Two Week update

Sorry for the extreme lack of communication! Over the weekend, Russell and I had typed up huge updates on Tony's laptop for us to send out on Monday morning. On Sunday, it decided to crash after being used for the worship lyrics. Needless to say, they have decided to get rid of it and buy a new one. Which is fine, but it means our updates are gone, and the church is now without a way to get online! So, we've undertaken a little creative emailing to get this new update out to everyone. So just know that my emailing will be very very rare, and my appearance on Facebook and MySpace will be nonexistent until I'm back in the States!

On to the real update...

I'm writing this on the evening of Thursday, June 14. We've been here for a week and a half, and I feel a little more settled. After a long flight (and an enjoyable layover in London, where we ran around the city), we made it to Johannesburg on the morning of Sunday, June 3. We had just enough time to change and get to church. Running on about 6 hours of sleep from the past two days, I don't remember much of that day!

We're staying in a cottage in the church “compound.” All houses and places here are gated, even in the “nicer” parts of town. Troyeville is not one of those parts. So, we have a wall with fencing on top with barbed wire. As long as we stay smart and follow the basic rules (don't wear jewelry/carry expensive things in the street, don't go out in the street at night, keep the gate locked), we're safe. It used to be a nice area with a white majority, but sometime recently (within the past 10 or so years?), blacks started moving in, and the whites left. Apartheid may be gone, but remnants still remain. And sadly, in Joburg skin color still has a meaning. With the influx of blacks came more crime and poverty. I'm not trying to be racist at all, but it's what happened. White equals rich. Black equals poor. Making the culture switch after apartheid is difficult, and there is a large unemployment rate, especially among blacks. Much of the crime is out of desperation to simply have money for food. Several families might live in one small room, with children sleeping on the floor. It's a rough life for them.

In the States, I call myself a “poor college student.” But I now realize I have so much more than most people in this world...

Our cottage is quite nice. We have our own rooms, and we share it with Nomalanga, the head teacher at the TLC, and her two children, Oyisa (age 6) and Thabo (age 7). Thabo isn't really her son; I'll tell that story at another time. Anyway, we share the lounge, the kitchen, and the bathroom. It's a decent setup, and we have everything we need. The one shock for me was the lack of a shower. Baths only here! But I still have hot water and get clean, so I can't complain too much. There is also no heating in the cottage, or in most places around here. And yes, it's wintertime here. At night it can get cold, but when the sun is out during the day it can be quite nice. After about a week we were given small space heaters to warm up our rooms, but we use them sparingly to save on electricity. But if you wear a lot of layers and use a lot of blankets, no problem!

And we do have to be careful about blackouts. The power supply is unstable, often because people will cut the cables to sell, or steal power and overburden the system. Last night the circuit the cottage was on went out, and was out until this afternoon. I was so happy when it came back on, though, if only so I could have warm water for a bath!

There's also been a strike in South Africa. It started June 1 (the day we left the States). Basically, the teachers and hospital workers are demanding a 12 percent increase in their wages. From what I've heard, the upper rung of government holds most of the money, and there is a large gap between them and those below. So, the demand isn't unreasonable. However, negotiations haven't been going well. Many children have been out of school for almost two weeks now, and those schools that do still operate do so under great security. Unfortunately, many of the strikers have been using violence to try and convince the non-strikers to comply. It is a culture of violence. We actually closed yesterday, as more government workers were planning to strike, and we didn't want to become a potential target or put any of the children in danger. No worries – we opened up today just fine, and there were no problems. But the entire situation needs a lot of prayer.

On to the TLC itself: The Touch Life Centre has been in existence for about a year and operates Monday through Friday, 7:30 to 16:30. Approximately 60 children are enrolled, and 40 more are on the waiting list. They are about 2-5 years of age (out of their nappies...er, diapers). It is extremely low cost: 50 rand a month. One US dollar equals about 7 rand, so essentially they are paying 7 dollars a month. The actual cost of caring for the children is higher, so they rely on donations and such. The children are divided into three classes: Puppies, Elephants, and Giraffes (youngest to oldest, respectively). The first day, Russell and I were given the Elephant class, because their teacher, Malt, has had to leave town for a few weeks to care for her brother's affairs after his murder. (I'm sorry, I know that was probably a jolting statement, but I felt I should include it). They quickly took advantage of us, so now we co-teach with others. I help Aurelia in the Puppy class, and Russell helps Joyce in the Elephants.

It's taken a while for me to get used to the ways of these children, and for them to get used to me. There is no discipline at home, so they don't know how to respond. At first, they would infuriate me by deliberately doing the opposite of whatever I said while looking directly at me and smiling. They knew they were disobeying me! But they also weren't used to me. My English is quite different (though I've found myself using some South African pronunciations), and I don't speak Zulu (what most of them speak, though we encourage English here). And, my skin is a different color, a fact I often forget. Again, skin color holds much more meaning here. But they're starting to listen more, and I've been able to relax a little more. They're so affectionate and love to have any contact with you. When they come running at you for a hug or a high five, it's hard to stay mad! And they need a lot of love; they've been exposed to so many horrible things already, more than I've seen, and I'm four times their ages.

Our basic schedule: breakfast, toilet, morning prayer/singing, teaching, outside play if it's nice, toilet, morning snack, sleeping time, toilet, lunch, face wash, story time, play time, toilet, afternoon snack, group singing, playing until pick-up. Due to a lack of training and resources, there's not a lot of structured education that happens. A woman from the States is supposed to be coming at the end of the month to help implement something. So basically, I take a lot of kids to the toilet, keep them from hurting each other or myself, and give them food. I know it must sound like a lot of food, but for many of these kids it's probably all the food they'll get for the day. And yes, we eat lunch with them (where we've been introduced to pap, which is basically a sticky and tasteless starch made from cornstarch and mixed with anything).

Today we also had the opportunity to spend a few hours at Door of Hope, the baby house Cheryl helped establish. I got to hold a bunch of precious babies, and it made me happy :o) But I also found out that Americans can't adopt from there or anywhere in SA due to our government's refusal to sign some adoption treaty that SA is a part of.

As we have no car, we've been reliant upon the kindness of church people to take us places. We've had a few people have us over for meals, which is a nice break from cooking! (Yes, we cook for ourselves, and we are masters at grilled cheese and pasta. And yes, we eat fruit as well.) Janice had us over for a meal and game night with her son and his two school friends, and Tony and Anne took us to an evening worship service at an “emergent” church and fed us afterwards (and lent us some more reading material). And we have a standing after-church lunch invitation at Cheryl's. I realize those names probably mean nothing to you right now, but in a later update I'll try to let you know a little more about them. Nomalanga also occasionally includes us in her meals, which is nice as well. And we're in the process of making a few plans to see things – a hike, maybe a rhino park, etc.

There's so much more I can say, but I'm sure you've probably gone cross-eyed by now from reading all this. But if you're dying to read more, take a look at Russell's blog!

Cheers!