Laura’s Experiences at a Care Point

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I [Laura Johnston] am working in Swaziland with a program called G42 (Generation 42).  It is so much fun.  We go to different care points each day and play with the children, and teach them Bible lessons. 

At each care point there are gogos (grandmas) that cook food that has been donated to feed the children.  For many of the children, this is their only source of food.  Some days if there is no food, or there is no one to cook, they don’t eat. 

There is also a teacher at each care point who teaches the children the basics such as counting, shapes, colours and some English.  Most of the kids are preschool age because the older kids go to school.  The teachers are totally volunteers.  They have no salary, and no other incentives to do this except for the love they have for the kids.  The gogos also have no salary, however after showing their committment and dedication, they can receive a sewing machine to make purses to sell.  It has been so awesome to be with these people.

I live in Nisela safaris, so there are many different animals right outside my tent.  Most days the ostriches aren’t too far away, and the lion is fenced in about 200 feet away from our campsite.  On walks we see giraffes, zebras, warthogs, impalas and a croc.  It is very exciting.

This is one of the less developed care points.  The cinder block shack is where the gogo cooks the food for the kids.  At some point we should be clearing out land for the kids to have a bigger area to play.  Pastor Temba is trying to start a church here as well, and he has a metal roof shelter thing to the right of this photo.

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These are some of the children who go to the care point shown above.  There are really no toys except the soccer ball we bring with us each time we go and so the wheelbarrow is a great source of entertainment.

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Here are the boxes of food that we helped to deliver to some of the care points.  In each box there are 36 packages of rice/soy mix for the children to eat.  Each meal costs 3 cents because the Feed My Starving Childrenorganization donates the food, and then people only need to pay for shipping – working out to 3 cents/meal.

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This is another one of the care points.  They also have a small stone building that the children eat in and do their lessons in.  Most children have work books with UNICEF on the front.

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This is another care point.  It is one of the more developed ones.  There are many children who attend this care point.  One day Rubie and I sang an hour’s worth of children’s songs with them (mostly action songs for them to participate), and had a lot of fun.

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This is me with one of the children at the care point above.  Some of the kids don’t want to be played with, they just want up and that’s it.  They want to be held and loved and to know that someone cares about them.  G42 is currently setting up a sponsorship program, similar to World Vision or Compassion International.  They are also working on a website, so keep your eyes open for that.

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These are some of the kids from the above care point (the one with the stick building).  In their plates is the food they are fed for breakfast every day.  At some care points the kids get breakfast and lunch, some they only get lunch, and sometimes the care points run out of food and can’t give them any.

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This beautiful girl is one whom I have fallen in love with.  She is funny and very independent.  She also looks just like my childhood doll.  She has many sores on her body, and I am not sure what they are from.  After checking me out she has decided that I’m ok, and I am very thankful for that because I love to play with her.

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Our campsite at the safari.

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This is our friendly neighbourhood ostrich.  Currently he is about 100 feet from our tents, but he does come closer.  Also, look at the tree.  It is such a typical African tree and I love it.  When we first got to Africa, Rusty told us that every plant in Africa has thorns.  After about 6 weeks of testing this theory I have found this to be absolutely true.

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