Sunday Jan. 8. 2012
I arrived in Johannesburg at 6:00am my bags made it, I made it and I met Mary Jean right as I walked through customs. We then had a small breakfast at Mug and Bean at the airport where I had my first cup of coffee YAY. The trip to Swaziland from the airport is about 4 hours. The climate was hot and muggy such a difference from my bay area winter.
As Mary Jean (MJ) and I drove to the farm it really was out there away from a city. However as we pulled up the kids ran to the car mostly to greet MJ and then met me. Now by this time I hadn’t really slept in two days, it was hot, there were several bugs, I felt very isolated and I questioned if I could really do this for a whole year. However that night I slept as hard as a rock and woke up happy and excited to be there. I was able to spend a lot of time with the kids and mothers, which helped me, adjust and not feel like an outsider. MJ spent a lot of time telling me about the children’s stories and backgrounds and about Swazi culture. So many of them have been abused and honestly you can see that they just want attention, to be known and to be loved by someone.
The house where I am staying is sort of in the middle of it all I share a 3-bedroom house with another teacher who works with the preschoolers. I have not met her yet she is still on holiday until next week. For being in Swaziland I feel like a princess I have my OWN room and have a twin bed sort of like a dorm room styled room. I have a cub bard for my clothes, table, fan and curtains. The curtains I think might be my favorite part because they block out the sun and bugs!!
MJ took me to the school and I was able to see my classroom, boy so many resources it was amazing. The walls are fairly bare but that will be fixed in no time. This week will be nice to just get adjusted to the time change; we are 10 hours ahead, as well as unpacked and have my room organized. Next week will be a prep week where I can decorate my room, look over the curriculum and sort of map out the year in long term goals for the students and short term goals.
So much has happened in the past few days I feel like I could just keep on writing but how do I even describe it all. Firstly God has been so faithful to me, smooth travels, quickly meeting up with May Jean, lots of sleep on my first night. I honestly could not have dreamed of a better start of this adventure. The culture shock has been difficult at times and God has just been right there beside me. Also adjusting to the water and the food I normally get a stomachache pretty easily when it comes to those things but God has protected me from that too. I feel so protected I feel all the prayers thank you so much.
Now how the farm is sort of setup: There are four large houses for the children each with a housemother. There is then Mary Jean and Peters house, my house, the school and then the farm. I will be taking pictures and posting them when I can. Now house 2 does not currently have a mother so they have different women from the village stay during the day with the children and then someone else stays with them at night. Mary Jean and I stayed there last night what a treat that was. At first I was thinking oh it will be nice to be in my bed in a nice quiet room but I felt that it would be a great bonding time to be in the house. So we had dinner, I read some books with the younger ones and we also colored. Coloring is HUGE here they love coloring books and crayons not something that they always get to do outside of school. I also was able to learn several of their names, learning all of their names are going to be one of the hardest tasks in these first few weeks.
Each house has anywhere from 8-11 kids in it boys are usually upstairs and the girls down stairs. The house mothers are not only taking care of those children but they are also working on the farm. They are all such hard workers and really care for the children in their homes.
Today the big task was to put my kitchen together it was pretty empty, no dishes, no cooking pots etc. So there is a storage container that had boxes of things that other missionaries who had moved away recently had left behind which was an extreme blessing to me that I didn’t have to go out and buy several of those things. So some of the girls came and helped me bring things back to the house, we washed and put them away. It is now almost lunchtime, which is the main meal of the day so I better am going. I miss you all so much. I am safe and sound!!!!!
Friday, January 13th
This week has been a whirlwind as I have been getting settled. I have seen my classroom it’s wonderful I am so excited to start school. Our first day is the 24th of January, which is a Tuesday. Mary Jean and I sat down today to talk about curriculum, discussed the student’s abilities and gave me the 411 on the school. It was so insightful I am starting to prepare for the year it’s wonderful.
Yesterday we went into town which was I think 1hour and 45 minutes away. To even get off the property is about 30 minutes on a bumpy dirt road. So going into town is quite the trek. We got to buy desks for the students a donor purchased them for the school so that is very exciting the kids can’t wait to use them. I was able to get a wireless Internet connection that I can use here at the farm. The connection is limited so I won’t always be on but maybe once a week. I also bought a few things for my room and house. Our last stop was the grocery store so many items I hadn’t ever seen or items that I knew what it was but the packaging was different so I wasn’t sure if I was buying the right thing ha-ha. Well everything here takes time and is a process so trying to get things done quickly is not always easy.
For the past week I have been sleeping at house 2 currently they do not have a housemother they are looking for one to come and stay there with the children. I have loved it there are 11 kids in the house and the ages range from 4 to 19. Being there at night and in the mornings has helped me bond and build relationships with them. Some of the children shy away while others are eager for attention and will jump right into my lap and want me to read to them. The other night I brought over my laptop and we watched a Bugs Life, which they had never seen before, and it was so fun to sit with them and they thought it was hilarious that the bugs could talk.
The weather has been very hot here; we did have a storm on Wednesday night where the thunder and lightening was so intense you could see the bolts right out side of the house. The bugs are terrible but I am still being bitten it must be my sweet blood that attracts them.
The house moms left yesterday to go into town as well to buy school uniforms, shoes, socks etc. Well that is large job there are 35+ kids that they need to buy for and make sure they are getting the correct size and if there uniform is fine from the previous year then they do not get a new one. They typically have two pairs of shoes one for school and one for playing, working etc. They wear the shoes till they are unwearable and the clothes until they are unable to anymore either to small or holes. They also take pride in their things so they take good care of the items they are given so that they last for a long time.
The kids here are so fun and joyful you walk along in the farm and they are in the trees, playing in the water, playing games, coloring etc. It is their holiday so they often find fun things to do during the day. However they all work on the farm in their own gardens where they get their food from, or they help with the cows, planting seeds, doing chores etc. They work so hard and love to help.
The view here is amazing; everything is green, lots of trees, hills and mountains. As soon as I am able to I will upload pictures.
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