HELLOOO!
Our group of 22 people, for the first time since arriving, is getting off the mountain and getting to experience some civilization outside of the orphanage we’ve been staying at this month.
As mentioned, we are working at an orphanage in Swaziland called El Shaddi (you can google it and see their website). God is so at work on this mountain and with this organization! God’s presence is here and is with these people.
A typical day looks like me waking up early (6ish) to journal, read, pray, drink coffee, etc on the rocks overlooking the beautiful rolling hills, and mountains, and waterfall, and river. This. Place. Is. Gorgeous. And its their spring so everything is coming to life and getting really green!
Then from 8-12 we work on our task of the day which looks like playing with the toddlers, teaching the Pre-K (gotta love those numbers and the alphabet), sorting through donated goods to see where they can be used, taking inventory in the baby store room, and potentially doing some dirt digging/foundation laying for the new baby house that they are going to build. And other tasks come up randomly, like mending a fence or going on a prayer walk.
Around 10am we walk to the primary (elementary) school down the hill to find women with tubs of goodies.. Fat cakes (a big ball of fried dough), sweet rolls, cookies, sometime avocados, sometimes peaches, and other niknaks. This is how these women make their living, buy selling snacks to the students during their break at school. So we gladly contribute and enjoy a sweet treat!
Lunch is usually chicken noodle soup (or some type of soup), or sandwiches. We have a full kitchen aka a gas burner stove top that we light with a match, a sink, and a fridge. We have some pots and skillets which is always exciting! Not to mention silverware! HUGE blessing. Because in the past we’ve been known to snag some plastic ware from a mcd’s haha. Gotta do whatcha gotta do.
After lunch my team has feedback at 1, where we speak into each others lives and encourage one another, and pray for one another and our team as a whole. it’s a beautiful picture of what community is suppose to look like. Of course its not always fun and games. And you may say things that people don’t want to hear but you know that bringing stuff to the light, no matter how painful, is always better than letting it continue to hide in the darkness, and my teammates do the same for me which is always appreciated!
Then we have a break until 3pm. And from 3-5 we tutor the older kids. Helping them with their homework and studying for their exams (they got some big exams coming up on Monday!)
Small break, then from 5:30- 6 we host Chapel for the kids where we sing songs, have a Bible story/message, memory verse, etc.
Then the kids want to play. Because most of our interaction leading up to this point has been structured and planned. This is a time for us to just be. They sing and dance and have games that they’ve created with sticks and rocks. The other day, the vessel of entertainment was a pile of dirt… and they took turns jumping off of it. They’ve definitely made the most out of the resources that they have! It’s quite humbling.
So we’ll play with them until dinner which has consisted of… spaghetti, shepherd’s pie, chicken & vegetable soup, etc.
Then by the time dinner is done and the kitchen is clean, it is dark outside. So our night activities consist of book reading, movie watching (on a laptop of course), chatting about your life back home, etc. We have a night of worship, a game night, and all that good jazz. You go to bed quite tired (but we’re thankful to have beds, no sleeping pad needed this month!)
Then the alarm goes off and you do it all over again J
And that is a day in the life of our group here in Swazi!
