No rest for the weary.

I left Syracuse with a heavy heart last Saturday, so full of love from all the time (although too short) with all my family and friends.  I am trying desperately not to forget a single detail of every moment I was able to be at home, even those things that I would have never thought was significant before.  For instance, on my shopping trip to Wegmans the automatic doors slide open like how I imagine St. Peter’s Gates must because beyond those doors I swear I heard an angel’s chorus sing “Aaaawwweee” when I saw so many beautiful fruits and vegetables lying there so perfectly within. 

Sunday we ate breakfast at the diner where I ordered a ton off the menu and then also ate off everyone else’s plate to make sure I got my fill of American food.  We then went to the Verizon store so Patty could join the 21^st century with her new iPhone.  While we were there I learned that you can buy a GPS locater for your dog!  Clever, but excessive much?!

I flew out Sunday night, spent an awesome day in London on Monday (actually happy to have had such a long layover), arrived in South Africa Tuesday morning, and finally in Swaziland on Tuesday night.  I worked at my office in the capital city on Wednesday, so I stayed in town Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  So finally on Thursday, after 2 ½ weeks I finally returned back to my hut exhausted from so much traveling.  However, rest was nowhere in sight.

During November and December I decided that I wanted to raise money for the orphans and vulnerable children in my community, so they could have a Christmas party.  I borrowed a movie projector from my office, popped a TON of popcorn, and took off around my community showing movies at several of the Neighborhood Care Points which serve as community kitchens to feed the orphans during the days.  In the last year or so, the NGOs who support the food programs pulled their funding leaving the orphans to rely already stretched thin extended family for food.  That is besides the point of my movie viewings which were relatively successful, but not without the many unforeseen obstacles that we had to deal with along the way.  The biggest obstacle being electricity!  The Care Points don’t have electricity so I had to rely on nearby homesteads and huge extension cord that has been taped together in so many places that I am sure it is a massive fire hazard.

One day there was a big thunderstorm that knocked the power out in the whole community for 2 ½ days, postponing two movie days at different Care Points and me without any way to communicate the new times.  When the power was finally back, we started unrolling the extension cord to set everything up, but it was way too short.  Unsure whether the show would go on, I went inside to prepare the room while others went to look homestead by homestead for more extension cords (really safe, I’m sure).  They succeeded in finding enough cords, but attendance was poor that day and the next because of the postponement caused by the power outage.

I raised money basically 50cents at a time by selling popcorn and sweets and also by charging 1 Rand for admission (which equals 12cents US).  Overall, I raised almost 200 Rand.  I also wrote a solicitation letter to community members to help support the cause and made donation jars for two of the shops, so customers could leave their extra change.  After all of this work there wasn’t enough time to host a party for the Orphans before heading to America for Christmas vacation.  My counterparts decided that they wanted to wait for my return to have the party and that would also give donors time to organize something to donate.

Fast forward through the awesomeness that was Christmas in America with family and friends and then press play on the Thursday that I returned back to my community.  I met with my two counterparts and we need to plan the party that I learn is scheduled for Saturday, in just two days!  We need to plan the menu, get to town, buy the food, prepare said food, and get the whole party organized.  Thankfully my counterparts had been doing some work in my absence.  They secured transportation for the children who lived a 2-hour-walk away, they found someone to donate a bunch of bread, and got a matching donation from the Caregiver’s Garden Project that I wrote the grant for earlier in the year.

Friday, I went to town with my counterpart Angel, who is the chairperson of the Youth Committee, the pre-school teacher, and one of my best friends here.  While in town we bought everything we need for the party, and then I spent the rest of the night popping a ton of popcorn and preparing for the next day.

Saturday morning arrived with its own set of complications, but nothing we couldn’t overcome.  Someone set to making jam sandwiches, others made the juice, some others set up stereo equipment to play music, while I entertained the children as they were arriving.  While I waited for everyone to arrive, I busied myself by painting the nails of at least 1000 tiny fingers (not sure if I’m exaggerating here.  Also thanks to Joy, Ashley, and Sarah for hooking me up with nail polish!).  When everyone was there, there were around 150 orphans/vulnerable children (mostly ages 3-6).  I lead them in some games, then we fed them sandwiches, chips, popcorn, candy, and juice.  We played more games and had a dance party. 



Some of the Orphans/Vulnerable Children playing games at the Christmas party.



HUGE Game of Duck, Duck, Goose (in Swaziland it is called 'Play, Ha!')



Libu showing her moves in the dance-off!  She's adorable!



Breaking it down!



At the end, I gave all of the children cookies, soap (thanks Mom and Bill for soap), and pencils (thanks Dad).  The children had a great time and looking back even though it was a lot of work, caused many headaches, and countless hours of popping popcorn and putting it into individual bags… it was all worth it to create such a special day for so many children. 

And then Sunday I slept all day long!   Rest finally!