beautiful are the feet...

Dumela

I just wanted to ask you,


This is Rachel. She is one of the girls I am living with right now. Last week she visited a man in the village and prayed with him. He went completely blind a few months ago and we are doing what we can (praying) to change that. Please if you read this, take a minute and help us out.

Kgotso.

ignite your bones

Good evening on my end,

I decided it was time to write in here. I am actually procrastinating at the moment, so this is the perfect spot to spend some time.

It is really very cold here right now and it has been for a few weeks now. We have seen snow on the mountains. I spent my week up there completely bundled in blankets, and head scarfs.. I fit right in with the village ladies.

Let me just show you a few things

Here is a picture of my Kindergarten and Grade one class. This shot was during a game of Head and Shoulders.

This is me with a lot of the village ladies. We had a big gathering and then they all had quite the time dressing me up as a Lesotho woman.


Here is my preschool class! I am standing in the back with the three ladies that work with us, and then Meagan and Rachel.

On Friday of last week we traveled to another school in Qwa Qwa to do a presentation on AIDS. Can you spot the white girl?

And here I am with Taryn during our latest experiments with henna.

It is my last week here in South Africa. We are going up the mountain daily, and working at the school as well. I am excited for a few special dinner plans I have this week, and then Saturday is my full day in Jo-berg before I fly out. I am not the greatest at formal, deep hearted goodbyes, mostly because I don't want to show my emotions. I have no idea what will happen on the day I have to leave all of these kids.

For now I need to go so I can plan the primary school activities for this week, or maybe I will jump straight into my multi-layered bed. Thank you for reading.

Love and Love
Kgotso

namaste

Hello Again,

I am back from the mountain for this weekend and then I am off on Monday to live up there again for the week. First of all I must share with you my baking escapades. (Assuming you already know that usually I am no where near successful with my creations). Last week I baked some simple chocolate chip cookies, expecting them to be a flop. But they really weren't and I was able to give them to a family helps with the Ministry. Then I went back to visit them a few days later, and the cookies had been completely devoured. I promise this is rare. Then the mother asked me if I could bake her some more. She insisted on paying me, but I told her I would make her three times as many as before, and she just needs to pay in fruit. (They run a fruit market). So this morning I baked about 70 cookies for this family, and I promise you it is such a pleasure.

Moving on... these past two weeks on the mountain. Again I am so happy to have these Canadian girls visiting, they make for such a great last couple of weeks here. The weather has been less than great, the wind blows like crazy at night, and the temperature is dropping. I am going to whip up as many toques as I can this week to give through-out the village. The stars are in abundance though, lots of kids are coming to the care center, and teaching at the school is still so much fun. The power goes out every once and a while though and we had a flush your own (pour water through) toilet for most of our stay.

Some Highlights,

I know some of you have been awaiting a shot of Bernard, so here we are. I look a little cheesy and he looks a little queasy?


This picture is taken outside of our Hall at the care center. We had a village gathering where about 40 families picked up food parcels with lots of soup, spices, veggies and other non-perishables.


This is a photo of all of us girls when we went on a hike down a gorge. Beside me is Rachel then Meagan then Taryn. Behind us you can see some of the city Qwa Qwa.


This Tankiso in his One-Piece Red Suit, with me, wishing I had mine!


Here I am with the lovely Sito,(who we have totally potty trained!)We are doing our daily dance training.



And here I am reading to some of the kids in the village.
They go to the primary school we teach at, but I absolutely love hanging out with these ones. They totally remind me of the kids from Hook, or the island kids from Lord of the Flies. I was watching a village soccer game this week and all of a sudden the 6 and 7 year old girls came out of this little grass cave with fish tins and broken glass pieces filled with cheesy poofs. They threw me a surprise birthday party. I really could not stop laughing.

I should go, I have tons of phone calls to make, errands to run. That's a joke. But I will go find my place in the kitchen.
Only two weeks left here. Kind of crazy I think.

thank you for reading
mounds of love

Live and let live.

Hello

Today is such a beautiful day, I have walked and walked and walked and completely procrastinated anything of importance. Kind of nice.

Two sisters from Steinbach have come to join us for this month and they are such a blast. I am really looking forward to this time with them, it is a treat to have some fellow Canadians along.

We are leaving to live on the mountain tomorrow, for about three weeks. This is going to be great. What a way to finish off my time here. I will be able to use Internet in two weeks or so, and then at the end of this month I am off. I need to really milk these next few weeks. You know, become even closer with everyone on the mountain, pour out way more love than I thought I had in me... then pack up and take off. Scary.

This picture is with the lovely Enny. She lives on the mountain and volunteers as a main caregiver for us. On this day the ladies showed me how to make all the foods we feed the kids. My new favorite food is pumpkin!


And on this day we all became cats. A very good activity with the kids, some even went so far to lick our legs??


I must go mail and pack and bake and pack. Thank you again and again for reading and for the support that keeps me going.

Speak with you now

love and love and love

a mountain like you said to be

'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you' I have chosen you for one another...Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by Friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good Friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as revealing.
-CS Lewis



'Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers.'

Kgotso