It’s amazing how quickly time can drag by. Christmas was tough, to say the least. As it turns out, I’m not the most adept mountaineer (who’s shocked?). After 8,000 uneven mountain steps (up and down), and 25 hours, I gained mountain climber street-cred, one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, and lost close to most of my dignity (as well as my favorite hat). I also got a taste of how Bilbo must have felt when he began his adventure: a little awkward, a little lonely (it’s hard to talk when you are using all of your lung capacity to stay alive and also when you are hours behind the main hiking party), and a little unsure of my ability to make a wise decision.
Rachael Baggins
However, I did summit a Himalayan mountain. Pride, dignity, and security are small prices to pay for that kind of adventure-cred. I made it up and down the mountain unscathed (physically, at least….I did almost have a breakdown when I thought a bee was chasing me on purpose). Most, or all of my cred may have been lost, though, when I rolled my ankle on the three steps down to the bathroom at the rest stop on the bus ride home. Oh, well….at least I got to look at this….
Yes, I summited Poon Hill.
Christmas quickly faded into the New Year back in Kathmandu and, before we knew it, we were on a plane set for South Africa. We arrived in Harrismith in the Free State (towards the middle) tired and excited for summer in January.
Although initially upset at being the only team not situated on a beach (until I remembered where I am blessed enough to get to go home to….and also, Jaws), the landscape here is absolutely breathtaking. The mountains are flat-topped and bright green and full of a majestic sort of beauty that you can’t escape no matter where you are in the area. We even got to hike up and around one of them (on a rolled ankle- tossing away the last of my pride and dignity) and the ladies were even able to skivvy-dip in a deserted dam as the men went off looking for a different sort of natural adventure.
*skivvy-dipping not pictured
Arriving in Harrismith, we went straight to work on putting together a Vacation Bible School camp for the youth in the area. Basically copying the 5-plus years of VBSing back home, the camp was a success. There were songs, games, teaching, and laughing. It was a beautiful thing to see these kids discover and/or rediscover how very much they are worth and how very loved they really are.
This past week was spent putting together books for our host organizations “Flash Point Program”. This is a program that goes into public schools and educates grades 8-12 on sex, drugs, and rock and roll. In South Africa, about 1 in 4 people are living with AIDS and a major reason for this is a lack of education. Although the organization is faith-based, they have been allowed into the public school system in Qwa Qwa, South Africa and are able to provide education, resources, and mentors to the youth. Each of us were blessed to be able to teach a session during the coach’s (coach = teacher/mentor in the program) training. My hour-long presentation was entitled “Overcoming Obstacles”.
It was funny to be a white American from Orange County teaching in a black area of South Africa (you are allowed and even supposed to say “black” here) about overcoming obstacles (Apartheid, anyone?). It was humbling, actually, how gracious and accepting they were to what was taught and an honor to be able to prepare and share some tools of overcoming that I’ve acquired over the years.
Next week, we will be going into the city of Qwa Qwa every day to do youth programs, visit people in their homes, and to deliver the books we spent last week putting together. Keep us in your prayers!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers, support, messages and kind words. They mean the world to me! It is hard to be away from loved ones- especially during the holidays (they aren’t over for me- my birthday is on Jan 27th), but after this month there will only be 4 more until home. I love and miss everyone back in the States, but know that the work being done here is important.
Love,
PS: For those who don’t know, I AM FULLY FUNDED! WOOHOO! A few have asked how they can continue supporting me out on the field, as certain expenses are not covered (the final flight home from whichever US city we fly in to (still TBD), medications, weather-appropriate clothes, incidentals, a birthday latte, food that is not rice…etc…). Y
ou can do so through PayPal (either the app or through Paypal.com)! My PayPal ID is: [email protected]
Thank you SO MUCH again for all of your support!
