There's nothing quite like rolling over in the morning (depending on the morning) to the trumpet like explosion that just eruppted from your one of your ten brothers. Generally you can blame noise on a bull frog, but not in these intense cases. A trumpet like explosion you ask? YES! Generally a trumpet like wake up call is followed by breakfast at 7 with the accompianment?? of a guitarist playing from one of the massive boulders in front of our living quarters. Ok, to truly depict our experience over again with words would be virtually impossible, but I must tell you I would relive it all over again, 1,000 times more. For starters, the 11 of us stayed in 3 bedrooms equipped with two sets of bunk beds. Down our outside hallway was a two shower, two toilet bathroom. About 5 feet from our living quarters was our kitchen/ dining room. There, three of us would usually wake up at 5:30 a.m. to do Insanity at 6. Other activities there include breakfast, lunch, dinner, movies, hangout time, feedback, and worship. Outside of our kitchen and at night, you could usually find us curled around a fire having feedback or worship under the most amazing skyline imaginable. Now and very quickly, you may have this misconception ty, hat Africa is only hot and dry, but I must tell you that where we were located high into the mountains, it was generally windy during the day (50-80 ish Farenheit), and windy and freezing at night. There were times that I thought our roof would rip right of and our bodies be swept away from the mountainside. But yeah, that never happened…and back to the Family Life topic.
There's nothing quite like bonding with a bunch of men over "Tea Time" . "Tea Time", a "meal" between breakfast and lunch was a break time where we had the choices of coffee or tea, complimented by delicious homemade muffins or crapes. Generally during the time, we sat and talked with Charmain or amongst each other, and we played with with David her son, and Shiloh her grandaughter. Charmain, along with her husband, opened an orphanage, a church, a preschool, a nursery, and a clinic on the land that they purchased a little over ten years ago after being called by the Lord to Swaziland. Charmain has an older daughter Chanelle who also has a three year old daughter Shiloh, and a 16 year old son named Carl. Charmain also has 5 other adopted children that live with her in her house. David, a five year old mentioned above, along with two more boys and two more girls. You may say wow and ask how she has managed to do these things. I think her response would simply be by putting her faith and trust in the Lord.
Obedience is one true characteristic of knowing a "True Follower" from a poser, and after hearing bits and pieces of her testimony, there is no doubt in my mind who Charmain is. A kind and compassionate woman, Charmain is a woman throughly tried and true. To try and describe her would be impossible. I can tell you this though, she's a woman that I wanted to always be around. She reminded me a lot o my own mother. Being in her presence, I would always get this sense of peace and comfort, but if you stepped out of line, the inner momma bear would come alive. She would always greet me and ask me how I was, and usually carress my head like my mother would do. Oh, and she could cook like no other. WOW! We ate WELL in Charmain's care!!! The welcoming atmosphere and hospitable environment that Charmain and her family created for me was beyond like any that i've experienced. We watched movies and chatted until bed time was a must! Sadly to say, those experiences would be short lived. There wasn't enough time to create more, and I can't go back now.
Up Next, Swaziland Part IV-Leaving Home
