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| Our village football team |
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| Our Favorite Shop owner in Uhekule |
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| Eliza turns 10! |
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| Tumpe learning to make Pizza! |
Teenagers. I think that they are
the same everywhere, especially the early teens. We now have four thirteen year
olds, and four thirteen year old attitudes. All of a sudden hugging and kissing
is not ok, even at home, joking around is only funny if the mood is right, and
you never know when that is until it’s too late, their business is their
business, period, earning points is only kind of cool and they are going to
pretend like it doesn’t matter, oh and did I mention the part about addressing
them in public? Don’t do it! Kay and I were talking the other day and she said
“this is good practice for when you have your own kids.” I said, “Or a really
good reason not to have kids.” But all the hard times aside the kids are my
life and I love them to death, teenage attitudes and all.
Along with the teenage attitudes
we have also been dealing with the kids fighting each other, with their fists
not their words. Two of our boys, got
into a fight over corn. Apparently one of the boys ate the other boy’s corn and
so the fist fighting began. Emma, one of our staff, pulled them off of each
other and took all their points away. We talked to them and they calmed down
and went back outside. Next thing I know they are fighting again, one of them
is crying and the other is marching away. I grab them both and find out that
the one boy bit, with his teeth, the other boy’s ear. There was lots of blood
and tears and I was literally at a loss for words. After reigning in my shock,
I talked with both boys and they lost movie night, and going to the village
soccer game the next day, and they had to meet with the head of our committee.
We were walking to church last
Sunday and two of the other kids got into a fight. I yelled at them and asked
what was going on. Apparently one of the girls took one of the boy’s water
bottles and started to kick it around the ground and wouldn’t give it back to
him. I asked her to tell him she was sorry and she flat out refused. I told her
if she did not apologize she would lose all of her points. After taking all of
two seconds to consider and then tell me “so”, she lost all her points, all 87
hard earned points.
I feel like I have had to crack
down hard lately, and sometimes it really hard to follow through. I have
learned they need the consistency, even when it’s hard for me to follow
through. I’m a softy. However even though I have been a meany (yes I said
meany) lately the kids are still very sad that I am leaving in two months for
America. I’ll be away from them for 6 weeks and honestly, it’s hard on all of
us. While I am beyond excited to come home and see everyone, and share my new
life with all the people I love, it’s hard to know that means going 6 weeks without
waking up to the 15 beautiful faces that have changed my life. However the even
harder thought is that this could’ve been it for me, I could be coming home for
good, and when I realize I get to come back to spend more time with these
children, 6 weeks doesn’t seem so bad.
There have been colds going
around, and everyone is getting them. Snotty noses are now a daily part of my
life and often times, at the end of the day, I find boogers and snot trails on
my clothes. While this is pretty gross, it’s also a good sign of a great day
spent with my kiddos. I find that being a mom means that certain things just
don’t bother you anymore. Maybe they should, but they don’t. And that feeling
extends to the village kids too. I don’t even mind their boogers, especially
because I know that they are craving the love and affection that I have to
offer.
We have been attending these
parties called “bride price”. Quite a
few months back I had written about this. When two people want to get married
the man’s family has to pay for the bride. They have these big parties with
food and dancing and the whole family pitches in money for the decided upon
price. Angel and I have just been walking by these events and everyone grabs us
and welcomes us in, wanting to offer us everything that they have. For them
it’s a big honor for us to attend, and like always the honor is ours. We love
these people in this village, and we love to spend time with them being a part
of their culture. We even have our very own bibi (grandmother). Every time we
see her she gets excited and hugs us telling everyone around that we are her
granddaughters.
We learned recently, from our
village doctor, that Njombe area is the highest for HIV, and that our very own
village out of the seven in this area is the highest for HIV. It’s a heart
breaking statistic, and even more heart breaking is the faces and the people
that we know personally with this disease. Many of our friends that are around
the same age as me (24) have it. It’s so sad to think that at such a young age,
they are already suffering with a life threatening disease and they have barely
lived yet. Our doctor friend, Maria, said that she wanted to hand out condoms
at the bar/club area in our village but was told not to. They seem to think
that if they don’t provide condoms then that will discourage sexual activity,
all the while their young people are contracting and spreading HIV. These facts
don’t make us love them any less, if anything it makes us want to love them
more. Everyone deserves the love of Jesus, especially those who are lost and
hurting.
Kay and I are working out the details of my
training to become the director. She has given me a list of things to learn in
the states, so I am coming home with homework. I need to learn all about
tractors, gardening, goats, and how to use a sewing machine. (for now)
Basically what it comes down to is that I love these kids more than anything,
and I will do whatever it takes to make sure this place survives, and thrives.
We are working on getting three
more goats with a company called Heifer International. We had a rep from them
come out to visit the orphanage and see what all we are doing out here. He is a
really kind man who grew up with next to nothing in a family of 13 kids. Now he
is a veterinarian and has been to America twice. He came to our advice
committee meeting this past week to speak about what Heifer does, and to see if
our village might be interested. He started to tell our committee about America
and how great the life there is, and how amazing it is that Bibi Kay and myself
have given up that life to live here. He was telling me that at such a young
age to give up all that to live here was just baffling. I sat there as he told
me this and I just felt like he was giving me way too much credit. I mean WAY
TOO much credit. Maybe the first few months I was here I felt like I was crazy
to spend a year of my life in Africa, and that I had given up so much to be
here, but I haven’t felt that way in a very long time. Every day is a blessing,
I feel full of happiness all the time, and these kids are the best thing that
has ever happened to me, these villagers fill my heart every day with their
kindness and smiles. How can anything compare to a life that is full of all of
that? How can I possibly think of this life as a sacrifice, and that there is a
better place to live than this? I know that this place is my happiness, that this
place is where I feel the fullest, how can this life be considered a sacrifice
when I am gaining so much more than I deserve?
I have impressed the kids with my
language skills lately. Not only have I begun to really grasp Kiswahili, but I have
also started to learn Kibena (the local language). I now can recognize the
difference between Kibena and Kiswahili, and not only that I now understand some
things that are being said. I told them I will let them teach me Kibena, but
first I want to learn Kiswahili.
Well life is amazing here as
always. I will be home in less than 2 months now, which I am getting more and
more excited for! Thanks for all the prayers and support sent my way!!
