People are what make up a place. It’s not the senceary, the exotic animals, or the food. These are a few of the sweet faces that I have grown to love over the past two months. These kids live a life very different from what seems “normal” to us living in the states. Nevertheless they are children who desire to be loved and feel seen.
Neliswa greets us with a contagious smile everyday. She loves teaching how to speak siswati and loves to laugh at us when we cannot pronounce it correctly. She thinks the phrase “what is your name” means ‘what do you call this’ so she will walk around pointing to things asking “what is your name” when she wants to know the English word. She also loves to recite our names and make sure she can say them correctly.
This is Phiway (pee- wa). What a character! We have nick named him ‘swaggy boy’ because he walks and acts like a little thug. At first he only presented himself as tough to us but over time we have been able to get to know the his soft side. This kid loves to laugh and finds true joy in making others laugh. Whether it’s making funny faces or showing us how to guata guata, which is a popular dance move, he always puts a smile on our faces.
Amathie has a joyous spirit. She has a laugh that brightens the day and loves to run around with her friends. We have a little baby that comes to the care-point that cries occasionally and only cries more whenever we tried to comfort him, one day she immediately grabbed him and comforted him until he stopped crying. She has a sweet heart and it’s evident in her actions.
This little girl would spend hours everyday sitting quietly next to us when we first arrived. Slowly we have been shown the amazing gift of her smile. She doesn’t know any English so whenever we talk to her she only responds with a head nod, a smile, and some siSwati. She loves to run around in her pink rain boots screaming and laughing as we chase her around.
This girl, Scampi, is an interesting one. She was one of the very quiet very shy kiddos when we first came. She slowly warmed up to us and began to show her true colors. She loves attention and can be a little possessive of us at times. If we spend too much time with another kid she will come over and grab our hands and pull us away. She loves o poke her head in the window with the other kids when we are eating lunch, wave at us, and then proceed to run away giggling when we wave back.
A blog simply cannot do any justice to show how special these kids are. They hold a special place in my heart and my love for them only continues to grow the more I get to know them. Leaving in a month will be hard but I find great comfort in knowing that they are children of God and he will show them more love than I ever could.
