Flexibility is Key {Thursday, March 19}

Today was supposed to be very similar to a Hazyview day—visiting homes and praying with families in the rural and impoverished communities. I really enjoyed doing this last time so I was looking forward to it. We followed Themba to our meeting place for the day. As a person with no sense of direction- even with the help of civilized roads, interstates, and landmarks- I’m daily amazed by our nationals’ ability to find schools and other meeting spots in, literally, the middle of nowhere. The Reverend we met up with took us to his nearby tent church. He invited us in for fellowship before we did our home visits. We soon found out fellowship meant one of us needed to share a message. I’m learning that is so much of mission work. Be prepared for anything… and be flexible in everything. So after a few brief messages and a worship song in Zulu we discussed the plan for the day.

Next came the not so uncommon miscommunication. It seemed that they thought we would be doing humanitarian relief as we visited the homes… giving money and resources for the people we would meet. After an awkward discussion explaining that was not our ministry and focus here, they decided it would be best for us to visit schools. So we ended up doing our school visits as usual.

After we finished our presentations, we got to visit a local Afrikaans woman who assists with training the BoH Life Orientation program. She had us over to her art gallery where we had tea, coffee, and scones… one of my favorite things here!

Marina is your typical artsy lady. Wild hair up in a clip, the classic artistic framed glasses, and slightly clumsy (spilled the coffee two or three times). She was very friendly, welcoming, down to earth, and quite inspirational. She has a passion for art and a passion for spreading the love of Jesus in this community. Seven years ago she started an art mission where she began training local Zulu women to stitch and embroider. This is such a cool concept because it provides skills for these women to make an income and a means to support their families. Projects like this instill work ethic and employment into these communities.

At first the women were compensated with tea and biscuits for their work. As the project grew, she was able to employ her workers with regular wages. Now she has 17 women sewing and stitching in her mission creating quilts, picture frames, key chains, greeting cards, and framed artwork. The art all has an authentic African influence and is VERY well done. The facility is pretty amazing. I think it was a unanimous decision that we all wanted an outdoor wedding there. She was telling us stories of how God provided for the mission, how it grew, and the people that have supported along the way. She was saying how there was a hair company from the States that heard about her project and bought a ton of Christmas cards from them last year…. She was trying to think of the guy “umm… Mitchell..?” I was like “Paul Mitchell?!” “Yeah, him!” Haha, that was pretty crazy to me. I mean I have his hairspray back home and I’m glad he supports cool projects like Marina’s. ;)

Candles and Flashlights {Tuesday, March 17}

The past two nights we have had no power. Usually right after dinner is when the electricity dies. Power goes out all the time here in Africa. Monday night we had five of us lying on my bed comforter under the stars. The stars here are incredible… you can even see the Milky Way. We saw a few shooting stars and too many low-flying bats to count. After about an hour lying on the ground we got a bit psyched out by the possibility/reality of critters, spiders and snakes and decided to go in.

We are still visiting three schools a day this week. Another part of our school visits that I have not yet mentioned is our Life Orientation program. South Africa requires schools to teach a class called Life Orientation (LO). From my understanding, this curriculum is a combination of health education, life skills, and guidance counseling. The program is supposed to educate kids on topics like HIV, abuse, love, healthy relationships with people, sex, and others. It is a class in K-12 curriculum every year.

Book of Hope has put together a Life Orientation program that we offer to schools free of charge. LO material is often hard to come by, or not well done, so I’m excited BoH is doing this. We have both teacher manuals and student books that we provide. This material is geared toward HIV education, abuse, decision-making skills, character development, and education in morals and values. There are many interactive demos and illustrations given to teachers throughout the program which they seem to appreciate. The end of the book has Christian applications and teachings that teachers are able to use as well. Christianity can be taught in SA schools, but teachers are not allowed to teach any religion as absolute truth.

Buy a donkey!! {Sunday, March 15}

I just wanted to thank each one of you for the encouraging posts and emails you have been sending. It is so exciting hearing from everyone! I save all of your notes and facebook posts in a Word document and read them often. :) Thank you!!!!! (Buy a donkey means thank you in Afrikaans. Possibly different spelling, but whatever.)

Well hello there! {Saturday, March 14}

Yay! So good to be back in touch again! We’ve been in Kosi Bay for the past two weeks doing full days of school presentations. So far we have visited 26 schools here- both primary and secondary. We will be here for one more week. If you just want to check in, you can know our team is healthy, safe, and doing great. If you want ridiculous Renee-writes-about-everything detail, scroll down to Tuesday, March 3 and read on. Hope all is well with you!!
PS. Do a load of laundry, and eat a chocolate chip cookie for me. Oh and maybe a tall skinny vanilla latte. Awesome, thanks! ;)

Questions {Friday, March 13}

Can you help me get on the Oprah show?

Is God black or white?

What happens when you die?

What makes you think a book can change my life?

Will you tell Obama we said hi?

What should I do if someone wants to have sex… and I do too?

How do I not get HIV?

To Gio: Do you have more than one girlfriend? (No) Wow. You are a loyal man.

Can you get HIV from kissing?

Did you vote for Obama?

How do I hear God speaking to me?

How can Jesus become my best friend?

Are there any job opportunities in America?

What are Obama’s intentions for your country?

If we are made in God’s image, but you steal, are you still made in His image?

My brother is not a Christian and making wrong choices and I pray for him. I keep trying to bring him to church but he won’t come. What should I do?

What are differences between the US and South Africa?

Do you think it’s okay for me [grade 10 student] to date?

I have a question about sex. [Uncontrollable laughter] That’s all.

These are some of the questions we get at high schools. Some are pretty simple. Others are pretty blunt. They love Q&A…. and we do too. Sometimes it is the most influential part of our presentation. We try to be as real as we can in our answers, and I think that gains a lot of their respect. Silence in large high school assemblies usually means you have their attention. Please pray that these students will be open with their questions, doubts, concerns, fears… and that we can be relevant and real in our answers. Pray that they will see truth and that they will see Jesus in a way they have never seen before.

Dear Mom: First Grade in South Africa {Thursday, March 12}

Today we went to a primary school (R-7^th) with 1980 students. I’m often thinking of my mom and her first graders when we go into these primary schools. I wish she could come visit a first grade classroom here with me. So today I found out some 1^st grade stats for you, Mom, and wrote them on my hand. There are 480 first graders, 8 first grade teachers, and 7 first grade classrooms at this school. Isn’t that crazy?!

uNkulunkulu {Wednesday, March 11}

By far my favorite Zulu word. uNkulunkulu (oon-koo-loon-koooo-loo) means God. It sounds awesome when all the kids say it.

All 3 of our schools today were secondary schools. It is a totally different presentation for high schoolers and you have to be on your toes or you lose them quickly. Granted we are immediately received as famous Americans the minute we say we’re from the US… and they want to know if we have Usher’s cell number or if we know Beyoncé…. And before you know it everyone wants a picture with you with their cell phone camera. It’s crazy. But I like it.

At the second school today we broke up in groups and went class to class. This is fun because we allow the learners to ask questions at the end. Sometimes they ask about America or Obama, and sometimes they ask about sex and HIV. As we were about to leave the classroom, one of the teachers stopped us with his own question. “You talk about HIV. It is a large problem here. I understand your views. I understand you teach abstinence and faithfulness. But I myself can’t blame these young girls… they have no parents, no money, no food… and they’re caring for many brothers and sisters. So when older men offer them money for sex, what options do they have? Poverty is the real problem here.”

Luckily Vanessa, one of our leaders, was in our group and had a great response for this teacher. I was caught totally speechless, and left feeling quite sick to my stomach. The situations that exist here are far beyond difficult. It saddened me to hear this teacher’s views. It saddened me to once again see the complexity of life here. The situation here in Africa is devastating and very complex.

At the next school we did two large assembly presentations. A reserved girl named Khanyisile came up to me afterwards. She was soft-spoken and had semi-broken English so it took some patience in understanding what she was telling me. I learned that she was 21, and studying in grade 11. She was telling me about her family. “We are suffering, can you help me? My mother is positive (HIV)… she is very sick… my father has already gone… my brothers and sisters, we are five…. Can you tell me what to do?” Hillary, one of my teammates, was there with me as we tried to comfort this girl. We talked, asked questions, and listened. It was very difficult to know the right things to say. We prayed with her and I took down her name on my hand. I told her we would continue praying for her and her family.

Today was a difficult day for me. I find myself thinking about my small group of high schoolers back home. I cannot believe that girls just like them here- girls the same age- are faced with such different decisions… They have the same teenage-girl spunk and personality yet live completely different lives. Please keep Khanyisile in your prayers.