November Weeks 13 and 14

Week 13

Day 86: Wednesday Oct. 31^st

Today I met with two ladies named Sharon and Rafreeka, who work for ELRU (Early Learning Resource Unit). I got lost for an hour looking for their building, but finally found them and had a great time networking with them. Through this meeting I ended up meeting a man named Peter Williams who wants to start 300 preschools in 10 years in the Western Cape Area using the Montessori program. He wants to partner with African Leadership to make this project happen. Hmm??? Peter is such a visionary man and he sounds so convincing, but I am not really sure this is for African Leadership? I then went to construction to pick up Pastor Ohm to show me where the last Educare centre was. Sarah and I then had a Bible Study with Nosipho and Beauty. I then went to visit one of my youth’s houses to socialize and play games. Anelisa’s family was very hospitable. They served us snacks and even gave us dinner at 9:00 pm.

Day 87: Thursday Nov. 1^st

Today for devotions Beauty tried to teach me how to sing in harmony. I then went to visit the schools to get their grad certificates done, but they weren’t there. I then went to construction to help with the cement floors. At 4:30 I left to buy my Madagascar ticket. I also tried to return the new flash drive that broke. They were very hesitating to exchange it, but I fought for customer service and they finally gave me a new one. It’s hard to get good service here.

Day 88: Friday Nov. 2^nd

I just did a lot of errands today. Happy Birthday Kari Lyn!

Day 89: Saturday Nov. 3^rd

Today Sarah had a hard time starting her car so she came with me and then I had problems starting my car too. We finally got my car started and I attend my first Educare Grad ceremonies. We arrived just after 10:00 and it took 2 hours to get started. They were somewhat disorganized, but the highlight of the day was when the grad kids did a bit of a program for us. Afterwards they fed us a lunch. We left early and it was 3:00pm by then. We then rushed to Youth Worship. Elijah then told me that he found my flash drive. I was so happy that Elijah was my hero that day. I then was invited to a youth’s birthday. I found out that I was the only one invited. We ended up playing games, singing, and visiting the neighbours. They even fed me a kidney dinner that I didn’t care for, but I ate it anyways to be polite. By the time I got home I was welcomed by Zeta who just arrived back from Tanzania.

Praise and worship time after dinner

Day 90: Sunday Nov. 4^th

Angie and I went to the Baptist church at 8:00 am and forgot that they had cancelled it. We ended up going to the mall to hang out and have coffee. At 11:00 Sarah and I went to Paul’s church in Khayelitsha. At 3:00 pm we went back to Khayelitsha because Paul’s church was doing a worship fundraiser. We had a really good time and we had to leave around 6:00 pm because I was in charge of cooking a Greek dinner that day.

Day 91: Monday Nov. 5^th

Today we did the usually thing and then Sarah and I went to usual coffee shop to do some computer work. I ended up finishing the Educare brochure and other things for the schools.

Day 92: Tuesday Nov. 6^th

Today I went to get some of the grad certificates signed and then went to the internet to update my blog. In the evening we watched Shrek 3.

Week 14

Day 93: Wednesday Nov. 7^th

Lawrence Neilsen one of the board directors of African Leadership phoned me to pick up some donated food from his church for the Educare centres. His church is at Gordon’s Bay. When I arrived there the church is in a 50 hector horse land surrounded by the mountains. It was a beautiful place and I had a really good talk with the pastor. I ended up making an appointment with them to talk to their church about sponsoring the Educare ministries on Nov. 25^th. They want me to bring a Mama and some of the kids from a school. I hope that I can do that. I then went to check out the beach at Gordon’s Bay. I just sat in the car and listened to some music and enjoyed the view. Afterwards I went to visit the school and taught Nosipho some kids songs. We then met up with Beauty to do our Bible Study. In the evening I went to visit two of my youth girls. One of the girl’s grandmas was very leery of me, but in the end I won her over. We had a great evening playing card games with everyone’s family and friends.

Day 94: Thursday Nov. 8^th

I had two meeting with some potential women who would be great to train and to take over my opposition when I leave next November. I pray that they will accept and that they will work out. In the evening Phoebe our guest from Uganda cooked us an amazing Korean dinner.

Day 95: Friday Nov. 9^th

Everybody from the mission house decided to climb Lions Head, but it started to rain. We then went to McDonald’s for breakfast because it was the only place open early. In the afternoon I prepared some snacks and dinner for the youth sleepover at the college tonight. I found out that sleepovers are not done here and that it’s rare for parents to let their girls out for the night due to the high crime rate here.

Day 96: Saturday Nov. 10^th

I woke up at 6:00 am and did the bucket thing with boiling water to wash myself because the shower didn’t work and there is no hot water at the college. We ate breakfast and the youth got ready to go to on a youth outing to the beach and I had to go to another Educare Graduation. I then left right after the magic show at the graduation to join the youth at the beach. Even though it was a windy day the weather was nice. In the evening we went to a Korean restaurant because it was Phoebe’s last day with us. Sarah then slept in my room because there was a night concert making a lot of noise at a nearby park and guest’s snoring in her room.

Day 97: Sunday Nov. 11^th

Today I concentrated on working on Monday’s devotions because I wanted them to experience something new and exciting. At 5:00 everybody from the mission house went to Pastor Jun’s house for dinner. Afterwards some of us went to a nearby lake and went rowing in their inflatable boat. It was a lot of fun.

Day 98: Monday Nov. 12^th

I left early to set up for the devotional time, but I was having a lot of technical difficulty setting up the computer and the projector. My computer kept on turning off and it was quite frustrating. Thank goodness Sarah brought her laptop and we started late. Overall everything went well even though we had a few glitches.

Day 99: Tuesday Nov. 13^th

Today I went to observe a Montessori program that Peter ran in Claremont. Peter was the guy who I networked a few weeks ago. He runs these Montessori programs and uses the profit to better women and children at risk in the greater Cape Town Metropolis. His plan is to see if African Leadership and his Ithemba Township projects can partner together to start 300 preschools by 2010 using the Montessori Method. My role would be to train people to be regional directors for 10 schools at a time. I stayed for the whole day there because they had a parent meeting at 6:30 about all the projects that the money from the schools goes to. It was quite interesting.