Community. I am starting to feel as though I belong there and getting to a good point where I am connecting with people past just knowing their names. It was the first time today that I have been alone in the house and it was a great feeling to be able to do whatever I felt like without thinking I was disturbing anyone else. The rest of the house went to a Lion Park, but I knew I needed to just stay at home and catch up on emails, homework, and be able to breathe while doing it.

March 3.2007…Meet an American

Today we went out with one of our friends Trevor and his two beautiful children to another friends house. Trevor is one of those people that knows everyone and connects everyone to everyone (kind of like Dave Pontious the greatest greeter ever!). So we were on to Chuck’s house who is also an American. We went to swim (this was our main mission), watch the Super Bowl (Chuck wanted to show the South African’s our football at it’s best), and a braii of course. For work Chuck leads South African black pastors and instructs them with Hebrew/Greek meanings as well as Biblical knowledge. I feel as though I have heard of quite a few ministries in the past couple of weeks that do this…it is clearly a need.

Mar. 2. 07… Mohau

I got a chance to be the only social worker for half of the day today. For various reasons each of the social workers were gone for the last half of the day, so I was the go to gal. Let’s just say I was totally in my element. I LOVE BEING A SOCIAL WORKER! I had a woman from the community come in ready to hand over her 2 mos. old boy and her 2 year old daughter because she couldn’t stand to watch them die anymore. She is by far the best mother I have seen thus far with only being 22 years old. Her boyfriend (father of the children) lives with his mother who takes all of his earnings, so that he can not give them to her to support the children. She is unable to work due to caring for the children and feels like she is in such a tough spot. To come to the agency she had to borrow clothes from the neighbor for her children. Ugh, we talked for quite sometime about how to get on welfare as well as how Mohau can help her out with clothes and food parcels. She was truly incredible and is doing this all with no support from family (due to them not being alive) or friends. Her only support network is her neighbor, but she feels guilty always asking them to care for the children while she goes and fetches water or goes to various agencies for assistance. My other joy was when all the children got home from school and came running to me, Momma, Momma, Momma…they all brought home their various subject books from school. As their caregiver I had to go through about 5 books for each child seeing the notes the teacher had written and the progress they had made from the last quarter and sign off that we went through it together. I was thrilled to do this I had so much joy going through the books with each of the children and telling them what a great job they are doing and how proud I am of them. I was angry with one of the teachers due to her selection in vocabulary words. For 9 years olds she chose the word stab and then the children had to come up with a sentence. They were horrible sentences like, The man stabbed the woman. I wrote her a comment saying, interesting choice in vocab selection with regard to the word stab. Oh I was furious, maybe my teachers had me learn such words as well but I can’t remember, so mom you will have to let me know.

Mar. 1. 07…Spinning

Rachel and I joined a spinning class today! Let’s just say that I could barely take it…I had to excuse myself for about 5 min. cause I felt like passing out. Tristen by the time I get back to the States I promise I will be ready for our California biking trip! I also got the opportunity to start working with one of my clients on her memory book…we discussed what her perfect day would look like…I have quite a few statements like when I wake up I would….for breakfast I would eat…on and on…at the end I have a statement that says, Right when I lay my head on my pillow at night I will think about…then the children feel it in and she said her mom and dad. Almost put me into tears cause her parents have been gone now for over 8 years and she is only 9. Shucks ay (totally South African lingo).

Feb. 28.07…Day with my Supervisor, Tiekie DeVos

I was asked by my supervisor to accompany her and a girl from Yale who is getting a PA into some informal settlements around Attridgeville. Our first stop was to pick up Franky who is the security guard at Mohau and also lives in the community. His job was to show us around as well as help us find this Creche (preschool) that this woman is running on R60,000 ($8,000) a year. In total she supports 163 orphans with this amount of money. It is really quite remarkable. A week ago she came to Mohau to see if we could have a social worker come and work with some of the children at her place, so Tiekie wanted me to go with to see if it was a good idea to get involved or not. This place was something else, as we were driving all Tiekie said was, “well if we get a flat who can change it?” The roads were defiantly not meant to be driven on; there were rocks everywhere as well as huge pot holes. As we approached the crèche we could see a swing and a hollowed out aluminum barrel painted blue as the playground for the children. We parked our car in the middle of the street because there was no where else to park and Lord knows no other cars were going to need to get through anytime soon. Kgotosmo came running out while wiping her hands on her apron. She was busy making pup (porridge) for the 98 children that were there. I walked into the 3,4,5 year old classroom that was no bigger than 10 feet by 10 feet and there were 49 children sitting on the floor all peering up to see what the commotion was outside. The teacher was telling me that these children do not pay anything to come to school and she is doing her job for free, so that they have a safe place to be rather than on the streets. When I said hello to the children they perked up and started counting to 10 in English. As I was leaving they said a thank you prayer for me. The next room that I walked into had 47, 3-24 month old babies crawling around in their nappies (diapers) in the same size of room as the older children. Each day these children get breakfast, lunch, a bath, as well as some educational instruction. With only the help of 3 volunteers and Kgotosmo. I thought these children looked healthier and better kept than some children that have two parents at home. Needless to say Kgotosmo gets my Mother Theresa award for the day.

Feb. 27.07…The Burn

Today I decided to lay out while writing various papers for class. UGHM, yes you guessed it I got fried in the first hour. Pretty much looking like a lobster…well whatever at least it will eventually turn into a tan. It was really nice today to be able to get so much done as far as homework is concerned…gosh I am really looking forward to May 5, 2007 at 3:00 PM (graduation baby here I come!).

Feb. 26.07…Therapy Studies

Today I learned about play therapy and how to work with adolescent girls in group therapy. We will be talking about none other than SEX. We will also talk quite a bit on positive self image and puberty. Pretty much what every parent dreams about and I get to do it with 7 raging hormone teenage girls! Mom your dream is coming true…I am getting back in 7 fold what I dished out to you. Laugh away.