So....great news this weekend! Yesterday my little sister Ashley graduated from the University of West Georgia Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education! I hate that I couldn't be there to celebrate with her on this awesome day of accomplishment! But I am so proud of her and cannot wait til she is here in 2 days!!
I also found out this morning that sometime this past week I got an A in my internship course (which is what I was completing here in South Africa) and now I am an official graduate from Kennesaw State University!! I have a bachelor of science in human services with a concentration in non-profit administration and a minor in Spanish! It feels sooo great to say official! :) Diploma is in the mail and should be hanging on the wall at the parents house by the time I return home! It's a great feeling of accomplishment and all I really have to say is its about dang time!!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
"Father Christmas!!!.....Father Christmas!!!"
This past week was filled with amazing Christmas parties in each community hosted by the Extreme Response team! Masiphumelele had theirs on Wednesday and it was so much fun! Because we have so many preschoolers and club kids (which are school age) we had to host 2 parties spread out throughout the day. Our first party for the pre-schoolers started at 10am! All of the creches (preschools) and day cares brought their little kiddies down for the festivities! We had two inflatable jumping castles set up outside and let's just say that's when the madness began!! LOL The ER team was great! They provided all of the resources for the parties and all of the kids were able to get a hotdog, 2 pieces of fruit and a present they could open at home; which included a hygiene pack (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, etc.), a bag of sweets, and a juice box. They also got their picture taken from a polaroid camera and that was sent home with them as well!....oh and I almost forgot an ice cream cone!!! So after a few hours packed with jumping in inflatables, singing and dancing, face painting and playing with clowns (which by the way...Im still afraid of LOL), these kids were sent home with a huge smile on their faces and their arms full of goodies! Oh and I forgot to mention Kenny another American volunteer, volunteered himself to be Father Christmas for the party and has been growing his beard out for a couple of months for it. He was a trooper to say the least...considering its scorching hot here and he was in a Santa suit! But the kids loved it and screamed "Father Christmas....Father Christmas" so loud for him to come out!
Probably my favorite part of the day was around noon when we all walked outside to see the gate flooded with older kids anxiously awaiting for their party to start...the crazy thing was though that it didn't start until 3!! And they knew that! They just wanted to make sure they were first in line for the fun! They waited there for hours!!
The day was exhausting to say the least but such a blessing and so incredibly fun! Just to see the looks on the kids faces when they got to receive a present and ice cream! And to play with clowns and see magic tricks! They were so excited they could hardly sit still! Masi is always described as being the most chaotic and out of control...but as many of you know I thrive on chaos and love craziness...so it was so much fun to just sit back at the end of the day and despite all the miscommunication and children running wild and food all over the place, and to know that the Lord used us to bless their hearts and love them unconditionally!
Days like that are what make my time here priceless!
Probably my favorite part of the day was around noon when we all walked outside to see the gate flooded with older kids anxiously awaiting for their party to start...the crazy thing was though that it didn't start until 3!! And they knew that! They just wanted to make sure they were first in line for the fun! They waited there for hours!!
The day was exhausting to say the least but such a blessing and so incredibly fun! Just to see the looks on the kids faces when they got to receive a present and ice cream! And to play with clowns and see magic tricks! They were so excited they could hardly sit still! Masi is always described as being the most chaotic and out of control...but as many of you know I thrive on chaos and love craziness...so it was so much fun to just sit back at the end of the day and despite all the miscommunication and children running wild and food all over the place, and to know that the Lord used us to bless their hearts and love them unconditionally!
Days like that are what make my time here priceless!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
No Shoes??....No problem!!
So...a common thing here in South Africa is going barefoot! Its so random and really funny at times. And believe me EVERYONE of all ages does it. You know in the States we have probably all been in the situation where we are watching after kids and someone has forgotten their shoes! This normally means that whatever you were getting ready to do has to be put on hold while we turn the car around and go fetch the shoes that little Johnny forgot. Well here in South Africa if you forgot your shoes it was obviously intentional! You are a true South African, feeling the sand, dirt, scalding hot pavement, gross bathroom floor, etc. between your toes! People hike barefoot, go to public restrooms barefoot, go to dinner....they do everything TOTALLY barefoot! But we all know what this results in.....WALMART FEET!! You know what I'm talking about....one day just slip your shoes off in a Walmart and cruise across an aisle barefoot...when you get home your feet will be as black as the pavement!
As much as I love being barefoot...I think I will stick to my flip flops in public places not covered my fresh green grass or sand! :)
As much as I love being barefoot...I think I will stick to my flip flops in public places not covered my fresh green grass or sand! :)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Well, Hello Again....
So I know it has been FOREVER since I updated! BUT the good news is that it only means that I have had sooo much amazing stuff going on here that I haven’t had much free time to sit down and write all about it!
So…where should I begin…September was great! At the volunteer house at the time it was mainly me, Kendra, Jessica, Laura and Matt. During September I got a lot closer with them and with my staff in Masi. They are all amazing!
Holiday Club was held at the end of September…it’s like a week of VBS! We did Boomerang Express curriculum which I am sure brings back memories for VBS teachers back home. Brentwood Baptist Church from Knoxville had a team down here to work with us on that. They were all so wonderful. During Holiday club was when I really was able to call Masi my home, the place where I worked, the people my heart broke for, my friends.
The Life Skill Educators I work with are truly awesome. At my club there is Desmond, Phelisa and Vuyo (But Vuyo will be leaving us after Christmas because he is going on full time with Hope 2 Africa!) At the other club with Kenny and Carla (the married volunteers from Colorado) there is Natalie Toni (She is the team leader and like everyone’s mom), Sondy and Nandi.
To be honest it seems like these months have FLOWN by!! I can’t believe I have been here over 3 months already!!
October was when things really started to pick up for me. I was/am truly living here and that reality comes with happiness and hard times. My job at Living Way became more and more difficult to accomplish in the time I was given and I started to become more involved with Living Right being more involved with prevention programs.
Since then my job description includes the following: (LOL it’s a lot but sooo exciting)
• Documenting processes for Living Way
• Assisting to develop child protection policies for the entire Living Hope organization
• Heading up a fundraising committee with the Life Skill Educators
• Serving on a Fundraising Committee with selected managers for Living Hope
• Serving as the project manager for the Parenting Program scheduled to launch in February 2009.
On another note, October consisted of a lot of sightseeing and touristy stuff as well, since Jessica was going to be leaving us first in November.
We went to see penguins, wine tasting, museums, etc. It was a lot of fun.
And it seriously feels like we skipped November! LOL It came and went so fast! My birthday was amazing! I was a little worried about it because I wasn’t sure how big birthdays were here! But my Masi staff was awesome and came to celebrate with me and the other volunteers were great! It was so much fun.
Oh and I totally forgot to mention….let me back up
Praise the Lord because I was able to cut my budget almost in half and sort out living situations and everything. I am currently renting a flat from another volunteer missionary family in a really good area in Fish Hoek. It’s a studio flat/apt but very spacious and really nice…and WAY cheaper than the other place I was staying! I also decided to change in my nice automatic 4-door corolla that I was renting for an old school VW Beetle named Sir Rigby!! He is awesome! Bright Red too! He’s a piece but he gets me from point A to point B and is half the price of the other car and now I’m totally attached to him. Haha
Carla and Kenny and I have also begun taking Xhosa lessons! It’s so great to learn another language and be able to use it in the communities we work in and to empower the lady that teaches the courses and help her business out.
But back to November…things really started getting crazy towards the end of last month, deadlines coming up, projects due, etc. Because the organization pretty much shuts down around Christmas everything gets insane at the end of the year.
And another PRAISE!!! My sister Ashley is coming here to visit for Christmas! This is probably the best news yet! I had been praying and so worried about Christmas and being away from family…and the Lord totally provided and allowed for her to be able to come…and she will get here soon enough to volunteer and help out at out Christmas Holiday Clubs! Everyone is so excited to meet her.
So now that leaves us in December…NOW…and I have vowed to update this WAY more often…so much more often that you might be bombarded with updates now! LOL....but in all seriousness I do apologize for not updating for months! I know you guys have been thinking about me, praying for me and supporting me so much and I should have taken more time to update you guys on the amazing things God is doing here!
I love you all! And will write more soon!
With much love,
Christina
So…where should I begin…September was great! At the volunteer house at the time it was mainly me, Kendra, Jessica, Laura and Matt. During September I got a lot closer with them and with my staff in Masi. They are all amazing!
Holiday Club was held at the end of September…it’s like a week of VBS! We did Boomerang Express curriculum which I am sure brings back memories for VBS teachers back home. Brentwood Baptist Church from Knoxville had a team down here to work with us on that. They were all so wonderful. During Holiday club was when I really was able to call Masi my home, the place where I worked, the people my heart broke for, my friends.
The Life Skill Educators I work with are truly awesome. At my club there is Desmond, Phelisa and Vuyo (But Vuyo will be leaving us after Christmas because he is going on full time with Hope 2 Africa!) At the other club with Kenny and Carla (the married volunteers from Colorado) there is Natalie Toni (She is the team leader and like everyone’s mom), Sondy and Nandi.
To be honest it seems like these months have FLOWN by!! I can’t believe I have been here over 3 months already!!
October was when things really started to pick up for me. I was/am truly living here and that reality comes with happiness and hard times. My job at Living Way became more and more difficult to accomplish in the time I was given and I started to become more involved with Living Right being more involved with prevention programs.
Since then my job description includes the following: (LOL it’s a lot but sooo exciting)
• Documenting processes for Living Way
• Assisting to develop child protection policies for the entire Living Hope organization
• Heading up a fundraising committee with the Life Skill Educators
• Serving on a Fundraising Committee with selected managers for Living Hope
• Serving as the project manager for the Parenting Program scheduled to launch in February 2009.
On another note, October consisted of a lot of sightseeing and touristy stuff as well, since Jessica was going to be leaving us first in November.
We went to see penguins, wine tasting, museums, etc. It was a lot of fun.
And it seriously feels like we skipped November! LOL It came and went so fast! My birthday was amazing! I was a little worried about it because I wasn’t sure how big birthdays were here! But my Masi staff was awesome and came to celebrate with me and the other volunteers were great! It was so much fun.
Oh and I totally forgot to mention….let me back up
Praise the Lord because I was able to cut my budget almost in half and sort out living situations and everything. I am currently renting a flat from another volunteer missionary family in a really good area in Fish Hoek. It’s a studio flat/apt but very spacious and really nice…and WAY cheaper than the other place I was staying! I also decided to change in my nice automatic 4-door corolla that I was renting for an old school VW Beetle named Sir Rigby!! He is awesome! Bright Red too! He’s a piece but he gets me from point A to point B and is half the price of the other car and now I’m totally attached to him. Haha
Carla and Kenny and I have also begun taking Xhosa lessons! It’s so great to learn another language and be able to use it in the communities we work in and to empower the lady that teaches the courses and help her business out.
But back to November…things really started getting crazy towards the end of last month, deadlines coming up, projects due, etc. Because the organization pretty much shuts down around Christmas everything gets insane at the end of the year.
And another PRAISE!!! My sister Ashley is coming here to visit for Christmas! This is probably the best news yet! I had been praying and so worried about Christmas and being away from family…and the Lord totally provided and allowed for her to be able to come…and she will get here soon enough to volunteer and help out at out Christmas Holiday Clubs! Everyone is so excited to meet her.
So now that leaves us in December…NOW…and I have vowed to update this WAY more often…so much more often that you might be bombarded with updates now! LOL....but in all seriousness I do apologize for not updating for months! I know you guys have been thinking about me, praying for me and supporting me so much and I should have taken more time to update you guys on the amazing things God is doing here!
I love you all! And will write more soon!
With much love,
Christina
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