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| Malawi |
Showing posts with label McKallies Home of Future and Hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McKallies Home of Future and Hope. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Malawi bound!
I had a wonderful, wonderful time in Pretoria with Estelle and her family. Estelle took me for a taste of Afrikaner culture around Pretoria (including a meal at Boer'giousie and a visit to the Voertrekker monument! - pictures coming shortly) . I also had the chance to *relax* in their beautiful home, get some reading done, and take long naps. :) Yesterday we headed into Johannesburg to the American consulate and I was able to get long awaited pages added to my ridiculously full passport - yay! I will finally not have to stress out every time I cross a border.
And now - I am sitting in the airport awaiting my flight to Malawi. Tracy and her daughter McKallie are most likely on my same flight, so I am keeping my eye out for them. I am extremely excited.
A special thank you to Estelle and her wonderful family for taking me in and making me feel at home the last several days!!!!
And now - I am sitting in the airport awaiting my flight to Malawi. Tracy and her daughter McKallie are most likely on my same flight, so I am keeping my eye out for them. I am extremely excited.
A special thank you to Estelle and her wonderful family for taking me in and making me feel at home the last several days!!!!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Malawi, I'm on my way - and other such news.
Its official! I just booked a ticket to Malawi for September 10-17th. One of our dear family friends, Tracy, is coming down with her daughter to prepare to officially open an orphanage. This is a project that I have held near to my heart since the moment I heard about it, and I am so excited toIgo and spend some time (albeit short) with them and see the amazing work that is taking place. Here's the link to the orphanage:
McKallie's Home of Future and Hope
It continues to amaze me that I do things like book tickets to Malawi and plan trips to orphanages as one of my daily activities. I cannot image being more blessed. I have been thinking about this a lot lately... and I don't even know where to begin expressing gratitude for - all of this.
In other news, I went back to Settler's Hospital today. (this is where I play with HIV+ kids while they wait for treatment) This was a somewhat big deal for me because since I went last week I have been pretty emotional - it was very hard on me emotionally last time. Today I spent the morning making animal masks with the kids and then playing tiger and springbok (meaning they are the tigers and I am the springbok, meaning essentially they have an excuse to hit/kick me - its great). It amazes me how impressionable kids are. They especially liked the way that I drew stripes on my tiger mask, and about 4 of them copied me meticulously. I kept lamenting that I had gone the traditional route with the colors, as all of them followed suit (I believe in encouraging creativity, even if that means a green polka-dot tiger). It made me hyper-aware of how actions are so much louder than words. Not speaking the same language also makes me aware of that. :)
Tangent on that note: today I was really hyped up about talking to the kids in Xhosa, as almost none of them speak English. I made a promise to go out of my way to address them in Xhosa (as most of the volunteers don't). So I sat down, gathered my courage (and pride), picked my kid, and threw at him my very best opening lines of Xhosa. He just stared at me. So I tried again, speaking more clearly this time - Ngubani igama lakho? (what is your name?) - more stares. Then he said, patiently: Are you trying to ask my name? "My name is Sipho and I speak English." Ha! Thank you Sipho.
McKallie's Home of Future and Hope
It continues to amaze me that I do things like book tickets to Malawi and plan trips to orphanages as one of my daily activities. I cannot image being more blessed. I have been thinking about this a lot lately... and I don't even know where to begin expressing gratitude for - all of this.
In other news, I went back to Settler's Hospital today. (this is where I play with HIV+ kids while they wait for treatment) This was a somewhat big deal for me because since I went last week I have been pretty emotional - it was very hard on me emotionally last time. Today I spent the morning making animal masks with the kids and then playing tiger and springbok (meaning they are the tigers and I am the springbok, meaning essentially they have an excuse to hit/kick me - its great). It amazes me how impressionable kids are. They especially liked the way that I drew stripes on my tiger mask, and about 4 of them copied me meticulously. I kept lamenting that I had gone the traditional route with the colors, as all of them followed suit (I believe in encouraging creativity, even if that means a green polka-dot tiger). It made me hyper-aware of how actions are so much louder than words. Not speaking the same language also makes me aware of that. :)
Tangent on that note: today I was really hyped up about talking to the kids in Xhosa, as almost none of them speak English. I made a promise to go out of my way to address them in Xhosa (as most of the volunteers don't). So I sat down, gathered my courage (and pride), picked my kid, and threw at him my very best opening lines of Xhosa. He just stared at me. So I tried again, speaking more clearly this time - Ngubani igama lakho? (what is your name?) - more stares. Then he said, patiently: Are you trying to ask my name? "My name is Sipho and I speak English." Ha! Thank you Sipho.
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