Sewing in the new center

The sewing project continues and the ladies are happy to be in the new community center. Even though the class was small today the room was filled with the excitement of being in a new place. We started the class with a prayer and the ladies set up their machines and were ready to sew. The task for today was to make a cosmetic purse. It may sound easy but there was a zipper involved and they are not that easy to put on. As usual there were a few mishaps with needles breaking and needing to be replaced, the bobbins not being wound tightly enough and having to unpick the zipper because it was not sewn on properly. After all was said and done the ladies surprised me with some lovely cosmetic purses and they were very proud of their work and so was I. They will continue to make the cosmetic purses and other items in hopes of generating an income for themselves. Please keep these wonderful ladies in your prayers.

The ladies hard at work

The ladies standing with the finished products (Daphne, Bongi, Sbongile, Zama & Phatheleni)

Team Jacksonville... you were awesome!!!

Team Jacksonville worked very hard for the remainder of the week to get all the painting finished on the inside of the creche. They were also able to finish installing the Sonke. The Sonke is a developmental playground with a series of tires and a balance beam. In the afternoons they continued to interact with the children and help with the lessons on the USA and South Africa. It warmed my heart to see the team members hugging the children. Scott tried to teach them American football and he had a blast. Pastor Kaster could be seen with kids climbing all over him. Stella and Virginia jumped in and ran the craft table. Bill was the master builder helping the little ones with the blocks.

On Thursday the team visited the Ntshongweni Primary School. Upon arrival we were greeted by 100's of smiling faces. The school choir sang for us and we returned the favor by singing our national anthem. We didn't sound too bad and received a round of applause. We were able to visit the first and second grade classrooms and the children were very excited to have us. I had a few moments of fun dancing with the kids. It feels good to hear the kids calling out "hello Shara" as I walk past their classrooms. After the school visit, some of the team members walked back to the center with Pastor Thwala, Julia and myself. They were able to see more of the community.

Friday came quickly and we started the day at the Hillcrest AIDS Center Trust. We wanted the team to see some of the programs that have been successful. The staff has been very gracious to share their ideas with us. Following the visit to the center the team wanted to get South Africa soccer jerseys since it was indeed "soccer jersey Friday." All over the country people wear their soccer jerseys in support of the World Cup and to support the South African team. I thought that it was very cool of them to take part in it. That afternoon we talked about South Africa and the kids sang and did a bit of Zulu dancing for the team. Stella and Karen did a bit of dancing and showed the kids how to do the "Hokey Pokey." The Sonke and tire tower were finished and it was great to see the kids playing on them. In the final moments we were able to get the team and all the kids together for a picture. As the team walked to the church the kids were very sad to see them go.

Team Jacksonville, thank you for all of your hard work and for the love that you shared with the children. God's blessings to you. Please keep the children of Ntshongweni in your prayers.

Bill helps the kids build the great wall of China

Stan and Scott painting the tires for the Sonke

Stella and Virginia help the kids paint their prayer rocks

Pastor Thwala, Pastor Kaster & Bill work on the tire tower

The team stands with the staff and choir of the Ntshongweni Primary School

Julia, Bill & Pastor Thwala painting the tire tower... it's looking good

Pastor Kaster takes a break to play with the kids... "High five"

Scott shows Spha his wrestling moves

Stan & Karen did a great job with the landscaping

The kids having a blast on the new playground...woo hoo!!

The tire tower was fun for these girls

Bill is showing his support by getting the South African flag painted on his face

Pastor Kaster with his buddy Sifiso on his shoulders

The team and the kids waving good-bye.....

Day 2 & 3 for team Jacksonville

Virginia sits with some of the kids.

Scott pushing the kids in a wheelbarrow.

Things have been going great with the team. They have been working very hard at painting the creche and the playground is coming together. One of the fun things that we are doing in the afternoons with the kids is talking about different countries. The kids have passports where they put a picture of the country's flag and write notes as we talk about things from the country. They are really enjoying it. Day 2 we featured China and day 3 the USA. Julia and I sang a fairly good version of "Take me out to the ballgame." Scott sat with some of the kids who were there for the first time to help them fill in their passports for Mexico (day 1). The week has been going well and the team is getting more attached to the kids. Keep up the great work team Jacksonville.

Team USA

The first team for 2010 arrived on Saturday night. They come from Celebration Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Of the 8 team members, 3 have been here before and worked on the community center & creche (daycare) in the early stages, the other 5 are first-timers. It was great to hear the thoughts from the 3 that were back for a second time. Virginia commented that the kitchen gave them a bit of trouble and that they worked hard in certain corners in the center. As a ritual, Virginia asked Bill to do the first roller of paint on the interior of the creche.

The team attended church in Ntshongweni on Sunday and was able to see 3 ladies being confirmed, 3 children being baptized and a new member added to the family in Ntshongweni. The team presented a beautiful chalice to the congregation of the Ntshongweni Lutheran Church. The team leader Bill Magill read a message in Zulu on behalf of their congregation. I along with the congregation was very impressed. After the service there was wonderful fellowship. It is so amazing to see brothers and sisters in Christ loving each other as Christ asked us to.

Day 1.....There was painting to be done, a playground to construct, mini creche in the morning and VBS/After-school session in the afternoon. Whew! Sounds like a full day and indeed it was. The ladies took on the task of painting the interior of the creche while the men started laying the foundation for the playground. I had the task of playing with the younger children. They are such a joy. For part of the after-school session we are highlighting different countries since the World Cup is only 17 days away. Today we talked about Mexico. Since South Africa plays Mexico in the first game, it was a great introduction. We had passports for the children where they can put flags from the different countries and write fun facts. For the craft we made maracas from paper plates and macaroni. They really enjoyed that. Afterwards they flocked to the soccer field. The kids are very happy to have a safe place to play and it definitely showed.

Overall I give day 1 two thumbs up. The team worked hard and got to spend some quality time with the children. I feel safe in saying they will be good friends with many of the kids by the end of the week. Team Jacksonville.... YOU ROCK!!!!! Thank you for the awesome job today. Looking forward to tomorrow.

The days are going by....

It seems like lately the days have been flying by. I barely blinked and April is almost over. It feels like I've been here for years now and in actuality the end of April will be the 9 month mark. The end of March through the first 2 weeks of April was very busy with VBS. It was a first for Ntshongweni and the kids were amazing and lots of fun. Because of the VBS the children are now very familiar with me and my ministry partner Julia. Just yesterday some of the kids were on their way home from school and as they saw Julia and I, called out our names to say hello and give us hugs. What a good feeling to know that we are becoming part of the community.

Last week we visited all of the project families to finalize introducing Julia and to check on any needs and he general well being of the families. They welcomed Julia with open arms and they very impressed with my limited use of Zulu when I said hello. On the Saturday following the visit we went back to show some visitors from the USA life in Ntshongweni. The children were playing, ladies were braiding hair, the youth were playing music. Julia and I joined in with a group of young ladies who were dancing. They were impressed and so was I. It feels good to know that we are part of their lives now.

This week we visited all of the schools in Ntshongweni to schedule visits with the teachers of the orphans. We would like to know about how they are doing in school and try to be of help if there are issues. We also did a follow-up visit to the clinic. There is a group of ladies who do support and outreach in the community for those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. We expressed our interest in attending the meetings and being a part of the group. Pastor Thwala will be able to provide spiritual support. The nurse that we talked to was very happy to hear that. We were also informed of a workshop on "How to Live a Healthy Lifestyle" that will be hosted by the teachers, social workers, police and members of the municipality. We will be attending.

The next few months will be packed with activities. We are scheduled at all of the schools, we will start planning for VBS for the school holiday in June & July, the community center and creche (daycare center) will be completed the end of April so we need to get those registered and operational. Hopefully somewhere between all of that we will be able to enjoy some of the activities of the World Cup.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Soccer Fever!!!

Went to a soccer game at the new Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban. It is spectacular. As we arrived there was a sea of black and gold for the Kaiser Chiefs and black, white and red for the Orlando Pirates. There has been a long rivalry between these teams with most of the games ending 0-0. One of the most amazing things about the game are the Vuvuzelas. They are made of plastic and look like elongated trumpets without the keys. When 20,000 plus are blown at the same time....man it's crazy. The fans were jumping up and down and many were in elaborate outfits in support of their teams. The game was quite exciting and went into overtime without either team scoring. It came down to penalty kicks where the Chiefs won 3-0. Soccer fever is in the air as South Africa gets ready for the World Cup.

Happy Easter!!

Christ our Lord is risen today. Alleluia!!! I have celebrated another first. This is my first Easter away from home. It was a wonderful day. I went to church in Ntshongweni to start the day. After church I went to a friend's house for a braai with his family. It was a lovely afternoon filled with laughter. We did something really cool in the evening. There is a group that meets at a nature conservation to look for chameleons. So we joined them. Even though it was raining we saw 4 chameleons. I heard that up to 45 have been spotted in the area. They are quite amazing and were a bit hard to see since they were green like the leaves. We used flashlights to look for them. Never thought that I would do such a thing. I did have fun and hope to do it again when it's sunny.