Hello from Swaziland! And belated Merry Christmas! I am sorry I haven’t been able to update more regularly; we do not have access to internet where we have been staying this month and it is typically a two hour roller coaster ride down the mountains to get wifi.
Africa is everything I imagined and better. This month we have been staying at El Shaddai Children’s Home, which is up in the cloudy mountains of Swaziland overlooking a beautiful view of a valley and river. In the mornings we typically help with gardening or random construction projects around the property; levelling ground for a barn, building play structures, painting etc. In the afternoons we spend time with our “buddies”.
There are 52 amazing children residing at the Children’s Home so at the beginning of the month each member of our squad was given a buddy to hang out with for the month. I was paired with a 15 year old girl named Takhona and we were surprised at how much we had in common right off the bat (our favourite One Direction member is Liam Payne what are the chances :P). I have had an amazing month talking with her under the trees, hiking, watching movies in my tent, playing cards, corn rowing hair, listening to music and learning from her, as well as many of the other kids at El Shaddai.
Christmas was definitely different than any Christmas I have ever had before. Without snow, family and friends it was looking like it wasn’t going to feel much like Christmas at all; many of us were feeling quite homesick. However, Christmas morning came around and even though it was 35 degrees out and really didn’t look anything like Christmas, the warmth and thankfulness I felt from our squad as we surprised each other with Secret Santa gifts and laughed around the table eating pancakes and bacon was a jolly feeling.
We raised over eight hundred dollars to spend on the kids Christmas presents and each squad member bought their buddy a gift as well. We spent Christmas morning watching them open their gifts and in the afternoon we threw a field day for the kids with activities, competitions, a water balloon fight, cupcake decorating and a nativity skit that I was a shepherd in (and looked like the lorax).
This month has been amazing and I am sad to be leaving in a week. On January 2nd, my team and two other teams are heading to Nsoko for the duration of our time in Africa. Africa is incredible and it has surpassed my expectations. Thanks so much for your prayers and thoughts and I hope you all had an amazing Christmas filled with snow and cold and scarves and good Canadian things.
